Healthy Recipes

We all know that fruits and vegetables are good for us. Yet most of us don't make the effort to eat them as much as we should. Many of us are aware that fruits and vegetables can help prevent chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease and cancer, as well as aid in weight loss, but surveys have shown that 78% of Americans do not even eat five servings per day, the amount recommended by the FDA.

When we look at our culture, it doesn't come as much of a surprise to learn that the two most commonly consumed fruits and/or vegetables are French fries and ketchup. These foods are easily accessible, and some might say cheap. It seems that although we know what is good for us, we do not always do what is right.

It is not unrealistic, or difficult, to eat five servings of fruits and vegetables each day. It may actually surprise you to learn what counts as a single serving. Here are just a few examples:

* One small wedge of watermelon
* 12 baby carrots
* 8 large strawberries
* 1 large banana
* 2 large stalks of celery


An easy way to add more fruits and vegetables is to add them to things we are already eating. Think about adding strawberries or blueberries to your waffles or pancakes, or add spinach, broccoli or mushrooms to your egg or egg white omelet. Use vegetables as a topping on pizza; add lettuce, tomato and onion to your sandwich. For a snack, toast whole grain bread with peanut butter and add banana slices. And always try eating at least two vegetables with dinner.

By: Justin & Rachel Lukasavige

Labels: eat healthy food, fast healthy food, healthy eating food, healthy fast food, healthy food, healthy food eating, healthy food pyramid, healthy food recipes, healthy foods, the healthy food

In the hassle and bussle of today's world, finding and preparing easy and healthy recipes for kids can be a struggle! And then when you find them, there is so much that can goes into them: planning the menu, making the grocery list, driving to the store, doing the shopping, checking out in the long line, paying the bill, and driving home not to mention preparing the meal and sitting down to feast on your hard work.

Without missing a beat, the inevitable always seems to happen...the complaints.

"I don't like this".
"This looks weird".
"I don't like this color."
"I want pizza!"
"Can I have a cookie instead?"

Nutrition plays a vital role in our children's development, and we know this. But how easy is it to just grab a frozen pizza and call it a day! While tempting as it sounds, it's our responsibility as parents to find healthy recipes for kids that can be prepared and enjoyed at the family table.

Below are a few healthy recipes for kids that have been a hit at my own family table. But before I get to them, let's first discuss some tips on helping us plan some healthy recipes for kids and ways to get our kids excited for them!

1) Make a quick list of the foods your children love, hate, and are allergic to. With this in mind, it will be easy to pinpoint the recipes you're targeting and onto the healthy recipes for kids your family will love.

2) When kids are invested in a project, they are more readily accepting. Find healthy recipes for kids that your family can contribute to. For example, get your kids involved in the selection of the recipes, let them help with the shopping, or get the kids help in preparing the meal and setting the table.

3) Select one new vegetable, fruit, or food to try each week. Make it a game with your kids. They may love it or hate it, but it will teach them to be open to new foods and experiences at the table.

With these tips in mind, here are a few healthy recipes for kids that have been a hit with my own. Give them a try and see if this could be a meal your family will love!

Healthy Recipes for Kids #1: Oven-Baked Carrot Fries

My kids love these healthy fries!

Oven-Baked Carrot Fries

1 ½ lbs. Carrots
1 tsp. Sugar
2 T Olive Oil
½ tsp. Salt
2 T Fresh Rosemary, finely chopped
Pinch of Pepper

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees and line a shallow pan with foil. Peel each carrot and cut off the tip and the end off of each one. Cut carrots in half cross-wise, then cut length-wise, then cut length-wise again.

Combine the carrot sticks, olive oil, salt, pepper, and rosemary and stir until they are evenly coated. Spread the carrots over the pan as much as possible.
Bake your carrots for about 20 minutes or until carrots are tender. Serve them hot or cool them a bit to room temperature.

Healthy Recipes for Kids #2: Chicken Tortilla Soup

This is a family favorite and is easy on Mom and Dad in both the prep and the clean-up!

Chicken Tortilla Soup

½ Onion, chopped
½ tsp. Garlic, minced
4 tsp. Cilantro, chopped
1 T Butter
30 oz. Chicken Stock
8 oz. can Tomato Sauce
½ package of Taco Seasoning
14 oz. can Mexican Style or Plain Stewed Tomatoes
4 ½ oz. can Diced Green Chilis
1 small can of Corn, drained
1T Worchestire Sauce
4 Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts (these can be frozen)

Put all the ingredients into a Crock Pot and cook on low for 8 hours. A half an hour prior to serving, pull out the chicken and shred. Put the chicken back into the soup and cook the remainder of the time (half an hour).

Serve with cheese, tortilla chips, avocado, and sour cream.

Healthy Recipes for Kids #3: Baked Spaghetti

Baked Spaghetti

1 lb. lean Ground Beef
10 oz. Whole Wheat Spaghetti
2 C Mozzarella Cheese, shredded
2 26 oz. jars of your favorite Spaghetti Sauce (make sure your sauce contains healthy ingredients and no sugars)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and spray a 9 x 13 pan with cooking spray.

