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Tips: 20 Tips for Healthy Entertaining

Source of Recipe

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1. Use cooking oil sprays when sautéing or grilling to use less fat.

2. Learn from the pros: garnish food to make it attractive to the eye as well as the palate.

3. Set a spectacular table. It doesn't have to be the finest crystal or china, but it should have pizzazz. Learn a few napkin-folding tricks. Make a centrepiece out of fresh fruits and vegetables. Use mirrors as place mats.

4. When planning your menus, buy fresh, seasonal produce. If a recipe calls for asparagus and it's not in season, feel free to substitute broccoli or other suggestions in the recipe variations.

5. Use yoghurt as the base for dips and salad dressings in place of mayonnaise or sour cream. Use egg white instead of whole egg when coating meat, fish or poultry with crumbs.

6. Prepare soups and stews a day or two in advance and refrigerate them overnight. The fat will rise to the top and congeal and can be removed easily. If time is a problem, use a fat or gravy strainer to remove fat from sauces and soups before serving.

7. Use cooked and puréed vegetables as natural thickeners for soups and sauces in place of butter, flour and cream. Cooked potatoes are good thickeners for soup.

8. Grill meats, fish and poultry to remove excess fat and add flavour. Instead of sauteing meats in stews and braised dishes, grill them to remove fat and save on clean-up.

9. Cook en papillote (in paper or foil packets) . The natural flavours and juices of the ingredients are sealed inside the parchment paper packet.

10. Use heavy pans with good non-stick coating. To maintain their non-stick surface, use plastic or wooden spoons, never metal.

11. Use skimmed or semi-skimmed milk. Skimmed milks provide the same nutrients as whole milk but with much less saturated fat, cholesterol and calories.

12. Use reduced-fat cheeses, but avoid non-fat cheeses, which are rubbery and bitter. Use the finest quality Parmesan cheese, Parmigiano Reggiano, grated just before use. It costs more, but the flavour is far superior.

13. Use mustard, particularly the grainy variety, to add thickness to dressings and sauces without adding fat. Use garlic, ginger, onions, lemon juice, vinegar, chillies, mustard and fresh herbs as natural flavour enhancers.

14. Use salsa as a condiment to enhance breakfast dishes, grilled foods and sandwiches. Use fruit salsas as a delicious and fat-free topping for grilled fish, poultry or meat.

15. Purée roast garlic to use on bread or as a fat-free flavour enhancer for comfort foods such as mashed potatoes or pasta.

16. You can cook chicken with the skin on, which will not add any fat to the dish. The secret is to discard the fatty skin before eating the chicken. Also be sure to trim the fat from beef, lamb and pork before cooking, which reduces the fat of the finished dish.

17. When selecting oils, choose monounsaturated oils such as olive, corn or groundnut - the good guys in oil. No matter what type of oil, limit the amount used.

18. Chop and freeze fresh herbs when available to have on hand year-round.

19: To add a bacon flavour without adding excessive fat, use small amounts of prosciutto, which is lower in fat than regular bacon.

20. To intensify flavour, toast nuts and seeds such as pine nuts and sesame seeds. A few toasted nuts will add more flavour than a large handful of plain ones.