Preparing your food at home is an important step in a weight loss recipe. But always going by the book or trying to figure things out on your own can be frustrating. These ingenious insights can change your culinary game and power your weight-loss efforts!
Luckily slimming isn't hard to make mouth-watering fares. Here are our top tips for better cooking, easier meal preparation, less weight gain, and more fun you know you can have in the kitchen.
- season to taste
When cooking from a recipe, ignore certain measures for salt and pepper. Your mouth is more accurate than a measuring spoon. Taste and adjust as early and often as possible. Oh, and while you're there, get rid of that salt shaker! Instead, put kosher salt in a small bowl near the stove and season with your fingers, this gives you real control and accuracy.
2. Time your salt
When your salt is as important as how much you salt. Season chicken, pork, and turkey for up to eight hours before cooking. The salt will fully penetrate the meat and produce juicier, more fully seasoned results.
However, season the burgers seconds before you throw them on the grill—otherwise, the salt will break up the protein strands and form tougher patties.
3. Fix your mistakes
Too much salt? Use a drop of vinegar to provide a balancing acid punch. Too much heat? Try a drizzle of honey to soften the spice.
4. Shop for groceries on a Monday or Tuesday
More specifically, buy groceries before 10 pm or after 7 pm on Mondays or Tuesdays. Research shows that these are the times of the week when the market is least crowded, making it possible to choose premium products without the high crowds.
5. Dry meat and fish before cooking
Surface moisture creates steam when it hits a hot pan or grill, preventing caramelization. If your fish has skin, use a sharp knife to shake off any trapped water. Not sure which seafood is best for your stomach?
6. Do not overfill the pan
For deeply flavored foods, do not overfill the pan. An overload of ingredients causes a pan to drop in temperature, and food is steamed rather than caramelized. This adds cooking time and takes away the flavor. All the ingredients should fit comfortably in a single layer, so use a pan large enough for the job and cook in batches if needed.
7. Roasting non-stick
Teflon can degrade in high heat, so save your nonstick pans for lighter jobs like cooking omelets and fish. Yes, nonstick pans serve the same purpose, but they can release potentially cancer-causing toxins into your food. While the Environmental Protection Agency doesn't recommend abandoning nonstick cookware entirely, they don't yet know the long-term health effects of nonstick chemicals, so it's better to be cautious and stick with cast iron. Choose from a variety of different pieces so you're ready for any culinary adventure ahead.
8. Make it crispy
Nothing beats crispy chicken skin, but no frying when trying to lose weight. Instead, buy a whole chicken the day before cooking, sprinkle it with a teaspoon of kosher salt, and leave it uncovered in the refrigerator. Air and salt will absorb excess water. Be sure to dry the chicken with paper towels before cooking. Pair your chicken with a vegetable and one of these for a complete meal.
9. Use broiler
Think of a broiler as an inverted grill; a concentrated, fast-cooking heat source. Chicken, pork chops, and steaks take about 10 minutes to roast; Be sure to turn them in the middle of the cooking process.
10. Power up your TV meal
Instantly improve your next TV meal: After cooking, add fresh herbs, a dash of citrus, and a little olive oil to transform any frozen appetizer. And to ensure your food is a healthy choice.
11. Keep tomatoes out of the refrigerator
The same goes for peaches, potatoes, onions, bread, unpeeled garlic, and coffee. Low temperatures degrade the flavor and texture of these staple products.
12. Warm your plate
Hot food served on a cold plate is a rookie mistake. Before coating a dish, preheat your food in a 150-degree Fahrenheit oven for 10 minutes. On the flip side, slightly chilled plates (use your freezer) enhance the freshness of cold dishes like summer salads.
13. Adapt whenever you want
Materials are not fixed. Mushrooms can substitute for eggplant if that's your hand. Don't want to spend $3 for a bunch of celery just to use a single rib? Skip it. Do you like pork chop more than chicken breast? Change. The thing is, the possibilities for creation in the kitchen are endless if you understand the basic techniques and know what goes well together.
14. Shop according to the seasons
Sure, sometimes you just need a tomato, but there are three great reasons to shop in season: It's cheaper, tastes better, and is better for you (and the planet).
