Healthy Cooking and Recipes

Healthy cooking does not have to mean boring food. In fact many recipes can be altered to make them into healthy alternatives without losing flavor. Armed with just a little knowledge and a clear goal, you can eat most of your favorite foods and still keep a healthy diet.

Eating healthy tastes great

Choosing a lower fat cut of meat can drastically reduce the fat in a recipe. If you are interested in healthy cooking, and the recipe you have calls for chicken thighs, try using chicken breasts instead. A three-ounce portion of skinless chicken thigh has 2.6 grams of saturated fat and 9.2 grams of total fat. Skinless chicken breast will have 0.9 grams of saturated fat and 3.0 grams of total fat. Simply using skinless chicken breast will reduce the amount of fat in your meal and that is healthy cooking.

Another way to reduce fat is to avoid butter. In many recipes, substituting oil for butter will reduce the amount of fat. Rather than adding butter to your asparagus after it is cooked, you can try this recipe. Drop your asparagus into a pot of boiling water just long enough for it to start to get tender, about a minute. Then quickly take it out of the boiling water and drop it into a bowl of ice water. This is called blanching and it partially cooks the asparagus without removing all of the valuable vitamins and nutrients. Drain the asparagus so it has a chance to dry. Get a large frying pan good and hot, and add some olive oil to it. Quickly sauté the asparagus adding a touch of salt, pepper and some crushed garlic.

Often, when taking the fat and salt out of recipes, we end up with bland food. Healthy cooking and recipes can easily add flavor back to your food by using many different herbs and spices. Your local market will have a large selection to choose from, or you can order them on-line.

If your recipe calls for mushrooms, consider sautéing them first to add a more intense flavor. If the recipe calls caramelized onions, try cooking them first over a low flame with a little oil until they turn a rich brown color. Infused oils and vinegars are also a great way to add flavor to a salad.

Take a look at your recipe and ask yourself what you can substitute to make it healthier. With just a little effort you can practice healthy cooking and recipes that can always be changed to suit your needs. In this example we have substituted the sugar with a Splenda baking blend that will reduce the sugar content by half. This recipe originally called for an egg yolk. By replacing it with one tablespoon of ground flax seed whipped with a quarter cup of boiling water you remove all the fat from the egg yolk. Instead of butter we used vegetable oil.

• 3/4 cup of Splenda baking blend
• 2 tablespoons of grated lemon zest
• Juice of two lemons
• 1 3/4 cup of all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 6-ounces vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon of ground flax seed whipped with a quarter cup of boiling water until thick
• 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract

In a mixer, blend the lemon zest and Splenda until thoroughly mixed. Add the flour, baking powder and salt. Mix until completely incorporated. In a small bowl mix the lemon juice, flax seed and vanilla. Add to the dry ingredients and mix until it becomes a dough; about two minutes. Turn the dough out onto a board and knead until smooth. Shape the dough into a log about an inch of a quarter thick, roll onto parchment, or wax paper, and refrigerate for two hours. Pre-heat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper, or spray them with a non-stick spray. Cut the dough-log into rounds of 3/8's of an inch thick. Place them on the cookie sheets about an inch apart. Bake the cookies for 14 to 18 minutes, or until the edges are golden brown.

You can glaze them with a glaze made from:

• 1 tablespoon of light cream cheese
• 2 tablespoons of lemon juice
• 1 1/2 cups of sugar replacement

Beat until smooth, wait until the cookies are cool, and spread one teaspoon of glaze on each cookie.

There should be more vegetables on your plate. Meats should be less prominent on the plate. Try to think of the meat in the meal as a side dish, and the greens as the main part of the meal. As you explore more vegetable recipes, you will see that the greens on your plate are not just there for color. Vegetables are a major part of healthy cooking, and they should be first on your shopping list, as well as on your plate.

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