3 Tips for Healthier Cooking Methods

-

Cooking has become a hobby for most of us in this time of 2020: Where we are all stuck at home for most parts of the day. We have started becoming creative in new ways to save ourselves from boredom attacks! Now, you suddenly have the urge to finish all the arts and crafts projects that have neglected for the last 6 months, we finally get our green fingers into the garden and move around the furniture you've been meaning to do.  And, of course: We spend more time in the kitchen cooking up a storm! But, how can we still put our health first? How do we ensure our cooking methods won't end up sticking to our hips? We must enrich our minds to learn what to choose and what to avoid... By sticking to these 3 easy tips, you will definitely be on the track to staying healthy!

Tip #1: CHOOSE THE METHOD

The actual method is the biggest influence of how healthy your meal will be: IF you choose to deep fry EVERYTHING - the recipe will not be as healthy as when you choose to pan-grill some items while leaving others raw... You get where I'm going with this! 

Mix and match various methods in your meals to get exciting flavors! Pan-grill your chicken breast; pair it with steamed broccoli and oven-roasted pumpkin slices... Yummy! Here are some methods you can include:
  • Steam - This works for most vegetables, fish and some meats
  • Boil - This works for our starches like rice, pasta and vegetables like carrots, potatoes
  • Oven-roast - This works excellently for most foods: Meat, chicken, vegetables like pumpkin, sweet potato and so on, fruit - for a healthy dessert
  • Leave it raw - Various vegetables can be left raw and still taste wonderful! For example carrots, green beans, spinach, butternut, onion and mushrooms. Remember to wash it very well before eating it! 
  • Pan-grill - Use smaller amounts of oil, but still get that great texture. Choose less processed oils: Olive oil, canola oil, raw/pure sunflower oil. Avoid cooking with butter, avoid trans fats.

Tip #2: CHOOSE THE FLAVORINGS 

By choosing how you flavor your food, you also have a choice to make the meal healthier! Here, the biggest culprit is SALT and PRESERVATIVES. Avoid using salt but stock up on flavor! How can you do that? 
  • Use herbs and spices; plus get the correct pairings of which foods to flavor with which herb/spice.  Here are some great herb-food combinations to remember!
    • BASIL - Most vegetables especially anything with tomatoes
    • MINT - Lamb, salads, homemade ice tea
    • ROSEMARY - Butternut, potatoes, chicken, stews, lamb, pork
    • THYME - Chicken, eggs, vegetables
  • Boost the taste using natural flavorants like: Onion, garlic, tomato, peppers, chili, black pepper and white pepper etc. 
  • As mentioned above, by using different methods, you can also change the flavor: Grill the onions this time; next time use them raw... This grants you different flavors!

Tip #3: CHOOSE THE SAUCE 

Most sauces are hidden fat, salt and high energy culprits. We usually forget to count them as part of the meal, forgetting that they are usually packed with unhealthy ingredients. Here are some tricks to choose the healthiest way to use sauces in your meals! 
  • Avoid cream based sauces or highly processed sauces. These sauces are unnecessarily high in saturated fat. 
  • Choose to rather make your own sauces for cooking, using lots of vegetables; or choose vegetable-based sauces (tomato or onion based sauces)
  • Avoid double-saucing: Limit adding sauces both while you're busy cooking AND afterwards while eating. Make your own salad dressings and pasta sauces. 
Follow these easy, simple tips the next time you're in the kitchen! And spend your days as healthy as possible. You can pop over to our recipes to find exciting cooking inspiration for the next meal!


For more inspiration and cooking tips, you can get your Easy Wholesome Recipes E-book here! 

