Showing posts with label canola oil. Show all posts
Showing posts with label canola oil. Show all posts

You may have missed the 2013 New York City Wine and Food Festival, but that doesn’t mean you have to miss out on its nutritional wellness secrets. We’ve got a few of the best gourmet dishes to come out of the festival, so boost your diet and overall wellbeing with these delicious and healthy recipes.


 


1. Southwestern Marinated Grilled Salmon with Tomato-Red Chillie Chutney: This dish serves four and can be ready in two hours and 15 minutes from start to finish. In each serving there is 331 calories, 198mg sodium, 27g carbs, 4.5g fibre, 13.5g fat, 1.5g saturated fat, sugars, calcium, iron and 29g protein.


 


For the chutney, soak two dried ancho or New Mexican red chillies in two cups of hot water for 30 minutes. Drain the chillies, keeping ¼ cup of soaking liquid, and then stem, seed, and dice the chillies. Throw the chillies and liquid into a blender and blend until smooth. In a medium saucepan, heat one tablespoon of canola oil over a medium heat, adding one small red onion (finely diced) and cooking for five minutes, or until the onion is soft. Add a clove of finely chopped garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Add in your chilli puree, bring to the boil, and cook for about five minutes, or until the mixture has thickened slightly. Halve and dice four plum tomatoes, and add these to the mixture with a teaspoon of dried oregano. Cook this until slightly softened – about 10 minutes – and stir in two teaspoons clover honey. Season with salt and pepper, remove chutney from the heat and fold in three finely diced green onions. You can serve this chutney warm or at room temperature.


 


For the salmon, whisk together ½ cup fat-free sour cream, ½ cup plain fat-free yoghurt, three cloves finely chopped garlic, two teaspoons grated lime zest, two tablespoons lime juice, one heaping tablespoon ancho chilli powder, two teaspoons ground coriander, one teaspoon ground cumin, ¼ teaspoon turmeric, and ¼ teaspoon chile de arbol powder in a baking dish. Add four, three-ounce salmon fillets with the skins on, and turn to coat. Cover and refrigerate the salmon for 20 minutes to an hour. Remove your salmon from the marinade and use paper towels to wipe off the excess. Brush the salmon on both sides with canola oil and season with salt and pepper. With the grill on high, grill for about four minutes per side, or until the salmon is cooked to medium and golden brown on both sides. Add a lime half to each plate for squeezing over salmon and serve chutney on the side.


 


 


2. Broccoli and Turkey Sausage Frittata with Sun-Dried Tomato and Arugula: This recipe is a little easier, can be cooked in less than 30 minutes and serves one. The whole thing contains 267 calories, 750mg sodium, 5g carbs, 1g fibre, 16g fat, 3g saturated fat, sugars, calcium, iron and 24g protein.


 


Start by preheating your oven to 350F or 180C. Spray an eight-inch, non-stick pan with cooking spray and place on medium-high heat. Add a single layer of broccoli florets (about ¼ cup) and make sure each floret is touching the pan. Season with salt and pepper, turn the heat up higher and cook for 90 seconds, gently shaking the pan to mix. To caramelise the florets, allow broccoli to cook for another minute and then add four egg whites and two ounces of diced and precooked turkey sausage. Lower the heat to medium and continually agitate with a rubber spatula for three minutes, or until the eggs have coagulated. Place the pan into the oven and bake for three minutes, and then flip the frittata. In a bowl, toss together ¼ cup of baby arugula, a teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil, a tablespoon sun-dried tomatoes, and a teaspoon sherry vinegar. Season lightly with salt and pepper, and put your salad on top of the frittata.

Heart-healthy eating starts in the kitchen, which means that you need to get your kitchen wellness on track if you want to protect your family from heart problems. Here are seven simple tips to help you do it:


 


1. Switch to heart healthy cooking oils: It’s better for your wellness if you choose cooking fats that have minimal levels of saturated fat and trans fat, and high levels of healthier fats like monounsaturated fats and omega-3s. Therefore, you should do most of your cooking with canola oil, and then use olive oil in any recipe that works. Olive oil contains the most monounsaturated fat, very little saturated fat, and phytochemicals which are helpful for your wellbeing. You can also use safflower, sunflower, soybean, or flaxseed oil.


 


2. Switch to a better margarine: When you can’t replace margarine or butter with canola oil, make sure you choose a margarine that’s low in saturated fat (two grams or less per tablespoon) and contains no trans fats at all. For an added bonus, look for ones with omega-3 fats.


 


3. Have a clear out: Junk food is defined by two characteristics: an absence of nutrients and an overabundance of fat, sodium, or sugar. All these complementary wellness techniques are useless if you have a pantry full of junk food, so clear your kitchen of junk and replace these foods with healthier alternatives. Look at the labels on all the foods in your fridge, freezer and cupboards, and see which are really not worth holding onto.


 


4. Watch out for calorie boosters: It’s easy to spot junk foods like crisps and chocolate, but some ingredients can really sneak up on you if you’re not careful, and load your meal with fat, calories and cholesterol. You should think “red flag” whenever you come across regular mayonnaise, bacon and bacon grease, heavy and light whipping cream, half-and-half cream, puff pastry, full-fat cheese, sausage, coconut oil, butter, and pie crust dough.


 


5. Fill your fridge with heart-smart foods you can’t live without: Find out what your favourite frozen and fresh fruits and vegetables are, and then add in wholegrain products that can make for a quick lunch or entrée. Whole-wheat pitas and tortillas, and wholegrain pasta cooked al dente and chilled in the fridge are great options. Then, fill your fridge with lean meats and vegetarian substitutes, low-fat dairy products such as low-fat yogurt, cheese, and cottage cheese, skimmed milk, and sugar-free beverages that you like to drink, such as iced green tea and mineral water.


 


6. Make your freezer convenience food as healthy as possible: Sometimes you don’t eat fruit and vegetables because you haven’t got any fresh ones in, but this is where the freezer is your friend. If you’ve always got frozen fruit and veg to hand, you’ll never have an excuse to not add them to your meals. Keep frozen blueberries and raspberries for mixing into muffin and pancake batter and for topping oatmeal or waffles, and frozen broccoli florets, baby carrots, or frozen mixed vegetables for a quick side dish or for mixing in with the entree.


 


7. Make a few sneaky substitutions: If recipe instructions call for unhealthy ingredients, try using healthier alternatives. If you’re making macaroni and cheese from a packet and it calls for butter, for example, add a tablespoon or two of heart-smart margarine and a tablespoon or two of fat-free sour cream to make up the difference. Also, look on the label to see if the product already contains fat, as this may mean you can skip adding fat altogether and instead add – depending on the product – fat-free sour cream (for use in a cream pasta product), low-sodium broth (for use in a stuffing mix), low-fat yoghurt (for use in a muffin mix), strong coffee (for use in a brownie or cake mix) and applesauce.