How to Get Creative When Cooking at Home

When you're in charge of food preparation, you can take your own twist on traditional dishes. These healthier cooking methods let you adapt most recipes for added flavor while cutting the fat and calories.

You can follow recipes and learn how to cook easily enough. But if you know a few food preparation tricks as well, you can create delicious meals when cooking at home that are not only tasty, but also healthy.

Creative home cooking

“It’s relatively easy to make healthy substitutions and still have food taste good,” says Dawn Jackson Blatner, RD, a spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association and an instructor at Chicago’s Chopping Block Cooking School, where she teaches how to cook healthy meals.

One of the keys to healthier cooking is starting with the right ingredients. When you go grocery shopping, spend most of your time along the perimeter of the store — that’s where you’ll find the healthiest, freshest foods, such as fresh fruits and vegetables, seafood, lean meats and poultry, and dairy. “That’s the best scenario for anyone who is concerned about healthier cooking,”

You’ll also want to find the aisle where whole grains are kept — brown rice and whole-wheat pasta — and look for nuts, such as almonds. Nuts are an excellent source of fiber and heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids, and just a small amount adds a lot of flavor.

Lighter Cooking Methods

Once you stock your pantry with fresh foods, you still need to cook them in healthy ways. One of PFR’s favorite food preparation tips is to stir-fry vegetables and fresh lean meat, white-meat chicken, or seafood. 

You use little fat when you stir-fry, and vegetables come out crisp and tasty. Marinating the meat or seafood in advance will help flavor your dish without the need for salt. For a healthy marinade, PFR recommends a mix of two parts rice wine vinegar to one part sesame oil. If you love the flavor of soy sauce, you can add the slightest amount — even reduced-sodium soy is still relatively high in salt.

Grilling is another cooking method that’s healthier than frying and an excellent choice for most seafood and lean meats. Even veggies can be cooked on the grill. When your weather doesn’t allow grilling, try baking or roasting in the oven.

When it comes to enhancing flavors with sauces and seasonings, PFR recommends taking a “compare and contrast” approach. For example, if you’re cooking a heart-healthy salmon, a fatty but "fishy" fish, contrast it with a mild sauce such as a light citrusy one. If you’re cooking a mild fish like tilapia or flounder, pair it with a heavier sauce such as a bouillabaisse.

Always remember that you don’t need a massive amount of sauce. One to two ounces is enough, especially if the sauce is richer and higher in calories.

Healthier Cooking Basics

To extend your culinary range, apply these food preparation principles to almost any recipe to make it your own and make it healthier:

Go heavier on the veggies. When cooking stews and casseroles, use more vegetables and less meat than the recipe calls for.

Swap in whole wheat. When you’re baking, substitute whole-wheat flour for at least some of the white flour. Since you don’t want your baked goods to be too heavy, you may need to experiment to see how much is acceptable in a given recipe.

Be imaginative when it comes to side dishes. Quinoa, which has a slightly nutty flavor and is full of protein, is an excellent side dish alternative to potatoes or noodles. It’s become very popular recently, and you’ll find it at most stores. 

You can also experiment with using it in place of rice in recipes.

Season with herbs. For starters, use onion and garlic powders rather than onion and garlic salts to cut down on sodium. Next, expand your herb repertoire. “Oregano is a great herb. “Practically anything you’re making benefits from oregano.” It’s full of cancer-fighting antioxidants, and it goes well in Greek, Mexican, and Italian dishes. Make a point of trying a new herb every time you go grocery shopping. 

When you find a few that you really like, start your own fresh herb garden.

Cut the fats. You can reduce the amount of fat in most recipes and your dish still will be delicious. Generally, if you use about one-third less than a recipe calls for, you will save on fat and calories without sacrificing taste. 

PFR also suggests replacing yogurt, cream cheese, and mozzarella with reduced-fat versions, but cautions against using fat-free ones. “Fat equals flavor, so you never want to remove 100 percent of the fat from a recipe. It won’t taste the same,” explains. If you want to use the full-fat version of a food, use it sparingly and eat smaller portions.

Cut the sugar, too. Most recipes will taste just fine if you reduce the amount of sugar by one-third to as much as one-half.

Cook your vegetables. Cooking vegetables releases their natural sugar, and they won’t taste as bitter. The best way is to steam them; you can steam vegetables in the microwave if you don’t have a vegetable steamer.

Have fun experimenting to find out how much fat and salt you can cut from your favorite recipes without affecting taste. Chances are it’s a fair amount, and no one will ever wonder where the missing fats, salt, and sugar have gone.

PFR = PERFECT FITNESS ROUTINES