Time to try....Tomatoes!

This month, your nutrition educators will be bringing in sun dried tomatoes for your students to try. Tomatoes are also used in many foods, cooked or raw, such as: pizza, marinara sauce, salads, ketchup, tomato soup, tomato juice, salsa and many more.

Though they are scientifically classified as a fruit, from a nutrition standpoint we call them a vegetable! Even more interestingly, a tomato is (scientifically) considered to be a berry because of how the tomato is organized on the inside. There are 7,500 different kinds grown around the world! That's a lot of pizza sauce!

Tomatoes are great for heart health, help in the prevention of some cancers, and are high in vitamins A and C, as well as the minerals calcium and potassium. Tomatoes also contain an antioxidant called Lycopene, which may help reduce the risk of some cancers and cardiovascular disease. The lycopene in processed tomatoes is actually better absorbed than in fresh tomatoes. So even when tomatoes aren’t in season, you can enjoy them in different forms such as canned, sauce, juice, or dried. Try out a new recipe with different types of tomatoes!

This month, our educators will be showing you how to make corny tomato pasta salad that includes sun-dried tomatoes as well as other vegetables and yummy ingredients. In fact, pasta salads are a great way to get vegetables, carbohydrates, fats and proteins all in one dish! Check out the video below