Categories
Healthy Living

Convenience Food that’s Good for You

In today’s world, we’re all getting busier and busier, meaning we are eating more and more convenience food. Today, abundant pre-packaged, quickly prepared food revolutionizes the way we consume food. In some ways, it’s very positive in that it is extremely convenient and fast. Conversely, it can be negative because processed foods tend to be high in salt, saturated fat, and sugar.

That said, many ready meal manufacturers are aware of the need to make their meals more balanced. There’s certainly a trend toward more nutritionally balanced meals coming on the market–incorporating healthy grains and vegetables.

Convenience Food that’s Good for You

Interestingly, in the food technology market, scientists are busy investigating whether nutrients that are sprinkled on ready meals post-production are just as bioavailable as those contained within the food; as many manufacturers simply sprinkle nutrient containing tasteless powder on the meal just before sealing.

The other aspect of convenience food, of course, is the rapidly growing business of delivery services, for instance, if you check out this GrubHub review you’ll see just how many people value the convenience and variety of having delicious meals delivered straight to their door.

However, this convenience food trend requires us to look at what are the best options for keeping healthy. In this post, I’m going to take a look at some of the healthier options:

Convenience Food #1. Chicken Kebab

While kebabs aren’t known for their health properties, if you were to have a chicken shish kebab, which is basically marinated chicken breast grilled over charcoal then served in pita bread with lots of fresh salad–this can be a very healthy option. It’s certainly much healthier than the typical doner kebab (a type of kebab made of meat cooked on a vertical rotisserie) or chicken kebab. Both tend to use fatty parts of the meat.

Convenience Food #2. Sushi

Perhaps an obvious choice, but if you’re looking for convenience food on the go that’s good for you and contains plenty of disease-busting foods–you can’t go wrong with the traditional Japanese snack of sushi. Packed with nutrient-rich fish, sushi also gives you the carbohydrate kick of starchy rice. Of course, it can be an acquired taste–I certainly haven’t acquired it!

Convenience Food #3. Falafel

While falafel itself tends to be deep-fried, it is full of plenty of herbs and spices that are nutritionally rich, as well as being served with salad and hummus, which are incredibly good for you. In this sense, falafel provides one of the most healthy on-the-go snacks. Also, it is also vegan.

In summary

Convenience food doesn’t have to be bad for you. If you’re careful about what you opt for and look for foods that come with tons of salad rather than tons of french fries, you’ll be off to a good start. The same is true of ready meals. Many ready meal producers design their products for a healthier lifestyle. This means you don’t have to devour the salt, fat and sugar-rich ready meals such as lasagne or curries. There are plenty of healthy alternatives.

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[one_third] Healthy Eating Worksheet [/one_third]
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Take Charge of Your Health!

Changing your eating habits can be tough. But it doesn’t have to be if you take a little time to think it out and create a plan.

This Healthy Eating Worksheet will walk you through the process of creating a healthy eating plan. All you need to do is print it out, set aside some time to complete it, and then fill it out. Then you can create your plan, knowing that you have addressed potential obstacles and came up with some creative ways to handle them.

Download Now [/two_third_last]

Categories
Creative Cookery Product Reviews Tools of the Trade

Review: Handy Baking Club

Do you like getting cook baking stuff in the mail? Me too! So when I was asked to post a video review of the Handy Baking Club in return for a free sample, I said, “Totally!”

What: Handy Baking Club – Star Wars embossing rolling pin and The Baking Times Newsletter, Dec. 2018

Where: To be announced?

Mentioned in the video:

Product link on Amazon: Embossing rolling pin Star Wars. Wooden embossing rolling pin with Star Wars

Books about the chemistry of cooking:


Categories
Cookbook Reviews

Cookbook Review: “A Cookie to Celebrate” by Jana Douglas

When you go to a bakery and see all those lovely decorated cookies, it is easy to think that the bakers have some magical process that you couldn’t possibly imitate at home. Jana Douglas, the founder of Jana Lee’s Bake Shop, shows you the “inside” scoop on those fancy cookies in A Cookie to Celebrate.

