Many of us are looking for ways to make our meals a little healthier than they are now. You don't have to change your entire cooking style to achieve this. It's easy to turn your usual meals into healthier versions by starting with a few simple tricks.
1. Use stock or water instead of oil
There are many instances where you can use stock or even plain water instead of oil or fat. Use a splash of stock to fry vegetables. This keeps them tasty without needing a layer of oil. When cooking burgers, chops and chicken breasts, start with a cooking spray and let the meat brown for a few minutes. Then add stock or water to finish the steam cooking. This method gives the desired brown color and keeps the meat moist. Use chicken stock in mashed potatoes instead of butter for a different kind of rich flavor.
2. Replace ground beef with lean turkey breast
Instead of ground beef, opt for lean turkey breast that is low in calories and high in fat from your meal. Bake turkey burgers with stock and a few teaspoons of soy sauce for a bold change from the usual burger. You can use ground turkey in pasta sauce and in almost every case where you would use ground beef.
3. Rinse the meat
After cooking the turkey breast, drain any fat and rinse with hot water. This ensures that you remove almost all the excess fat from the meat. Do this especially with meat that you want to season or add to a sauce after cooking, so that you don't wash the taste away.
4. Avoid prepackaged food Though convenient, prepackaged foods are packed with sugars, sodium, fats and a host of other ingredients that can be bad for your body. Try to limit the use of these products and replace them with fresh and homemade food whenever possible. There are some acceptable prepackaged foods, such as frozen vegetables and fruits.
5. Incorporate vegetables into other foods
There are many ways you can add vegetables to your regular meals. Make a kale stew, a vegetable smoothie or an omelet with mushrooms. Add peas and carrots to rice or broccoli to pasta salads for a fresh twist.
