Sliced into a salad or sandwich, tomatoes usually play a supporting role. But this time of year, tomatoes are at their best.

Today’s Health-e-Recipe celebrates tomatoes as the main ingredient: Broiled Tomatoes Provencal highlights this favorite garden vegetable with a little breadcrumbs, Parmesan cheese and oven time to create a flavorful treat brimming with cancer-fighting lycopene. Noted for its ability to prevent prostate cancer and even retard the growth of prostate cancer cells, scientists are investigating lycopene’s possible protection against skin, lung and other cancers, too. Its levels are highest in cooked and processed tomatoes (it is also present in other red produce including red grapefruit, papaya and watermelon).

Try these simple broiled tomatoes as a healthy appetizer or side dish for a light, late-summer fish or poultry entree, along with some leafy greens. Click here to subscribe to Health-e-Recipes.

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Ever tried whole-wheat pasta? Today’s Health-e-Recipe for Confetti Macaroni and Bean Salad is a great opportunity.

Now carried by most grocery stores, all or part whole-wheat pastas give you more health benefits than plain white pastas. The texture and taste of whole-wheat pasta is different from regular pasta, so try out various brands.

Since Americans eat a lot of pasta, choosing the whole-wheat kind can help you get the 3 daily servings of whole grains recommended for good health. Whole grains such as whole wheat have more dietary fiber to keep your digestive system working well and to add a few more cancer-fighting phytochemicals, vitamins and minerals to your diet. If you are gluten-intolerant, try substituting 3 cups of cooked barley, bulgur or brown rice for the pasta. Also whole grains, they blend beautifully with the other ingredients in this recipe.

You can find more recipes for healthy whole grains from AICR’s Test Kitchen. Or get a free download of the newly updated Beans and Whole Grains brochure from AICR’s New American Plate series. Click here to subscribe to our weekly Health-e-Recipe.

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Surf summer’s heat waves with AICR’s Blueberry-Watermelon Freeze, today’s Health-e-Recipe. Watermelon’s red color means it has plenty of lycopene, as do cooked tomatoes and red grapefruit. Lycopene is one phytochemical researchers believe may help discourage prostate cancer.

And blueberries are bursting with anthocyanins, a class of phytochemicals also found in cherries, red grapes and cranberries. AICR grantees have found – you guessed it – these compounds may help protect us from cancer. When you eat combinations of fruits and vegetables, their many kinds of phytochemicals work together to maximize cell protection and help to ward off DNA damage that can lead to cancer. For more delicious summertime recipes using foods that fight cancer, visit AICR’s Test Kitchen. Or, click here to subscribe to our weekly Health-e-Recipe.

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Getting tired of the same old lettuce and tomato salad? Summer’s the time when salads are at their most appealing and today’s Health-e-Recipe for Mango, Cucumber and Red Pepper Salad mixes up salad stereotypes. The crunchy cukes and juice red pepper contrast in color and texture with the soft smooth mango. Here’s how to peel a mango like a pro.

Dressed with citrus, mint and peanuts, this salad still adds lettuce – but red leaf, a darker variety so therefore higher in phytochemicals that fight cancer. Share this zingy salad with friends, and find more unusual salad combinations at AICR’s Test Kitchen. Click here to subscribe to weekly Health-e-Recipes from AICR.

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No-bake Watermelon Cake AICR’s summer version of Red Velvet cake (no baking and technically, no cake) is cool, sweet and beautiful. And it has an added benefit – it’s cancer-protective.

Watermelon is one of the foods rich in lycopene – a potent antioxidant – and AICR’s expert report list these as foods that probably protect against prostate cancer.

This no-bake cake is gluten-free and perfect for those looking to satisfy their sweet tooth with a tasty, low calorie dessert.

For recipe, keep reading.
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Today’s Health-e-Recipe for Yogurt-Marinated Chicken Kabobs borrows a time-honored tip from Middle Eastern and Indian cooking: Use yogurt as a marinade.

