Healthy Cooking is a vital skill that requires time to learn, regardless of whether you have a large family, or if it’s just you. Being able to cook delicious, healthy dishes has many health, nutritional, social and financial benefits. Here we will discuss a few tips that can make your healthy cooking experience a pleasant one.
All of the prep work can be done ahead of time. Save time by doing the prep work before you begin healthy cooking the meal. Having a deadline for an important meal or event can become quite stressful when you are starting from scratch. Prepare your food in advance if you want to minimize the stress that you feel.
Thin Strips
To make it easier for you to slice meat into thin strips, you should partially freeze it. Certain dishes require thin strips of beef, chicken or pork. When you freeze meat, it makes the slicing much cleaner because it prevents the meat from being as flexible. For the most even healthy cooking, you should let the strips thaw before you cook them.
In the fall, apples are often used for healthy cooking, but if the fruit is incorrectly stored, it will spoil very quickly. Dry warm air rots apples, so keep them cool in a basement or loosely wrapped in the fridge. However, you will still need to keep a watchful eye on your apples. Even properly stored apples can spoil. They’re a fickle fruit.
To make your French fries crispier, let the raw potatoes soak for about half an hour in cold water prior to frying. The soaking process will reinforce the vegetable fibers, and they will be better able to withstand heat when you fry them.
Healthy Cooking
Sometimes, your burgers can stick onto the grill. This makes removing them extremely difficult or impossible without compromising their shape. Try brushing vegetable oil on the healthy cooking surface prior to healthy cooking so that food does not stick.
Always use an airtight container to store baking ingredients such as sugar or flour in the kitchen. Airtight containers offer the advantages of keeping bugs out of your food products and keeping your food fresh for a longer period of time. These are carried in many stores and make a wise investment.
Always get the freshest garlic available when you have a recipe that calls for it. The fresher the garlic, the sweeter the taste. Fresh garlic is hard, not wrinkled, or mushy-feeling.
You should consider replacing your spices about twice a year. When spices sit around for too long, they tend to lose flavor. If you purchase spices that you know are not used often in your home, give some to a family member or friend.
You should be as organized as possible when healthy cooking to avoid burning food and other mistakes, which could be costly. Just like with anything you do, the more organized you are, the more productive you will be. Being disorganized means having difficulty finding things and quite possibly ruining an entire dish, wasting valuable time and money!
Do not forget to add salt to water for making pasta. Seasoning will impregnate the pasta more efficiently while it cooks. If you try to salt the pasta after it is already cooked it will not hold the seasoning as well.
To add another dimension to homemade pasta sauce, use a little leftover pasta water. Reserve a small quarter cup portion of the water you cook the pasta in after you cook it. When you combine the sauce and the pasta, add this little amount of water to the mix. Starch in pasta water has a thickening effect on your sauce, making it seem creamier.
Good cutting utensils are imperative to own for maximizing functionality in the kitchen. Sharp knives will save you time, and are actually safer to use than dull ones. More accidental cuts occur when using a dull knife, instead of a good sharp one.
Store all spices and herbs in dry, dark and cool conditions to get the maximum amount of flavor from them. Spices will rapidly lose flavor if exposed to heat, light or humidity. Exposing the spices to these kinds of conditions can enable them to lose their flavor.
Take the time to educate yourself about ingredients that you are not familiar with. By reading up on it, you might be surprised at how versatile a new type of food can be. Learning about the foods you’re healthy cooking with will make the healthy cooking experience more enjoyable.
Potatoes come in many different varieties, and you can’t always substitute one for another. Waxy potatoes are great for boiling and potato salads while other potatoes are better for making french fries, baked potatoes and mashed potatoes. When making those foods, potatoes which are fluffy, like Russets, are best.
Explore the benefits of using a brine in your healthy cooking. Soak goose, turkey, chicken or duck in brine one hour before preparation to bring out the best poultry flavors in your dish.
To be sure you don’t overcook something, set both your watch and the oven timers. Carry the second timer with you so that you will hear the alarm anywhere in the house.
As you gain confidence in your healthy cooking abilities, attempt more complex recipes with ingredients you don’t normally use. As these tips showed, healthy cooking can improve various facets of your life, no matter what kind of healthy cooking you like, whether it’s soul food, down-home favorites or haute cuisine. Though everyone enjoys a quick burger from the drive thru, even more enjoy the tastiness of a home prepared meal.