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Calabacitas (Mexican-flavored vegetable side dish)

Add a South-of-the-Border variation to your Healthiest Way of Eating. This recipe is an excellent source of health-promoting vitamin C, a powerful antioxidant that helps prevent damage to DNA and cellular structures caused by free radicals.

Prep and Cook Time: 20 minutes Ingredients: 1 medium onion, cut in half and sliced thin 4 medium cloves garlic, chopped 2 cups zucchini , diced into ½ -inch cubes 2 cups yellow squash, diced in ½-inch cubes 15 oz can diced tomatoes, drained 4 oz can of diced green chili 1 TBS + 3 TBS chicken or vegetable broth ¼ cup chopped cilantro 3 TBS fresh chopped fresh oregano (or 1 TBS dried oregano) salt and black pepper to taste *Optional: drizzle with olive oil before serving

Directions:

1. Slice onion and chop garlic and let sit for at least 5 minutes to bring out their health-promoting benefits.
2. Prepare all the vegetables.
3. Heat 1 TBS broth in 11-12 inch stainless steel skillet. Healthy Sauté onions in broth over medium heat for about 5 minutes stirring frequently, until translucent. Add garlic and sauté for another minute.
4. Add zucchini, yellow squash, remaining broth, green chili, and cook for another 3 minutes or so until vegetables are tender, stirring often. Add tomatoes and continue to cook for another couple of minutes.
5. Stir in herbs, salt, and pepper.

   Serves 4

Healthy Cooking Tips:

Have all your vegetables cut before you start cooking to avoid overcooking. The zucchini will start to look translucent and will release a lot of water, diluting the flavor of your dish if it is overcooked.

Nutritional Profile

Introduction to Recipe Rating System Chart

In order to better help you identify recipes that feature a high concentration of nutrients for the calories they contain, we created a Recipe Rating System. This system allows us to highlight the recipes that are especially rich in particular nutrients. The following chart shows the nutrients for which Calabacitas (Mexican-flavored vegetable side dish) is either an excellent, very good, or good source (below the chart you will find a table that explains these qualifications). If a nutrient is not listed in the chart, it does not necessarily mean that the recipe doesn't contain it. It simply means that the nutrient is not provided in a sufficient amount or concentration to meet our rating criteria. (To view this recipe's in-depth nutritional profile that includes values for dozens of nutrients - not just the ones rated as excellent, very good, or good - please use the link below the chart.) To read this chart accurately, you'll need to glance back up to see the ingredients used in the recipe and the number of serving sizes provided by the recipe. Our nutrient ratings are based on a single serving. For example, if a recipe makes 4 servings, you would be receiving the nutrient amounts listed in the chart by eating 1/4th of the combined ingredients found in the recipe. Now, returning to the chart itself, you can look next to the nutrient name in order to find the nutrient amount it offers, the percent Daily Value (DV%) that this amount represents, the nutrient density that we calculated for this recipe and nutrient, and the rating we established in our rating system. For most of our nutrient ratings, we adopted the government standards for food labeling that are found in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's "Reference Values for Nutrition Labeling." Read more background information and details of our rating system.

Calabacitas 1.00 serving 301.72 grams 68.71 calories Nutrient Amount %DV Nutrient Density World's Healthiest Foods Rating vitamin C 41.34 mg 68.9 18.0 excellent vitamin A 1211.18 IU 24.2 6.3 very good molybdenum 15.96 mcg 21.3 5.6 very good dietary fiber 4.61 g 18.4 4.8 very good manganese 0.31 mg 15.5 4.1 very good potassium 385.65 mg 11.0 2.9 good calcium 108.35 mg 10.8 2.8 good vitamin B6 (pyridoxine) 0.20 mg 10.0 2.6 good folate 37.71 mcg 9.4 2.5 good magnesium 37.06 mg 9.3 2.4 good iron 1.42 mg 7.9 2.1 good vitamin B1 (thiamin) 0.11 mg 7.3 1.9 good protein 3.29 g 6.6 1.7 good tryptophan 0.02 g 6.3 1.6 good phosphorus 60.86 mg 6.1 1.6 good copper 0.12 mg 6.0 1.6 good World's Healthiest Foods Rating Rule excellent DV>=75% OR Density>=7.6 AND DV>=10% very good DV>=50% OR Density>=3.4 AND DV>=5% good DV>=25% OR Density>=1.5 AND DV>=2.5%

In-Depth Nutritional Profile for Calabacitas (Mexican-flavored vegetable side dish)

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