Add Flavor Without Adding Calories
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Just because you are eating healthy doesn't mean you food has to be bland and flavorless. Quite the contrary! Herbs and spices are a great way to add a flavor packed punch to any dish.
A few years ago when I was first learning to cook, I was fortunate enough to have the advice of an excellent chef who told me that fresh herbs were the key to flavor. He pointed out the fresh basil that I put into the Chicken Caesar Pasta Salad that I make that everyone just raved about. People would always say the flavor was so good. One woman even told me she tried to copy my salad at home without a recipe and the flavor just wasn't the same. She asked me to review what she put in to see what she had left out and the missing ingredient was fresh basil. It blended so perfectly with salad greens that she didn't see it but she certainly tasted it.
I found an article on Spark People titled Herbs and Spices to "spark up" Your Food. It gives tips on using and storing fresh herbs and spices. There is also a chart that lists the herb or spice and the foods it will enhance.
Healthy food should never be boring!! With a little bit of effort in the kitchen, it never has to be again!
3 comments:
I love using herbs and spices, especially spices! It really does make a big difference.
It really is amazing how much fresh herbs add flavor, as compared to dried. We grow rosemary and basil, and I've tried others but they haven't done quite as well. Try, try again!
Oh I could not cook without spices. We had to cut out almost all salt last year due to the hubby's blood pressure so I had to really work to replace the flavor. Now I have a huge supply of spices and herbs.