11 Cooking Secrets From a Spa Chef: Thanks Oprah

In conjunction with her 2011 Feel Good Challenge, Oprah has enlisted the help of a spa chef to help us make healthier substitutions when cooking.  You can see the whole article here, but here is a list of suggestions:

1. Make Veggies and Grains the focus of your meal, not meat.
2. Vote with your dollar- avoid awful-tasting out-of-season produce!
3. Eat better quality meat.
4. Whenever possible, buy local, seasonal, and organic. 
5. Use vegetable stock instead of chicken.
6. Use potatoes, rice, cornstarch, or barley—not cream, butter, or flour—to thicken soups and sauces.
7. Add flavor to a dish with fresh herbs and spices rather than fat.
8. Substitute applesauce or prune puree for oil in cakes.
9. Use egg whites rather than yolks as much as you can.
10. Don't change a thing on your mother's mouthwatering holiday menu—except the portion size.

I do many of these, but I generally use chicken stock. Hmmm. 

I do thicken my cheese sauce with whole wheat flour when making mac and cheese. Maybe I will investivate other means. We don't make mac and cheese all that often so it's not a big deal.

Lastly, everything I have read lately tells me to eat the whole egg, in moderation of course.


Which ones will be easy for you? Which will be difficult? Thoughts?


Thank you to Steph for sending this site along!