Fruits and Vegetables - To Buy Organic or Not to Buy Organic?

Sometimes it's just not in the budget to buy "all" organic. 

These two lists will help you with what fruit and vegetables you should always buy organic and what is OK to skip when you just can't fit it in your budget.

The Dirty Dozen aka the twelve most contaminated fruits and vegetables.

The Clean Fifteen aka the fifteen least contaminated fruits and vegetables.

Full List

Source: Environmental Working Group

Fooducate - Best "Food and Diet" App on the Block

Fooducate - Diet Tracker & Healthy Food Nutrition Scanner

By Fooducate, Ltd.

Description

GET FOODUCATED!
Lose weight, eat REAL food, and track your progress. Fooducate grades your food, explains what's really inside each product, and offers healthier alternatives. We've got the largest database of UPC-based nutrition information - over 200,000 unique products and growing.
• Premium version of Fooducate - Best of the iPhone Health & Fitness category - Apple App Store
• 1st prize - US Surgeon General Healthy App Challenge
• Featured in Oprah, USAToday, NYTimes, WSJ, and on ABC, FOX, NBC and more...
• Recommended by dietitians, physicians, fitness gurus, and your friends

FOODUCATE HELPS YOU EAT HEALTHY
+ Track your diet, calorie quality, and exercise
+ Automatically scan a product barcode, search for products, or browse by categories
+ See a food's nutrition grade (A, B, C, or D)
+ Learn about a product's pros and cons
+ Choose healthier alternatives
+ Add your own foods to track
+ Share your feedback with the community
+ Create a healthy shopping list
+ Submit new products for analysis

FOODUCATE TEACHES YOU
Fooducate analyzes information found in a product nutrition panels and ingredient lists. You'll discover things manufacturers don't want you to notice, such as
- excessive sugar
- tricky trans fats
- high fructose corn syrup
- controversial food colorings
- GMO - genetical modified organisms (premium versions only)
- additives and preservatives
- artificial sweeteners
- and more...

Just pick up a product from the shelf, scan it, and let Fooducate do the rest. 

www.fooducate.com

Photo Credit: blog.fooducate.com

Healthy Marinara Sauce Recipe

I use this as a pizza sauce alone and as my base to several of my pasta sauces. This recipe makes 5 - 1/4 cup servings.
I also double the recipe and freeze into 1/4 servings sizes for quick meals when I don't have the time to make from scratch.

Ingredients

1 Onions, medium, chopped
2 Garlic Cloves, chopped
1 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 Canned Whole Tomatoes no salt added, chopped 14.5 oz.
1 tsp. Double Concentrated Tomato Paste
1/4 tsp. Dried Basil
1/4 tsp. Dried Oregano
1/4 tsp. Sea Salt
1/4 tsp. Black Pepper

Directions:
In a saute pan heat olive oil over medium heat.
Add onion and garlic until onions are translucent.
Add the chopped tomatoes and juices from can and tomato paste.
Simmer over medium heat for 5 minutes.
Add the dried herbs and salt and pepper.
Remove from heat and let cool slightly.
Transfer to blender and blend til smooth.
Freeze or transfer back pan and reheat.

Number of Servings: 5


Nutritional Info
Servings Per Recipe: 5
Amount Per Serving
Calories: 53.6
Total Fat: 2.8 g
Cholesterol: 0.0 mg
Sodium: 127.0 mg
Total Carbs: 6.1 g
Dietary Fiber: 1.3 g
Protein: 1.1 g

Healthy Cheese Enchiladas

Ingredients
4 Whole Wheat Tortillas
1 1/4 Cups Reduced-Fat Mexican 4 Blend Shredded Cheese
2 Cups B-ing Fabulous Healthy Enchilada Sauce (on blog, search it)

Directions
Preheat oven to 325

In a baking dish add 1 Cup of the Enchilada Sauce.
Add 1/4 cup each of cheese to the center of each tortilla.
Roll the tortillas and place on top the the sauce in the baking dish.
Add the remaining Enchilada Sauce to cover the rolled torrillas.
Cover the dish with foil and place in oven.
Bake for 15 - 20 mins. (until cheese is fully melted.
Remove foil and sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup of cheese on top.
Bake for about 5 mins. or until cheese is melted.
By Kelly Marie

I like to serve these with fresh chopped onions, tomatoes, lettuce and a couple olives. Also try Spiced Upped Mock Sour Cream(look it up).

Healthy Enchilada Sauce

Ingredients
2 Cups No Salt Added Tomato Sauce (2 8 oz. cans)
2 Tbsp B-ing Fabulous Taco Seasoning (on blog search it)
1/2 tsp Sea Salt
1/2 tsp Black Pepper

Directions
Combine all ingredients in a sauce pan. Stir over med-low heat for 5 mins.
by Kelly Marie

Healthy Taco Seasoning

Ingredients
2 tbsp Chili powder
1 1/2 tbsp Whole Wheat Flour
2 tsp Cumin
2 tsp Ground Oregano
1/2 tsp Garlic Powder
1/2 tsp Onion Powder
1/2 tsp Cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp Paprika

Directions
Mix all ingredients together.
Store in an airtight container.
by Kelly Marie