It’s never too early to introduce healthy eating habits to your children. As a parent, you know that you need to be a role model. Therefore, creating healthy meal rules for your family to rely on can be helpful.
The first and most important habit is to focus on turning meals into a convivial experience. Indeed, sharing meals together as a family can dramatically influence your cooking choices. When the family is gathered around the table, it’s natural to want to cook a yummy meal, rather than use processed foods. However, for a lot of households, removing processed flavors from the diet can be tricky. If you’re struggling with using fresh ingredients in your day-to-day preps, you need to set yourself small goals. The first objective is to avoid dips and sauces in jars or tubes. Indeed, you’d be surprised to know that dips and sauces are part of the everyday American diet. Unfortunately, the ones you buy in shops contain additives, as well as an unhealthy dose of sugar and fat.
Shop hummus never nails the authentic taste
Hummus is a favorite dip for a healthy lunch box or even a nutritious snack on the go. Even though you can find the delicious pot in the healthy and fresh produce aisles, it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try to make your own. In fact, you may be surprised to know how easy it is to prepare homemade hummus. Learning to make hummus is all about taking the time to nurture your ingredients. Mezze lovers say that the secret for an authentic taste and smooth texture is to peel the chickpeas. But there’s another advantage to making your own, which is that you can add your own twist to the recipe, with added garlic or cilantro, for example.
Reject the garlic mayo in a tube
If you love Mediterranean cuisine, you probably know that there’s no such thing as garlic mayo. It’s called aioli, and it can truly be the best thing on the planet if you know what you’re doing. The typical aioli bought in store can be richer than the homemade recipe. More importantly, it’s missing a lot of the nutritional boost created by the garlic. Real aioli is typically used as a side sauce to cut through the richness of certain flavors – seafood most of the time. As a result, it’s essential to understand that it’s not your everyday dip. Generally speaking, if you can make mayonnaise at home with an egg, lemon juice, and olive oil, you’ve got the skill to make a garlic-flavored one. More importantly, quality olive oil and fresh garlic is a combo made in heaven for your vascular health – in moderation, of course.
Tonight is pesto night!
Some nights you simply don’t have time to cook. But it doesn’t mean you should open a jar of pasta sauce. It doesn’t take more than a few minutes to blend a yummy and nutritious pesto using only the best ingredients in your garden and pantry. Besides, once you know how to make pesto, you can modify the recipe to suit your ingredients. A spinach pesto instead of basil is the ideal winter sauce.
Nobody can become a cook overnight. But learning to make your own sauces is the first step in freeing your diet from processed foods. Not only is it healthy and yummy, but it puts you in charge of the flavors!
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