Manage Busy Spring Schedules with Simple, Nutritious Bowls

(Feature Impact) When jam-packed calendars and seemingly constant takeout orders get you down, diving into a fresh way to rethink homecooked meals can get you and your loved ones into a better-for-you routine.

Close your favorite food delivery app and instead break out the bowls for simple yet nutritious recipes that are equal parts filling and fresh. Easily prepped ahead of time, dishes like Chicken and Rice Bowls with Peanut Sauce provide powerful protein and flavor without the hassle. For added pizzazz, drizzle with extra peanut sauce and squeeze a dash of lime juice.

Or put a tangy twist on a traditional chicken bowl with these Greek-Inspired Power Bowls featuring homemade tzatziki made with Dandy Celery, a naturally sweeter, crispier and less stringy alternative to other celeries. Celebrating its 100th anniversary, it delivers the ultimate snack time (or dinner) crunch and flavor, offering a satisfying complement to sliced chicken, mixed greens, whole-grain quinoa and Kalamata olives.

An added bowl-inspired bonus: These family-friendly recipes can be personalized for taste preferences so no one goes hungry.

Rethink your family’s menu with more quick, nutritious recipes to alleviate the stress of hectic schedules by visiting DudaFresh.com.

Chicken and Rice Bowls with Peanut Sauce

Recipe courtesy of The Produce Moms
Prep time: 7 minutes
Cook time: 5 minutes
Servings: 2

Creamy Peanut Sauce:

• 1 1/2    tablespoons soy sauce
• 1          tablespoon freshly squeezed lime juice
• 2          teaspoons rice vinegar
• 1          teaspoon honey
• 1/4       cup creamy peanut butter
• 1          tablespoon toasted sesame oil

Bowls:

• 1          tablespoon olive oil
• 1          cup cooked, shredded chicken
• 1          cup cooked brown or jasmine rice
• 1          cup Dandy celery, julienned
• 1          cup shredded carrot
• 1/2       medium English cucumber, thinly sliced
• 1/4       cup unsalted roasted peanuts, coarsely chopped
• lime wedges, for serving

1. To prepare peanut sauce: In small bowl, whisk soy sauce, lime juice, rice vinegar and honey. Add peanut butter and sesame oil. Whisk vigorously until sauce is completely smooth and creamy. Set aside.
2. To prepare bowls: In nonstick 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat, heat olive oil until simmering. Add shredded chicken and about 3 tablespoons peanut sauce. Stir constantly to coat chicken and heat through, about 3 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.
3. To assemble rice bowls: In deep serving bowls, add cooked rice. Top with warm chicken covered in peanut sauce. Arrange celery, carrot and cucumber around chicken. Top with peanuts.
4. Drizzle remaining peanut sauce over bowls. Serve with lime wedges to squeeze over bowls.

Greek-Inspired Power Bowls

Recipe courtesy of Anastasiia de la Cruz
Prep time: 20 minutes
Cook time: 15 minutes
Servings: 2

Celery Tzatziki:

• 1          cup plain, full-fat Greek yogurt
• 1/2       cup finely chopped Dandy celery
• 1          tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 1          tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1          small garlic clove, finely grated
• 2          tablespoons chopped walnuts (optional)
• salt, to taste
• pepper, to taste

Bowls:

• 2          cups mixed greens
• 1 1/3    cups cooked, gluten-free, whole-grain quinoa
• 2          large grilled chicken breasts (about 6 ounces each), sliced
• 1/2       cup hummus
• 1/4       cup Kalamata olives, halved
• 1          tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling
• fresh herbs, for garnish

1. To make celery tzatziki: Mix yogurt, celery, olive oil, lemon juice, garlic and walnuts, if desired. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Stir well. Chill.
2. To assemble bowls: In two bowls, layer greens and cooked quinoa evenly. Top with grilled chicken.
3. Spoon 1/4 cup hummus on side of each bowl. Add olives, 2-3 tablespoons tzatziki and drizzle with olive oil.
4. Sprinkle with fresh herbs.

    <img src="https://ssl.google-analytics.com/collect?v=1&amp;tid=UA-482330-7&amp;cid=1955551e-1975-5e52-0cdb-8516071094cd&amp;sc=start&amp;t=pageview&amp;dl=http%3A%2F%2Ftrack.familyfeatures.com%2F17834%2F10247&amp;dt=MANAGE-BUSY-SPRING-SCHEDULES-WITH-SIMPLE-NUTRITIOUS-BOWLS" />
<img src="https://erp.featureimpact.com/api/v1/tracking/17834/10247/track.gif" />

SOURCE:

Duda Farm Fresh Foods

Last Updated on March 10, 2026 by Daily News Staff

Siti Nuraisyah Suwanda, West Virginia University; Emily Tanner, West Virginia University, and M. Paula Fitzgerald, West Virginia University

It’s February, and you grab a box of cheap Valentine’s chocolate from the grocery store on your lunch break. Later, you’re eating it at your office desk when you realize someone else is watching. Suddenly, you feel a flicker of embarrassment. You hide the box away, make a joke or quietly wish they hadn’t noticed – not because the chocolate tastes bad, but because you don’t want to be judged for choosing it.

If the scenario above feels familiar, you’re not alone. Many people experience subtle embarrassment or self-consciousness about everyday consumption choices, from eating cheap Valentine’s chocolate to accepting free lunch from a school food program or having visible tattoos.

