10 Ways To Put Health on The Menu

 By Kathleen Daelemans
Cooking Thin with Chef Kathleen
 

1. Keep dinner simple, especially if you have little time to cook.
Something as quick and easy as oven-broiled fish with micro waved veggies can be a
tasty, satisfying dinner.

2. Involve others in meal-making. Get help with food shopping, cooking and clean-up.

3. Satisfaction is important. A bowl of sesame ginger shrimp and spicy black
bean salad, which takes time to eat, will be more satisfying than three ounces of steak that is gone in four bites.

4. If cooking with canned, bagged or boxed foods will keep you from ordering
take-out, use them. But read product labels and make the most healthful choices you can.

5. Consume more "good calories" when possible. Get an extra serving of vegetables by tossing corn into a salad or by roasting asparagus in the same pan as the potatoes.

6. Use high-impact flavoring ingredients such as sea salt, kosher salt, ginger, citrus, vinegar, garlic, capers, anchovies, olives, fresh dried spices, and fresh herbs.

7. Cut prep time for tomorrow night's dinner by doing one or two tasks tonight. Wash and chop vegetables, marinate meat, cook rice, or make a salad dressing.

8. Use leftover meats and vegetables the next day in soup, salad, chili or salsa.

9. Be ready for nights when you won't have time to cook. When you have time, make double batches of dishes that freeze well. Label each with the name of the dish and the date it was prepared, and store until needed.

10. Choose the right tools and take care of them. Dull knives, broken utensils or too-small pots create kitchen stress.