50 Ways to Get The Fat Out of Your Kitchen

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50 Ways to Get the Fat Out of Your Kitchen by Moran The secret to reducing fat in your diet is getting the fat out of your kitchen. Get started by taking fatty foods out of your grocery cart, your kitchen cabinets and the way you prepare food with these tips and techniques from Get The Fat Out (Crown) by Moran. 1. Stop adding fat to other foods. Oily dressings on salad, butter or margarine on bread and greasy gravy on mashed potatoes are common examples of how we load healthy foods with too much fat. 2. Develop fear of frying. Frying makes any food a fatty food, and heating oils to the smoking point is believed to cause rampant free radical production. In addition, there's evidence that cancer-causing chemicals form when food is charred. So donate your deep-fryer to the neighborhood rummage sale and don't look back. Instead, look to the many fat-moderating cooking techniques you have to choose from (numbers 3 through 8). 3. Steaming. This is especially good for guaranteeing bright, slightly crunchy vegetables, and it leaves the bulk of their vitamins intact. Fish may be steamed as well. 4. Oven-"frying" for breaded foods. Place your breaded food on a nonstick cookie sheet and bake (at about 400°F for most things), turning if necessary for even browning. 5. Stir-frying. Use a small amount of oil the way skilled Asian chefs do and stir nonstop so the food is quickly seared. 6. Pseudo-sautéing. This is similar to stir-frying but takes a bit longer, as you're depending on the foods' natural moisture to assist in the cooking process. Begin with the tiniest quantity of oil and add water as needed — about 2 tablespoons at a time — to provide additional moisture. 7. Oven-sautéing. Set your oven at 400° to 425°F and place vegetables in a pan covered with nonstick cooking spray (use the spray even if you're using a nonstick pan; it will give the veggies more of a sautéed quality). Remove from the oven when they're softened. 8. Water-sautéing. The technical term for this is steeping. Heat water first unless you're doing onions, which get tender faster when started in cold water. The more thinly you chop your veggies, the more quickly and evenly they'll cook. Make a water sauté zingier by adding the juice of a lime and some high-quality tamari soy sauce. Experiment with the following oil-free sauté liquids (numbers 9 through 15) and discover your favorites. The stronger-flavored items need to be added to water; the others can stand on their own. 9. Vegetable broth. Save broth from cooking vegetables, mix from instant broth powder or make your own homemade stock. 10. Tomato or blended vegetable juice is a flavorful, no-fat sauté item. 11. Lemon juice. Add tangy taste to sautéed food with this flavorizer. 12. Vinegar. Try using balsamic, rice wine and apple cider vinegar when you sauté. 13. Sherry or another red or white wine is an excellent sauté base. 14. Barbecue sauce gives food a smoky flavor without the fat. 15. Fruit juice. Apple, orange and grape juice are especially appropriate for sautéing onions and garlic for use in lentil or rice dishes. 16. Use a lower heat setting when sautéing with less oil. 17. Stir. Let elbow grease replace cooking with grease. 18. Watch the pot. Since water, broth and juice evaporate quickly during cooking, use enough liquid and keep a close watch as you cook. 19. Pureed starches thicken just about anything from pâtés to soups to sauces. You can puree cooked dried beans or pasta, or use mashed potatoes for this purpose. 20. Experiment with chopping and slicing techniques. Cooking with less fat provides the opportunity to learn how the thickness or thinness of various foods affect a dish. Bonus Tip: Combine foods by texture as well as by taste and color. Strive for at least a few different textures in each meal. 21. Use lots of moist ingredients in cooking to make up for the oily moistness you might be missing. Add pineapple to stir-fries and bean dishes and plumped raisins (raisins soaked in water for a few hours before using) to curry dishes. 22. Invest in some good nonstick cookware to decrease need for oil. 23. Use heavy pans if you don't have nonstick cookware. You're less likely to have food stick when the pot it's in has some substance to it. 24. Those indestructible iron pots can be made virtually nonstick by rubbing them with coarse salt to cover the pan's bottom. Then turn over the pan, spilling out the salt. The "powder" remaining on the bottom helps make the pot nonstick. 25. A wok is helpful for preparing stir-fry dishes with a minimum of oil. Its shape allows the oil (or other cooking liquid) to settle at the bottom, so it's easy to keep it in contact with the food. 26. A stainless steel steaming rack is inexpensive and opens up a world of healthful culinary possibilities. Many cooks opt for bamboo steaming baskets. Electric steamer/rice cooker combinations are popular among low-fat gourmets as well. They promise top-of-the-line results and easy cleaning. 27. Purchase the best knives your budget will allow. Low-fat, high-fiber food preparation means lots of chopping and slicing, so your knives should be of high-carbon stainless steel and have handles that feel good and fit your hand. Have your knives sharpened at least once a year and try to remember to use a sharpening steel every time you use a knife to help it keep its edge. Washing knives by hand instead of in the dishwasher should help maintain sharpness, too. 28. Kitchen scissors get more use when you're fixing low-fat, natural foods. You'll use them for snipping fresh herbs, citrus segments and dried fruits. 