Carma holding a copy of A Cookie to Celebrate

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Specs

Full Title: A Cookie to Celebrate: Recipes and Decorating Tips for Everyday Baking and Holidays
Author: Jana Douglas
Format: 6 x 5.9 Paperback
Publisher: Mango
ISBN-10: 9781633537569
ISBN-13: 978-1633537569 [/two_third]
[one_third_last] A Cookie to Celebrate by Jana Douglas [/one_third_last]

Summary of A Cookie to Celebrate

A Cookie to Celebrate is full of cookie baking tips, recipes, and presentation ideas. A variety of techniques for making artfully decorated cookies that will impress any guest and explained in simple language and illustrated with clear photography.

What Worked for Me

I love the care and detail that went into creating this book. Douglass breaks down decorated cookie creation into bite-sized lessons and provides advice for how to troubleshoot any problems that might arise. The photography is colorful and inspiring.

The book starts off with a chapter about creating the cookie base, including a recipe for sugar cookies and advice on what kinds of cookie cutters you might consider having in your inventory. Then she moves on to Royal Icing and eases the reader into making this critical piece of the decorated cookie. She even states up front that making Royal Icing that is the right consistency take practice, which I think many home cooks will find encouraging when they don’t hit it out of the park the first time.

From there she covers how to decorate and then shares a variety of holiday- and season-themed designs.

What Didn’t Work for Me

The book is tiny and won’t stay open unless you break the binding. This makes it much less practical than I would have liked it to be. It feels more like an armchair cookbook than an in-the-kitchen cookbook.

What I’d Love to See in the Second Edition

Find another way to bind the book so that it is easier to use. Or, provide PDF downloads for recipes and technique instructions so you won’t have to damage the book in order to use it.

Recommendation

This book really isn’t meant for the less confident newbie. The projects in the book can be challenging, but oh so worth it. If you’ve bolstered your kitchen confidence, then give this book a try. At the very least, it is a delightful book to peruse while dreaming of your perfect decorated cookie.

Rating for A Cookie to Celebrate

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Pick up your copy on Amazon.com here.

NOTE: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. If you’ve read past book reviews, you’ll know that I don’t pull my punches when I believe they are warranted. I also try to provide balanced information so you can make your own decision to read or not read the book, even if you disagree with my opinion.

Categories
Cookbook Reviews Healthy Living

Cookbook Review: “Mr. Food Test Kitchen Guilt-Free Comfort Favorites” by Multiple Authors

Comfort foods bring to mind happy memories filled with flavor and contentment. Alas, so many comfort foods are comfort foods because of the high salt, fat, or carb content. So what are you to do if you crave your favorite childhood foods but they are neither healthy nor diabetes-friendly? Open up this cookbook! It is filled with recipes inspired by favorite comfort foods, and they are all healthy and diabetes-friendly.

Mr. Food Test Kitchen Guilt-Free Comfort Favorites

Summary of Guilt-Free Comfort Favorites

This cookbook contains more than 130 recipes for classic comfort foods re-imagined to include all the flavor but minus the excess fat, salt, carbs and calories. These recipes are simple and easy to follow and often include additional notes to help you serve the food, learn about its ingredients or find alternatives. There is also a handy guide to sugar alternatives and other nutritional advice.

What Worked for Me – Yummy, Healthy Comfort Foods

Guilt-Free Comfort Favorites is filled with yummy recipes, has nice large, easy-to-read type and beautiful photography. I especially liked the Granulated Sugar Substitutes Conversion Chart on page xi. The portion control guide is also very helpful.

There are recipes in this cookbook that I wouldn’t think you could make healthy and diabetes-friendly, such as Caramel Poached Apples, Double Chocolate Chippers, Frosted Carrot Cake Cupcakes, Banana Nut Pancakes, Bacon Cheddar Chicken Breasts and so many more. I can’t wait to try these recipes out!

What Didn’t Work for Me

This is my standard complaint with modern, cookbooks: I don’t like them in perfect-bound or hardcover format. If this is a cookbook I’m going to regularly use, I want it to be easy to lay flat on my counter. Three-ring binders or spiral bound cookbooks work great! However you rarely see high-quality cookbooks like this in those formats.

