Healthy Tips for Living

(NewsUSA) – Today’s busy lifestyles leave little time for basic cooking, and have led to a growing trend of daily fast food meals — for breakfast, lunch and dinner! But eating healthy and cooking at home can fit within a busy lifestyle if you learn to make quick, 15-minute meals.

Deana Gunn and Wona Miniati, authors of the “Cooking with Trader Joe’s” cookbooks, are two moms who found that recipe shortcuts are the key to quick meals — and kicking the fast food habit.

“By taking fresh ingredients and strategically coupling them with prepared items and shortcuts from the grocery store, we can create healthy meals in a fraction of the time it would take to make from scratch,” says Gunn.

Most markets now offer fresh, ready-to-use ingredients such as jarred sauces, cut veggies, bagged salads and marinated meats — the key to these easy shortcuts. Here are Gunn and Miniati’s top 10 kitchen tips and tricks for cooking delicious and easy meals at home, without compromising quality or resorting to the drive-through:

1) Use prepared sauces, from marinaras to curries. Add vegetables or meats and simmer, or toss sauces with couscous or pasta.

2) Add everyday superfoods, like canned beans or pre-cooked lentils, to soups or salads, or serve them over rice.

3) Pick up a fully cooked rotisserie chicken. Use the leftovers in wraps or soups.

4) Perk up any meal with fresh herbs. Add fresh basil to a simple pasta dish, cilantro to plain rice, or rosemary to roasting potatoes.

5) Toss a healthy salad in minutes using washed and bagged salad.

6) Salad dressings do double-duty as fast and flavorful marinades for chicken or meats.

7) Transform boxed meals such as rice pilaf or mac-n-cheese by adding frozen vegetables, ready-cubed pancetta or a little curry powder.

8) Put an end to greasy pizza delivery. Use ready-made dough to roll out quick pizza crusts that you can top with your own favorite and healthy ingredients.

9) Customize cake and bread mixes to your tastes. Add dried fruits and nuts to a bread mix, or stir lemon and orange zest into a plain white cake mix.

10) Plan simple recipes for the week before going shopping. If you shop with meals in mind, you’ll save time and wasted groceries.

(NewsUSA) – Every time you pack your kids’ lunches, you have an opportunity to give them a fun, healthy meal. Are you making the most of it?

Janice Newell Bissex, MS, RD and Liz Weiss, MS, RD, authors of the book “No Whine with Dinner,” along with the California Raisin Marketing Board, offer the following tips for better lunches:

* Take a Lunchbox Assessment. Look at your children’s lunches. Healthy lunches should include whole grains, such as whole-wheat bread, pitas or tortillas; high-quality lean protein, such as roasted deli turkey, beans or tofu; low-fat dairy, such as low-fat milk, yogurt, cheese and calcium-fortified soy milk; and fruits and vegetables, such as sliced apples, strawberries, California raisins, sliced bell pepper strips, baby carrots or raw green beans.

If your child’s lunch doesn’t contain something from each food group, figure out where you can add healthier foods. Improving your child’s lunch could be as simple as using whole-wheat bread instead of white bread or adding more fruit.

* Add “Try-it” Foods. Play the “try-it” game. When you go to the grocery store, let your kids choose a new fruit or vegetable they haven’t tried before, like yellow bell pepper or papaya. Bring it home, sample it, and consider adding the new “try-it food” to the lunch box that week.

* Pack Satisfying Snacks. A hearty and healthy mid-morning snack can hold your child over until lunch. Make snacks count toward good nutrition by packing fruit or homemade baked goodies like muffins, quick breads or “granola” bars. Enhance your recipes by adding whole-wheat flour or wheat germ for added fiber and nutrients, dried fruits such as California raisins for added antioxidants, and finely chopped nuts for extra protein.

If you’ve found a way to improve your kids’ lunches, head over to the California Raisins’ Web site, LoveYourRaisins.com, to enter the “Let’s re-Do Lunch” contest. Your healthy lunch makeover photos and tips will give you a chance to win a $5,000 cash prize, a year’s supply of California Raisin snack packs and a donation in your name to the food bank of your choice. The contest closes November 8th.