Holidays and a heart attack.

When was it decided that we should goad ourselves full of carbohydrates, trans fats, and red meat to celebrate a festive occasion? A 2004 study from the University of California-San Diego revealed that more people die from heart attacks on Christmas and New Years than any other days of the year. That combined with my own family's predisposition for high cholesterol and diabetes, I have decided to improve the nutritious quality and the tastiness of holiday dishes I serve in my home. Now, I should note that I am not a nutritionist. My goal here is to suggest some recipes that may be a bit better for us that the more traditional varieties served.

Ok, so the first recipe I tried out this week. It is a recipe for asparagus. Now, most people under the age of 17 are probably disgusted by the look and texture of asparagus. Maybe it is just an acquired taste, or perhaps it is somehow correlated to age and refinement ( a little snooty I suppose, but then again I no longer have the body of a 17 year old, so there must be some compensation). Overall, I find asparagus very tasty and in fact, it is a vegetable you really do not need to do much to in order to impress family and guests. On a regular night, I would serve asparagus steamed to fork tender, topped with a pat of a healthy margerine and a bit of salt and pepper. However, we had some friends coming over for a festive meal and I wanted to try something a little different that could be reheated without the asparagus looking sad or wilty after reheatting. So I came across a recipe in the Green Thumb cookbook which I modified and found to be delightful. I hope you will give it a try.

Cheesy Asparagus

Preheat oven to 350 F.

1 pound frozen asparagus spears, chopped and defrosted*
1/4 cup healthy margernine, melted
1 medium onion
1/4 cup fancy shredded mozzarella/cheddar cheese
1/4 cup wheat germ
1 tsp rosemarry
salt to taste

1. Place asparagus in baking dish
2. Pour melted butter over the asparagus, mix
3. Pour the remaining ingredients over the asparagus, mix to coat the asparagus
4. Bake at 350 F for 30 minutes

* I have not tried using the asparagus frozen, but I am sure it would also come out nicely. I would suggest adjusting the cooking time to 45 minutes in order to compensate for the temperature.

Enjoy and look for more ideas to come.