Blog Posts by The Editors of EatingWell Magazine

Fall brings the arrival of one of my favorite fruits: pomegranate. When the round red fruits start popping up in my grocery store I buy a few and take my time enjoying the sweet juicy seeds inside. I like to eat sweet pomegranates plain, juice them, or use the fruit in savory pan sauces and salads (see two of my favorite recipes below).

My habit of indulging in pomegranates this time of year is easily justified by research that suggests pomegranates are just as healthy as they are beautiful and tasty.

I learned about some of pomegranate's many health benefits when I read an article by one of our contributors, Joyce Hendley, in the December issue of EatingWell Magazine. Here are some of the highlights:

• Most studies link pomegranate's benefits to its powerful punch of polyphenols-including anthocyanins (found in blue, purple and deep-red foods) and tannins (also found in wine and tea). In a study published earlier this year, researchers found that compared with other

Maple-Roasted Sweet PotatoesAre you traveling this Thanksgiving? Many of us are and, while the host will be doing most of the cooking, you can be one of the most popular diners at the table if you offer to bring one of our travel-friendly recipes for a delectable side dish.

Plus, bringing a dish to share ensures you'll have something to eat that won't bust your hard-earned figure. Most of the sides on the Thanksgiving table probably won't be healthy options. Common calorie- and fat-laden offenders: marshmallow-topped sweet potatoes and green beans swimming in sodium-rich canned soup.

I've gathered healthy EatingWell recipes and travel tips for three of the most popular side dishes on Thanksgiving menus:

1. Sweet Potatoes

Who needs marshmallows when a touch of all-natural maple syrup can transform sweet potatoes into something even more sublime? TRAVEL TIP: Make the day before. While the turkey rests, reheat at 350°F until hot, about 15 minutes.

Maple-Roasted Sweet Potatoes

Makes 12

With such a tough economy, I'm wondering whether I should spend a bigger chunk of dough on a special turkey for Thanksgiving dinner, or if I should stretch my dollars by buying a cheaper, conventional bird.

In the EatingWell Test Kitchen, we decided to find out how that choice would affect taste at the table. We roasted more than 20 turkeys, including all-natural and conventional birds, while preparing our Thanksgiving story and found that conventional birds (with added salt solution) do stay moister, but if you're watching your sodium intake, avoid them.

Some things to consider about different types of birds:

• Conventional birds are often "pre-basted" or "self-basting," meaning that the turkey is injected with a solution that can contain broth, stock, water, seasonings, salt and/or other flavor. This can account for up to 3 percent of the net weight of the bird. The label must include all of the ingredients in the solution.

The Broad-Breasted White-the breed of

Frozen Pumpkin Mousse PieThanksgiving is just a few weeks away and I'm already thinking about pumpkin pie. Last year in EatingWell Magazine we ran a Frozen Pumpkin Mousse Pie (see recipe below) that got fabulous responses from our readers. They couldn't believe how easy it was to make and how delicious it tasted.

The ultra-easy technique is to stir together pureed pumpkin along with low-fat vanilla ice cream and all the right pumpkin-pie spices. Then spread that filling in a pie crust and put it all in the freezer to set up. Super-simple.

The best news about this delicious Frozen Pumpkin Mousse Pie? How healthy it is compared to regular pumpkin pie. Check out these stats:

EatingWell Frozen Pumpkin Mousse Pie:

• 230 calories
  
• 5 g fat
  
• 1 g saturated fat
  
• 42 g carbohydrates
  
• 4 g protein
  
• 2 g fiber
  
• 179 mg sodium

Regular Pumpkin Pie:

• 484 calories
  
• 33 g fat
  
• 20 g saturated fat
  
• 43 g carbohydrates
  
• 6 g protein
  
• 3 g fiber
  

This time of year, cinnamon is finding its way into a number of my favorite fall recipes. And there's a surprising health benefit you may not know about! Add a pinch of this spice to drinks and foods because cinnamon may help to better regulate blood-sugar levels.

Even if you don't have diabetes, I think it's worth knowing about the potentially positive impact of cinnamon on blood-glucose levels. This is welcome news to people with diabetes and those who cook for people with diabetes, plus there's a chance the spice may help prevent diabetes! Here are the highlights on cinnamon's health benefits, from Rachael Moeller Gorman's article in EatingWell Magazine:

• Cinnamon may help lower blood-glucose levels. In a study of 14 healthy people, scientists at Malmö University Hospital in Sweden gave half the subjects rice pudding mixed with about 3 teaspoons of cinnamon; the other half got an unspiced version of the dessert. Then, they switched: each group tried the opposite pudding.

Honey Oat Quick BreadEven if you don't like to cook, making soup and bread can be satisfying and comforting. When I first started dating my husband I was shocked to find out that although he rarely actually cooked, he had a favorite bread recipe, by James Beard no less! (How did he even know who James Beard was?) And on top of that, he had even been known to FedEx baked loaves of bread to his favorite relatives around the country.

To warm up against the cold weather I'm digging out a few homemade bread recipes and classic hearty soup recipes-my favorites are bouillabaisse, mulligatawny and cream of mushroom (see recipe below). To make these soup recipes healthier I added extra vegetables and slimmed down on ingredients like fattier cuts of meat and heavy cream.

I love to pair these soups with easy, versatile bread recipes from Nancy Baggett, expert baker and the author of numerous cookbooks. The kneadless olive bread is a yeast bread that is "kneaded" with an electric mixer (either a hand-held

Spiced Hot CiderMy friends and I had so much fun eating and talking during our presidential debate get-togethers that I decided to host an Election Night party so we could all watch the returns and celebrate our wins or mourn our losses.

I scoured hundreds of healthy EatingWell recipes to plan this all-American Election Night menu-a meal that Democrats, Republicans, even Independents, Libertarians and Green Party sympathizers will all agree is delicious.

Here's what I'm serving:

In case it's a chilly night (or the kind of night where my friends need comforting, depending on how their candidates do), I'll offer guests mugs of Spiced Hot Cider to warm up.

Bring 4 cups apple cider, 1 cinnamon stick and 5 whole cloves to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Add 1/2 cup applejack (apple brandy) and 2 tablespoons cinnamon schnapps. Garnish with a cinnamon stick and serve hot.

Hot Artichoke Dip is a perennial party favorite-our version uses lots of artichokes for lots of

Black Bean-Smothered Sweet PotatoesI'm trying to regain control of my life (or more specifically, my time). I really don't have time to make complicated dinners, especially since I have a two-hour commute each day. But, being a food-lover, I want a dinner that tastes delicious-without all the time and prep.

This rushed weeknight dinner dilemma, or some variation of it, probably sounds familiar to you too. So to make things a little simpler I've vowed to plan ahead and make weeknight dinners that are ready in 20 minutes or less.

I can feel next week getting lighter already. Here's what's on the menu starting Monday:

MONDAY: If you have a microwave, Black Bean-Smothered Sweet Potatoes are ready in a mere 20 minutes and boast a whopping 450% daily value of vitamin A, plus vitamin C and fiber. Oh, and did I mention they're utterly delicious? Here's the recipe:

Black Bean-Smothered Sweet Potatoes

For a quick and satisfying last-minute supper, it's hard to beat a sweet potato zapped in the microwave.