Chef Foundation

Archive for October, 2011

Okay. It’s official. The holidays are here. Here’s a hint from Fiberlady. If you want to control overeating this holiday season, choose foods high in fiber.

Eating high fiber foods will satisfy your hunger and make you feel full. By selecting high fiber recipes for your holiday menu, you can offer foods that may lower the absorption of fats so you can avoid the dreaded holiday weight gain. Maybe you won’t find yourself gorging on the usual array of fattening cookies, pies and brownies.

It’s incredibly easy to incorporate those precious grams of dietary fiber into your holiday menus. Just remember your goal is to consume 25-35 grams of daily fiber for a multitude of health benefits.

So with you and your guests in mind, let me share a delicious high fiber menu from appetizer to dessert. Spread some yummy black bean hummus on toasted whole wheat pita bread or crackers; savor a healthy serving of white bean salad; carve the roasted turkey with too good stuffing; butter a piping hot whole wheat roll; dish some lively greens with toasted pecans; and slice a piece of fiber-rich sweet potato pie.

You’re probably thinking it isn’t very nice of me to whet your appetite without sharing those recipes. Fiberlady (yours truly) didn’t get her reputation by eating white rice and Wonderbread. Allow me to tempt you with the first few courses…

Black Bean Hummus Appetizer

8 servings

INGREDIENTS:

1 clove garlic

1 (15 ounce) can black beans; drain

and reserve liquid

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 1/2 tablespoons tahini

3/4 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/4 teaspoon paprika

10 Greek olives

DIRECTIONS:

1. Mince garlic in the bowl of a food processor. Add black beans, 2 tablespoons reserved liquid, 2 tablespoons lemon juice, tahini, 1/2 teaspoon
cumin, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper; process until smooth, scraping down the sides as needed. Add additional seasoning and
liquid to taste. Garnish with paprika and Greek olives.

Total Fiber: 4 grams

White Bean and Red Onion Salad

6 to 8 servings

INGREDIENTS:

2 (15-oz.) cans cannellini beans (white kidney)

1/4 small red onion, peeled and thinly sliced

1/4 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil

2 tbsp. Balsamic Vinegar

1/2 tsp. kosher salt

1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

Snipped fresh basil

DIRECTIONS:

Drain beans into a colander and rinse under
cold water; drain well. Place in a medium bowl with onion. Whisk together oil, vinegar, salt and pepper and pour over beans; toss well to coat. Cover and chill for at least 1 hour, stirring occasionally.
Top with fresh basil before serving.

Total Fiber: 5 grams

Notice the total grams of fiber in just those two dishes alone! That, my fiber-rich friends, counts for about one third of your quota for daily dietary fiber. Preheat your oven and sip a glass of pinot noir while you look at the rest of these high fiber recipes and more at [http://www.high-fiber-health/holiday.html].

Fiber. The holiday gift that keeps on giving, even into the new year.

Have you ever wished you knew how to save a ruined dish, increase the flavor or make cooking easier? Well, you are not alone. Here are some cooking tips that I know you will find helpful the next time you prepare a big meal for your family.

Meats

After the meat is done cooking, let the meat rest for 5 minutes before cutting. This will keep the meat tender and juicy. Also, when possible, cut meat across the grain. It is easier to slice or cut meat when it is partially frozen. When microwaving chicken, cover the dish with vented clear plastic to keep the chicken from drying out. Rubbing lemon juice on fish before cooking will enhance the flavor. No time to marinate meat? Pound meat lightly with a mallet, sprinkle with meat tenderizer and add marinade. Refrigerate for 20-30 minutes. Use plastic baggies to marinate your meat. It will be fast and easy clean up.
Breads

Put a small dish of water in the oven when baking bread to help keep the crust from getting too hard or brown. Use shortening to grease pans. Margarine or butter will be absorbed into the dough or batter. To prevent hard or dry crusts, rub bread tops with shortening after you take them out of the oven. Water that is too hot will kill yeast. One way to tell if the water is the correct temperature is to pour the water over your forearm. If you can not feel either hot or cold, the temperature is just right. Always sift flour before measuring if you are not sure. Reduce oven temperature by 25 degrees when baking in a glass pan.
Vegetables

Lemon juice will remove onion scent from your hands. To avoid watery eyes when chopping onion, put onion in the freezer for 10 minutes before chopping. Spray plastic bowls with cooking spray before adding vegetables or food that can stain. Never soak vegetables after slicing; they will lose some of their nutritional value. Instant potatoes are a good soup or stew thickener. If cooking vegetables that grow above the ground, boil them without a cover. To bake potatoes quickly microwave for 5 minutes and then place in a preheated oven. Or soak potatoes in salted water for 20 minutes before baking. This will help them cook more rapidly. Now that you know some of the best tips for being successful in the kitchen, the next time you run into a snag you will be well prepared.