Yogurt is a “probiotic” – meaning that it contains live, active cultures of bacteria that benefit our digestive systems. Studies suggest that probiotic foods like fresh yogurt can replenish healthy bacteria in the gut that may be depleted in people who are taking antibiotics. Some early research even indicates that eating yogurt regularly may help prevent colon cancer by keeping colon cells from developing abnormalities.

To find delicious recipes that use yogurt, like Strawberry-Melon Smoothie, Tandoori Spinach and Yogurt-Dill Dressing, visit AICR’s Test Kitchen. Or just substitute plain, low-fat yogurt for some or all of the mayonnaise in dressings, for sour cream on baked potatoes and in dips.

Click here to subscribe to Health-e-Recipes.

(photo credit: National Cancer Institute)

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If you’re hungry for red meat and concerned about your health, you don’t have to take an all-or-nothing approach.

It’s true that AICR’s expert report on diet, nutrition, physical activity and cancer prevention found that red meat is associated with higher colon cancer risk. But it didn’t say red meat should be banned from our diets.

The expert report’s advice is to limit red meat to no more than 18 ounces (cooked) a week. That’s 3 meals each containing 6 ounces of red meat; or 6 meals each having 3 ounces of red meat.

Today’s Health-e-Recipe for Roasted Garlic Steak Sandwiches shows you how to add lots of flavor from a phytochemical-rich garlic marinade to a modest amount of meat, making this healthy portion highly satisfying. It’s also accompanied by healthful spinach and other greens plus a hearty whole-wheat bun. Click here to subscribe to AICR’s Health-e-Recipes.

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Avocados are as creamy as butter, but healthier for you. They may be high in fat – 22 g and 240 calories in a cup of cubed avocado – but it’s the healthy mono-unsaturated kind. Avocados can still fit into a cancer-fighting diet if you’re careful. Like nuts (also healthful and high in fat), the trick is to eat a moderate amount.

This week’s Health-e-Recipe for Avocado and Mango Salsa contrasts it with piquant ingredients, such as the lime, mango and pepper, so you get a mariachi band of flavors on your tongue. Ripe avocados yield when pressed gently and may be black in color. Use them immediately after peeling, because the inside fruit will turn brown quickly when exposed to air; coating it with acidic juices from lime, lemon or tomato right away can preserve its green color.

In the U.S., avocados are used like vegetables – in salads, sandwiches, wraps or on top of Mexican dishes. But avocados really are fruits and in Hawaii, Brazil and other tropical countries, avocados are used for ice cream, smoothies and fruit salads. However you prefer to eat them, avocados supply some fiber and vitamins C, E and K. Click here to subscribe to AICR’s weekly Health-e-Recipe.

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Today, AICR’s Health-e-Recipes hit the big 3-0-0.

Every Tuesday for the past 300 weeks, we’ve sent out a new recipe from the AICR Test Kitchen to what is now many thousands of email subscribers. Each one has been developed by a team of recipe developers and dietitians here at AICR, and rigorously taste-tested by AICR staff (as job perks go, it’s a good one.)

To celebrate, we came up this light, delicious and summery risotto, a serving of which weighs in at just at 300 calories.

Click here to subscribe to weekly Health-e-Recipes from AICR.

Do you have a favorite AICR recipe?  Click over to this week’s Health-e-Recipe and read how you can tell us about , and enter to receive a copy of AICR’s New American Plate Cookbook.

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When you think of a casserole, classics like tuna-noodle or green beans with mushroom soup pop to mind. But a casserole doesn’t have to be a glop of mystery ingredients mixed with canned soup and cheese. Instead, you can experience a light and healthy casserole with ingredients you can identify by trying today’s Health-e-Recipe for Summer Tomato-Rice Casserole. Cooked or processed tomatoes (like juice or sauce) have higher levels of the cancer-fighting phytochemical lycopene. Pair this healthy dish with some protein from beans or lean meat, poultry or fish, add a tossed salad of leafy dark greens and you have a winning summer meal. Click here to subscribe to weekly Health-e-Recipes from AICR.

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