Healthy Cooking Tips

Foodie On A Budget? Use A Misto Sprayer!

0 Comments 24 May 2010

Misto, the gourmet olive oil sprayer

Everyone has those cave man memories. Remember when cable only had a few channels? Remember life before email? Remember when dinosaurs roamed the Earth? Well, I have such a story. I used to pour these great big tablespoons of olive oil onto my dishes when teaspoonfuls were more than enough. I drizzled my salads incoherently with no restraint, making them wilt under the weight of all that oil when I could’ve used much less. There was even a time I used to spend too much on cooking oil sprays. Now there’s a budget-friendly, superior alternative was within grasp: a Misto sprayer.

I am in no way affiliated with the Misto company. In fact, you are welcome to use any number of other brands. I’m reviewing this product because it’s one I’ve tried and am comfortable using.

Continue Reading

Healthy Cooking Tips, Nutrition Facts

How to Cook Vegetables By Color

0 Comments 20 May 2010

Color denotes how best to cook your veggies.

Though recipes are the gourmand’s ’safe bet’ in an uncertain world, wouldn’t it be nice if we could simply cook a vegetable based on its color, knowing how to craft culinary morsels with only a swift and assured glance? Trouble yourself no more. By the end of this guide, you will be armed to the teeth with enough knowledge to please any discerning palate.

All vegetables have pigments. Pigments are an indicator of how the vegetable should be cooked or eaten. The golden rule is to preserve a vegetable’s natural color to ensure that its nutritional content stays intact.

Continue Reading

Healthy Cooking Tips

Perfectly Grilled Shrimp

0 Comments 17 May 2010

Grilled shrimp is easy to prepare.

The secret to perfect grilled shrimp that would put a top restaurant to shame is in the preparation. Since shrimp shouldn’t be overcooked, a lot of the magic happens before the shrimp even goes on the grill. In this guide I’ll show you just how to put together perfectly grilled shrimp with very little fuss.

Deveining Shrimp

Should you devein shrimp? It really depends. When you remove the vein, you are actually removing the shrimp’s stomach and any filth it may have picked up. However, if your shrimp was farmed in safe waters, deveining is usually not necessary and the veins are edible (don’t be squeamish!). If you want to stay on the safe side, especially for big shrimp where the vein may affect the flavor, use a paring knife to make a slit above the vein and use a toothpick to pick it out. You don’t want to risk using the knife to pick out the vein as people have had far too many accidents that way, and it takes practice.

Continue Reading

Healthy Food Facts

Turkey Bacon As A Healthy Alternative

0 Comments 13 May 2010

There are now a lot of recipes with turkey bacon as an ingredient.

I once met a vegetarian who told me, with a rapturous expression on her face, that the only meat she missed since going vegan was bacon. For many people bacon represents the best in taste and the worst in health. Sweet, sugary, honeyed and dripping in fat, ordinary bacon is just one recipe for either heart failure or diabetes. But my family still ate it occasionally, until the day I discovered turkey bacon.

Tasty Alternative

Turkey bacon is delicious. It’s lower in fat, but can be found cured, uncured, smoked or made into strips just like your regular pork bacon. Cured turkey bacon made from dark meat can even be 90% fat free. However, if you have a recipe that normally calls for frying bacon in its own drippings, you need to reduce the cooking time as turkey bacon doesn’t contain enough fat to do that, and you may end up drying out your dish.

Continue Reading

Healthy Cooking Tips, Healthy Recipes

Essential Basting Techniques

0 Comments 10 May 2010

Basting the turkey

Whether you’re into grilling, barbecuing or rotisserie, chances are that you’ve tried your hand at basting. Basting is a cooking process wherein the meat you’re cooking over a long period of time is periodically moistened by way of brushing, pouring or spooning the meat’s own juices or marinade, thereby preventing the meat from drying out. Basting not only adds flavor to the meat but also adds a delicious glossy sheen.

A Note of Precaution

Basters beware! Sometimes if you keep opening the oven door, you lower the oven’s overall temperature, causing the meat to have to cook longer and ultimately drying it out. Avoid the ‘watched pot never boils’ cliché and keep that door closed. Always remember that basting works best when the sauces you’re working with are sticky, not watery.
Basting Mixes

Different liquids can be used for basting like melted butter, pan drippings, broth or a combination of ingredients. Thick is best, so if using broth, go for a thick stock, not a thin one. The same goes for melted butter or drippings. Feel free to add your own herbs to the basting mix. Rosemary and tarragon go great with chicken, while a mixture of scallions, oregano and parsley can’t be beat with beef.
Continue Reading

Healthy Cooking Tips

How Do I Use Herbs and Spices in My Cooking? Lisa Responds…

0 Comments 06 May 2010

Dear Lisa,

Yours truly,
Waldo

Hi Waldo,

I was really intrigued by your e-mail so I decided to answer it in a blog post. You didn’t say where you were from – so I guess you’re inviting me to play a game of ‘Where’s Waldo?’ but I’ll assume you’re from a location where you have access to a green grocer or farmer’s market. You won’t be able to live without them once you master the fine art of herb-driven flavor. Without much ado, welcome to the wonderful world of gourmet cooking with herbs!

