If you’re living with a chronic condition, such as diabetes, heart disease or kidney disease, then you may be used to watching what you eat. But whether it’s monitoring your sugar levels, lowering your sodium intake, or avoiding foods high in saturated fat, there’s no need to sacrifice flavor when it comes to your food. Sometimes a bit of creativity in the kitchen is all it takes.
Suffice it to say, not everyone is a genius when it comes to making the taste buds sing. Fortunately, today, innovative nutritionists and chefs are in abundance, and the one we know and love best is Ellie Krieger!
This past June at AHIP 2020, Mom’s Meals engaged this well-known celebrity chef, nutritionist, and New York Times best-selling author to host a cooking demonstration featuring healthy, flavor-packed recipes. Mom’s Meals also hosted a LinkedIn Live session, during which Ellie shared her insights on food and nutrition.
Our very own executive chef, Jon Benedict, developed some mouth-watering, nutritious recipes of his own—including a green mango banana smoothie and green goddess dip. (Both are amazing, easy to make, and worth trying!)
So, whether you’re watching what you eat, or are a caregiver who prepares meals for someone with one, here are some noteworthy tips we’d like to bring to your table:
- Buy healthy staple foods in bulk. Whole-grain pastas, dried beans, dried fruits, nuts, and even frozen fish and vegetables have a long shelf life and can serve as the basis for many delicious recipes.
- Punch up flavor in foods – such as fish, chicken, and vegetables – by adding zest from lemons, limes and oranges.
- Add citrus juices to recipes to brighten flavor, and don’t be afraid to add another sweeter acid, like vinegar, to the mix (such as in salad dressings and marinades). Citrus fruits are bursting with vitamin C and other antioxidants.
- Intensify the natural flavor of the food by adding aromatic spices to foods ranging from meats to veggies. Sprinkle spices like cumin, coriander, and ginger so you don’t have to lean on salt for flavor. While a pinch of salt may bring a dish together, let the spices do the work.
- Satisfy your sweet tooth with whole fruits. Packaged perfectly by nature, fruit has naturally occurring sugars, fiber and antioxidants.
- Cook once, eat twice. Make meal preparation a pleasure by cooking up a double batch…one dinner for tonight, and another for later in the week. Or, you can freeze single servings and enjoy over the next couple of months. (Sometimes you just need a break!)
Our final tip? Don’t be afraid to experiment! With so many ways to flavor food, the options are endless. While you may have a recipe flop or two, you’ll likely have more successes that’ll leave you wondering why you ever felt you had to sacrifice flavor in the first place.