We are social marketing researchers who study stigma in marketing. In our research, we coined the term “consumption stigma” to describe how people can be judged or looked down on by others, or by themselves, simply for using certain products – even when there’s nothing objectively wrong with them.

Living with consumption stigma

When people feel judged for what they consume, or choose not to consume, the effects can be mentally exhausting. Feeling stigmatized can quietly erode self-esteem, increase anxiety and change how people behave in everyday settings. What starts as a small moment of embarrassment can grow into a persistent concern about being seen the “wrong” way.

In reviewing 50 studies about stigma in marketing, we found that people respond to consumption stigma along a continuum. Some try to avoid stigma altogether by hiding their consumption or staying away from certain products. Others adjust their behavior to reduce the risk of being judged. At the far end of the spectrum, some people actively push back, helping to destigmatize certain forms of consumption for themselves and for others.

The research we reviewed found that to avoid stigma, people may deliberately consume more expensive or socially approved alternatives, even when those choices strain their finances. Imagine someone who switches to a premium chocolate brand at the office, not because she prefers the taste, but because she wants to avoid feeling embarrassed.

Over time, this kind of adjustment could pull people into spending patterns that are beyond their means, feeding a cycle of consumption driven more by social pressure than genuine need or enjoyment. We suggest that the ramifications can be even more stark in other contexts – for example, when a child skips a free school lunch to avoid being teased, or when a veteran turns down mental health support because they fear being judged by others.

From a business perspective, when consumers avoid or abandon products to escape stigma, companies may see declining demand that has little to do with quality or value. We suggest that if consumption stigma spreads at scale, the cumulative effect can translate into lost revenue and weakened brand value.

Understanding consumption stigma, then, isn’t just about consumer well-being; it’s also critical for businesses trying to understand why people buy, hide or walk away from certain products.

Take back the narrative

Stigma often feels powerful because it masquerades as reality. But at its core, consumption stigma is a social judgment, a shared story people tell about what certain choices supposedly say about someone. When that story goes unchallenged, stigma sticks. When it’s questioned, its power starts to fade.

One way people reduce stigma is by reclaiming the narrative around their consumption. Instead of hiding, explaining or compensating, they openly own their choices. This shift from avoidance to acceptance can strip stigma of its force.

Advertisement

Imagine a shopper who embraces buying cheaper store brands at the grocery store, seeing it not as a compromise but as a sign of being savvy to pay less for the same thing. When people wear their choices like armor, whether it’s cheap chocolate, secondhand clothing or specialized physical or mental health services, those choices lose their sting. When a behavior is no longer treated as something shameful, it becomes harder for others to use it as a basis for judging or looking down on people.

Of course, stigma doesn’t disappear overnight. But research shows that when enough people stop treating a behavior as something to hide, the social meaning around it begins to change. What feels embarrassing in one moment can become normalized in the next. For example, research on fashion consumption has shown how wearing a veil, once widely stigmatized in urban and secular settings, gradually became seen as ordinary and even fashionable as more women openly adopted it.

Enjoying cheap chocolate shouldn’t require justification. Cold water tastes just as good out of an unbranded travel mug as it does from a Stanley tumbler. A generic sweatshirt keeps you just as cozy as Aritzia. And yet, many people feel the need to explain, deflect or upgrade their choices to avoid being judged. Understanding consumption stigma helps explain why and underscores that these feelings aren’t personal failures, but social constructions.

Sometimes, the most effective response isn’t to consume differently, but to think differently. When people stop treating everyday choices as moral signals, they make room for a more humane – and hopefully honest – marketplace.

Siti Nuraisyah Suwanda, Doctoral Student and Graduate Researcher in Marketing, West Virginia University; Emily Tanner, Associate Professor of Marketing, West Virginia University, and M. Paula Fitzgerald, Professor of Business Administration, West Virginia University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Last Updated on March 10, 2026 by Daily News Staff

We present two recipes for tomato soup, one quick recipe and one for the slow cooker. There are two choices for a delicious time at the dining table.

Savory Tomato Soup: A Simple Recipe!

Ingredients:

• Crushed Tomatoes
• Onions
• Butter or Olive Oil
• Garlic
• Vegetable Broth

Cook the onions in the butter

• If you prefer vegan, use oil instead.
• Don’t brown the onions
• Wait until bubbles form

Add the garlic and tomatoes

• Add garlic first
• Soften it a bit
• Then add a can of crushed tomatoes

Add the vegetable broth

• Leave the pot uncovered
• Cook for 30 minutes
• Use a blender to make it smooth

Slow Cooker Recipe

Ingredients:

-2 (14.5 ounce) cans diced tomatoes
-1 (14.5 ounce) can chicken broth
-1 (14.5 ounce) can vegetable broth
-1/2 cup diced onion
-1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
-1/2 teaspoon dried basil
-1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
-1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
-1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
-1/4 cup heavy cream

Instructions:

1. Combine the diced tomatoes, chicken broth, vegetable broth, onion, garlic powder, basil, oregano, black pepper, and red pepper flakes in a slow cooker.
2. Cover and cook on low heat for 6-8 hours.
3. Once the soup is cooked, stir in the heavy cream.
4. Serve with your favorite toppings. Enjoy!
5. Check out these recipes for Savory Tomato Soup:
6. https://www.food.com/recipe/savoury-tomato-soup-414409
7. https://www.thissavoryvegan.com/roasted-garlic-tomato-soup/

For more recipes and information on Food and Drinks, visit https://stmdailynews.com/category/food-and-beverage/recipes/ for the latest articles.