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Preparing Healthy Food during Holiday Season
 Countdown
for Christmas is on and with it the planning of party menu. Not only are there
some wonderful healthy variations on the Traditional Christmas dinner, but there
are some fabulous Party Food
recipes
that are just right for this busy time of year.
Just because a recipe calls for a specific ingredient doesn't mean you must
use that ingredient. Your favorite recipes can be modified to make them more
nutritious or
lower in fat
by reducing or substituting ingredients that are more acceptable. This fact
sheet will show you a few ways to decrease the amount of fat, calories, sugar
and salt in your recipes.
WHEN YOU SHOP
-
 Plan
your food shopping in advance, keeping in mind what you are going to need in
your quest for fat and
calorie-control.
Then stick to that list.
-
Buy low-fat versions of dairy products such as skim milk.
-
Consider fish and poultry as alternative to red meat; they are someone
lower in saturated fat.
-
Most store-stocked salad dressings are primarily fat, with most of it
coming from oil. Some also contain eggs, cream and cheese. A fat-free
dressing will usually list water as its first ingredient, followed by
vinegar, sugar in one of its forms (e.g. corn syrup), spices, and sometimes
lemon juice or tomato paste.
-
To ensure the ground chicken you eat is low in fat, buy lean, skinless
portions and grind the meat at home yourself.
FAT TRIMMING TOOLS
Skewers: It allows you to exercise instant fat and
portion control.
Your meal-on-a-stick can contain a few juicy bites of
meat or fish while its bulk
is made up of colorful vegetables-capsicum, cherry, tomatoes, onion, quarters,
corn.
 Roasting
Rack: Its fat-cutting favour works on the simple principle that, as meat or
poultry roasts upon an elevated rack, the fat drips into a pan below, leaving
the roast with less fat than if it were allowed to sit around in its own grease.
Non-Stick Cookware: A non-stick pan allows you to cook food using
just a thin film oil. For instance, instead of coating a chicken breast with
batter and frying it (which can double the fat), sauté it in a non-stick fry pan
and you can virtually eliminate the fat.
A Cheese Grater: It will help you to measure out judicious amount of
cheese, the most popular varieties of which can contain as much-or-more-fat as
well-marbled red meat. The grater should also incorporate a slicer that will
make ultra-thin cheese slices with less fuss than a knife.
COOKING LIGHT
 Wherever
possible, avoid using butter, lard and other sources of
saturated fat.
Replace them with small amounts of
unsaturated fats
(e.g. vegetables, oils such as corn oil, groundnut oil, safflower oil, sunflower
oil or olive oil).
-
Bake, rather than deep-frying, onion rings for, say, a steak
accompaniment.
-
 Toast,
rather than frying, bread cubes for croutons.
-
Replace one whole egg with two egg whites in recipes for cookies, cakes
and shortbreads. The fat (and cholesterol) are in the yolk, not in the
white.
-
Include sweet spices such as cinnamon and all-spice to make up for the
flavour that is lost when fat is reduced. Grated orange rind perks up
flavour, too.
-
Use
fruit juice instead of some of the fat in
cakes.
-
Make single-crust pies: for instance, try a crust made with 1 cup of
cream-cracker crumbs and 3 tablespoons of soft margarine.
-
Make soft drop cookies ; they generally contain less fat than rolled
cookies
DRESSINGS
 Give
that old Vinaigrette a new, slim look by altering proportions. Instead of the
traditional three-to-one ration of oil to vinegar, try a one-to-one ration or
even lower say, one part oil to two parts vinegar. You will get around 30
calories per tablespoon instead of the 90 you get in the standard version.
For a creamy, thick texture in dressings and dips, substitute sour cream and
mayonnaise with pureed non-fat cottage cheese or low-fat cream, low-fat yogurt,
skim milk or buttermilk as a base. Flavor with herbs and spices.
SAUCES & DIPS
 Instead
of mayonnaise-heavy tartar sauce for fish, try pureed cooked red peppers.
Beans can also give a dip a creamy texture without the fat. One hors oeuvres
creation to try: Kidney beans pureed with garlic, red chilly powder, powdered
cumin seed, lime juice, olive oil and salsa; stir in chopped onion and coriander
leaves.
Make a guilt-free dip for crudités by beating in a few tablespoons of
chopped spring onions into a cup of yogurt cheese.
FILL UP THE FIBER
 Buy
baked goods made with whole grains such as rye breads, crack-wheat bread or
oatmeal muffins.
Serve fruits set in jelly, in place of fruit juices.
Sprinkle bran on soups, on sandwiches, on sliced fruit.... on just about
anything your imagination and inclination suggest.
There are more holiday cooking tips to arrive next week, so do stay with us.
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