Healthy Recipes

Healthy Recipes

I always hesitate to give out instructions on how to prepare my favorite dishes, because cooking is such a singularly personal endeavor. Experience has taught me that cooks may vary greatly in expertise, tastes, common sense and even frugality. The question is how do I tailor a recipe so that it works well for everyone who tries it, taking into account all these variations?

Do you know the basics?

There are so many techniques and bits of knowledge involved in cooking and baking, that it's often difficult to know how much information to include in the instructions. In other words, how much basic cooking knowledge can we assume?

Take my measure

There is also the problem that I rarely measure ingredients, except when baking. Baking is a more exact science than mere cooking, because the proportions of say, yeast, salt, baking powder, etc., will have a momentous effect on the quality of the finished baked goods. Time and temperature in the oven is also a critical part of the baking process, so you dare not tamper with these if you want your baked goods to look and taste as promised in the recipe.

Fun Fact about Healthy Recipes: When I was a young bride, I invited my in-laws over for my husband’s birthday. I was going to make his favorite cake, using my mother-in-law’s recipe. (I must mention here that my mother-in-law makes the most delicious scratch cakes that you have ever tasted!) I measured the ingredients for the cake carefully and set the oven timer for the 15 minutes that the recipe called for. When the buzzer went off, I thought the cake layers could not possibly be done yet, so, just for good measure, I let them cook for another 15 minutes.

Well, the rest is family history, since the resulting layers were more suitable for Frisbees than to be part of a chocolate birthday torte. I had to regroup quickly, so I went to the store and bought a box cake and had it ready in time for my guests. That was the only time in my married life that I ever made a box cake, a “sin” compounded in my eyes by serving it to my mother-in-law! She was a good sport about it, but I still occasionally get teased about my “Frisbee torte.”

As you like it

On the other hand, if you are cooking soup, you may alter the amount of seasonings and other ingredients to taste, or even make the soup thicker or thinner according to your personal preference. You may also simmer it for a longer or shorter period without too much difficulty. Of course, this is where common sense should intrude. You probably should not add ½ cup of cayenne pepper to the recipe, regardless of your culinary tastes. If the recipe calls for that amount, your common sense should tell you that it is a typo that should probably read ½ teaspoon!

In addition, you will need to simmer your soup long enough for it to be cooked properly, but not so long that the ingredients turn to mush!

You might not think that frugality would affect a person’s ability to follow instructions. However, I have learned that a frugal cook will approach cooking in a way that would not occur to a more extravagant person. If the instructions call for what a frugal person might consider “expensive” ingredients, that person may alter the the outcome by changing the amount or type of ingredients it includes. This could be disastrous to some taste buds.

Fun Fact about Healthy Recipes: I once gave a recipe to a friend, and she later invited me over for dinner where she planned to use that recipe. The dish she served that evening, apparently prepared using my instructions, was unrecognizable to me. It was also nearly inedible, but I managed to get it down without giving myself away. I knew that I hadn't mistaken the instructions, but her frugality kept her from including the type and amount of ingredients necessary to make the dish palatable—at least to me!

Dive in to these healthy recipes at your own risk!

With the above-mentioned caveats in mind, I have included here for your delectation some of my favorite dishes. Most of these I have developed on my own, either from scratch or by altering other dishes that I have discovered over the years.

Please feel free to change them and make them your own. Keep in mind, though, if you change the recipe too much, I can't be responsible for the results! Those of you who are frugal must grit your teeth and put in all the cheese, or eggs or asparagus, etc. that the instructions require--or accept the consequences!

Enjoy these healthy recipes! 

SOUPS

--Minestrone

--Lentil Soup

--Four-Bean Chili

--Split Pea Soup

--Navy Bean Soup

--Potato Borscht

--French Onion Soup

MAIN DISHES

--Vegetarian Lasagna 

--Meatless Meatballs

--Tofu Sloppy Joes

--Nut Loaf

--Cottage Cheese Loaf

--Fruit and Nut Casserole

--Vegetarian Calzones

SIDE DISHES

--Potato Salad

--Refried Beans

DESSERTS

--Peanut Butter Fudge

--Baklava

MISCELLANEOUS

--100% Whole Wheat Bread

--Granola

--Wassail (Hot Spiced Punch)

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