Good for You Food to Be Thankful For

Three heart-healthy snacks and diabetes-friendly recipes

From the LifeMinute.TV Team

November 15, 2021

With so much home cooking, the holidays offer many great opportunities to choose foods that nourish and keep you balanced all day long. We like to choose foods that offer a combination of fat, fiber, and protein to help keep us fuller longer, like pistachios. That’s why we love turning to Wonderful Pistachios to help make healthy choices. Pistachios are so versatile, and you can easily add them to any meal of the day or enjoy them as a snack. Plus, they are diabetes-friendly. Here are three delicious and nutritious recipes to try out this holiday season.

Pistachio Chimichurri
The pistachios in this give it an amazing texture, flavor, and a boost of plant protein. There are plenty of healthy fats between the olive oil and pistachios. Nearly 90% of the fats found in pistachios are the better-for-you mono and polyunsaturated fats. I use the Lightly Salted Wonderful Pistachios in this – no shells. It's perfect for the kitchen. You can use any herb you prefer – parsley, cilantro, even mint. The whole thing is plant-based. 

You will truly want this on everything. It brings balance to a pasta dish, on toast, or as you see here, in appetizers. This is a whole wheat baguette, pan-seared in a little olive oil, topped with a thin slice of aged manchego cheese, some of this amazing chimichurri, and garnished with seasonal pomegranate arils.

Pistachio-Powered Snack Board
The secret to a healthy snack board is to offer a variety of balanced choices so you can get really good nutrition nibbling from a balanced snack board. This is delicious proof that fitting complete plant protein into your day doesn't have to be hard. Pistachios are the only good source of protein, with over 10% of DV, among popular snack nuts. Pistachios provide six grams of plant protein per serving that helps fuel your body with all nine essential amino acids.

The centerpiece of my snack board is Wonderful Pistachios No Salt, in the shell, which can be a social activity as people gather around to crack open shells together. Don’t forget to have a small bowl nearby for the shells. I also have the Lightly Salted, Chili Roasted, and Honey Roasted pistachios on my board.

Petite Pistachio Palettes
To wrap up: Who doesn’t like a little something sweet?! These petite pistachio palettes are perfect for the holidays. Easy to make in advance, they look special but are so simple to put together. We like to use the Chili Roasted Pistachios for an extra kick. It works so well with dark chocolate, but the Lightly Salted Pistachios are great on these too. It’s easy to make some of each, so you have something for everyone. These would also make a great homemade gift.