Total Recipe Resources

Healthy Homemade Soups to Go!

With so much convenience food readily available to us it can be hard to eat healthy around a busy schedule - especially if you have a family to cater for. With the following tips for soups on the go you’ll learn how to make sure that the food you grab is of the healthy variety.

Soup is tasty, filling, and good for you anytime, but especially on a cold fall or winter day. There are hot soups and believe it or not even cold soups. Many of the warm soups are even good eaten cold or lukewarm.

First, choose your favorite soup. A popular and delicious choice is chicken noodle soup. There’s nothing better when you are under the weather than the warm chicken broth soothing your throat. Campbell’s has a wonderful soup in a microwave container perfect for eating on the go, but we are going to make our own soup for an even healthier choice.

The one thing that is best about homemade food is that you know what is and is not in it. Since we are concerned with health, preparing your own soup creations at home is the best way to go. No matter which type of soup you choose to make, be sure to use fresh ingredients. The other items you’ll need are plenty of cups with lids and a blender.

Now it’s time to actually create your time saving soup. A good soup always starts with the stock. For chicken soup, make the broth by boiling the remains of the chicken you had for dinner. Add the herbs and seasonings of your choice and boil until the chicken bones come out clean. Any remaining meat will be included in the broth. Once the broth cools completely, ladle it into air-tight jars or containers for storing.

If you’re more of a beef and vegetable soup lover, you can use commercial canned broths or bouillon cubes for the base of your soup. Season the stock really well and boil before adding any other ingredients. Once the stock is ready, all that is left to do is toss in your favorite veggies.  Again, wait until the soup is completely cooled before pouring into storage or serving containers.

Now, what about that blender?  It’s a bit difficult to eat soup the traditional way while driving and if you are serving to your kids, the combination of a car and soup in a bowl is a disaster waiting to happen.  Here’s where the blender comes into the picture.

Pour some of the soup into the blender and blend until the pieces are small enough for you to swallow without choking. You can even puree the soup completely if you’d prefer. For a thicker texture, add a bit of cream soup. Now, your soup is ready for distributing in your to-go cups.

The ideal cup would be a coffee mug with a lid. These types of cups have a wide opening perfect for drinking soups from. Be sure to prepare enough soup for the entire week. You can take the soup with you while you’re out shopping, working in the garden or to work.  A cup of soup is packed with healthy nutrients and it won’t mess up the car or cramp your busy lifestyle.  The next time you don’t have time to eat, reach for a cup of healthy homemade soup instead of pulling into that fast food drive thru.

5 a Day Fruit Ideas for Busy Lifestyles

According to the food pyramid, we should all be eating three or more servings of fruit per day making up at least 5 portions and fruit and vegetables to get all the nutrients our bodies need. Most people barely get one and that is one serving is more times in the form of juice and not the actual fruit itself so it is lacking in fibre. Here are some ways to get your servings of fruit each day without having to work too hard to do it.  Let’s face it, we’re all busy and if we have to remember one more thing, even if it is beneficial to our health, the chances of actually remembering it are slim to none.

The best way to eat fruit is in it’s natural form. As well as being a delicious sweet treat, fruit also contains many essential nutrients needed by the body. Fruits like an apple, peach, plum, pear, banana etc are ideal to take in the car or eat at your desk.

For younger kids, the skin of fruits can be tough or make it less appealing. With one or two teeth, it is hard for them to even break through the outer covering of some fruits such as apples. Prepare for a day of shopping or a car trip by peeling some fruits and putting them in a container or Ziploc bag. Sprinkling with a few drops of lemon juice will keep fleshy fruits like apples and pears from turning brown, which is another reason some kids don’t like to eat fresh fruit.

The sugars in fruits keep your blood sugar more stable than chocolate bars. Not only that, but they make the fruit yummy. Drop a few raisins in a cup of yogurt or add some blueberries or other fresh berries, for a quick and sweet treat.

The newest way that fruit is enjoyed is dried. Fruits have been dried for years but now it’s becoming popular to eat it. You know how fads go. Fad or not, this is a good one. Dried fruits concentrate the sugar for an even sweeter taste. Eat these dried fruits alone or as a garnish. In the car, a bag of dried apricots or pineapple will fix that sweet tooth in a hurry not to mention it’s good for you too.

You don’t have to waste your time and money purchasing a food dehydrator in order to dry your own fruit. Fresh fruit can be dehydrated at home with an oven, microwave, and a rack. Dehydrated fruit with no preservatives will keep for around two weeks so only do an much as you will eat in that time. Citrus fruits, such as oranges, do not dehydrate well but their skins do. Candied orange and lemon peels make a tasty ice cream garnish or they can be eaten alone.

How else can you eat fruit on the run? Use your blender. Fruit smoothies allow you to get all of your daily fruit requirements in one drink. Instead of using ice cream, use soy or fat free milk and ice cubes to make it smooth and give it texture. Sugar substitutes can be used to add more sweet flavor if desired. Mix and match your favorite fruits to keep things from getting boring and make a smoothie for breakfast every day.

