Some Top Tips for Healthy Cooking

hanging the way we cook our food can have a dramatic effect on our health. If we make wiser choices with our food and the way we cook it, we can significantly reduce our risk of contracting cancer and heart disease.
1. Invest in non stick pans - With quality non-stick pans you can get away with not using oil at all or by using a low fat cooking spray. For more help visit to: www.cooking-chinese-style.com.You can also 'fry' some foods in a little water to prevent them sticking. If you have to use oil, use olive oil and pat food with kitchen roll after cooking to remove excess oil.

2. Look through your recipes collection for diet recipes and low fat recipes. Cook them in batches and freeze so that you always have a healthy meal option available.

3. Steam or stir-fry vegetables - Cooking them using these methods will help the vegetables to retain their nutrients, color and taste. Look for healthy recipes like Chinese stir-fries and invest in a wok and steamer. You can buy Chinese bamboo steamers, which just sit on top of a pan of boiling water, or you can buy electric steamers. You can get a good electric steamer for less than the cost of one meal out and the ease of use is a real time saver.

4. Use olive oil - Replace other oils or a fat with olive oil which is mono-unsaturated oil and actually helps to reduce cholesterol. Make your own salad dressings from olive oil and balsamic vinegar to give your salad a Mediterranean taste and this will be lower in fat than commercial salad dressings. Search online for free recipes using olive oil. Some muffin recipes use olive oil or corn oil instead of solid fats.

5. Use fat free milk in cooking and baking to cut the fat content of your healthy recipes.

6. Replace fat in baking - Look for low fat recipes for cakes and biscuits or replace half the fat in recipes with pureed prunes, yogurt or mashed banana. Search for diet recipes for sweet treats.

7. Use fat-free yogurt or crème fraise instead of using cream for pouring on dessert recipes or fruit.

8. Add more vegetables to casseroles and soups and use fresh or frozen vegetables rather than canned.

9. Don't add salt to food - Season food with herbs, spices, and garlic and lemon juice instead of salt.

10. Trim visible fat off meat and use lean meat in your low fat recipes. For more help visit to: www.delicious-candy-recipes.com.Cut down on how much red meat you consume and replace with fish and chicken or turkey.


Remember, cooking and eating healthy food is not hard work and definitely not expensive. If you play your cards right you can change you whole family's diet and they won't suspect a thing.
That isn't to say that they won't notice anything though, because they will - they may well notice that they are losing weight, feeling better and getting fewer minor illnesses.

Healthy Cooking Appliances in the Home

Home chefs have turned to healthier methods of preparing meals and using healthy cooking appliances in that effort. For more help visit to: www.150-venison-recipes.com.While still incorporating the use of pots and fry pans to prepare certain dishes, other meals are possible when home cooks change over to using smaller home appliances to cook foods for the family. Some families have grown closer because healthy cooking appliances are easy to operate by many members of the family.

Foods cook quicker with the healthy cooking appliances in the home. Families no longer have to worry about grease splattering because the healthy cooking appliances do not require oils or any type of cooking grease to release foods from cooking surfaces. The non-stick surfaces in many healthy cooking appliances have allowed home cooks to prepare beautiful dishes because the non-stick coatings allow the foods to brown evenly.

With the introduction of cooking oil sprays, all foods prepared with healthy cooking appliances are noticeably less greasy than meals cooked with oils. These sprays have been proven effective when cooks decide to cook outdoors. All meat types cook thoroughly and evenly on a metal grid and with the cooking sprays in place; families no longer have to worry about any type of meat sticking to the surface. Baking in the oven turns out perfect every time when non-stick sprays are used in the pan and healthy cooking appliances such as toaster ovens will reduce electrical costs.

Whichever cooking method home chefs decide to use, there are healthy cooking appliances that will turn out superb meals every time. Many home appliances are designed with vented cooking surfaces that allow fats from foods to fall through. Foods are healthier when they are not allowed to cook in natural grease but some home chefs continue to use this cooking method because of the flavor these greases add to food products when they are finished cooking.

Cooking time has been significantly reduced with the aid of healthy cooking appliances. Table top grills allow home chefs to cook both sides of meat at one time and the cooking time saved is allotted to creating other healthy food items for the family to eat. A complete meal can be produced in less than an hour with the healthy choices in cooking appliances sold in stores across the United States. Families can incorporate the use of crock pots to cook while nobody is home to watch them because these healthy cooking appliances require no stirring.

