Cooking With Tomatoes Is Heart Healthy

I’ve learned from ConAgra Foods that cooking with tomatoes is heart healthy. Great news for my family as we eat meals with tomatoes quite often. If we don’t cook with them, we add them as a side dish, put them on sandwiches and just add a bit of salt and take a bite out of them when they are fresh (OK, that’s what I do).

We are concerned about keeping our hearts healthy because of our family history of cardiac disease. My father and uncle both passed from cardiac problems. They suffered a great deal during their lives with health problems related to cardiac disease including angina, heart attacks, weakness, chest pain, coronary artery disease, peripheral artery disease and high blood pressure.

Recently my 11 year old daughter has been diagnosed with Sinus Tachycardia and Mitral Valve Prolapse with mild regurgitation. Although this cannot be treated with diet, we’ve been reminded about the need to eat healthy. The doctors ask about heart disease in our family and it all comes rushing back to us. We want to do all we can to help her live a long, healthy life and we want to be healthy for her as well.

A press release about tomatoes and heart health was presented in November by Conagra Foods, the maker of Hunt’s Tomatoes.

According to a study reported in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, lycopene absorption is two to three times greater in canned tomato products than raw tomatoes. “Tomatoes not only contain high levels of carotenoid antioxidants such as lycopene, but also serve as a significant source of vitamin C, fiber and potassium in the American diet,” said Kristin Reimers, Ph.D., nutrition manager, ConAgra Foods. “Calorie for calorie, tomatoes contain more than twice the potassium of other common sources such as bananas, potatoes, milk and orange juice.”

We’re a fan of Hunt’s Tomatoes because they’re easy to use when making recipes that call for chopped tomatoes or tomato sauce. It’s not easy to find ripe tomatoes and sometimes the cost can be prohibitive as well. One of our favorites are the Diced Tomatoes with spices.

A favorite family recipe is Crock Pot Goulash. It’s one meal that makes my daughter Sammi smile!

• One Small Green Pepper – chopped
• One Small Sweet Onion – chopped
• One Pound Very Lean Ground Beef – cooked and drained
• Dash of Sugar
• One Can Hunt’s Diced Tomatoes with Green Pepper, Celery, Onion (14.5 oz)
• Two Cans Hunt’s Tomato Sauce with Basil, Garlic & Oregano (8 oz)
• One Box of Elbow Macaroni (16 oz)

Add the green pepper, onion, ground beef, sugar and 3 cans of tomatoes to your crock pot. Cook on low for about 3 hours. Then cook and drain the elbow macaroni. Mix the macaroni into the sauce and meat, stir well. Serve with a salad.

This is the kind of recipe that can be adjusted for taste. Feel free to add different spices, vegetables or other flavors of Hunt’s Tomatoes. You can make it as chunky or soupy as you like as well.

This post was sponsored by ConAgra Foods, the maker of Hunt’s tomatoes, through The Motherhood.  All opinions are my own and the recipe is one that we have created on our own and eat regularly.