Popular posts from this blog

TOP 5 FOOD SWAPS FOR A HEALTHIER YOU

-
Image
To follow a healthy lifestyle doesn’t always have to be “life changing” habits and extreme routines. Sometimes, a little goes a long way. I want to show you some small changes that you can make now. Smarter choices here and there can ultimately help you to reach your health goals: maybe you want to lose weight, prevent high blood pressure or just feel like you’ve got more energy! Let’s take a look at how we can make small changes for BIG impacts! 1. MILK & DAIRY PRODUCTS A small, easy change you can make is: YOUR MILK and DAIRY PRODUCTS: Change from full cream or full fat, to low fat/medium fat milk and dairy products. It won’t affect the taste or any nutrients -only difference is the fat content will be lower leading to lower energy content as well! BONUS! 2. FOOD PREPARATION  Food preparation is also a huge culprit of unhealthy habits, that we tend to overlook when trying to be healthier. Instead of deep frying everything in loads of oil, try to measure the amo
Read more

Healthy Banana Bread

-
Image
Easy, moist and insanely delicious banana bread recipe.      Makes 12 servings • Time: 1 hour Ingredients 3 ripe bananas 2 eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla essence 2 tablespoons oil (any oil) 5 tablespoons honey (or ½ cup sugar) 1 cup flour 1 cup oats 1 teaspoon cinnamon 1 teaspoon baking powder ½ cup pumpkin seeds & sunflower seeds Method Preheat the oven to 180°C. Line a bread pan with baking paper or lightly spread butter on the inside to prevent the bread from sticking/burning to the sides. In a large bowl: Mash the bananas to form a mushy mixture. Add the eggs, vanilla, honey and oil and mix it well. In a separate bowl: Mix dry ingredients: Flour, oats, cinnamon, baking powder and seeds. Then mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Make sure to thoroughly mix the dough. Pour the dough into the lined bread pan. Bake it in the oven for about 45 minutes or until the tester comes out clean (poke a knife in the center, if it comes out clean = it is ready!). The banana bread should
Read more

How to Eat for Health!

-
Image
Phytonutrients 101 Would you believe me if I said your grocery basket is the new day’s equivalent to your pharmacy shopping? As Hippocrates said, “Let food be thy medicine, and medicine be thy food’. This where the current nutritional train of thought is blasting full steam ahead. Of course, Hippocrates was WAY ahead of his time, but scientific research based on long term studies, have now actually confirmed his statement. I think that is pretty amazing, well done Hippocrates! Food comprises of the exciting abilities to protect us from diseases. It is obvious that certain foods would increase your risk to suffer from a certain disease later in time (think of the good old salt will give you high blood pressure, sugar will give you diabetes type 2 and so on). With those statements, we aim to decrease the intake thereof to protect us from the illness. But now, it works in the other way around: We now aim to INCREASE CONSUMPTION TO PREVENT DISEASE. Before you get carried away, let’s lo
Read more

IBS Explained

-
Image
When talking about IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) we are actually referring to a cluster of symptoms which occur together. It is also known as “spastic colon” due to the spasm-like cramps experienced. With IBS, the person experiences symptoms of extreme cramps; bloating and constipation which may also then be followed by bouts of explosive diarrhoea. These symptoms vary in severity and may be worsened with STRESS. Just another wonderful kickback of STRESS (yes, smell the sarcasm there!). HOW DOES IT HAPPEN? When we eat food, it travels to the stomach, through the body to the digestive tract - first through the small intestine (important absorption takes place) and eventually it reaches the COLON. By now, the “food” can be referred to as “stool”. Sometimes, the stool is too hard and will “clog” the colon causing the stool to come to a complete stop in its travels (a.k.a constipation). When the stool is just lying in the colon, it starts to be fermented by the good bacteria we have in
Read more

Stuffed Sweet Potato Recipe

-
Image
    Makes 4 servings • Time: 30 minutes Ingredients 2 large, whole sweet potatoes Lentils (1can, drained) 1 tablespoon mixed herbs 2 tablespoons tomato paste 1/2 cup grated cheese Method Preheat the oven to 200°C. Meanwhile, in a large pot, boil the whole sweet potatoes for 15 minutes until they are soft, but still quite firm. Once done, remove from the water and cut them in half. Scoop out some of the fleshy insides to make  a slight hole. In a sauce pan, heat the lentils, mixed herbs and tomato paste over medium heat. Mx it well. Place the halved sweet potatoes on a baking tray. Scoop a few spoons of the lentils onto the sweet potatoes. Sprinkle some grated cheese over. Bake in the oven until the cheese is melted and golden. Enjoy with a fresh salad on the side.                      Marna's handy tips The lentils can also be mixed or replaced by mince meat. For a pure vegetable dish: The filling can be replaced by corn, carrots and peas.   For more inspiration and cooking
Read more