Certain home appliances took the early lead in preparing healthy meals for the entire family. Microwave ovens are healthy cooking appliances because they require no oils to cook meals and fat can be easily drained from foods when cooks place paper towels underneath. These healthy cooking appliances cook foods faster than any other appliance and allow every member of the family the opportunity to prepare certain foods that will be served at a gathering. For more help visit to: www.cheese-cake-recipes.com.Safety is never an issue with healthy cooking appliances because covered dishes have been designed that will prevent splatters and spills from occurring.

Find the right balance of ingredients to create a succulent meal

A healthy dish is the first start to cooking a great meal and about finding the right balance of ingredients to create a succulent meal, which will leave your taste buds craving for more gourmet meals. If you have always dreamed of becoming a culinary chef there are endless possibilities in making your dreams come true. You can take advantage of cooking schools located across the world which will provide you with the tips and pointers on how to make a great meal. It is about knowing how and when to baste turkey to make moist and juicy or how to sift your flour to get your biscuits nice and fluffy. All of this and more you can learn from an accredited cooking school based on the fundamentals of cooking to help master your culinary feats. Most cooking schools will provide you with the understanding that getting started isn't easy and will provide you with information and resource so you don't feel overwhelmed about cooking. Cooking is enjoyment in life and indulging in fine foods that enhance your senses to a new level. For more help visit to: www.classic-dessert-collection.com.You should love every minute of cooking and enjoy the time and preparation it takes to make the perfect meal. A healthy dish is the first start to cook a great gourmet meal and will leave you feeling good about yourself after you are full from a dish of nutritious value. It is about taking the time to invest in the research to help you succeed in cooking in the right cooking school that will teach you the important basics to healthy eating. Cooking is a lifestyle and you should understand the basics of nutritious content in each meal you cook. At the cooking school you select they should keep you motivated to explore new dishes and try new flavors in all of your meals. For more help visit to: www.delicious-candy-recipes.com. A great chef understands the value of a good recipe and the right resources to make you're cooking great. It is about taking the time to learn the small tricks to enhance the flavors of your foods, and how to cook them slowly to bring out the best taste in aromatic spices. Almost all cooking schools are accredited throughout the world and will train you to be the head chef of your own fabulous restaurant. They will not only teach you the necessary skills to making a great meal but also provide the basics to running your own business. If you are ready to make a career choice in cooking you need to do the research to decide which school is right for you and how it will help to be the best chef in your own restaurant. The valuable resources you will learn from cooking school are priceless in teaching you about the necessary tasks to succeed at being a great chef in your own home or restaurant. They understand the importance of cooking and love to cook themselves which is why they provide you with the best resources to learn to cook satisfying meals.

Some Healthy Cooking Recipes for Your Families

When it comes to cooking healthy meals for our families, there is always some degree of dissention among the ranks. The good news is that there are recipes that are very healthy but the healthy nature of these recipes is somewhat disguised. What they do not know in these instances truly should not bring harm their way outside of allergies, which should never be ignored.

Healthy cooking is often difficult as most of us do not want to spend time planning and preparing meals that our families refuse to eat. At the same time, we want our families to be healthy so we feel compelled to learn new and improved ways of cooking healthy foods for our family to enjoy and unfortunately in some cases scorn.

With weight and nutrition being known as the culprit in so many health conditions it is impossible to ignore the importance of not only eating healthy ourselves but also of teaching our children the importance of eating healthy. One way to insure that your loved ones are in fact eating healthy is to make sure that you are cooking healthy and nutritious foods for them. This does not mean that you cannot enjoy the occasional calorie splurge or even that you shouldnt. The key to cooking healthy is learning to control portions and understanding the importance of moderation.

For those that are hoping to incorporate healthy cooking habits into their daily routines, there are no more resources available than ever before in order to assist you in those endeavors. You can seek the services of a professional nutritionist, your doctor can offer advice, for more details visit you can find all kinds of books on healthy eating, cooking, and living at your local library, and the Internet is an outstanding source of all kinds of information when it comes to leading a healthier lifestyle all around.

There are many books and magazines that are filled with recipes that encourage healthy cooking and eating habits. If you truly love to cook, for more details visit to then there is no shortage of recipes that you can try out along the way. The really good news is that you can incorporate healthy cooking into your cooking routine whether you are cooking for one or a household of ten.

