A Taste for the Unexpected

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County employee finds inspiration in Thrive Across America healthy recipes

HHSA Associate Accountant Yuncie Danque celebrated her birthday in February with a special "birthday cake." Co-worker Therese Riis constructed the cake out of jumbo shrimp and salad because she knew Danque was trying to limit her carbohydrates and eat healthy.

Yunice Danque already eats light. She tries to avoid processed foods and instead chows on raw, healthy fare. Lettuce and tomato salads are a staple in her diet.

The 53 year old HHSA associate accountant is quite active, too, taking Zumba, swimming and other classes at her Pacific Beach gym five to six days a week.

Still, like many, she’s always looking for new ways to improve her health, after being diagnosed with high cholesterol and high blood pressure a few years ago. Earlier this year, Danque signed up for the County’s Thrive Across America program. She hoped to find inspiration when it came to exercise—and she did. Through the program, participants traveled from Maine to Hawaii on a virtual route based on the amount of exercise they logged in online. The program ran from July through September. She made it across the country a few times.

What she didn’t expect was to pick up so many new ideas for healthy eating. Each day, the Thrive Across America program sent her an email with a new recipe. She has tried most of them, printing them out and collecting them in a binder that she keeps at her desk at work. When she wants to try a new one, she makes a copy and brings it home.

Danque said she especially liked the recipes with unexpected ingredients. Her favorites? Chicken and blueberry pasta salad and artichoke and ripe olive tuna salad. She now makes both regularly.

“They’re unusual and really good,” she said.

Danque wanted recipes for high fiber foods, because of their ability to lower cholesterol. The chicken and blueberry pasta salad calls for whole wheat pasta, for example, and the artichoke hearts in the artichoke and ripe olive tuna salad are both high in fiber. Sometimes Danque wraps the tuna salad in lettuce instead of bread to cut down on carbohydrates.

The recipes have pushed her to explore new foods too. She hadn’t ever cooked with herbs like thyme or tarragon. And she’d never used kale or char, a type of fish, before this. 

Danque’s aim was to “maintain (her weight) and keep food interesting and not boring,” she said. And healthy.

How does she plan to eat healthy through the holidays?

For Thanksgiving, Danque brought a healthy dish to her family gathering: oven roasted grape tomatoes, prepared with salt and pepper, chive and rosemary and drizzled with olive oil. She found the recipe on Martha Stewart’s website.

Sure, Danque said she still likes foods like mashed potatoes and gravy. She just doesn’t eat as much of it anymore.

 “My focus has changed,” she said, saying she is “healthier altogether and more active.”

Plus, when it comes to dishes like roasted tomatoes, “you don’t have to work them off as hard.”  

 

Here are two of Danque’s favorite new healthy recipes:

 

Artichoke and Ripe Olive Tuna Salad

Makes 5 servings

Active time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 15 minutes

Course: Lunch/Dinner

Ingredients:

  •          1 12-oz. can (or two 6 oz. cans) of chunk light tuna, drained and flaked
  •          1 cup of chopped, canned artichoke hearts
  •          ½  cup of chopped olives
  •          1/3 cup of reduced fat mayonnaise
  •          2 tsp. of lemon juice
  •          1 ½ tsp. of chopped fresh oregano or ½ teaspoon dried

Directions:

Combine tuna, artichokes, olives, mayonnaise, lemon juice and oregano in a medium bowl.

 

Chicken and Blueberry Pasta Salad

Makes 4 servings

Active time: 30 minutes

Total time: 30 minutes

Course: Lunch/Dinner

Ingredients:

  •          1 lb. of boneless, skinless chicken breast, trimmed of fat
  •          8 oz. of whole wheat fusilli or radiatore
  •          3 tbsp. of extra virgin olive oil
  •          1 large shallot, thinly sliced
  •          1/3 cup of reduced sodium chicken broth
  •          1/3 cup of crumbled feta cheese
  •          3 tbsp. of lime juice
  •          1 cup of fresh blueberries
  •          1 tbsp. of chopped fresh thyme
  •          1 tsp. of freshly grated lime zest
  •          1/4 tsp. of salt

 Directions:

  1. Place chicken in skillet or saucepan and add enough water to cover; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to low and simmer gently until cooked through and no longer pink in the middle, 10 to 12 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a cutting board to cool. Shred into bite-size strips.
  2. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Cook pasta until just tender, about 9 minutes or according to package directions. Drain. Place in a large bowl.
  3. Meanwhile, place oil and shallot in a small skillet and cook over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until softened and just beginning to brown, 2 to 5 min. Add broth, feta and lime juice and cook, stirring occasionally, until the feta begins to melt, 1 to 2 minutes.
  4. Add the chicken to the bowl with the pasta. Add the dressing, blueberries, thyme, lime zest and salt and toss until combined.