One thing that I regularly fail at is resisting the urge to eat out. Let's face it, eating out generally takes less effort, less clean-up, gives you an almost endless list of thing to choose from, and it TASTES SOOOO GOOD! However, we often ignore that eating out is generally more expensive, you have less control over the ingredients, and probably a lot of fat, salt, or sugar was used to make it taste that good.
That is not to say that anything you make at home is not also in danger of being unhealthy. Growing up, a vegetable wasn't served without garlic salt and butter on it. It has taken some time to train myself to enjoy vegetables in their more natural state and lets face it, my taste buds still find the buttered vegetables more tasty. So how do you cook a healthy meal at home, with less fat, salt, and sugar, but still have it be something that doesn't feel like chore to eat?
One solution is to experiment with herbs, spices, and flavored vinegars and olive oils. They can provided a lot of flavor so you can add less of things that aren't as good for you and still be satisfied. It seems so simple. Why doesn't everyone do this all the time? Answer: it honestly sounds like a lot of work for something that might not turn out so great, because let's face it, we aren't all trained chiefs.
The key to success is to start small with simple substitutions.
I recently discovered an oil and vinegar store called GIUSEPPE'S INTERNATIONAL OILS AND VINEGARS, INC. It offers a tasting room to try a variety of flavored vinegars and olive oils before you commit to buying anything. Better yet, this particular store will allow you to get a sample pack of 6 smaller bottles so you have a greater variety to play with once you get home, without spending a ton of money. Their website also offers some recipes for you to try. Don't live near Giuseppe's? More and more stores like this are opening up all the time.
I recently paid a visit to Giuseppe's and had an itch to try out some of my new additions. I also had a dumpling squash that needed to be used so I decided on a variation of a recipe I already knew. Its a recipe from Penzey's Magazine for Acorn Squash with Apples. The original recipe is great on the spices, but a little heavier on the sugar and butter. Plus, acorn squash tends to be a little larger than dumplings so my serving size is a little more modest.
For this recipe I decided to experiment with my new Honey Ginger Vinegar and Organic Butter Flavored Olive Oil.
Serves 2
Ingredients
- 1 Dumpling squash
- 1 medium size apple
- 2 Tbls Golden Raisins
- 2 Tbls Honey Ginger Vinegar
- 1 tsp Organic Butter Flavored Olive oil
- Heat oven to 350 degrees. Cut your dumpling squash in half, remove seeds and strings, and place cut-side down on a cookie sheet greased with cooking spray. Bake just long enough so that the outer flesh starts to give when you stab it with a fork.
- In the meantime, chop up the apple into cubes and place in a bowl along with the raisins. Add the 2 Tbls Honey Ginger Vinegar and toss the apples until they are well coated. I used a sweeter apple that I had on hand, but a more sour apple like a granny smith with probably be fantastic.
- Once the squash is just tender enough to yield to a fork, remove it from the oven and carefully turn each half cut-side up. Take the teaspoon of butter flavored olive oil and brush the inside and the top edges of the squash. This won't be enough to give the squash a really rich buttery flavor, but it will keep the top edges of the squash moist in the oven and add just a little hint of sweet butter taste.
- Fill each half of the squash with the apple, raisin, and vinegar mixture. Feel free to heap it in. My apple was a little large so I had some left over. I put the extra apples in a small ramekin to bake separately so I didn't have to throw them away. Place back in the oven and bake until the apples start to get brown.
- It might be a good idea to hit the top of the apples with a little cooking spray since mine got a little burnt at the edges. It still tasted good but a little cooking spray will probably help keep some moisture in without adding a lot of fat. Alternatively, you could use the butter flavored olive oil and brush it over the tops of the apples.
I did not calculate the nutritional aspects of this recipe since I don't have info on the olive oils or vinegars. I believe you can ask for this information for Giuseppe's, but it is not available from their website. The Honey Ginger Vinegar is sweet so yes, there is sugar in it, but I would bet still less than what was in the original recipe and it is definitely less added fat.
The ginger in this is strong enough to stand out and provide a pleasant flavor. If honey ginger vinegar is not available in your area, some grated fresh ginger, or dried ginger could be used instead and mixed together with a good white wine or white balsamic vinegar and a little honey as a suitable substitute.
Well here is hoping that I make this a good start to my year of hopefully eating in more in 2013.
