About every 34 seconds, someone in the USA has a heart attack. Heart disease remains the leading cause of death for both men and women. February is Heart Health Month, and an ideal time to uncover some of the more unusual and creative cooking tips that may help to keep you and your loved ones from becoming a statistic. You are well on your way to healthier cooking by using Carotino Red Palm & Canola Oil, which helps to maintain good cholesterol levels. Here are other ideas to try:
Proteins
• Use lemon juice, wine or tomato juice when basting meats instead of pan drippings.
• Refrigerate leftover soup, stew or gravy and use a utensil to skim off the fat before you reheat and serve.
• Remove all visible fats from lean meat, poultry or fish and roast, bake, broil, stir fry or stew them.
Casseroles
• Stretch the ground meat or poultry in your recipes by using thinly chopped vegetables.
• Substitute one half to all of the ground meat in your casseroles or chili with beans to lower the amount of saturated fat in your dish.
Baked goods
• Replace whole milk with skim or low-fat milk.
• Swap mayonnaise or sour cream for blender-whipped, low-fat cottage cheese or plain, low-fat yogurt.
• Substitute whole-wheat flour for up to half of the all purpose flour in your recipes.
Side dishes
• Place vegetables in a basket and steam over simmering water. The veggies will keep more of their flavor so you won’t have to use salt.
• Substitute skinless, smoked turkey breast for the bacon fat in greens.
• Replace each egg yolk in all your recipes with two eggs whites.
Sauces and seasonings
• Add flavor to your foods by seasoning them with garlic, herbs, onions, peppers, spices and lime or lemon juice instead of salt.
• Blend plain, low-fat yogurt into your creamy salad dressings.
• Trade whole milk for evaporated fat-free milk to thicken sauces.
• To make non-fat gravy, shake a cup of broth and a tablespoon of cornstarch in a jar. Whisk this mixture into additional broth and simmer until it thickens.
Simple changes do count when it comes to your heart health. Get in the habit of using your food choices and cooking techniques to help protect your health and be kinder to your cardiovascular system.
