Easy Meal Makeovers—One Can At A Time (NAPSA)—Alittle creativity and one canned ingredient can turn an ordinary dish into an extraordinary meal. The Canned Food Alliance (CFA) asked Allrecipes.com site users to share how they “Just Add One”canned ingredient to their favorite go-to recipes through the “Just Add One” Recipe Contest. In anefforl lo inspire moms to “Just Add One,” the CFA gathered real content from real homecooks to provide easy newrecipe ideas without asking mom to look beyond her mentalcookbook. Erin Chase, motherof three and author of “The $5 Dinner Mom Cookbook,” shares mealtimetips every day through her website, www.5dollardinners.com. Knowing how hard dinnertimecan be, Chase agrees that the conceptofjust adding one can create easy, new mealtimesolutions. “Momsare always looking for creative and affordable ways to get their kids to eat healthy meals and snacks,” said Chase.“That's why I love the ‘Just Add One’ concept. Adding a canofpeas to a soup or favorite weekly dish is a simple way to get more fruits and vegetables into my kids’ diets.” Like Erin, home cooks who entered the “Just Add One” contest shared other benefits of just addingone: * Seventy-onepercentsaid they added canned ingredients to boost the flavorofthedish. Twenty-six percent added a canneditem to increase the nutritional valueof the dish. Canned foods are just as nutritious as their fresh andfrozen counterparts, and in somecases, such as with canned tomatoes or pumpkin, are more nutritious. Just adding one can of fruits or vegetables to a meal can greatly improve your family’s nutrition. Home cooks responded with more than 400 ideas that used more than 100 varieties of commonpantry staples, such as beans, tomatoes, corn, pineapple and tuna. Someof the “Reci-tips” include: Add one can of pumpkin into simple vanilla pudding to trick finicky eatersinto having a serving ofvegetables disguised as a beautiful dessert. Stir in onecup of canned cranberry sauce to your meatloaf recipe. The cranberry sauce addsa juicy, tangy sweetness to the meatloaf and the small bits of cranberry complementtheonion. * Top off a healthy salad with a can of garbanzo beansfor a healthy doseofprotein onthe go. * Mix a can offire-roasted diced tomatoes to any chili for a homemadetaste and addednutrition. * Add a can of low-sodium mushrooms to an easy chicken marsala recipe. They stay fresh longerin the can and cut the prep timeto seconds. The CFAhascreated moretips and tools available at wwwMeal time.org to help moms and home cooks alike just add one canned ingredientto their favorite recipes.
