Steamed Vegetables are Healthy, but
But, they are boring!
Many diets will instruct you to steam your vegetables so they retain the most nutrients and that is fine. The problem is, when you serve them it’s necessary to load them up with butter or margarine to make them taste good.
This defeats all the good you have done by steaming them.
Here’s an approach that will give you the nutrients from steaming, but also eliminate the tendency to load them up with fats and oils at the table…
Salad Dressings
I know that we don’t count calories on this site, but just for giggles flip that bottle of creamy dressing over. Here’s what I found:
Adding that egg…
I love eggs.
But, we all know they are high in fat and cholesterol.
And for that reason, whenever I eat any eggs, I want them to look like eggs on my plate. Fried, or sunny, or poached… you get the idea. If I decide to splurge and consume a little more fat and cholesterol than I normally would, I want it to look and taste like an egg.
In other words, there is no reason to use real eggs in recipes like meatloaf, cesar salad, pancakes or any other meal.
So, what do you do when the recipe calls for “1 egg”?
Cooking with Oils
Whenever we can, we use olive oil in our recipes. Olive oil has a stronger, fruitier taste than many other oils, so it’s not suitable for recipes with delicate flavors or to use in baking.
There are several reasons we try to use olive oil whenever we can. Studies have shown that substituting olive oil, a monounsaturated fat, for saturated fats or polyunsaturated fats can:
- Reduce blood pressure
- Inhibit the growth of some cancers
- Benefit people at risk for or with diabetes
- Lessen the severity of asthma and arthritis
- Actually help your body maintain a lower weight
There are a couple things you must remember when using any oil…
Groound Meat: Beef vs. Turkey
We all know ground turkey has much less fat than hamburg does. So, we’ve tried replacing the hamburg in many recipes with turkey. Some work out well, and others… not so good.
Have you tried substituting ground turkey for hamburger in any of your recipes? If so, there are two issues that usually arise:
- The texture of ground turkey is so different than ground beef. When you take a bite of ground turkey is feels much “softer” in your mouth. To many people this is not a problem, but for some it just doesn’t “feel” like meat. I don’t think it’s that bad, but I’ve heard other people say they feel like they are eating tofu.
- Ground turkey has much lest taste than beef. When it’s obvious to all that your recipe is turkey, not beef, then you may have a problem feeding that dish to your family.
The goal is to use ground turkey in your recipes, but have no one notice. Not that the feel and taste of ground turkey is bad; your recipes tasted good beef, they should not taste different now.
Here’s what to do to remedy that…