Healthy Food Recipe

Archive for October, 2008

If there’s one thing that’s typically always true about human beings, it’s that they love to eat. Now when I say eat, I mean consume a lot of food. But guess what ? We’re not talking carrots and celery here. Generally we prefer to gorge on junk food galore. Why ? Simply due to the fact that it tastes great! There’s certainly a satisfaction that comes with snacking on some nachos or scarfing down a brownie sundae. My apologies if I’m making you hungry.

Anyway, different individuals have a different take on whether junk food should be consumed or not. If you ask me, I’d say that all of those tasty sweets and snacks are okay to nibble on, if you put a limit on how much and how often you indulge. Naturally there should be a limit to your junk food intake.

What would you consider to be unhealthy or junk food ? Most people pinpoint fast food restaurants and sweets. At this point, I think it’s pretty obvious what falls into the junk food category and what does not. Treats like chips, movie theater concessions, candy, chocolate, soft drinks, cakes, pies, and pizza are all clearly foods that do nothing great for your body or health. However, we all already know this. But it definitely doesn’t stop us from purchasing these foods on a routine basis.

I even know health nuts who eat poorly on occasion. Hey, we all love some junk food. Therefore we’ll all look for ways to eat it sometimes, whether we typically stick to a well-balanced diet or not. When it comes down to it, much of the convenient foods that are bad for you, are also convenient and often less pricey than the healthy foods.

Since we live in the age of cyberspace, you’d better believe that you can find any and all sorts of junk food just by hopping on the web. Purchase fine chocolates from all over the world, order delicacies that can’t be found in your home town or small city, or buy low-priced bulk items with the simple click of a mouse.

All sorts of treats and goodies can be found on the Internet. The trick is to limit your junk food intake and be prudent when it comes to your overall health and diet plan. You can enjoy the “junk,” but don’t go too far and allow it to damage your health.

I have always loved gourmet food and while I live in Portland, which is an excellent city for gourmet restaurants. Portland has more restaurants per capital than almost any other city I know of. There is just too much food for any one person to ever try. Nonetheless, I give it a shot. I particularly like the gourmet Pizza restaurants. The East Coast is usually the place to get pizza. The West Coast is not known for its pizza places. Nevertheless, if you really look for them you can find some really good pizza places. I’ve had some thin crust, deep dish, and other kinds of pizzas here that are surprisingly good.

There are also some great gourmet vegetarian restaurants. Although I am not a vegetarian myself, I really respect gourmet restaurants that can cook vegetarian food. Meat automatically adds so much flavor to any dish that learning to cook without it is quite a challenge. The people who can do it really win my admiration. Sometimes, I’ll go to a gourmet vegetarian restaurant even if I don’t have any vegetarians with me. Some of the gourmet restaurants here are that good!

Of course, my very favorite gourmet restaurants are steakhouses. There’s nothing quite like a gourmet steak. I’ll have to admit that I’m not all that imaginative in my tastes. Fillet Mignon is my favorite – I suppose it is almost everyone’s favorite. It is so tender, juicy, and rich. If I had the money, I would probably eat a fillet every night. After all, why not eat only the best if you can afford it ? Still, every once in a while it is nice to get fish. There are some great gourmet fish restaurants here. The other day, I was eating downtown and had some tuna that was out of this world. It was seared on the sides, but raw in the middle – sort of a flame kissed sushi. It was to die for!

Everyone is very busy these days, juggling home life and work. It’s very tempting to pop a ready meal into the microwave at the end of a long day. Cooking skills are declining but there is a way of eating healthy, nutritious meals without spending ages in the kitchen. Traditional casserole recipes can be found in many countries and usually called for food to be cooked slowly in earthenware pots.

Kitchen equipment has moved on but there is still a demand for casseroles. Slow cooking is tastier but preparation can be made quicker with the right ingredients. Easily cooked casserole recipes are tasty too and can still be achieved on a budget. After the casserole dish is put into the oven, it can be left whilst other chores are attended to.

Anything goes with a casserole, whether it’s cooking a fresh meal or using up leftovers. It’s fun to experiment with different casserole recipes, adapting them to personal taste. Cheap cuts of meat are ideal for casseroles as they need slow cooking to tenderize and bring out the flavor. Poultry, fish and vegetables all benefit from this cooking method.

Beef Stroganoff is a classic dish, made from ground beef. A quick version uses a can of cream of mushroom soup and egg noodles. Corned Beef Casserole is an inexpensive meal, using canned corned beef, egg noodles, cheese and a can of cream of chicken soup.

Casserole cooking brings out the flavor of root vegetables. Carrots and swede go well with sweet potatoes and squash. Peppers and mushrooms are also suited to this sort of cooking. Corn and Broccoli Casserole can be made with a can of condensed corn soup, cheddar cheese, milk and broccoli. Broccoli Cheese Casserole uses onion, broccoli, rice, cheese and a can of cream of chicken soup.

There are several ways of including chicken and turkey into casserole recipes. One of the most useful ways of using turkey leftovers after Thanksgiving is Turkey Casserole with egg noodles, peas, sweet red peppers, milk and a can of condensed celery soup. The turkey should be cut into cubes and margarine and bread crumbs are required for the topping.

Seafood is also very tasty in casseroles. Tuna Casserole is a popular dish with numerous versions. For something more unusual, Crab Casserole uses Snow Crab with rice, peppers, onions, cheddar, mushrooms and a can of shrimp soup. A quick Italian inspired dish involves sausage, zucchini and spaghetti sauce.