Over the last few months we have been collating our research together to provide you with a few suggestions to good healthy substitutions whilst cooking. If you end up reaching for a biscuit, or two (or three for the ones out there) then this list will definitely apply to you.
Considering that National Spinach Day has recently been and gone (which no-one would ever know about – I mean, really?) we included some fun things to do with a variety of food groups below.
The first item to begin with is the delicious black beans for flour
If you end up making brownies then you won’t be doing yourself any favours when it comes to weight loss. However if you swap out 1 cup of flour for 1 cup of black bean puree (about a 15 oz can). It will cut down on carbs and fit in an extra dose of gluten. Plus, they taste amazing!
For people our their who like Rice (and lots of it) then this hack below may be the of great interest to you.
It sounds too good to be true (and it probably is because nothing yet has been proven yet) but a simple change to the way rice is cooked could reduce its calorie content by up to 60 per cent meaning that you will now in-take considerably less calorific intake per rice based meal.
Scientists in Sri Lanka, a country which typically hasn’t be renowned for food science have recently discovered that cooking rice with a teaspoon of coconut oil then refrigerating it for around 12 hours has shown to halve the number of calories absorbed by the body. The change remains even if it is reheated.
The researchers from the College of Chemical Sciences in Colombo, Sri Lanka have also researched that simply changing the cooking method and the way the rice is cooked could help tackle the significant obesity epidemic.
Nothing says British summer time quite like a freshly cooked piece of fish with crispy, golden chips. There are plenty of local takeaways who will serve this classic dish, but have you thought of making it yourself?
The first step in creating this dish is to work on the chips. Peel your potatoes and rinse under water to remove some of the starch. Then, cut into thick (or thin!) chips as you prefer. Next, bring a large pan of salted water to boil, and add the chipped potatoes. They need to be cooked for around 3-4 minutes, depending on the thickness. Once parboiled, drain the potatoes and leave to dry off. You can do this on a paper towel. By drying them off, you will make them extra crispy in the oven.
While the chips are drying off, prepare your fish. It is a good idea to use either cod or haddock, although other white fish will be just as good. You can either coat your fish in breadcrumbs (to oven cook), or dip in batter to fry.
Cook the chips in the oven, on a tray with a splash of oil. They will need turning over after around 10 minutes, with a total cook time of 17-20 minutes at 200 Celsius.