Archive for the ‘food’ category

Heart Healthy Tips For Cooking

January 19th, 2012

Are yоu fond оf cooking аt home? Here are sоmе heart healthy tips fоr cooking. It’s essential to use healthy and nutritious ingredients and most of all, follow a preparation routine that iѕ both healthy and heart-friendly. Whenever you make, cook and prepare homemade meals, thе advantage is you hаve mоrе control оver the оverall healthfulness and nutritional content of thе foods that yоu eat. Best оf all it’s cost-effective, it will enable уou tо save money!

Follow thesе heart healthy tips for cooking so thаt уou cаn turn уour kitchen intо а heart-healthy hub оf уоur home:

1. Instead оf usіng salt tо flavor yоur foods, uѕe healthy alternatives lіke vinegar, herbs, onions, low-fat оr fat free salad dressings аnd sauces, аs wеll аѕ tomatoes for bеttеr health. This wіll benefit most еspecіally thоѕе who havе high cholesterol аnd blood pressure levels.

2. Preserve the colors and nutrients іn thе vegetables bу cooking them quickly through stir-frying or steaming.

3. Use уоur freezer аnd уour time wisely. You саn make yоur foods last longer bу preparing ample meals to last for ѕevеrаl оther meals. Once cooked, set аsіdе a portion аnd freeze it ѕо thаt yоu саn have а ready-made nutritious treat fоr yоur family whenеvеr you arе simply too tired to bother cooking.

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Easy And Healthy Slow Cooker Meals

May 5th, 2010

People seem to think that healthy crack pot meals are boring and flat. Some also believe that preparing them is time-consuming and difficult. This kind of thinking is what we are here to change. We want to share with you healthy crack pot meals that you and your family will surely love.

First, we want to share with you a healthy chicken crock pot meal we call the chicken cacciatore. In Italian, the word cacciatore refers to a hunter. In a kitchen setting, this word simply describes a meal prepared “hunter-style” with onions, mushrooms, herbs, tomatoes, bell pepper and sometime wine. So, in preparing this dish, we need three pounds of skinless bone-in chicken thighs, 14 ounce of diced tomatoes with Italian seasoning, six ounce of canned tomato paste, half a cup of chicken both. To add more flavor to the dish, bring in some sliced onions, three cloves of minced garlic, and chopped bell peppers. To complete the dish, we need one-fourth cup of dry red wine. Don’t forget the salt and pepper to season it.

As soon as you get every ingredient on the kitchen table, simply place all these ingredients in a 3-4 quart slow cooker. Then cover and cook the chicken on low heat for 6-8 hours. It’s as simple as that. You can serve this with hot cooked pasta or rice depending on what you are craving for.

One of the healthy crock pot meals that you’ll surely find flavorful is the slow cooker pork roast and vegetables. This dish is a collaboration of pork sirloin roast with vegetables seasoned with all spice and apple butter.

For this easy-to-make and healthy crock pot meal, we’ll use three pounds of boneless pork sirloin roast, four peeled sweet potatoes, three tablespoons of prepared horseradish, a tablespoon of cornstarch and two acorn squash. To give the dish a unique taste, we’ll need half a cup of apple butter, half a teaspoon of ground allspice, and quarter of a teaspoon of pepper.

To get started with this dish, heat the oil in a heavy skillet. Then add the pork roast. Occasionally turn it until all its sides are brown. While you’re cooking the pork roast, cut squash into 8 wedges. Make sure that you remove the seeds. Without peeling the sweet potatoes, cut them into chunks and place them in the crock pot. Then, put the browned pork roast on top. The next step is mixing together the apple butter, horseradish, cornstarch, all spice and pepper. Then slowly pour the mixture into the crock pot.
Let it simmer for about seven to nine hours until the pork and vegetables are tender.

Now, we have two lovely healthy crock pot meals that would certainly change the way you look at healthy foods. If you are thinking of what to serve on a Sunday night, do away with the regular two-minute meals that you could prepare with your microwave. Give your family a chance of experiencing these heavenly yet healthy crock pot meals.
So let’s both get to the kitchen and start cooking.

Low Calorie Style for Healthy Food

April 15th, 2010

If you are one of the many people that have decided to take the low calorie leap, you are probably at a loss as to where to find recipes to cook. It is great to want to eat healthier, but sometimes you need a little guidance. If you need help finding recipes, low calorie style, here are few simple ways to locate recipes and shake up the recipes you have.

The easiest, most convenient way to find recipes, low calorie style, is to look on the internet. The information superhighway has thousands of recipes that you can access with a few clicks of the mouse. You can start your hunt by typing “recipes low calorie” in the search engine and watch the possibilities pop up. Just going through these sites will keep you more than busy and stocked up on ideas for sometime. However, if you want more, there is plenty more out there. Another idea is to look at specific websites that are focused on food preparation or have a recipe section. Look up your favorite cooking television show in the internet and see if they have a website. You would be surprised how many publish recipes they have aired or plan to air in the near future.

You can also take a stroll down the magazine aisle at your local store. There are hundreds of magazines that feature recipe sections. Pay special attention to magazines about women, family, and the home. Even if they are not specifically about cooking, many will at least throw in a few recipes. “Woman’s Day” is a perfect example of a magazine that targets women but always has several recipes inside, usually those that are low calorie.

Once you have done the first two suggestions, you should be swimming in recipes, more than you could cook in a year! However, there are still more available. If your thirst for recipes, low calorie style, is still strong, it is time to hit the bookstore. Be prepared � there are roughly a billion books of cooking. Luckily, there are only several million on low calorie cooking. That may be an exaggeration, but it certainly will not seem so when you make it to the cookbook aisle! Try to focus on the healthy cookbooks so you will not be distracted by all the others on the market. Scan through a few books and look for something that may look good. This is mostly trial and error unless there is a specific chef or series of books you are interested in.