Healthy Cooking

I love to collect recipes and have been attempting to rebuild my collection after water damage ruined many of my cookbooks prior to our move to Vermont. I was so anxious to test out a few of the recipes from the newly renamed Healthy Cooking Magazine by Taste of Home. Their slogan is "eating right never tasted so good!" I think it is inspiring and helpful when a magazine commits to writing and rewriting recipes that will include certain ingredients subscribers just can't leave out of the recipe. Little changes to make the recipe healthier, but still tasty.

Moderation is the key. It is the message I try to instill in my kids at school. It's OK to have that piece of cake once in a while, but eating a piece of fruit is Nature's Dessert because it provides nutrients & vitamins, no added sugars, no added salt, and no added fat. In other words, you shouldn't make a meal out of cake...although it is a nice treat once in a while! LOL

Since I was diagnosed with hypertension last year, I have been making a more proactive effort to cook more meals from scratch and looking for healthier options for fat & sodium content.

I flipped open the current issue ofHealthy Cooking Magazine and wrote out my shopping list and then went shopping for the week. Tonight it was Baked Mostaccioli...you can never go wrong with that! Ground beef in pasta never does it for me so the thought of ground turkey wasn't going to cut it for me. Italian Sausage speaks my language but I was a good girl and purchased a chicken sausage instead of pork sausage. And I settled for the lowfat mozzarella cheese instead of my fav artisan whole milk mozzarella. It turned out fabulous, along with a nice bowl of baby greens topped with a mountain of fresh veggies and topped off with a reduced fat/low sodium Raspberry Vinegarette Dressing, and a nice thick hunk of homemade garlic bread where I indulged in real butter but opted to sprinkle with parmesan cheese instead of oozing with the much preferred whole milk mozzarella cheese. My family didn't seem to notice it was a healthier version. I consider the first meal a success.