Let’s be honest for one second; our favourite, most tasty meals may not be the healthiest of them all. And that hurts more and more as we grow older, and our bodies lose the ability to handle these foods. So if you are like we are, afraid of this possibility, fear no more, since your favourite meal can be healthy.
If you are interested in living s healthy life and still enjoy those delicious – and forbidden – tastes, fear no more. This guide will teach you to have all the flavours without the bad, unhealthy side. Much as in vegan recipes, we will tell you how to adapt ingredients and seasoning into your favourite flavour, showing you some food bloggers too.
Table of Contents
Crispy and healthy chicken tenders
Air fryers are some of the best tools you can have in your kitchen to prepare healthy yet tasty snacks. For example, getting a crispy and juicy chicken tender can be possible without deep frying them. Here we will share with you how to achieve this.
Ingredients:
- Chicken tenders – buy then cut already, so you don’t have to handle tons of raw chickens.
- Sal, pepper, garlic powder and paprika – this is just for an extra kick of flavour.
- Two eggs.
- Some flour.
- Breadcrumbs.
- Spray Oil
First, you need to season with salt and pepper your chicken tenders and season the flour with garlic powder and paprika. After your tenders are ready and you mix the dry ingredients, you have to dip the chicken in the flour, eggs, and breadcrumbs. Next, places them in a baking tray, and finally, spray them with the oil. Cooked then for 5 to 6 minutes on each side, and they will be ready to serve.
Some greasy recipes can be turned around by changing the oils or the cooking method a little bit. For example, @skinnytaste shows you how to make naturally fatty recipes into healthy meals without sacrificing their flavour. These chicken tenders are a great example of a healthier meal with little change to it, and you can find the whole recipe here!
Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese
Mac and Cheese it’s full of cheesy goodness and a lot of fats; however, you can turn the recipe into something better keeping the cheese. This is a guilt-free version that is healthier and includes more nutrients thanks to the butternut squash addition. That added ingredient will also enhance the overall flavours and give the pasta and extra creaminess. You can find the recipe step to step here, but we will share a fast version of it with you.
Ingredients:
- Whole-wheat elbow pasta.
- Gruyere, Cheddar and Parmesan cheeses – You can change any of those to your favourite one.
- Butternut Squash.
- Salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder and some finely chopped chives.
- A minced shallot.
- Skim milk.
- All-purpose flour.
- Panko Breadcrumbs.
- Vegetable broth – for flavour purposes.
That seems like a lot of ingredients, but don’t worry, the recipe is very straightforward and can be done in one pot:
You need to boil water for the butternut squash and cook it until it’s fork-tender and soft.
After that, cook the pasta in the same pot and set it aside to make the cheese sauce. For this, you need to make a béchamel sauce base, sauté the shallot until it’s translucent, put the all-purpose flour, and cook it a little bit until it’s brown a pour the milk.
Finally, blend the butternut squash with some vegetable broth, onion powder, and garlic powder.
You are almost done at this point; you only need to combine the squash with the béchamel. Next, remove the sauce from the heat and mix the cheese, and season it with salt and pepper to taste. Finally, mix the pasta with the sauce, put that in a baking tray, top it with the breadcrumbs and the chives and bake it in high broil for 2 to 3 minutes.
Margherita Pizza
The Margherita pizza is one of the healthiest you can eat; however, the yeast in the flour could be bad for your stomach. So this isn’t a completely gluten-free option but is healthier and easier to make. The best part is that this one can be cooked in a pan, and you can read the full recipe here.
Ingredients:
- Whole wheat flour
- Baking Powder
- Pizza sauce
- Salt
- Greek Yogurt
- Garlic
- Dried Oregano
- Black Pepper
- Fresh mozzarella
- Fresh Basil
- Extra Olive Oil
This preparation is the same as any other pizza preparation you might attempt to do before. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt, add the yogurt, and mix until everything looks like small crumbs. Remove the dough from and knead about 20 times at least in rest for at least 20 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 450F, and if you have and pizza stone, preheat the stone too. In case you want to use a pan, preheat the pan. From here, you need to lay the dough, work it with a rolling pin, put the sauce, the cheese, the basil, and bake it in the pan or the oven for 10 to 12 minutes.
