Tapas Time! Add Some Sunshine
to Winter Meals
With Spanish Cooking

(HealthCastle.com) With cold winter days come cravings for filling foods. Stews, chilies, and casseroles are often filled with potatoes, ground meat, and cheese. Why not add some sunshine, and a bit of health punch, by preparing tapas-style meals? In Spain, tapas are small plates of food that are served each time you order a drink. Most Spanish people go for tapas before dinner, since they eat dinner very late in the evening. But this interesting Spanish tradition can be a fun way to create a meal with lots of variety and add some new, rich flavors to a cold winter evening meal.

Top 5 Tapas-Style Dinner Ideas for Cold Winter Days

1. Tortilla
   

   Not at all like a Mexican tortilla, a Spanish tortilla is a thick potato and onion omelet, served cold. The eggs are an excellent source of protein, the olive oil offers the good monounsaturated fats, and the onions and potatoes provide Vitamins B6 and C, as well as fiber. Traditional recipes use up to a quarter cup of olive oil per serving, but this can easily be reduced to a tablespoon or two. Calories and cholesterol can also be reduced by using only egg whites instead of whole eggs.

2. Avocado, shrimp, and tomato salad
   

   As simple as it sounds, this is a deliciously creamy dish made of mashed-up avocado topped with shrimp and cherry or grape tomatoes, with a little fresh ground pepper to top it off. The avocado has more than 20 vitamins and minerals, including high levels of potassium, folate, and fiber, plus good monounsaturated fats; the tomatoes are high in Vitamins C, A, and Vitamins K, plus they contain lycopene (a carotenoid with many health benefits); and the shrimp offers protein and Vitamin B12.

3. Callos
   

   The traditional version of this chick-pea-based dish is made with tripe (a cow's stomach lining), but a healthier version that's more appealing to North American palates can be made with extra-lean ground pork instead. Cook the pork thoroughly, then saute with garlic, onion, tomato sauce, and chick peas until you have a thick stew. Serve with green peppers on top. This chick peas and pork provide protein, and the onion and tomato sauce offer the benefits described for the dishes above. The garlic and pepper add a kick of Vitamins C and B6, plus fiber.

4. Champiñones al ajillo (Mushrooms with garlic)
   

   "Al ajillo" can be a term to watch out for in restaurants. It means "with garlic," but the garlic is often added by cooking with loads of olive oil. In this case, though, a splash of wine and some lemon juice reduce the amount of olive oil needed, even in traditional recipes. Just saute the mushrooms and garlic in a small amount of olive oil, then add the wine and lemon juice and simmer until the mushrooms are soft. Mushrooms are a good source of fiber and B vitamins.

5. Swiss chard with raisins and pine nuts
   

   This is a simple saute dish, and a great way of packing loads of nutrition into a small serving. Swiss chard is a good source of Vitamins A, C, E, K, and B6, plus calcium, iron, and fiber; raisins offer potassium and fiber; and pine nuts offer protein and alpha-linolenic acid, which is good for your heart. But be careful with this dish - the raisins and pine nuts, while healthy, bump up the sugar and fat content, so keep the servings tapa-sized.