29. A food processor isn't a necessity, but if you've been thinking of getting one (or if the one you've got is on a shelf gathering dust), getting the fat out of your diet may be the impetus you need. This machine can make short work of slicing and grating, and it's also valuable in blending the ingredients for fat-free purees and sauces. 30. You may as well have a blender, too, for whipping up healthy shakes and smoothies. 31. Use the finest and freshest ingredients available. If fat is supposed to carry flavor and you're not using it, the genuine taste of your foods and seasonings will have to carry themselves. Don't skimp on ingredients. 32. Shop for your basics from the new Four Food Groups: whole grains, vegetables, fruits and legumes. Think of other foods (meat, dairy products) as condiments, flavorings or for occasional use. 33. Indulge yourself with gourmet treats that don't add appreciable fat: fine Dijon mustard, raspberry and tarragon vinegar, capers, fresh herbs. Such additions can add to the taste appeal of a dish. 34. Add fiber so there's no room for fat. Use beans and lentils in casseroles, soups, stews and dips. High-fiber foods make you feel full faster so you're not tempted by fatty foods. 35. Substitute starchy chestnuts and water chestnuts for oily nuts in side dishes and vegetarian entrees. 36. Use nonfat milk in place of whole milk in recipes and on cereal. If you prefer to avoid dairy products, look for low-fat rice or soy milk available in natural products stores. 37. Plain nonfat yogurt is a versatile stand-in for sour cream and heavy cream. Make sure its only ingredients are skim milk and yogurt cultures; fillers and extenders won't give you the results you're after. Soy yogurt is reasonably low in fat and makes a satisfactory nondairy alternative. 38. Fats are seen as flavor enhancers, so enhance in other ways by using garlic, ginger, mustard, onion, flavored vinegar, piquant citrus juices and zest, and surprising herbs such as fennel and cilantro. 39. Don't even think of using ordinary salt and pepper in your lowfat dishes. Freshly ground pepper and salt ground from crystals in your own table mill make a tremendous difference. 40. Try real Japanese tamari or shoyu instead of ordinary soy sauce, which often adds only saltiness (and often some artificial preservatives) to your food instead of rich tenor. Shoyu contains wheat; tamari doesn't. They're both aged to develop their distinctive quality and aroma, and both come in regular and salt-reduced forms at natural food stores. 41. A nutmeg grinder belongs on your table right next to (or even instead of) the salt and pepper shakers. Fresh nutmeg is an unexpectedly versatile condiment that perks up all your fat-free fare. 42. When you buy dried herbs and spices, get the freshest ones you can so they'll give the most intense flavor to your low-fat dishes. Get the smallest practical quantity and store in an airtight container so the essence of the herb or spice will be there when you want it. 43. Edible flowers add grace and beauty to your table, and they lend a wondrous taste to the dish they're garnishing as well. Try nasturtiums, scarlet runner blossoms, violets, rose petals and marigolds. 44. Hot sauce or pungent curry in practically anything gives your taste buds so much to think about they won't know you're cutting fat. 45. Fat-free marinades are priceless for imparting flavor to beans, tofu, vegetables and anything else you might want to grill. Many of the same liquids used as sautéing alternatives (fruit or vegetable juice, broth, vinegar, diluted soy sauce, wine) may also be used in marinades. A basic marinade combines 3 cups of apple juice and 2 cloves of pressed garlic with 1 cup of tamari soy sauce. 46. Discover extracts for adding subtle ambiance in your foods. Try almond, banana, lemon, rum and peppermint. 47. Pare the amounts of eggs, butter, margarine, mayonnaise and oil by a third or half. This rarely harms a recipe, and it's sure to benefit your body. 48. If you feel you need to add butter, oil or margarine to a cooked dish, do it just before serving so the flavors won't be cooked away and weakened. 49. For an oil sauté, cut the amount by putting the oil in an already heated skillet. A little oil goes further that way, and the food absorbs less of it than if you'd started with cold oil. 50. Learn the chef's trick of infusion. Let fresh herbs make a home in a bottle of oil; then even the smallest amounts of oil will carry a heady flavor. Moran is a health and nutrition writer and author of The Love-Powered Diet (New World Books). She leads national weight loss workshops based on a 12-step program. This story is excerpted from Get The Fat Out: 501 Simple Ways to Cut the Fat in Any Diet by Moran. Copyright 1994 by Moran. A Crown Trade Paperback. $9.00. Nature's Bounty:Is a diverse group of chefs, cooks, and gardeners. Sharing their fare from seed to harvest. So please come and join us in exploring the diverse world of cuisines!http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NaturesBounty Get more from the Web. FREE MSN Explorer download : http://explorer.msn.com