What I’d Love to See in the Second Edition

What would get around this issue would be to provide printable versions of the recipes. They wouldn’t need the photographs and would be much easier to use. I think it would be really cool if cookbooks like this started adding interactive components like this.

Recommendation

Do you have a finicky loved-one who finds it hard to stick to a diabetes-friendly diet? Then this book will help you keep them health AND happy. There are plenty of decadent foods in here that even the die-hard junk eater will love.

Rating for Guilt-Free Comfort Favorites: 4 out of 5

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Specs

Full Title: Mr. Food Test Kitchen’s Guilt-Free Comfort Favorites: More than 130 New Healthy and Diabetes-Friendly Recipes
Author: Various
Format: Paperback
Publisher: American Diabetes Association
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1580406904
ISBN-13: 978-1580406901

Pick up your copy on Amazon.com here.

NOTE: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. If you’ve read past book reviews, you’ll know that I don’t pull my punches when I believe they are warranted. I also try to provide balanced information so you can make your own decision to read or not read the book, even if you disagree with my opinion.

[divider]

[one_third] Healthy Eating Worksheet [/one_third]
[two_third_last]

Take Charge of Your Health!

Changing your eating habits can be tough. But it doesn’t have to be if you take a little time to think it out and create a plan.

This Healthy Eating Worksheet will walk you through the process of creating a healthy eating plan. All you need to do is print it out, set aside some time to complete it, and then fill it out. Then you can create your plan, knowing that you have addressed potential obstacles and came up with some creative ways to handle them.

Download Now [/two_third_last]

Categories
Recipes

Grilled Peaches With Green Beans and Roasted Almonds

For those of you who think that the grilled food is all about steaks and ribs or burgers and hot dogs, think again. You can cook a variety of healthy dishes on a grill, as you just need to look in the right direction.

Grilled Peaches With Green Beans and Roasted Almonds

Here is a grilled recipe that consists of peaches, green beans, and almonds. Don’t make that grim face seeing the ingredients because I can assure you that this recipe looks good and tastes delicious. So, just clean up your portable ceramic grill because it’s time to cook something healthy.

Preparation Time: 35 Minutes
Cooking Time: 10 Minutes
Servings: 6 Persons

Ingredients

  • 1 star anise
  • 100 ml (just shy of 1/2 cup) apple cider vinegar
  • ¼ cup caster sugar
  • ¼ tsp coriander seeds, lightly crushed and toasted
  • 2 + 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 4 peaches, cut into wedges
  • 500 grams (18 oz) green beans, trimmed
  • 1 red onion, thinly sliced
  • ¼ cup slivered almonds, toasted

Directions

  1. The first thing is to make a pickling mixture and for that, you need to mix star anise, apple cider vinegar, sugar and coriander in a saucepan. Cook the mixture over low heat and keep stirring the mixture until the sugar fully dissolves. Once you get a consistent mixture, transfer it to a bowl and let it cool.
  2. Preheat the ceramic grill over high heat. Apply some extra virgin olive oil on peach wedges, and then place the wedges on the grates. Cook the wedges for a couple of minutes, flipping them just once. Once the wedges are charred, you can add them into the pickling mixture and leave it as it is for half an hour.
  3. n the meantime, blanch the green beans in a saucepan consisting of boiled salted water until the beans become tender. It will take around 2-3 minutes. Then, add the beans into the iced water for a minute, then drain the beans and place them on a bowl with sliced onions.
  4. Now, drain the peaches followed by adding them to the bowl where you’ve kept beans and onion slices. Drizzle some extra virgin olive oil on the top along with the pickling mixture. Finally, sprinkle some toasted almonds and serve.

About the Author

Monica HeninMonica Henin, the author of this recipe is a renowned blogger and food expert. She has written a countless number of blogs on food tips and healthy recipes, which you can find at Addonkitchen.com.

Categories
Recipes

High Protein Buckwheat Pancakes

For a few weeks, I had been craving buckwheat pancakes. But restaurants rarely serve it anymore and I haven’t seen a buckwheat pancake mix on the shelves in ages. Then, in the bulk foods section of my local Winco Foods, I found some buckwheat flour. I bought a couple of cups worth and searched the Internet for a good recipe. I found several and created this one that has the added benefit of being high in protein and low in gluten (if not gluten free). Enjoy!

