I seem to gravitate toward magazine articles that refer to ideas about cooking healthy. After all, a recipe can be tasty and still be healthy. According to a Japanese study, cooking and preparing a home-cooked meal once a week can help to decrease your chances of developing dementia by 27% and also helps to preserve memory. This is because the act of chopping, measuring and preparing your recipes engages various parts of one’s brain all at the same time. So, I guess you can say that cooking is good for you!

For those with no interest in cooking, playing games through various AARP apps is also recommended to keep our minds sharp.

Sweet and Sour Meatballs

Consumers often buy bags of meatballs in the local grocery store; the trouble is you never know what you are getting. This Sweet and Sour Meatballs recipe is very tasty and worth the time it takes to make it for your family. This recipe can be divided up into two meals. Simply put half of the meatballs in a freezer quart bag for another meal.

Ingredients

1 cup bread or cracker crumbs

1/2 cup milk

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup green pepper, chopped

1 pound lean ground beef

1/2 teaspoon pepper

Sauce Ingredients

1/2 cup chopped onion

6 tablespoons sugar

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup catsup

2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

2 tablespoons white vinegar

Instructions

Mix all ingredients well. Form into walnut-size balls. Place meatballs in a greased casserole dish. In a separate bowl mix sauce ingredients together. Pour mixture over meatballs. Bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees. Makes 50.

Fiesta Corn Salad

If you have a garden, this would be a great time to utilize fresh ingredients such as fresh tomatoes, corn and cucumbers. Also, this might be one of those recipes that is good for your mind with all of the cutting and chopping.

Ingredients

1 15 ½-ounce can whole corn, drained

1 cup fresh tomato, chopped

1 cup peeled cucumber, chopped

1 cup celery, chopped

1/2 cup green or sweet red pepper, diced

2 green onions, sliced

1/2 cup bottled Italian salad dressing

Instructions

Combine all ingredients. Chill several hours before serving. May add 1/4 cup vinegar and 1/4 cup sugar instead of bottled dressing. Makes 4 to 6 servings.

Freezer No-Cook Pickles

Have some extra cucumbers and wondering what to use them in? These No-Cook Pickles give the best flavor of fresh cucumbers and vinegar you can find.

Ingredients

7 cups cucumbers, thinly sliced

3 onions, finely chopped

1 green pepper, chopped

2 cups sugar

1/2 teaspoon celery salt

1 tablespoon pickling salt

1 cup white vinegar

Instructions

Chop onions and peppers. Peel and slice cucumbers. Mix all ingredients together and pack into containers or freezer quart size bags and freeze.

Applesauce Bars

These applesauce bars are moist, and the applesauce helps keep them that way. This is actually a quick recipe to make. If you are short on time, you can simply use a powdered sugar icing drizzled over top rather than the brown butter glaze.

Ingredients

1 cup applesauce

2/3 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup vegetable oil

2 eggs

2 cups biscuit baking mix

1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

1/2 cup chopped nuts

Instructions

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 13-by-9-2-inch cake pan. Beat applesauce, brown sugar, oil and eggs in a large bowl, using a mixer on medium speed for 1 minute, scraping the bowl occasionally. Stir in baking mix, pumpkin pie spice and nuts. Spread in pan. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Cool. Spread with Browned Butter Glaze. Cut into bars. Makes 3 dozen bars.

Brown Butter Glaze Ingredients

1/4 cup margarine or butter

2 cups powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 to 2 tablespoons hot water

Glaze Instructions

Heat margarine over low heat until golden brown. Remove from heat. Beat in powdered sugar and vanilla. Stir in water 1 teaspoon at a time until smooth and of desired consistency.

Loretta Krahling is a columnist with over 39 years of newspaper experience. If you have a favorite recipe you would like to share or have any questions, email them to Loretta at krahling93@gmail.com.