A big part of becoming healthy is eating right. A big part of why most of us don’t eat right is because it typically means removing sugar from our diet. I don’t know about you, but those kinds of diets make me sad. It’s as if the world is making us choose: being healthy or being depressed. This is quite the dilemma, especially because the world’s definition of healthy isn’t actually healthy at all! Instead of focusing on the Calorie/Carbohydrate section of the label,
I would I like to propose a simple task to each of you reading this right now…go grab a food from your cabinet that has one of those Nutrition labels on it. Okay, so you have your food (I chose Wheat Thins), now look at the label. Most of us just see the table of “healthy” supplements found in the product, for others we see the amount of calories (that’s 140 per 16 crackers) and cringe a little bit because, if you’re like me, you know you ate WAY more than 16 crackers during your last snack attack.
This is the information we are trained to look at based on what is considered healthy these days. Now, look below this table and you should see a section labeled “Ingredients.” Delete that calorie counting app from your cell phone and start counting the amount of bizarre ingredients found on this label. We need to turn our attention to this rarely visited section of the food label and start becoming aware of the ingredients that are frequently put into most foods. Once I began doing this, I realized that the best way to get truly healthy foods made with real ingredients is to do it myself. I know it’s so much easier to stick a frozen pizza in the oven, but please resist the urge to do so and try to bake your own foods from scratch. Trust me when I say it sounds more intimidating than it actually is. And I would like to jumpstart your cooking career by sharing with you some recipes that are tried and truly delicious! I will be posting recipes that are healthy, yummy, and completely from scratch. Since there are some foods that are too difficult to make from scratch and must be store bought, I will also be posting healthier alternatives to the products with poor ingredients. For my first “Recipe” post, I will be sharing four from scratch recipes that every cook needs to know: Balsamic Vinaigrette, Ranch Dip (one of my faves for July 4th!), BBQ Sauce, and Italian Seasoning. Please, Enjoy!!!
Recipe #1: Balsamic Vinaigrette
Ingredients:
3T Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1T Balsamic Vinegar
1 tsp. Dijon Mustard
2 tsp. Honey
2 Shakes Salt
2 Shakes Pepper
Directions: Put in jar, shake well.
Recipe #2: Ranch Dip
Ingredients:
2 tsp. Parsley
2 tsp. Salt
1 tsp. Garlic Powder
½ tsp. Onion Powder
(Per one 24 oz. container of sour cream)
Directions: Transfer sour cream to a medium bowl. Pour ingredients directly into sour cream and mix well.
Recipe #3: BBQ Sauce
Ingredients:
¼ cup Apple Cider Vinegar
1 cup Ketchup
¾ cup Brown Sugar
1 tsp. Dry Mustard
2 tsp. Onion powder
2 tsp. Garlic Powder
1 tsp. Cayenne Pepper
1 tsp. Salt
1 tsp. Chili Powder
1 ½ T Honey
Directions: Place all ingredients in a large saucepan, mix well, and cook for approximately 15 min. or until thickened.
Recipe #4: Italian Seasoning
Ingredients:
2 T Basil
2 T Marjoram
2 T Oregano
2 T Rosemary
2 T Thyme
Directions: Mix all ingredients in a bowl until well combined. Use immediately or store in an airtight container.
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