Light cooking: the secrets for dietetic cooking without sacrificing taste
How can you cook diet without having to limit yourself to unseasoned dishes and sciapi?
The trick is: replace ingredients and seasonings.
Learn how to replace mayonnaise, oil, butter, cured meats and many other products with lighter ones, but without starving ... or suffering like you!
- · Light and delicious appetizers
- · Light seasonings
- · Fresh vegetables at will
- · Choose the right meat
- · Cook fish the right way
- Don't forget the herbs
- · Make an original tiramisu
Discover the little tricks that will help you choose the most suitable vegetables, meat and fish for a "complete but light diet, which will help you find your ideal shape and nourish your body with the right amounts of vitamins, minerals and sugars.
Make room for the 7 commandments of light cooking!
See also
Light and delicious appetizers
The appetizer is definitely the worst time for the line. One rushes on an empty stomach to a mountain of calorie-laden chips.
What not to do: Thinking we are doing the right thing, we give up on chips and biscuits to gorge ourselves on carrots and cucumbers, which we may soak in sauces full of fat.
The trick: Make some homemade dips in which you can soak vegetables, of course, but also bits of raw fish or grilled chicken.
Think of some new generation canapes: a slice of radish, a slice of salmon and a little white cheese.
Sauces: Invent light versions of your favorite sauces by blending, for example, artichoke hearts or peppers ...
Light seasonings
The problem with seasonings: if you put too much vinegar in them, they are acidic.
The problem with some foods is that they are drenched in too much seasoning (canned tuna, potatoes, cheese). In addition, to flavor vegetables and slightly more dietary dishes, we always tend to add a lot of oil or vinegar.
What not to do: Using too much oil, especially if it is not extra virgin olive oil.
The tricks: Choose some slightly acidic vinegars it's already a good idea. Balsamic vinegar, for example. Or use orange, grapefruit or lemon juice when the recipe allows.
To make salad dressings, for example, you can use a white cheese, or yogurt, instead of a mayonnaise. Mustard is great too!
Think also of soy sauce and rice vinegar for Asian recipes, but don't add salt, soy sauce already contains some. Finally, you can add a tablespoon of water to "stretch" everything.
Fresh vegetables at will
They repeat it to us in all sauces: you have to eat vegetables. But not the one submerged in oil or butter. Better a pasta than fried vegetables.
What not to do: Use the cooking oil, the ready-made bags (they are high in fat) and fry.
The tricks: steaming, wok, lids and oven recipes, with the addition of herbs and spices. Vegetables do not need to be drowned in oil, butter or cheese to be tasty.
Example with a simple baked ratatouille:
Wash and dice courgettes, aubergines, peppers and tomatoes. Put them on the oven plate and wet them with 1-2 tablespoons of oil.Sprinkle with herbs and spices (cumin, chilli, fennel seeds, coriander, thyme, herbs of Provence ...), coarse salt and pepper, mix with your hands.
Bake for 45 minutes at 200 ° C.
A ratatouille to be enjoyed alone or as an accompaniment to pasta, with an omelette.
Choose the right meat
Carnivora? Be careful not to overdo it. Some types of meat are high in fat.
What not to do: eat chicken skin, fatty meats such as bacon, rib eye steak and lamb.
The trick: Here is a short, incomplete list of the pieces of meat best suited to a diet:
- Beef: fillet, sirloin, steak.
- Horse: fillet.
- Pork: fillet, escalope, ham (not smoked)
- Poultry: escalope, fillet, breast.
- Calf: knot, fillet.
Watch out for the lamb and the duck: better to avoid, but if you just can't resist, choose fat-free parts. And the cooking? To grill is always the best!
Cook fish the right way
Hurray for fresh fish, but also frozen and canned. On the other hand, in the garbage the fried fillets, ready meals and sauces to be heated!
What not to do: eat fatty fish, and prepare cream-based dishes.
The tricks: most fish are fine cooked in a pan, in the oven or as a soup. They are light, full of proteins, vitamins and minerals.
Think of fish prepared in a salt crust: you don't need to add anything else to a 500 g sea bream for 20 minutes in the oven in a salt crust. The meat is tender and tasty at the right point.
Eat fatty fish without overdoing it (salmon, tuna, sardines, mackerel, herring). Even if their fat is of quality, the lipid rate is higher than that of a chicken fillet or a beef steak!
Throw yourself on cod, sole, hake (which is cheap).
Another trick: white fish often means lean fish.
Don't forget the herbs
Fresh herbs are not just a way to get compliments from guests impressed by your culinary knowledge. They are also the simplest solution for fill up on vitamins.
Parsley, for example, is one of the main sources of vitamin C. Eat Lebanese taboulé at will (parsley, tomatoes, onions, lemon and a little boulgour), it's light, digestible well, in short, it's fine. Don't forget aromatic herbs, put them everywhere!
What not to do: use too much seasoning, of course, but also pay attention to the heat, which dampens the taste of coriander, basil, etc.
The tricks: choose spices for replace salt, oil, butter and other seasonings to avoid. Also use them for dessert: surprise and success are guaranteed. Strawberry salad with basil, grilled apricots with rosemary, melon soup with tarragon, are just a few examples.
Accompany your dishes with a herb salad: a chopped bunch of each herb (dill, basil, mint, parsley, tarragon). It is an original alternative to the normal salad. Choose a good walnut or canola oil and it will be perfect.
Make an original tiramisu
Tiramisu is a caloric bomb, but also a light dessert (in consistency) and very fresh. It would be too sad to have to do without it. The sensation of freshness, mousse, and lightness in the mouth can be preserved even by eliminating many calories.
What not to do: use mascarpone and cream.
The trick: keep the ladyfingers but replace the mascarpone with ricotta and gelatin. And add some fruit for even more freshness. Measure the sugar according to your taste.
