“I can’t cook” is a frequent response I hear when asking clients to start preparing their own foods.
Are you physically unable to use your arms? Is you hand-eye coordination so far off that you think you’re going to chop a finger instead of a carrot? (I really doubt it.) You CAN cook, you just might need a little help to make the task seem less daunting.
Here are a few tips I’ve learned over the years to do just that!
1. Clean as you go. There will be time while you’re cooking to clean the dishes from chopping, and there will be time once you’re done cooking that food will need to cool down and you can clean those dishes.
2. Chop veggies and gather ingredients before lighting pan. This will save you from burning things or potentially chopping a finger while trying to keep an eye on an open flame.
3. On the topic of chopping.. place a damp rag underneath your cutting board before you start! This prevents the cutting board from sliding, and thus give you more confidence to chop more efficiently.
4. Use only Coconut Oil, Avocado Oil, or Ghee for cooking. Save the Olive and Flaxseed Oils for dressings/dips. (These oils have low smoke points, which means they become toxic at high temperatures!)
5. Play around with seasonings! I've listed a few of my favorite go-to combos below, but know that combinations are endless. Play around with what suits your taste buds.
Onion, Toasted Fennel, Pink Himalayan Salt and Black Pepper for a tasty Italian Sausage flavor.
Turmeric, Curry Powder, Pink Himalayan Salt, and Black Pepper for a savory Indian dish.
Jalapeños, Lime, and Cilantro for a yummy Southwestern spice.
Green Chile, Liquid Smoke, and Pink Salt for a New-Mexico Style dish.
Ginger, Toasted Sesame, Mushrooms, and Soy Sauce for an Asian kick (Onion and Garlic are also great additions to this)
Cinnamon, Stevia, Vanilla, and a dash of Salt for something sweet (like proats or cream of rice)
6. Use sauces, but stay away from sugar and/or super funky ingredients! Reading labels will be quite eye-opening.. especially when you find yourself reading “Yellow Dye 1” on an unsuspecting pickle jar. High-quality, simple-ingredient sauces include: mustards, salsas, hot sauces, horseradish, etc.
7. Variety is the spice of life! And can also add some yummy flavor to your meals. Play around with different veggies, carbohydrates, proteins, and fats - all foods have their own unique flavor which, when compiled together, can lead to something simple and delicious!
8. Prep in bulk. With our crazy schedules and long to-do lists, it’s likely that you won’t be able to whip up a freshly sauteed meal every time you’re hungry. This is where a little planning goes a long way! I like to prep larger quantities of my proteins (shredded, grilled, ground meats, hard boiled eggs, etc.), carbohydrates (rice, potatoes), and veggies (steamed or grilled) in advance. This makes healthy eating an easy choice when hunger arises - just toss together and add your fats/seasonings!
9. Store prepped foods in glass containers. They're heavier and more expensive than their plastic counterparts, but will preserve and keep foods tasting fresher for longer! There are other benefits to choosing glass over plastic, but we'll save that for another blog post.
10. Invest in the right tools. If you really want to cut down on cook-time, there are tools to help us do this! Although the following are certainly not needed, they are incredibly helpful and make cooking in bulk incredibly easy. My favorite kitchen items:
CrockPot: set it and forget about it! Great for cooking meats, soups, beans, and stews.
InstaPot: similar to the CrockPot, but even quicker! Can be used for similar tasks, but cuts down the cook-time. InstaPots are a bit more expensive than CrockPots, but are worth the investment if you can afford it. It addition to having a slow-cooker setting, they also multitask as a rice cooker, veggie steamer, and can hard-boil eggs in 8 minutes!!
Rice Cooker: these are fairly inexpensive and take almost ALL the work out of cooking rice and other grains. Again, just set it and forget about it!
Air Fryer: totally not a necessity, but this machine has quickly become one of my favorite kitchen items. You can "fry" almost anything in this, and the resulting texture is crispy and delicious. Air-fried potatoes don't last long in our household!
So there you have it. My top 10 cooking tips for making healthy eating EZ PZ. Try 'em out, let me know what you think, and happy cooking, my friends!
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