Soul food recipes have appeared back on the radar as a popular cuisine. With one of the few original foods originated and developed in America, many people fall into certain pitfalls.
Many of the pitfalls include obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes and other possible health ailments. Healthier cooking ingredients and techniques continue grow as more consumers look for better ways to eat healthy and live longer. But we still want to enjoy the comfort food feeling of this southern cuisine.
Here’s ways to fight these pitfalls and enjoy the dishes we all love.
1. Cook In Less High Calorie Fats and Oils.
Traditionally our great-grandmothers cooked everything in lard , that gave the foods a rich taste. But unfortunately people who enjoyed the lard laden foods developed life threatening ailments such as high blood pressure, heart disease and weight problems to name a few. One of the keys to avoid these problems is to cook in lighter oils such as peanut oil, olive oil or sesame seed oil for example.
2. Use More Quick Cooking Methods.
Traditionally we cooked soul food, especially vegetables, for hours in large amounts of water. That made the house smell good all day, in fact it made the whole block smell good, even for passersby. The negative in cooking vegetables in large amounts of water for hours at a time loses the valuable vitamins and nutrients.
The answer is to use more quick cooking techniques such as stir frying or sautéing. You can find popular recipes online for stir frying collard greens, mustard greens or cabbage. These recipes continue to grow in popularity. Not only do they cook quicker, most in under 5 minutes, but by cooking quicker you can save more of the valuable vitamins and nutrients contained in these power-packed vegetables.
3. Season More Naturally.
Soul food recipes and seasonings go together. In fact, besides the attitude of the cook, the seasonings give the dishes it’s soul. If you ever taste a meal that’s bland, tasteless or boring it’s disappointing. Traditionally flavorings such as fat back, ham hocks, bacon and large doses of salt were the staples used. They were also responsible for an assortment of health ailments, especially when eaten in large doses or eaten regularly.
To protect yourself against these pitfalls, more natural seasonings continue to grow in popularity. Because these are more natural you can avoid the health risk of traditional seasonings. The examples are onion powder, garlic powder, turmeric, Cayenne Pepper, oregano and others.
As soul food recipes grow more popular, healthier alternatives continue to develop. This will appeal to a growing number of people looking to eat healthier and live longer, without giving up the meals they love.