Fruit is one food that can be eaten on the go rather easily. There are many varieties of fruits on this planet to try all with their own unique taste. Now you have no more excuses for not getting the recommended amount of fruit servings in your diet.

Healthy Cookies that You Can Eat!

Most of us love cookies but usually feel guilty about indulging too often because we know all to well that they are calorie laden!  So that we can enjoy them more without the guilt we just need to get creative with our cookie baking in order to make them healthier. Here are some ideas to make your next batch of cookies, ones you can get away with eating without feeling guilty.

First, let’s start with the ingredients. Avoid using prepared cookie dough in the store which is loaded with preservatives and don't be fooled by the dough that is sugar free - they have usually put some other artificial substitutes and preservatives in. Making homemade cookies gives us an advantage in this aspect because we don’t need to preserve our dough or the finished cookie. They will probably be eaten long before they pass their freshness date so only fresh ingredients should be used!

When making cookies, the basic dough is usually the same for most recipes. You need flour, eggs, and sugar. Cholesterol watchers can mix in egg substitute instead of regular eggs. Splenda is now formulated for use in baking even though it is a sugar substitute and can be used in our homemade healthy cookies. Be prepared though, the cookies may taste differently and require more or less baking time when using these substitutions so be sure to keep this in mind when using them.

Now, it’s time for some fun. You get to add the special ingredients to the cookies. You know, the yummy ingredients that make the cookies taste oh so good. For chocolate chip cookies, instead of using regular chocolate chips, add a few of the mini chocolate chips. You use less chocolate even though it looks like more. There will be just enough sweetness in every bite to keep you satisfied, but not enough to expand your hips and waist.

Fiber is a nutrient that helps us to stay regular. Certain fibers latch on to fats in the digestive system and flush them right out of the body. The more fiber you eat the more fat it can potentially flush out of your system. Sounds like a win-win situation to me. 

Fiber comes in many forms. Whole grains provide fiber so to add this healthy ingredient to your cookies, include some wheat germ, quinoa, oat bran, or whole oats to your cookie mixture. You can also add a bit of nutmeg or cinnamon to bring a somewhat spicy flavor to cookies.

Another tasty ingredient that goes well in cookies is dried fruit. Dried fruit not only gives you the goodness of fruit to your cookies, but it also can add color to them. We traditionally see raisins in cookies, but it’s time to shake things up. How about dried dates, apricot pieces, or cranberries? Give it your best shot. Experiment and see what inventive cookies you and your family members can come up with. 

Remember, you don’t have to put all of these ingredients in one cookie. You can make several batches of tasty, healthy cookies, so try a new taste every day and see how many you can come up with.

Is Snaking Healthy? How many and how often is good for you...

There are many different views about whether or not snacking is good for you. I personally think that snacking is a great way of keeping your blood sugar levels on an even keel and stopping you from over eating at mealtimes. It is not the actual snacking that is bad for us, it is usually the type of snacks that we choose.

When we think of snacks, things like french fries, candy bars, ice cream cones, or potato chips, come to mind. This is the reason that many people see snacks as a negative thing and rightly so as many of these snacks can add just as many, if not more, calories than a regular meal. Here are just a few easy substitutes that you can make to keep the taste and snack satisfaction without piling on the pounds:

• Swap fast food fries for baked sweet or russet potatoes with fresh herbs or cinnamon. Still delicious and much better for you.
• Make granola bars instead of reaching for a full fat unhealthy chocolate bar. Use rolled oats, bran, crunchy clusters, and chocolate chips. Dark chocolate is supposed to be better for us, so try some dark chocolate pieces inside or drizzle a bit of dark chocolate on top. Anytime you need a snack, grab a granola bar instead of a candy bar.
• Instead of ice cream, whip up some smoothie mix and freeze it in a container for at least twenty-four hours. When that ice cream craving hits, scoop some smoothie into a bowl and top it with nuts and a dab of whipped cream. Before you know it, you’ll be craving yummy fruit or veggie smoothies instead of that fattening ice cream.

Next, let’s talk about how often to snack. The more times you eat, the more revved up your metabolism will be but this is only effective if you are eating the right foods. If you keep only the freshest and healthiest foods in your home, all of your choices will be good. So, as hard as it may be, curb that urge to load up on sweet, junk food on your next trip to the grocery store.

Ideally you should have 3 snacks a day; one during the middle of the morning, another mid-afternoon, and lastly, one after dinner. That’s three snacks to complement three meals. Also, remember that quantity matters when it comes to snacks, just like it does meal portions. Snacks are not meant to be entire meals but they are supposed to be delicious or you won’t eat them.

By not snacking at all you actually make yourself too hungry. This leads to overeating at meal times. Beyond that, you will opt for dining out more often if you feel starved because you haven’t munched on a few healthy snacks throughout the day. Contrary to popular belief, snacking is good for you, but only if you make your treat choices healthy ones.  Keeping good for you snacks on hand will make snacking healthy even easier. So, snack away, but make them good snacks in order to reap the most benefits.

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