In a large skillet over medium heat, brown the ground beef, drain and mix in your spaghetti sauce to the ground beef.

Prepare your pasta according to the packaged directions and drain.

Spoon one-third of your spaghetti sauce mixture into the bottom of your prepared pan and then mix the remaining spaghetti sauce mixture with the cooked spaghetti. Pour into the prepared pan and then top with the shredded cheese.
Bake for 25-35 minutes until brown and bubbly. Let baked spaghetti rest for about 10-15 minutes before serving. Serve with a healthy salad and garlic bread. Enjoy!

By Emily Watson

Labels: eat healthy food, fast healthy food, healthy eating food, healthy fast food, healthy food, healthy food eating, healthy food pyramid, healthy food recipes, healthy foods, the healthy food

It is alarming that North Americans consume an excess of 300% to 400% of the required daily fat intake. Therefore one in every four North Americans is considered to be clinically obese. Therefore there is a great need for healthy recipes. Healthy recipes are also highly needed for children and teenagers who are 20% or more than their ideal body weight.

How does one recognize healthy foods or healthy recipes? Firstly you must know how to ascertain the quantity of fat in the foods you buy. Foods from the meat market may not come with labels that tell you how much fat there is. Also, the labels of foods available at the supermarket may be very confusing to read.

One thing can help: calculate the percentage of fat in your food. According to FDA's guidelines, you must read how many grams of fat there are in a product. Then multiply it by 9. Now divide the answer by the total number of calories mentioned in the label. Your answer may be a decimal number. This is the percentage of fat contained in that product.

The condiments, additives, sugar and salt content should be taken into account; but if you take care of the fat part, it will make a big difference. Avoid fast foods, as the spreads used are high in fats. If you get on the internet, you will find innumerable healthy recipes that can benefit you and your whole family. Healthy recipes limit the use of butter, coconut, salad oils, cream or cheese as all these foods have very high fat content that range from 90% to 100%.

By Hbconnection

Labels: easy healthy recipes, healthy chicken recipes, healthy dinner recipes, healthy food recipes, healthy heart recipes, healthy kids recipes, healthy quick recipes, healthy recipe, healthy recipes

It seems everyone today is looking for quick, healthy recipes they can use for their family. However, they seem to be somewhat difficult as usually recipes be either quick or healthy, but rarely both! But since so many people are working outside the home and are finding their schedules crammed with so many other activities and responsibilities even when they're not working, finding quick, healthy recipes is a priority for many. No one has the time or the desire to stand over the sink chopping vegetables and no one has the time to wait for a dinner that takes hours to fix.

Interestingly enough you can come up with your own quick, healthy recipes simply varying the ingredients of your favorite recipes or by learning how to cook properly with different types of kitchen tools and gadgets.

As an example, when you use a rotisserie you can find quick, healthy recipes for just about any type of meat you might want. By having it cook on the rotisserie you're having the grease and fat drip away from it rather than having the meat cook in its own fats. By using some marinades or seasoning mixes you may find that your main dishes come out much tastier this way then they ever did before and you don't need to use fats to add flavor to your dishes. As a matter of fact, these quick, healthy recipes for your main dishes aren't even really recipes but just better and healthier ways of preparing your meats so you don't even need to follow instructions from a cookbook.

Some other ways of coming up with your own quick, healthy recipes is to reduce the amount of sugar you use to cook with when making desserts and other items. If you bake from scratch, try using applesauce as a sweetener or reducing your sugar by one-third. Use reduced fat mayonnaise or salad dressing; you don't need to go with fat free completely as this might be too much of a change for you, but by just reducing fat and sugar you can come up with some great quick, healthy recipes that are still very palatable to you and your family. You can also cut back just a little bit to start with and then gradually work your way up to how much you want to reduce your sugar and fat content overall.

Sneak vegetables into your cooking whenever you can; this is how quick, healthy recipes are created in a professional kitchen. If you make meatloaf, add some chopped peppers and onions. Do the same when cooking soup - add additional chopped carrots, onions, and anything else your family enjoys. Slip some spinach into an omelet. These are all easy and quick tips but you would be surprised how often people ignore these tips when cooking. Making up your own quick, healthy recipes simply means being creative with your ingredients and your methods.

Of course it does no good to come up with these quick, healthy recipes if you and your family never actually eat the things you cook this way. Get into the habit of having a small salad or bowl of vegetable soup before each dinner and lunch. This doesn't need to be a huge bowlful; just a few small bites before your main meal can make a tremendous amount of difference. You can also schedule what days you're going to have your quick, healthy recipes and then save your special treats and indulgences for the weekend or another special time. Make sure the family knows that Monday is healthy night, Tuesday you'll have what you want, Wednesday is another healthy night, and so on.

