There are lots of methods and techniques to learn when healthy cooking. Some healthy cooking is hard and some is not. Read along to gain access to great tips, regardless of your skills at the moment.

Always bake pie and tart crusts for longer than the recipe specifies for best results. They should be a light golden brown instead of pale in color. The color on your pie signifies that the caramelizing process is complete in your crust, yielding a scrumptious dessert.

Garlic can add a tremendous amount of flavor to your food. However, when you are cutting and chopping fresh garlic, it can also leave its odor on your hands. After you have finished doing your prep work with the garlic, run your hands along the stainless steel interior of your sink. This handy trick cleanses your hands so the smell will not be transferred to what you are going to touch next.

Save time and money by freezing leftover sauce in ice cube trays in the freezer. You can easily take them from the freezer when needed for a meal, and quickly reheat in a saute pan. Don’t worry, your sauce will taste great even after having been frozen.

Chicken Stock

When you are making chicken stock, think in terms of high volume. Instead of making just what you need, make a huge pot so you have some to freeze and use later. You can use that delicious chicken stock in stews, casseroles, and soups. To preserve your stock for future use, just simply make sure that it is stored in heavy duty freezer bags and frozen solid. This way the stock should keep for several months or so.

If you are trying to lose weight or lower your cholesterol, try to decrease the amount of fat in your diet. Oil and butter both have fat that is often unnecessary. A nonstick healthy cooking spray will suffice and is not as unhealthy.

When healthy cooking with garlic, use the freshest bulbs you can find. Freshness heightens the possibility that the garlic will be sweeter tasting. Fresh garlic will have firm skin and will not be bruised or soft to the touch.

Place salad dressing off to the side of a salad, instead of on top of it, when serving salad to guests. It is much better to let guests add the amount of dressing that they prefer according to their needs. Make sure you have a selection to choose from.

Don’t take the bone out of a roast if you need to cook it quickly. This will allow your meat to cook faster as the bone will warm up the inside quicker. When the roast is done, just cut it off the bone before serving.

Every six months to one year, replace spices that have grown dull. If spices are kept open for too long a time, they will eventually lose their flavor. So, make sure that when you buy new spices go ahead and give half to either a friend or family member if you feel you aren’t going to use all of it soon.

Healthy Cooking

Organization while healthy cooking is necessary in order to avoid disasters, like under done or burnt food. You can be more productive, if your healthy cooking station is well organized. Being disorganized means having difficulty finding things and quite possibly ruining an entire dish, wasting valuable time and money!

For dishes such as macaroni and cheese, follow the instructions carefully. The dish turns out perfectly when you follow the recipe, and is absolutely delicious when the velvet, soft cheese sauce melts on top of the macaroni. Serving macaroni and cheese is done just fine with a solid face spoon. Shake a little pepper on your macaroni to add some spice.

When healthy cooking, be creative. Following a recipe word for word and teaspoon for teaspoon is not always what healthy cooking is about. A recipe can be greatly improved upon if you add a little of this, or take away a little of that. That is the definition of a true cook!

When cutting herbs, sprinkle a little salt onto your chopping board first. Doing this not only adds some flavor, but it also ensures that the herbs are right where they need to be, which is on the board. Don’t over-salt your foods. The salt will stick to the herbs, adding some extra flavor to your dish.

Here are two better ways to warm tortillas. The first way requires you to place them into a preheated oven, at 350 degrees, and bake them to your liking. You can use the flame of a gas stove to warm up a tortilla directly. When you use these methods, your tortillas will taste crisp and fresh.

You can learn to cook in brine. To get good poultry taste in your meal, you should soak turkey, chicken, or even duck in brine about one hour prior to the meal preparation.

A wonderful way to make the most of the stray meat and vegetable items left over from other dishes is to cook up some fried rice. It is best to use cooled off day-old rice, though if you need to make fresh rice, put in less water so that your rice will be on the drier side. It helps to first fry meats and vegetables prior to adding rice and spices such as soy sauce and garlic.

Add spices to meals after they are cooked. You can use garlic powder, cayenne, or salt and pepper for seasonings. Most people only like certain spices. Don’t add them while healthy cooking; offer spices after you’ve made the meal so everyone can customize the taste for themselves. This way, everyone can season his meal to taste.

Many a fine meal has been ruined by over-complicating the recipes or methods. By keeping it simple, you can create healthy and quick meals that taste really good. Using the guidelines here, you can have a good understanding of how to cook making each meal better than the previous one.