There are many that will argue that cooking healthy food costs more than cooking the prepackaged foods that pack on the calories and additives. The truth of the matter is that when you compare the costs with the medical bills of the future for failing to do so, they seem rather slight by comparison. Yes, good food costs more money. In many cases, that is a simple fact of life. However, by learning portion control and eating the proper portions you just may discover that you are actually spending less as you adjust to the proper amounts of food you should be consuming in order to maintain a healthy and active lifestyle.

Cooking healthy isnt an overnight change; it is a lifestyle change that should be implemented one step at a time. You do not have to go into your kitchen and through out every little thing that you deem unhealthy only work to not buy more of these items once theyve been used. Make wiser decisions when purchasing fats for food preparation and you will discover that youve made a vitally important step in the process of incorporating healthy cooking and eating habits in your home.

Its those small steps you take towards your goal of cooking healthy foods for your family that will matter far more than any giant leap. Before you know it you will find that you all have more energy and a better sense of overall health than you would have imagined before changing your cooking habits. If that isnt enough to encourage you however, you can always check out the excuse to go shopping for new clothes after you drop a size or two.

Want A Healthy Diet? Try Smoked Salmon!

As the new year begins, it's a time when many of us are committing to resolutions to better ourselves and our lives. Of course, these are deeply personal commitments, but if you're like me, almost every year, at least one of your resolutions has to do with eating a healthier, better diet, or with exercise Often, we make these resolutions without really putting the effort that we need into getting them done. Eventually we give up, saying we'll put them on our list for next year. But this year, let's really go for it, and change our diet to reflect our healthy lifestyle. Small changes, like trying smoked salmon, can make all the difference.

When you read that I think you should try gourmet smoked salmon, you were a little surprised, right? Isn't smoked salmon supposed to be a taboo food, something you eat when you're cheating, not something you eat as part of a healthy diet? In fact, smoked salmon is just a way to prepare salmon itself, which as you know, is healthy for you, and a good part of a healthy diet. Smoked salmon is often served in a way that is less than healthy, but on it's own, it is not unhealthy, in fact, just the opposite.

When you make salmon a part of your diet, you can be rest assured that it's one of the healthiest fishes out there. And as you try smoked salmon, don't worry. The smoking process is what gives the fish it's great rich flavor, and awesome texture, but that doesn't add to the calorie count at all. In fact, an equal portion of smoked salmon has less calories than steak. And more importantly, it has less calories than baked chicken, a diet staple. This means that it is a healthy and smart option.

When you're ready to try natural smoked salmon, you'll also be making your diet a healthier one, just by eating it. Not only is smoked salmon low in calories, salmon is also an excellent source of omega three fatty acids. When you consume these acids, they have been found by doctors to be excellent for maintaining heart health. They're so good for you, in fact, that they are now added as a supplement to other foods. But you can find them naturally in smoked salmon.

As someone who wants to try smoked salmon as part of a healthy diet, you'll of course be interested in recipes. You'll be happy to note that many smoked salmon recipes are simple and fast. For example, you can make a satisfying smoked salmon pasta in under twenty minutes. All you'll need is to add smoked salmon chunks and some light olive oil to get a great meal. Smoked salmon also tastes great in a sandwich.

When you're really serious about turning your diet around, it's time for you to try smoked salmon. It's a great way for you to give the protein in your life some variety, and also eat something that's good for you in many different ways.

Eat Healthier and Drink Organic Coffee

In today's world, environmental issues and the health of our families have become growing concerns. We have to take action to persevere our environment for future generations. At the same time, increasing health risks demand we have to ensure that our future generations are around to enjoy the environment we are working so hard to protect. Enter organic food products. Not only do our families receive the benefits of eating healthier foods, the farmers who grow organic crops cause indisputably less damage to the environment.

Certified Organic

During a routine visit to the grocery store you can find organic products on most of the shelves. From cereal to pastas, and all in between, more suppliers are providing organic alternatives for all of the food we commonly consume. With all of this new merchandise available, what assurance do consumers have that the suppliers are genuinely providing organic products? Look for products that are certified organic. The United States requires farmers to be certified by an accredited agency sanctioned by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Requirements for certification include farming without prohibited substances like synthetic pesticides.

Don't Forget the Organic Coffee

When you are out shopping for healthy products, don't forget organic coffee. Conventional coffee is sometimes processed with chemicals like methylene chloride, which has been found to be harmful for central nervous system and potentially carcinogenic, or ethyl acetate, which is possibly harmful to the central nervous system, liver, and kidneys. Organic coffee uses the SWISS WATER® process and is much safer and healthier for your family. Data from the Organic Trade association estimates that U.S. consumers purchased over $110 million worth of organic coffee products in 2006. It is also estimated that approximately 65 million pounds of organic coffee were imported in 2007 with a 33 percent annual growth rate. Data also shows that organic coffee's global sales reached about 148 million pounds in 2006.