And get your family involved in coming up with and creating quick, healthy recipes. If the kids are busy in the kitchen they're more likely to want to eat what they've prepared. You don't want them to use dangerous knives and other equipment but they can certainly work with measuring and things such as this.

By Blair Critch

Labels: easy healthy recipes, healthy chicken recipes, healthy dinner recipes, healthy food recipes, healthy heart recipes, healthy kids recipes, healthy quick recipes, healthy recipe, healthy recipes

If you want an easy way to give pleasure in a healthy everyday life for your family then one of the perfect ways to do it is by preparing home-cooked foods by the use of simple Healthy Recipes.

You can significantly perk up the health gains by staying in to have a meal.

Work, children, and other responsibilities are hard enough to juggle to even have the time to prepare a meal at home. But before thinking of heading out to the nearest fast food or restaurants, mull over the benefits and advantages of having a healthy meal together with your family at home. Also, think about the rising prices of food and fuel making everyone save in every way they can, one mean to lessen the pain is to dine out less and to prepare meals more in the house.
Home-cooked meals that are made from healthy recipes gives more benefits and even help you keep aside some money and are most healthful for you and your family.

As soon as you make your mind up to do more food preparation at home, make a choice from a selection for some favorite simple healthy recipes and then get imaginative. A home-cooked meal gives off these benefits:

* Gives less interruption. If you dish up a meal at the family table, far from diversions and the television set, you?ll most probably give more concentration and thought to your meal selections and servings.

* It lessens the quantity of the processed foods that you eat. Freshly arranged meals are a lot better for everyone?s health than the usual grab-and-go foods. You can be sure that you and your family get all the nutritional value that a healthful meal could give.

* It also let you have a try with the new meals. Serve your family with new meal along with the old favorites for a more palatable and enjoyable meal choices. You can easily acquire new food ideas through looking at easy healthy recipes magazines or cookbooks.

* It saves you a lot of time. When you dine in your own home with your family, you?ll probably eat leisurely and enjoy the extra time with your family as well. This situation will help you avoid overeating.

* Make use of cookbooks and magazines so you will never run out of ideas for healthy meals and creative food preparations for your whole family. The cookbooks are kind of inspiring with great ideas, recipes, and food stories. Certainly, after you sample the recipes to make out if they are really good; you will be surprised at the array and food quality that it can give.

* This also gives you the opportunity to be a good example to others especially with your children. When you sit down at the dinner table for a meal, your children will most likely have the chance to have a share of what you eat, in the meal ambiance that you made. This is can be considered an occasion to infuse good eating etiquette and practice.

By Gen Wright

Labels: easy healthy recipes, healthy chicken recipes, healthy dinner recipes, healthy food recipes, healthy heart recipes, healthy kids recipes, healthy quick recipes, healthy recipe, healthy recipes

By following the basic rules of variety, moderation (portion control), and balance, you can plan your daily healthy recipes in accordance with Canada's Food Guide. You can partake in almost any food without guilt or worry. You are able to use healthy recipes to learn to utilize foods to lower your risk of heart disease, diabetes, and some cancers.

By using healthy recipes utilizing any freshly grown local produce; preferably organic, pesticide free; where possible, eat fresh fruits and vegetables. Use the least amount of salt and sugar; where possible eliminate both, for your heart's sake. Most fruits do not need sugar added, and most vegetables do not need salt.

Learn to eat less sweets and use Splenda, a natural sugar replacement as often as possible in healthy recipes, in order to keep sugar intake lower, and sea salt in place of regular table salt, to keep our intake of processed iodized salt. Packaged and canned products are usually heavily salted or sugared and it is not necessary - our bodies just do not need it. Choose light and low sugared and salted canned foods if you must.

Learn to read labels of packaged or processed foods, often the "healthy nutritious" part of the food has been taken out of the actual food by the time it reaches our mouths - home made healthy grown food, used in healthy recipes tastes much better than processed foods. It has been recommended that we use non-hydrogenated oils in our foods and stay away from as much animal fat as possible.

Using healthy meat in recipes means we use grain fed, pesticide free organic meats. It may cost a little more, and you may have to order ahead of date required (ie. organically fed - free range birds and free range organically fed cows). It is highly recommended for your good health as these animals will not have been fed anti-biotics, which normally would pass through the meat and into our bloodstreams as we eat the meat; thereby enabling our systems to build up anti-immunities to these drugs. The more we eat those antibiotic filled meats, the more anti-biotics become immune to new and old diseases. Stay with organic meats!!

Learning to eat healthfully by using foods that are pesticide free, organically fresh, locally grown, and not genetically altered, will show you not only the benefits of a healthy body, but a healthy mind.

Finally, learning to use healthful foods to benefit our healthy recipes, choose to using these recipes as a canvas and you be the painter. Healthful foods need not be boring or complicated or take ages to make. Using a healthful recipe is a creation of art, and especially so, when you learn the benefits of and what constitutes healthy eating.

Remember we are what we eat!

By IC

Labels: diet, diets, healthy, loose weight, low fat, weight loss

Welcome to Healthy Recipes...