Focus on nutrition and health this summer with a healthy cookout

Do you need motivation to achieve your health goals and start eating right? Celebrate warmer weather with a healthful backyard barbecue while impressing your family and friends with delicious foods they will love.
Start building your healthful barbecue around fruits and vegetables, which are low in calories, high in fiber and packed with the nutrients you need. Look no further than your local grocery store or farmers' market for fresh, seasonal fruits and vegetables. Not sure how to feature fruits and vegetables at your barbecue? Here are a few ideas, but feel free to get creative:
Watermelon
No summer gathering is complete without this sweet treat. Made up of more than 90 percent water, it will also keep your guests hydrated on a hot day.
•Caramelize watermelon slices on the grill, then drizzle with honey, lime and a pinch of salt.
•Pair with shrimp on a kabob.
•Carve out a watermelon to use as a bowl for fruit salad.
•Use the juice of a watermelon as a glaze for chicken, shrimp or pork.
Summer Squash
When it comes to summer squash like zucchini, patty pans or yellow crooknecks, you've got options. You can stuff it, bake it, steam it or grill it.
•Grate squash and bake with it. Summer squash can be used in recipes ranging from meatloaf to muffins or breads.
•Stuff squash with lean-protein like chicken, fish or beans and brown rice.
•Cut squash into length-wise strips and place directly on the grill or cook smaller pieces in foil.
Sweet Potato
While potato salad and potato chips are popular at summertime gatherings, they contain high amounts of fats and sodium. Swap your recipes with sweet potatoes. A medium-sized sweet potato contains 3 grams of fiber and just 130 calories, making them a nutritionally sound choice.
•Bake a sweet potato on the grill and top with cinnamon.
•Cut into strips and bake for sweet potato fries.
•Grill sweet potatoes until tender and mash for sweet mashed potatoes topped with a touch of brown sugar or freshly grated nutmeg.
•Make a sweet potato, potato salad to increase fiber and nutritional quality
You can grill just about any fruit or vegetable. Add your favorites to your grill!
Having a cookout this summer? Keep your food safe!
Summer is the time for a cookout. Grills are ablaze, picnic tables are set, and watermelons are at the ready. But just because you're cooking and dining outside doesn't mean you can abandon food safety practices that you follow indoors.
Just because you are cooking outside you still need to use food safety tips from the kitchen. Remember, home food safety rules also apply in the backyard. So keep these tips in mind when you're celebrating the outdoors with family.
Wash Up
Cross-contamination happens when juices from raw meats or germs from unclean objects touch cooked or ready-to-eat foods, causing bacteria to spread. Keeping food and cooking utensils properly washed and separated can reduce your risk of food poisoning.
•Start with the grill. Wash it and make sure it's clean before you turn it on.
•Wash your hands. Not just before eating, but also before, during and after preparing food. You can also use antibacterial moist towelettes outside for the grill master to but hand washing with hot soapy water is best.
•Don't use the same utensils for cooked and raw foods. Wash tongs and other utensils before use. Don’t use the same utensils for raw and cooked foods (use a separate, clean pair). Same goes for serving platters, cutting boards and basting brushes.
Cook with Care
Forget about relying on 20/20 vision to let you know when the hamburger or the chicken is done. Eyeballing it is a quick way to end up sick from undercooked meat. For example, when it comes to hamburgers, looks can be deceiving. According to foodsafety.gov, about one out of four hamburgers will turn brown prematurely before they've reached the safe internal temperature of 160 degres Fahrenheit. Make sure you use a food thermometer to determine when dinner is ready.
Don't Let Food
Sit Out
Perishable foods shouldn't sit out longer than two hours at room temperature. But if the weather is hot—90°F or higher—discard the food after one hour.
Instead of leaving food outside it is recommended to serve it dinner plate style. That is, keep the food inside where it might be cooler (if you have air-conditioning) and dish it out on plates, rather than buffet style outside. That can not only help to reduce the risk of foodborne illness but actually might even help with portion size and calorie consumption.
Keep Leftovers Safe
Keep an eye on the time, and make sure you get food put away promptly. You have the one hour/two hour rule and then you want to refrigerate it as fast as you can.
Store food in airtight, shallow containers (about two inches deep) and put it in the right place. Make sure you categorize your refrigerator appropriately, and that is to make sure that any cooked food doesn’t come into cross-contamination with any raw food. Put raw food in a container to catch any drippings and place it on the bottom of the fridge. Cooked or ready to eat foods should go on top And monitor the time that left overs are kept. Three to five days is the maximum to keep left overs. Follow the rule when in doubt, throw it out. Also to prevent foodborne illness, left overs must be heated to the correct internal temperature just as when cooking.

Recipes:
Watermelon Salad with Feta, Balsamic and Mint
Ingredients:
-2 Cups Watermelon, chopped into one inch cubes
-1/2 Cup Feta cheese, crumbled
-2 Tbsp Fresh mint, chopped
-Drizzle of balsamic vinegar or dressing
Directions:
1. Combine watermelon, feta, and basil. Lightly drizzle with balsamic vinegar. Serve immediately, or refrigerate until serving (no more than an hour or two).
Sweet Potato-Potato Salad
Ingredients:
-2 cups medium diced sweet potatoes
-1/2 cup raisins
-2/3 cup finely diced red onion
-1/3 cup finely diced celery
-2 teaspoons freshly grated ginger
-1/2 cup plain yogurt
-1 tablespoon finely chopped parsley
-Salt and Pepper to taste
Directions
Cook potatoes until they are fork tender in boiling water. Drain the potatoes and cool them completely. Soak the raisins in hot water for 15 minutes and then drain. Combine all the ingredients and mix them thoroughly, but gently. Chill for 24 hours before serving.
Jennifer Duhon, MS, RD, LDN Nutrition Extension Agent Evangeline, St. Landry, RapidesParish LSU AgCenter, Evangeline Parish Extension Office 337-363-5646.