Organic coffee is grown without the use of synthetic fertilizers or pesticides. Organic farming also ensures that the products are free of genetically modified organisms, which ensures a safer, healthier organic coffee. Coffee product that contains 95 to 100 percent organic ingredients and were grown by certified organic farmers will feature the USDA organic seal. Peru is the top exporter of organic coffee, followed by Ethiopia, and Mexico but there are actually 40 different countries around the world that also export it. Organic coffee accounts for over two-thirds of all organic products produced in Mexico, proving to be the highest percent of land used to grow crops except for vanilla.

Since its establishment, Nectar of Life Coffee Co. has become representative of exceptional gourmet organic coffee. They are an extraordinary company that has remained firmly embedded in the principles of ecological and social responsibility. Nectar of Life chooses only the finest Arabica coffee beans from Fair Trade suppliers for the production of their organic coffees. Not only are they USDA and Fair Trade certified organic coffee roasters, they are also certified kosher. Fair Trade is a beneficial social movement that alleviates global poverty and promotes social sustainability, especially for developing countries seeking self-sufficiency.

Nectar of Life is certified in accordance to USDA Organic guidelines as well as a registered coffee roaster with the Vaad HaRabanim of Greater Seattle, Swiss Water, and TransfairUSA. They are committed to selling only the best and whenever possible, they purchase shade grown organic coffee beans. Shade grown, organic coffee beans not only produce a more robust flavor, they also assist in providing suitable habitation for birds. Bird Friendly certification is available through the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center for farmers who meet inspection and certification requirements.

Healthy Dark Chocolate

hen people think of chocolate the thought that comes to mind is that sweet creamy taste. What most don't think about or know about is the health benefits. Now the chocolate that studies are showing that is healthy in small quantities is dark and not made with milk or drank with milk. Why? Good question.

The reason being is that milk neutralizes the large amounts of antioxidants present in dark chocolate. These antioxidants are what eat up free radicals, those are the destructive molecules that are shown to be present in heart disease and other illnesses.

Recently there were two studies done to see how much the dark chocolate affected mild high blood pressure.

The first study consisted of six men and seven women who were just diagnosed with mild high blood pressure. The ages of these individuals were between 55-64. The average blood pressure was 153 over 84.

The top number is called the systolic, the pressure of which the blood enters the heart. The bottom is called the diastolic, the pressure of which the blood leaves the heart.

Every day over the course of two weeks, they ate a 100-gram candy bar. Now a 100-gram piece of chocolate is about 480 calories so they were told to balance this caloric intake by not eating other foods similar in nutrients and calories. On top of this the the group of people were divided by half were given dark chocolate and the rest got white chocolate.

Those who got the dark chocolate had a noticeable drop in their blood pressure by an average of 5 points on their systolic number (top number) and an average of points on the diastolic number (bottom number). Meanwhile the ones' who got the white chocolate had no such drop in their blood pressure.

The second study was conducted on twelve healthy people, consisting of seven men and five women. Their ages ranged from 25 to 35.

On different days they were given 100 grams of the dark chocolate. Then the other days they were given 100 grams of the chocolate with a small glass of whole milk, or with 200 grams of milk chocolate.

An hour later their antioxidants were measured in their blood. The ones' who ate just the dark chocolate had the highest level of antioxidants. They also had the highest levels epicatechin in their blood. Epicatechin is a healthy compound found chocolate.

Meanwhile the group who ate milk chocolate or dark chocolate with milk had the lowest epicatechin levels.

Now chocolate is made from plants, therefore it contains a lot of the health benefits of dark vegetables. Chocolate gets it's benefits from the flavonoids in it.

These flavonoids act as antioxidants. Flavonoids help in the blood pressure because flavonoids help in the production of nitric oxide. Which in turn help balance certain hormones.

In other words what experts are discovering that a small amount of dark chocolate introduced into the diet is beneficial. But too much of a good thing is necessary good either.

There are those calories to think about. So add a small amount of the darkest chocolate you can find or handle since the darker the chocolate the more flavonoids the better.

But remember to balance those calories but cutting out foods similar in nutrients and calories.