7 simple substitutions for more exciting healthy food

Bored of broccoli? Put-off pasta? Sick of salmon? Re-energize your passion for cooking - and your taste for eating - by introducing new foods into your menus. To spruce up your lunch and dinner dishes, here are healthy, exciting alternatives to 7 tried-and-true foods, with links to recipes from the Canadian Living Test Kitchen featuring each ingredient, all of which should be readily available at your local supermarket, butcher or seafood shop.


1. Bye-bye broccoli, reel in rapini
Slightly bitter and pungent tasting, rapini, also called broccoli rabe (it resembles broccoli with much larger leaves and a skinnier stem), is low in calories and high in fibre. It’s an excellent source of vitamins A, C and K, and a good source of calcium, potassium and iron. The entire plant is edible, but trim off the tough or woody ends and cook the same way you cook broccoli. It’s delicious in pastas and salads or served as a stand-alone side, sautéed with chili flakes, garlic, olive oil and lemon.

Serving tip: Separate the leaves and florets from the stalks, cooking the stalks first, as they take longer. Cook rapini just until al dente (tender but firm), about 4 minutes for the stalks and 2 minutes for the leaves and florets .

Try it! Pasta with White Beans and Rapini


2. Sayonara spinach, catch up with kale
Kale is bursting with vitamins A and C, as well as calcium and beta-carotene. Much coarser than spinach, it has a sweet, cabbage-like, grassy flavour, and stays fairly crunchy even after being cooked. Serve kale as a high-fibre side with chickpeas and lemon, braise it in chicken or vegetable stock to accompany meat or fish, or add it chopped to soups and stews.

Serving tip: For easier eating, tear the leaves off of the tough, centre stems, which you can either cut and cook separately or discard. Wash kale well as dirt gets embedded in the leaves.   

Try it! Lemon Kale with Chickpeas

3. Cart away carrots, dig up the rubies and the golds
Brighten up your plates with beets, one of the most vibrant root veggies. Ranging in colour from deep purple-red to yellow gold to pink-and-white candy striped, beets are an excellent source of folate, and a good source of Vitamin C, potassium, manganese and fibre. Earthy and sweet-tasting, choose beets that are less than three inches in diameter because, similarly to carrots, the bigger they grow, the woodier and less sweet they become. Serve beets raw, cooked, or pickled, as a side dish or in salads. They pair well with flavours like maple syrup, goat’s cheese, toasted nuts, grapefruit, and apple, just to name a few.

Serving tip: To retain their colour and moisture and to develop their sweetness, roast beets in a 400-degree oven. Wrap each beet individually in foil (root and stem removed), and place on a pan. Beets are done when a paring knife slides in with only the tiniest bit of resistance.

Try it! Golden Beet and Granny Smith Apple Salad with Panache


More super healthy food substitutions on page 2!