High Protein Buckwheat Pancakes

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 1/2 cup buckwheat flour
  • 3 Tbsp Splenda
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 3 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
  • 1 egg
  • 1 serving vanilla protein powder
  • 2 cups buttermilk

INSTRUCTIONS

  1. Whisk together dry ingredients – flour, Splenda, salt, baking soda – in a large bowl.
  2. Add in the melted butter and stir.
  3. In a small bowl, beat the egg with a fork. Add 1 cup buttermilk and stir.
  4. Add egg and buttermilk mixture to the batter. Then slowly add in the rest of the buttermilk as needed to get to the right consistency for your batter. (You may not need all fo the butter milk, or you may need more.)
  5. Stir only until everything is combined. Do not over mix! A few lumps are fine.
  6. Heat skillet on medium heat with enough oil to prevent sticking.
  7. Ladle the batter onto the hot surface to the desired size, about 4-5 inches wide. Reduce the heat to medium-low. Allow the pancake to cook for 2-3 minutes on the first side. Once bubbles start to rise to the surface at the center of the pancake, flip it over to cook the other side. Cook for another 1-2 minutes or until nicely browned.
  8. Serve with butter and maple syrup!
Categories
Creative Cookery Flavor Blending

Brookies and Kitchen Creativity

This past week I had my first experience with brookies. In case you don’t know, a brookie is part brownie, part cookie. The recipe I used had a layer of brownie topped with a layer of sugar cookie. I add in some mini M&Ms and rainbow sprinkles. People loved them! This experience got me to thinking of all the different kinds of brookies you could make.

rainbow brookies

The recipe I used is based on cookie mixes, so I’ll start there.

Brookie Layer 1: The Brownie

I used a dark chocolate brownie mix with miniature M&Ms mixed in, but you could use any brownie mix and any mix-ins (or none) you desire. In fact, it could be fun to experiment with blondies or other-than-chocolate-flavored brownies.

  1. Follow the instructions for the brownie mix.
  2. Add mix-ins (see list below for suggestions) if you wish
  3. Spread over the bottom of a 13×9-inch pan that has been coated with cooking spray.

Brookie Layer 2: The Cookie

I used a sugar cookie mix with miniature M&Ms and rainbow sprinkles mixed in, but you could use any cookie mix and any mix-ins (or none) you desire. In fact, see notes below for some other cookie mixes that could be fun.

  1. Follow the instructions for the cookie mix.
  2. Add mix-ins (see list below for suggestions) if you wish
  3. Drop by spoonfuls on top of the brownie batter.

Bake about 40 minutes or until the brownies are set and the exposed cookies are lightly golden brown. Cool for an hour and a half before serving. Cut into five by four rows.

Suggested Mix-Ins

These are just suggestions. Feel free to be as creative as your taste buds will let you be.

  • Mini M&Ms
  • Chopped nuts
  • Shredded coconut
  • Rainbow sprinkles
  • Chocolate jimmies
  • White chocolate chips
  • Chocolate chips
  • Peanut butter chips
  • Butterscotch chips
  • Toffee bits
  • Miniature peanut butter cups
  • Caramel bits
  • Butterfinger candy bits
  • Crushed Oreo cookies
  • Craisins


Suggested Cookie Mixes

I’m listing cookie mixes because that is the easy way to go, but you could just as easily use from scratch brownie and cookie mixes and get even more creative.

  • Chocolate chip cookie mix
  • Double chocolate chip cookie mix
  • Oatmeal cookie mix
  • Snicker Doodle cookie mix
  • Gingerbread cookie mix
  • Lemon cookie mix
  • Chocolate crinkle cookie mix
  • Peanut butter cookie mix
  • White chip macadamia nut cookie mix
  • Molasses cookie mix
  • Salted caramel

Unleash Your Kitchen Creativity

Not only can you get creative with your brownie and cookie base, as well as your mix-ins, you can get creative with how you form these brookies. Traditionally, they are a sheet cookie. But you could layer them in muffin or mini-muffin tins, as well.

The possibilities are mind-boggling. I’m definitely going to give some of these ideas a try! How about you?


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