Winter Greens Healthy Food Guide

Dark leafy greens, such as kale, chard and collards, thrive in the chill of winter when the rest of the produce section looks bleak. If you've avoided these nutritious greens because of their bitter reputations, pair them with judicious amounts of intensely flavorful ingredients-like feta cheese, bacon and walnuts-to balance their bitterness. Now is the time to celebrate the dark side this winter and welcome these beautiful greens into your kitchen.

Tomatoes Healthy Food Guide

There's nothing quite like a summer-ripe tomato-the heady, sweet smell, the intoxicating, succulent flavor, and of course the acidic juices to beat the heat. A terrific source of vitamin C, with a touch of vitamin A, potassium and fiber thrown in for good measure, they don't just taste great, they're also good for you. Tomatoes are also rich in lycopene, an antioxidant that may slow down aging of the skin and may be beneficial against cancer and heart disease. Cooking may actually increase the health benefits of this lush fruit.

Sweet Potatoes Healthy Food Guide

A veritable powerhouse of nutritional goodness, the sweet potato is only distantly related to the potato. And don't call it a yam-it's not even the same species! The sweet potato is a flowering perennial vine in the same family as morning glories, with delicious, starchy, tuberous roots.The Center for Science in the Public Interest calls sweet potatoes one of the most nutritious vegetables in the land. Instead of smothering sweet potatoes in butter and brown sugar, try one of these fresh ideas.

Snap Peas Healthy Food Guide

You've probably never heard of Calvin Lamborn. But he's the guy who made sugar snap peas so sweet and succulent that you want to eat them raw. Though edible-podded peas have been enjoyed for hundreds of years, Lamborn accidentally developed snap peas in the late 1960s while breeding shell peas. Though sugar snap peas are a cultivar of snap peas, you'll most likely see them called "sugar snap peas" at the grocery store.

Salad Greens Healthy Food Guide

In spring and summer, salads using fresh, seasonal greens are an ideal way to get dinner on the table fast without spending much time in front of the stove.

Rhubarb Healthy Food Guide

Tart and tangy rhubarb has flourished in America for two centuries, although it is native to Asia where as early as 2700 B.C. it was used medicinally. Rhubarb thrives in cool weather and it's one of the first plants to mature each year. Prime time for rhubarb is April through September.

Potatoes Healthy Food Guide

Potatoes have been revered for centuries. The Spanish Conquistadors must have seen value in this humble tuber when they first carried the potato to Europe from its home in South America in the sixteenth century. From there, the potato traveled across the globe and became a staple crop in many cultures, including Ireland, Russia and even the Nepalese Himalayas and Rwanda in Africa. During the Alaskan Klondike gold rush in the late nineteenth century, gold was traded for potatoes because of their high vitamin C content; in Tristan de Cunha, a remote island in the south Atlantic, potatoes were once the unofficial currency.