Healthy Recipes

Most people would like to improve their eating habits, but don't have time to devote to a total menu make-over. This will certainly take some planning. Check out my post on meal planning for more on the topic of planning your meals. After you get into the habit of making a plan for healthy meals, recipes become the next hurdle.

There are three basic ways to get healthy foods onto your menu: using recipes, making your own creations, or modifying recipes will all help you incorporate healthy foods into your diet.

Recipes:
Although I still have a few, recipe books are quickly becoming a thing of the past. Every recipe you could ever hope to find is on the Internet. I rely on the Internet quite a bit when I am cooking. In fact, all of my Thanksgiving and Christmas cooking was done from recipes I found on the Internet. Recipe books are useful for specialized foods. I rely heavily on a book called The Miami Mediterranean Diet. This book is about incorporating Mediterranean cooking into your diet and is filled with great recipes.

Making your own creations:
Some people are really good at this, but I am not. Put me in a kitchen with a pile of ingredients, and I need Google to help me make use of them in a creative and edible recipe. My lack of talent in this area is exactly why I bought the book on Mediterranean cooking mentioned above. I knew that I should be incorporating certain foods into my diet, but I did not know how. If you are one of the talented or adventurous individuals who can create meals from a list of ingredients, I envy you. Making your own creations also takes time and practice. There are tons of food blogs on the Internet that tell the stories of people who create their own recipes, and I choose to rely on them instead of my own creations (at least for now).

Modifying Recipes:
This is one of my favorite methods of incorporating healthy food into my family's menu. Most mom's learn to modify recipes out of desperation. How else can we get our children to eat vegetables? I also modify recipes because I want my family eating whole grains, ground flax, and less sugar.

How do I make all of this work in my kitchen?
One weekend, I found myself craving pumpkin muffins. I remembered that I had once made some really good/healthy pumpkin muffins several years ago but had no idea where I would find that recipe (it might have been on the back of the label on the can). I typed "whole wheat pumpkin muffins" into the search box and the fourth entry listed in the results was for whole wheat pumpkin muffins with cranberries and walnuts. This recipe is on a terrific blog called Pinch My Salt. I reviewed the recipe and decided it was perfect for me. I had all of the necessary ingredients or knew I could make adequate substitutions and the ingredient list met with my nutritional goals. I did make some modifications to the recipe, but the basic foundation belongs to the talented chef/blogger at Pinch My Salt. When people ask me for the recipe for my muffins, I give out the link to the blog. I thought I would take the time to walk people through how I modified the recipe. I am putting the exact recipe below. The original can be found at the blog Pinch My Salt.  I will note my changes in parentheses.

Whole Wheat Pumpkin Muffins with Cranberries and Walnuts
2 1/2 C. whole wheat flour (I use 2C Wheat Flour, 1/4C Ground Flax, 1/4C Wheat Germ)
2 t. baking powder
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
2 1/2 t. pumpkin pie spice (I don't have pumpkin pie spice so I use 1 1/2t ground cinnamon, 1/2t ground nutmeg, 1/4t ground cloves, 1/2t ground ginger)
1 C. pumpkin puree (I use canned)
2 T. oil
3/4 C. honey (I use 1 1/4C Splenda + 1/4C water)
2 eggs
2/3 C. buttermilk (I use the powdered substitute that is available in any grocery store)
1 t. vanilla
1/2 C. sweetened dried cranberries (like Craisins)
1/2 C. chopped walnuts
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease a standard size 12 cup muffin tin (I use cooking spray).
2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and pumpkin pie spice; set aside.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together pumpkin, oil, honey, eggs, buttermilk and vanilla.
4. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and stir together until just combined. Fold in the cranberries and walnuts.
5. Divide batter evenly between 12 standard sized muffin cups. Bake 20-23 minutes in a preheated 375 degree oven. Muffins are done when they spring back lightly to the touch or when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Give it a try, add some healthy ingredients to your favorite recipes or find a new recipe. Please share what you do to add healthy food to your diet in the comments.