COLLEGE STATION – The Dinner Tonight program of the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service is celebrating American Heart Month this February by announcing that the American Heart Association has certified over 70 of its recipes with its Heart-Check mark.

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The Dinner Tonight program emphasizes healthful, easy-to-make and cost-effective meals for busy families.

Heart-Check certification is designed to make it easier for people to identify heart-healthy dishes and make more informed choices about the food they eat. The mark indicates recipes meet Heart-Check nutrition requirements that limit saturated fat, trans fat, sodium and added sugars, and promote consumption of beneficial nutrients.

To qualify for this certification, a dish’s nutritional profile must also comply with federal regulations for coronary heart disease health claims.

All Dinner Tonight recipes are developed and maintained according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture dietary guidelines, said Odessa Keenan, AgriLife Extension program manager based in College Station. Keenan said Dinner Tonight recipes also focus on providing a minimum of 10 percent or more of the minimum daily requirement for fiber, vitamin D, calcium, iron or vitamin K per serving.

“Through the Dinner Tonight program, we want Texans to feel confident that they’re eating healthy,” she said. “We are proud to offer healthy recipes that are not only delicious but many of which also meet the American Heart Association’s Heart-Check certification requirements.”

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Dinner Tonight recipes follow USDA dietary guidelines. (Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service photo)

Keenan said adding the Heart-Check mark to designated Dinner Tonight recipes is an appropriate and meaningful way to celebrate American Heart Month.

“The American Heart Association and Dinner Tonight program share the common goal of helping people eat healthier,” she said. “We have always been committed to offering healthy recipes, and now when Texans see the Heart-Check mark they can be certain they are doing the best for their health — and their family’s health.”

Keenan said Dinner Tonight provides busy families with quick, healthy, cost-effective recipes that taste great, along with video demonstrations on cooking tips and techniques, nutrition topics, menu planning basics and information on healthy living, The program also provides weekly video demonstrations on cooking tips and techniques, nutrition topics, menu planning basics and information on healthy living.

For more information on the Dinner Tonight program and its American Heart Association Heart-Check certified recipes, go to https://dinnertonight.tamu.edu/.

Writer: Paul Schattenberg, 210-859-5752, [email protected]
Contact: Odessa Keenan, 979-458-7449, [email protected]

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