Fresh Herbs vs. Dried Herbs

Nothing beats fresh herbs if you have access to them, but a spice rack can be a great choice for the busy suburbanite. Fresh herbs should have a strong aroma when crumbled or torn, and have a beautiful strong color, not black, too dry or wilting. Dried herbs should be from a reliable provider. Some herbs even show their best side when dried, such as bay leaf, thyme or rosemary. In these cases, the drying process improves the herbs’ flavor.
Continue Reading

Healthy Food Facts, Nutrition Facts

The 10 Biggest Benefits of Olive Oil

0 Comments 03 May 2010

The benefits of olive oil have been proclaimed far and wide. Even if you are already aware of some of them, this list goes through the most interesting facets of olive oil. If you aren’t a fan of olive oil already, I think this post may more than convince you to incorporate olive oil into your diet.

1. There Are 4 Types of Olive Oil

Use olive oil as much as possible.

Olive oil is made by pressing the core of olives to extract the oil, and extra virgin olive oil is made with the first press. Because olive oil is expensive, it’s often used sparingly to drizzle over carpaccio, bruschetta and other Italian delicacies or salads where the oil can really be tasted. When looking for quality “E-V-O-O,” go for the cold pressed variety, as heat can change the taste.

The second type, virgin olive oil, is a bit more acidic and good for when you want a tart flavor for pomodoro sauces or maybe even a quick pasta with fresh tomatoes, lemon juice and a good Parmigiano Reggano.

Pure olive oil, despite its name, is actually a blend of refined leftovers from the virgin olive oil extraction process and virgin olive oil. It’s cheaper, so it’s best for frying.

Light olive oil is actually the worst quality, so watch out for bottle labels that say ‘100% pure olive oil.’
Continue Reading

Healthy Cooking Tips

Food Safety 101: An Essential Guide to Raw Food Handling

0 Comments 29 April 2010

Raw meat should be handled properly

A lot of food poisoning cases arise from the improper handling of raw meat or other raw food items. This guide is to help you prevent such cases in your kitchen. Invaluable to any aspiring chef, these easy tips and tricks go beyond simple cleanliness and can easily be learned by anyone. You have probably read about people developing all sorts of illnesses due to bacteria from raw meat. It has been reported by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDCP) that 76 million people in the US become ill due to harmful bacteria from food. Bacteria multiplies fast on raw meat at room temperature. It is essential to store meat in the refrigerator or freezer the moment you bring it home. If this is not possible then the meat should be cooked immediately.

Continue Reading

Healthy Food Facts, Nutrition Facts

If Your Health is in Question, Could Asparagus Be the Answer?

1 Comment 26 April 2010

Asparagus contains many vitamins & minerals.

Today’s power food under the microscopic spotlight is the mighty asparagus, the tightrope-balancing, one-act wonder of the nutritional world.

Asparagus is one of the most nutritious, well-balanced vegetables around, containing considerable vitamins and minerals that can supply what the body needs. You might never reach for a supplement again. For one, asparagus is a great source of folic acid. A 5.3 ounce serving of asparagus can provide 60% of the recommended daily allowance (RDA) for folacin.  Folacin is needed for blood cell formation, growth and the prevention of liver diseases. Folacin has also shown to play an important role in the prevention of neural tube defects like spina befida, which causes paralysis and death for 2,500 babies every year. So if you’re expecting children, make a note of this power food.

Continue Reading

Healthy Cooking Tips, Healthy Food Facts, Nutrition Facts

Power Up Your Meals with Tomatoes

0 Comments 22 April 2010

Tomatoes are good for the body.

Tomatoes are a wonderful fruit, and are essential to any weight loss regimen. Say you decided to have steak and potatoes for dinner, but you want to lose weight. You eat a half portion of what you were originally planning to eat, but you replace the remainder with insalata caprese, a delightful salad of tomato slices, paper thin mozzarella cheese and fresh basil leaves. Voila! You’re on your way starting your healthy diet!

Tomatoes can’t be beat for versatility. You can eat them raw, add them to a salad, put them in your sandwich, make them into pasta sauces and pizza toppings, and toss whole or pureed into soups and stews, or even make them into juice. They’re cheap too, and can even be grown at home. Normal garden tomatoes are easy to grow on the vine, but cherry tomatoes are harder to cultivate.

Continue Reading