Some of the most important decisions that we make are in regards to the food that we eat. There are so many things that can cause ill health these days that it is getting frustrating for many to find recipes for healthy food. There are a lot of options that are available if a person looks around.

The internet is a great resource for finding almost anything that you could want in healthy food. There are the good old favourites that have been made for years and years, to the new things that have just been created by people from around the world. No matter what it may be there is bound to be something out there that will appeal to everyone.

The classic shepherd’s pie is one I found that is delicious. It is quite similar to the original version except it uses extra lean beef. This reduces the amount of fat intake that people will take in without taking a way from the taste of the meal. I have played around with it a lot and have found that mixing the beef with onion soup mix gives it an amazing bit of a kick. Try this one on your family, they will be sure to love it as well.

Another way that you can modify a recipe and keep the fat content to a minimum is to incorporate non fat yogurt into it as opposed to sour cream. Many people do not realize just how fatty sour cream really is. It would scare you to know. The yogurt does not give any odd taste to the food in any way but keeps the fat levels down which is something of huge importance during the times that we are having with high cholesterol and heart disease.

These are just a couple of ideas that I have used myself and have found to work wonderfully. There are many others that are out there if you take some time to browse the internet. It is loaded with recipes for healthy food, as well as with other things that you can do to modify the everyday foods that you eat but make them more healthy for you and your family.

Some of them even let you put in the ingredients that you have handy and will spit out a selection of recipes that you can make using things that you already have in your kitchen. This is a great way to find some new recipes that could prove to be some of the family’s favourites. Being a bit creative in the kitchen can prove to be a lot of fun. Healthy food no longer has to be dull and boring anymore. Look around and you will soon see what I mean!

The cabbage soup diet recipe is a popular one that goes with the 7 day diet. This soup is very low in fat,calories and taste good this is very easy to make. This recipe will make you about 28 servings only has 40.2 calories and 0.5 grams of fat.

First you will the ingredients to make this soup you will need 6 large onions, 2 green peppers, 1 large green head of cabbage, 1 bunch of celery, 2 -16 ounce cans of stewed tomatoes, 1 eight ounce Lipton onion soup mix and 1 chicken bouillon cube.

Directions:

First you will need a large pot and you need to cut all your vegetables into small pieces to your liking. Next add ingredients and your water, vegetables, chicken bouillon cube, Lipton soup mix. Let boil on Hi heat for 10 minutes. After you let boil for ten minutes let simmer on low until you vegetables are tender enough for you to eat. That’s it that is all that there is to it! One little tip if you want to you can use vegetable broth instead of a chicken bouillon cube also you can add minced garlic, thyme, and pepper.

As you can see this cabbage soup diet recipe is very simple to make and is also quite good for helping you lose weight. And gives you a chance to eat something healthy that is good for you and low in fat and calories most people eat this soup with the popular 7 day diet and claim to lose up to 10 pounds in a week!

Cooking, like every other activity worth endeavoring, has an art. To be able to prepare culinary dishes is truly a great gift that gyrates the taste buds and satisfies the heart. It requires practice, a love and desire for cooking foods, and patience. In this article, you are presented with tips from expert chefs that you should take into consideration when preparing pasta, rice, or potatoes.

When pasta is fresh it tends to require less water than dried pasta. You need to have a large saucepan of rapidly boiling water ready-just about enough boiling water for the pasta to cook in. To prevent the pasta from sticking together, a little oil should be added to the water. After that, add pasta to the pan, making sure that the water remains boiling, while at the same time stirring for ten seconds to separate the pasta. Depending on the type of pasta you’re using, boil for two to four minutes.

