Fruit up your fish
Don’t just stick to serving vegetables with your evening meals – fruit tastes good with fish and meat and is a great way to increase your vitamin and antioxidant intake. Try mango and papaya with tuna, apple with chicken, or pineapple with pork.
Add flavour later
For dishes that take a long time to cook, beware of over flavouring with herbs and spices, which often develop stronger flavour the longer they cook. Add very few herbs and spices at the beginning and an hour before serving add more if you think the dish need it.
Dried means less
Fresh herbs are a great way to get flavour and an added fresh vitamin boost into your dishes, but they’re not always available. Remember if you’re not always available. Remember if you’re using dried herbs they’re much more pungent than fresh – you need on average one third of the fresh amount.
Toast your spices
Whenever possible, grind whole spices in a grinder or mortar and pestle just prior to using. Toasting whole spices in a dry skillet over medium heat before grinding will bring out even more flavour, but be careful not to burn them.
Shake a flavour feat
Add flavour to your food on the plate without using oils and other calories-filled flavour enhancers by creating your own flavour shakers. Choose your favourite dried herbs and spices and combine in a sugar or salt pot to give flavour without fat – try chilli and chives or basil and oregano.
Stick with stevia
Instead of using refined white sugar as a sweetener, go for a natural-sweetening option with the no-calorie herb stevia, a herb from Paraguay with a slightly liquorice aftertaste that is approximately 100 to 400 times sweeter than sugar. It can be purchased in most health food shops and can be used for cooking or baking.
More cinnamon less sugar
In baked spiced recipes like muffins and biscuits, try reducing the amount of sugar in your recipes by half and doubling the cinnamon. Not only will be cinnamon taste help retain sweetness with the least calories possible, it has also been shown to help control blood sugar levels.
Healthier sweetness
Try natural alternatives to sugar in baking and for sweetening drinks and desserts. Barley malt, rice syrup and granulate cane juice all contain as many calories as sugar, but they also have added minerals and vitamins so are slightly healthier.
Munch a macadamia
If you love shortbread or buttery biscuits, try closing your eyes and snacking on a handful of macadamia nuts instead. With a rich, buttery taste because of their healthy unsaturated fats, they are filling as well as being low in carbohydrates and high in magnesium, iron and calcium.
Oregano and go
The herb oregano is high in antioxidants, and tastes great finely chopped and scattered over salads, grilled meats and fish. Fresh oregano is also very good added to Italian dishes like pizza, pasta and Bolognese sauces.
Tread Gingerly
Dried ginger is quite different from fresh. It has a slightly sweet flavour and a hint of citrus as well as the characteristic ginger kick. It can be used to replace sugar in recipes containing fruits like apple and pear, and instead of salt to enhance the flavour of chicken, turkey and rice.
Make it with mace
Experiment with spices to replace salt and complement your food. If you find nutmeg too overpowering, try mace. Mace is ground from the covering of the nutmeg seed and is warmer and more delicate in flavour. Use in sauces and meat stews and sprinkled on to vegetables.
Star sugar substitute
Instead of piling sugar into your puddings, think of alternatives like star anise and liquorice, which can add a delicious tang without piling on the calories, especially if you combine it with using low-fat yogurt or crime fraiche.
Go natural
Replace high-fat source cream in recipes and as a garnish with low-fat natural yogurt instead. Not only does it contain fewer calories, but if you buy a live version it also contains bacteria which are beneficial to your digestive system. Or substitute half and half if you want to keep the taste but reduce the calories.
Sprinkle some spice
To easily reduce sugar in sweet recipes without losing out on taste, try substituting spices like cardamom, cinnamon, nutmeg or vanilla, which will enhance the impression of sweetness without adding calories. You can replace the sugar in recipes between a half and a third without altering the result.
Don’t cast away the caraway
Caraway seeds add a nutty, almost liquorice flavour to foods and are often used in rye breads and other specially baking. Use them instead of salt to flavour cooked vegetables such as parsnips, carrots and beetroot. They’re delicious in parsnip soup and pork and tomato casserole.
Cloves for memory
Cloves are not only great for adding their characteristic flavour, they also contain chemicals which aid digestion. Cloves are also believed to improve mental clarity and memory, so adding them to slow-cooked, spiced dishes like stews and curries is a very good idea all round.
Garlic on a stick
For the flavour and health benefits of garlic in cooking without actually having to bite through the flesh, stick a whole clove of garlic on a toothpick and add to soups and stews – that way, you’ll be able to find and remove it easily before serving.
Make your own milk
You can make your own healthy low-fat buttermilk for recipes by mixing one cup (235 ml or ½ pint) of plain yogurt with either one teaspoon cream of tartar or one cup of milk and a tablespoon of vinegar.
Add mushrooms to taste
Instead of mayonnaise and creamy dressings, think about ways you can add interest to your salads without adding fat. Raw, chopped or whole mushrooms are a great way to add taste.
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