To Make Every Meal Healthier! this month's small change to make (and to get into the habit of doing) is to make over your meals.
In the August 2012 issue of Healthy Food Guide magazine, every recipe is a healthy makeover of a regular dish. The tweaks to ingredients and methods are small, and once you get the hang of it, the healthy habit of 'making over' your own recipes will become second nature. Here are some tips to get you started.
Meat dishes
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In dishes like meat loaf and sausage rolls, replace sausage meat with oats and breadcrumbs and use lean beef mince. This will drastically cut the fat.
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Add vegetables (the same volume as the amount of meat) to stews and casseroles. This bulks out the dish and adds essential vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and fibre. Carrots, onions, turnips, parsnips, pumpkin, kumara and tomatoes add taste, colour, texture and goodness.
- Add beans, lentils or chickpeas to bolognese sauce, stews and casseroles. These extend meat, add taste and texture and provide protein, fibre, vitamins and minerals. For 500g meat, use about 3/4 cup lentils or beans.
See also
Make over your meals: Vegetable dishes and salads
Make over your meals: Cheesy sauces and bakes
Make over your meals: Pudding and dessert treats
Win with Make Every Meal Healthier!
Tell us what you think and/or share your tips on this month's topic,
Making over your meals. If you add your comment below before midnight on Sunday 12 August and we publish your feedback in Healthy Food Guide magazine, you will win a prize!
4 Comments. Add yours
I have multiple gastrointestinal issues which mean not only am I intolerant to fat but I have to be on a low GI diet to maintain even blood sugar (not related to diabetes).
Fruit and lowfat yoghurt easy options for treats, but I miss being able to go to a cafe and selecting from the goodies on offer, so...
..my mother-in-law and I have modified an Edmonds Cookbook recipe for pikelets, replacing the fat with a mashed banana and swopping white flour for wholemeal. Then cook in a very non-stick pan or use baking paper in a frypan.
Tasty, fat free and filling!!
Next on the agenda is to make the Food Truck cookbook recipe for low fat salt n vinegar chippies...yummy!
Trim visible fat from beef and lamb, either before or after cooking.
Use lean meat cuts such as steaks, stirfry strips and lean, premium mince.
Cook with minimal fat by using methods such as grilling, stir-frying or roasting on a rack.
Look out for the New Zealand Beef and Lamb Quality Mark seen on packs of meat as it indicates it is low in fat.
Cut the total amount of meat in your meal in half and double the veges! Use chick peas, butter beans or similar to bulk the meal out. If you have a sweet tooth, don't keep biscuits etc in the cupboard. I find 2 prunes with a cup of tea at night a nice sweet way to end the day. We don't have children at home now, which makes being healthy so much easier that I don't have to do baking etc, the temptation is just not there!
Hi Green5 - well done and thanks for your posts - as you (hopefully) know by now, you're a winner - we've published your comments in the magazine and you've won a HFG goodie bag. :)