20 Aug 2007

Creating Desserts on the Grill

If you grill fruit properly, you can artfully create tasty desserts that will satisfy your sweet tooth without adding a lot of extra calories. A favourite technique is to wrap the fruit in tinfoil with some spices and grill it on the top shelf of your gas grill. A great combination is grilled pear and apples with cinnamon. The fruit gets soft and if you add a little brown sugar, it will also create tasty syrup.

There are several different techniques for cooking fruit on the grill. You can halve a banana length wise and keep it in the peel. Sprinkle the banana with some fresh nutmeg or cinnamon and grill until it gets nice and warm. Or you can use skewers. The skewer method works best for pineapple. You might want to experiment to find the flavours that work best for you.

17 Aug 2007

Sick of the same grilling routine? Try something new!

Posted in Tips

There’s nothing like firing up the grill on the hot summer day and cooking up some of your favourites. But chances are you’ve been doing the same things for a while. It’s time for something new.

Instead of grilling with just gas or charcoal, why not add some wood chips to give the food a smoky flavour? Or how about grilling fish with a cedar plank instead of placing it directly on the grill? These are just some of the many options for you.

And a lot of people don’t realize it but there are plenty of vegetables and fruits that cook up nicely on the grill. Pineapples, zucchini, mushrooms, and bananas are just some of the things that taste great fresh of the grill.

Of course, your old favourites can also be served. But you can change the seasonings a little bit to give it a different twist.

14 Aug 2007

Explore the World of Spice

Exploring the world of spice is something that is important if you want to prepare healthy foods. Not only do herbs and spices replace flavour that is taken out when you cut down on fat and calories, but they also supply extra vitamins and minerals.

As a goal, you should make it a point to purchase different spices and try recipes every now and then with at least one new spice. Most people have their top five favourite spices and they don’t usually branch out from it. But to get the most variety from your diet, this is something that should be a priority.

You can purchase spices at your local gourmet shop or market. And for extra variety, try cooking with fresh herbs and spices. Fresh herbs have a different quality to them than their dried counterparts and can be used in different situations. This presents you with even more options in the kitchen.

11 Aug 2007

Healthy Cooking is Not Just for Weight Loss

Posted in Tips

A lot of people think that healthy cooking is designed for people who are trying to lose weight. How many times has a thin person heard as they were eating a salad, “Oh but you’re thin, you don’t need to eat that.”

The truth is, everyone needs to eat healthfully. It helps thin people stay thin, overweight people lose weight, and keeps the human body functioning as it should. The body needs certain nutrients to perform at an optimum level. Starve the body of these nutrients and you won’t have as much energy and you may even develop some health problems

There will be times when you feel like eating a treat. But the majority of your time should be spent preparing healthy foods. Just remember that as you look for something to cook for dinner tonight. You can either eat something fattening, or something good for you.

8 Aug 2007

Making Healthy Substitutions

Posted in Tips

A big thing about healthy cooking is that when you cut out the fat and extra calories, there is some flavour that goes away. The fat and the calories do bring some flavour to the dish you are cooking. However, there is a way to replace the lost flavour by using low calorie ingredients such as extra spices and low calorie sweeteners.

As you start cooking healthier foods you will begin to understand how to make healthy substitutions. You can start by reading healthy cookbooks and following the recipes. The healthier the recipes you follow are, the easier it will be to understand what you need to do in order to change your favourite recipes to make them healthier.

Once you makeover the way you prepare your food, you will find that it is easier than you thought to lose weight.

5 Aug 2007

Healthy Cooking Leads to Weight Loss

Posted in Tips

If you are looking to lose weight, healthy cooking is something that you need to start doing. Most people cook with a lot of fat and calories without even realizing it. This means that they think nothing of adding a lot of butter, oil, and sugar to their food. But what this really translates to is a dish that is filled with fat and calories and lacks nutritional value.

To make a serious change in your life, you need to change the way you cook and even think about food. It is possible to make food taste good without adding all of those calories. If you change your habits, your waistline will shrink. Yes, healthy cooking does lead to weight loss.

However, it may take a while to change your habits. Make one positive change at a time until you learn how to cut out the fat and calories without hurting the flavour.

2 Aug 2007

Try One New Gourmet Recipe a Week

Posted in Recipes

One thing that categorizes gourmet cooking is the creative things that the chef tends to do with the food. If you want to start cooking like that, you need to understand that the more things you cook, the easier it will be to develop your own personal style and creativity.

The only problem is, most people tend to cook the same things over and over again. This is because people tend to stick with eating the foods they like and cooking the things they are good at. However, this attitude will not do a lot to help you increase your skills and expand your palate.

The best way to get around this is to set a goal to cook one new recipe per week. This will help you get out of your rut and learn new things. This is an important step to being a gourmet chef.

30 Jul 2007

Buy Only the Best Ingredients

Posted in Tips

You may love gourmet food and think that it is impossible to cook it at home. If you don’t have the training or the cooking skill, this could be true. But, the one thing that people don’t tell you is that those are not the most important factors that make a food gourmet.

One of the most important things you can do is focus on purchasing quality ingredients. Great ingredients will give your food that extra edge so that you can consider yourself a gourmet chef. Granted, there are other factors that go into it but this is a great first step.

So, where should you go to find the best ingredients? For fruits and vegetables you can try visiting the local farm stands. For fish, you will want to do some searching to make sure you get the freshest fish possible. For meat and dairy, you can find a farm or a butcher shop to help you out.

28 Jul 2007

Get a Taste for Gourmet Food

If you want an easy way to learn about gourmet food, it helps to visit gourmet restaurants. This is especially valuable if you want to learn how to cook the foods at home. Eating at gourmet restaurants will give you a taste for gourmet food. You need to have those flavours in your mind to compare your own cooking too.

Home cooking can be rustic. Gourmet food is creative and often pushes boundaries. Your goal is to test out enough gourmet food so you can learn what type of food you like. This is an essential process to developing your own style.

Yes, you can follow a gourmet food recipe that you find online or in a magazine. However, unless you know what gourmet food really is, you will not know if your recipe was successful or not. Enjoy a meal at a few of the restaurants and you will have a very good idea of knowing what it is.

26 Jul 2007

Gourmet Food at Home

Yes, it is possible to enjoy gourmet food at home. In past years, it used to be that you had to visit the fanciest restaurants to enjoy gourmet foods. Now, almost anyone can enjoy it, especially if they know how to cook.

Two things that separate gourmet food from regular home cooking are the ingredients and the methods of cooking. The recipes you choose, the quality of the ingredients, and even the presentation are all things that make a food gourmet as opposed to home cooking.

If you want to enjoy gourmet food at home, look online for gourmet food recipes or purchase a high quality cookbook. Make it your goal to learn how to cook some of these recipes. After you perfect at least one dish, invite your friends and family over for a small dinner party to show off your new skills.