Healthy Nutritional Cooking Choices

Vegetarian Catering was created to provide ideas to people interested in creating healthier food choices. This service includes a "hands-on" cookbook to help in developing better cooking habits as well. For example-if you are not able to use traditional cane sugar as a sweetening choice-due to diabetes or other blood sugar disorders-another possibility would be to use "Xylitol"-which is available in health food stores and grocery stores such as Henry's or Sprouts. It is made from the "xylan" in birch trees, almond hulls and cornhusks. This is great for baking and good to use in place of sucralose products such as Slenda-which some people have a reaction to. rnFor people who have a negative response to lactose products-you can use "Tofutti" products such as their cream cheese and sour cream-made from tofu-I use these in baking and for dips. You can also use Hemp or Oat milk-I particularly like Vanilla Oat Milk for baking-these are available without cane sugar sweetening and can even be used in place of water in baking recipes-they provide lots of extra nutrition and texture. rnI like to use lots of fiber in my cooking such as lentils-in my soups recipes and wild rice as well-lots of fiber and flavor! I use ground flaxseed in smoothies and regular flaxseed as a garnish on my salads-great for fiber! Red Quinoa is another healthy, high fiber grain that can be used to add lots of flavor to cold or hot recipes. rnOlive oil spray is a good choice for stir-frying and sautéing-if you add just a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil to the spray-it will enhance the flavor without adding so many calories to your recipe. Earth Balance puts out an excellent whipped (vegan) butter-no hydrogenated or trans fats-and buttery sticks-which are very good for baking. rnOf course-a large percentage of your meals should include fresh, uncooked, organic fruits, vegetables and raw nuts to give balance to your diet. Here is a recipe from the book, Vegetarian Gourmet Cooking. Stuffed Portabellini Mushrooms in Tomato Cups Ingredients for 6 Servings of 2 mushrooms per personrn rn2 Packages containing 6 each portabellini mushroomsrn rn6 tomatoes large enough when halved to hold a mushroomrn rn2 Bunches of green scallionsrn rn1 box of fresh oreganorn rn1 bunch of cilantrorn rn1 bag of prewashed spinachrn rn1 Tbs Granulated garlicrn rn1 Lemon sliced in halfrn rn1 Cup of shaved parmesan cheesern rnSpray olive oilrn rn1/2 Cup extra virgin olive oilrn rnWash and remove the stems from the mushrooms; wash and cut the tomatoes in half. Scoop out the insides of the tomatoes, chop finely and put in a bowl; set the tomato "cups" aside after adding some lemon juice and garlic to the inside of each one. rnWash and chop the cilantro and scallions; wash and strip the oregano leaves from most of the stems; rewash the spinach from the bag and set aside. Heat a large frying pan on medium- after coating the bottom of the pan with thick spray oil and a bit of actual olive oil and some lemon juice. Cook the mushrooms, stems side down at first and then turn so that the caps are down-sprinkle the garlic into the caps and cook until almost soft-mix together the chopped tomatoes, scallions, cilantro and oregano, add into each cap and cover with the shaved parmesan cheese. Cook until the parmesan cheese melts. Drop each mushroom cap into a tomato "cup" which has been "lined" with some parmesan cheese and cook until the tomato is softer but hasn't completely lost its shape. Add the spinach over the stuffed mushrooms and wilt. Place the spinach on a platter covered with the mushrooms, add a garnish of oregano sprigs and a bit of cilantro and serve while hot.