Spaghetti should be untangled before serving. Sometimes, when you allow spaghetti to cool for too long, it becomes tangled. If this happens, toss it back into the hot water and stir with a large spoon. Right after that, drain and rinse the pasta in cold water. Some olive oil may be added if you see it fit.

Al dente pasta is a special type of pasta. Al dente, an Italian phrase, means “to the tooth”.

Cooked pasta should be soft but still firm when you bite it. It is said that the easiest way to determine whether pasta is “al dente” is removing a piece from the saucepan and testing it between your teeth. The ideal “al dente” pasta will have some texture when bitten, but it should not be dry and hard in the middle.

Pasta is also cooked dried. Do not fall prey to the common mistake of not having enough boiling water when cooking dried pasta. Prepare a large saucepan of rapidly boiling water. Add a little oil and pasta to the pan. To separate the pasta, stir for twenty seconds. Depending on the shape of the pasta and the flour used, boiling should be for ten to fourteen minutes. To serve hot, drain and eat immediately without any extra oil or butter. To serve cold, rinse pasta under warm water, and then rinse under cold water.

When preparing “perfect pasta” you do not actually boil the noodles! Instead, boil the water and add pasta after turning off the fire. Cover the pasta, removing cover only to stir the pasta every five minutes for twenty minutes. This way, you will never have overcooked pasta, but perfect pasta every time.

Let’s now move on to rice. Here are some tips for making fluffier rice. Before adding rice, add one teaspoon of lemon juice to the water. This will not change the flavor but will plump up the grains to give you perfect rice.

Here are some tips for adding flavor to rice. Chicken stock, beef stock, or tomato juice are wonderful substitutes for plain water when boiling flavored rice. It may be served “as is” or more flavor may be added by saut

Olive Garden offers a lot of pasta dishes, as well as dishes based around beef, chicken, and seafood. There are a few things that Olive Gardens recipes are known for. First, Olive Garden recipes are known for being rich. They tend to include rich sauces based upon tomatoes, creams, and cheeses. The garlic used in the preparation of the dishes is very rich. The olive oil is rich, and used generously. They would like to give their dinners a full taste experience. Here is a look at a couple of their recipes and dishes that they are known for, and how they might be re-created in your home.

Appetizers: Without fail, and no matter what is ordered, the diner will be treated to a salad bowl, and breadstick basket. The salad is made from a standard garden salad kit, with flourishes added like banana peppers, and black olives. The star of the salad is a dressing that is one of the secret Olive Gardens recipes. The salad dressing is so good, diners can buy bottles of it to take home. When making the Olive Garden salad at home, one might want to include fresh Parmesan cheese to sprinkle on top. As for the breadsticks, these classics are baked logs of bread that are hot and crispy on the outside, and chewy on the inside. They are brushed with a mixture of garlic powder, and butter. This can be easily replicated at home. Just bake some breadsticks, and brush the tops of them with garlic powder, and melted margarine. One of the other Olive Gardens recipes is fried ravioli. One can just buy frozen ravioli from the grocery store, take it home, and fry it up. Drain, and serve the ravioli with chunky tomato sauce.

Pasta Courses: Again, their recipes are rich, and either based on tomatoes, or cream sauces. There are the classic spaghetti and meatballs, and a variety of pasta bowls that are based in tomato sauces, accented with basil and oregano. The home cook can make a variety of tomato sauces at home, in a variety of textures. Some people like a loose sauce that creates a tomato glaze on their pasta. Some people like a chunky, tart, and fresh tasting tomato sauce. This is known as more of a garden style sauce. Some people like their sauce pasty, and sweet. This can be replicated at home by using tomato paste, sugar, and tomato sauce. Cream sauces used in Olive Gardens recipes are made out of butter, cream, and cheese. This can be replicated at home, by creating what is known as a basic bechamel sauce. A bechamel sauce consists of flour, butter, and cream. Once this blends into a cream consistency, a cheese can be added, such as parmesan. Cream sauces go good with pastas such as ziti, bowtie, and macaroni. These types of pastas have texture, and will hold on to the cream sauce wonderfully.

There are many standard beef, chicken, and seafood recipes that are based on various regional, and Tuscan recipes. The great thing is that they are quite simple to make, and can be adjusted at home to suit one’s taste. Try some for yourself, and enjoy a great dinning experience at home.