15. Make friends
Talk to butchers before you buy, talk to producers and fishermen. They can direct you to the best materials.
16. Refresh soft vegetables
Submerge your aging products in ice water before cooking. Plants wilt due to water loss; icy water penetrates their cells to restore vitality.
17. Get more shrinkage on the price
Shake lemons, limes, or oranges in the microwave for 15 seconds before squeezing them. Fruit yields twice as much juice.
18. Get to the farmer's markets early or late
Get to the farmers those who arrive early get the first selection of the best products; Latecomers can get last-second offers from vendors looking to unload their goods. markets early or late
19. Get some rest
If you slice the meat immediately after it's finished cooking, its precious juices will come out. Wait five minutes before biting into a burger or grilled chicken, seven minutes before cutting into steaks, and 15 minutes before making a large roast.
20. Turn your meat multiple times
Studies show that almost constantly from steak to chicken, chops and burgers will not only allow your food to cook faster, but also more evenly. Aim for one lap per minute.
21. Cook tomatoes when you can
Cooking and roasting tomatoes will increase levels of lycopene, powerful free-radical-fighting compounds, and help reduce the risks of cancer and heart disease. A study from Ohio State University showed that those who ate tomato sauce cooked for 40 minutes had 55% more lycopene in their blood than those who ate uncooked tomato sauce.
22. Replace your cooking staples
Although baking powder and baking soda are not the same thing and are not interchangeable, you can substitute a small amount of baking soda for baking powder and it will provide more preservation of the antioxidants of the chocolate that are often lost in the baking process. Just don't go crazy or you'll end up with a plain weird chocolate cake.
23. Toast your bread
Toasting your bread can slightly lower its glycemic index. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Even better: Your body absorbs less glucose from frozen bread before toasting. Bottom line: Freeze first, toast later! Who knew?
24. Cook your egg
Up to 50% more nutrients are absorbed from a runny egg yolk than from a hard-boiled or overly hard egg. I have no idea how to cook eggs? All you have to do is open an egg in a pot of boiling water.
25. Add oil to rice
No, that's not an excuse for us to punch fried rice. But if you add a teaspoon of coconut oil to a pan of boiling water before cooking your enriched rice, the Sri Lankan College of Chemical Sciences says the rice will have 10 times more resistant starch (good thing; it slows down rapid digestion) and stays that way, even as leftovers.
26. Freeze blueberries
Another way to make your healthy foods healthier: Freeze blueberries! Its antioxidant properties are concentrated in the skin. The ice crystals that form on the skin during the freezing process help make antioxidants more accessible to your body. South Dakota State University study.
27. Eat your pasta cold
Similar to how oil can make rice better for you, pasta that has been refrigerated overnight (it's okay to reheat it!) will keep you full longer than if you cook the noodles and serve them right away.
28. Know when to refrigerate your avocado
The easiest kitchen trick ever? Store your avocados on the counter so they ripen faster and put them in the refrigerator when they're ripe so they last longer. A sure sign that an avo is well on its way to ripening is when you can easily remove the 'button' from the top.
29. slicing your strawberries
Instead of slicing your strawberries all at once to be productive and enjoy them easily later, you'll want to keep them whole until you're just a few minutes away from eating. Vitamin C is sensitive to light and oxygen and loses some of its antioxidant power when exposed. The same goes for oranges, which contain slightly less vitamin C than a cup of strawberries.
30. Make frozen cubes
Instead of watching that bunch of parsley goes bad, chop it up and mix it with a tiny bit of oil and freeze it as ice cubes that you can throw in a soup later. Or freeze sauces for quick, individual meals. Or use an ice cube tray to freeze kale for smoothies. Be creative!
However, we do not recommend freezing the onion. They absorb bacteria like crazy and you should never use cut onions anymore.
31. Recovery of burnt cookies
I've gone to such trouble making healthy cookies, so don't let burnt bottoms ruin your day. Simply take your zester and grate the black part. Beautiful!
32. Smash that garlic
For the fastest clove peeling ever: Place the clove on a cutting board and then break it up using the side of a chef's knife and your fist. It's fun to do and saves you time!
33. Cracked eggs on the counter
When you crack the eggs on the rim of the bowl, you risk getting the eggshells into your food. Instead, break it on the counter.
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