An essential part of becoming a Healthier You is making healthy choices. Cooking at home is one sure-fire way to plan and keep track of calories, portion sizes, nutrients, and all of that other good stuff. Unfortunately, many people avoid cooking at home either because they feel that their cooking skills aren’t up to par, don’t have the time, or prefer the taste and quality of meals eaten out. This doesn’t have to be the case! If you are one of those people, don’t worry—we can help!

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Fitango Education
Health Topics
Recipes

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Overview
An essential part of becoming a Healthier You is
making healthy choices. Cooking at home is one
sure-fire way to plan and keep track of calories,
portion sizes, nutrients, and all of that other good
stuff. Unfortunately, many people avoid cooking at
home either because they feel that their cooking
skills aren’t up to par, don’t have the time, or
prefer the taste and quality of meals eaten out.
This doesn’t have to be the case! If you are one of
those people, don’t worry—we can help!

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Healthy cooking tips
**At the Store**
• Choose lean cuts of meat such as beef round,
loin, sirloin, pork loin chops, and roasts. All cuts
with the name "loin," or "round," are lean. "Select"
grade meat is leaner than "prime" or "choice."

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Healthy cooking tips
**At the Store**
• Choose fish, shellfish, and poultry (take off the
skin) often. They are lower in saturated fat.
• Buy low fat and nonfat versions of dairy
products.
• Read food labels and choose those foods that are
lower in fat, saturated fat, and cholesterol.

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Healthy cooking tips
**At the Table**
• Use less of all fats and oils, especially
butter, cream, sour cream, and cream
cheese, which have a lot of saturated fat.
• Try nonfat salad dressings.

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Healthy cooking tips
**At the Table**
• Gradually replace whole milk with 2% fat milk,
then 1% fat or skim (nonfat) milk for adults and
children age 2 and older. They may not even
notice!
**In the Kitchen**

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Healthy cooking tips
**At the Table**
• When cooking, replace fats that contain
saturated fat, such as butter and lard, with small
amounts of unsaturated fat such as vegetable oil,
corn oil, soybean oil, olive oil, peanut oil, or canola
oil.
• Broil, roast, bake, steam, or grill foods instead of
frying them, or stirfry with just a little added oil or
broth.

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Healthy cooking tips
**At the Table**
• Trim all fat from meat before cooking. Remove
the skin from chicken or turkey.
• Spoon off fat from meat dishes once they have
been chilled in the refrigerator and the fat has
hardened on the top.
• Use skim milk or lowfat milk or evaporated skim
milk when making "cream" sauces, soups, or
puddings.

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Healthy cooking tips
**At the Table**
• Substitute lowfat yogurt, sour cream, or cottage
cheese for sour cream and mayonnaise in dips and
dressings.
• Substitute two egg whites for each whole egg in
recipes. (The cholesterol and fat are in the yolk not
in the white.)
• Try lemon juice, herbs, or spices to season food
instead of salt, butter, or margarine.

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Cooking the Healthful Way
Serving healthier meals to children in child care
facilities participating in the Child and Adult Care
Food Program is a challenge.
Planning meals that follow the Dietary Guidelines
for Americans nutrition guidelines and preparing
food with good nutrition in mind is important. To
cook healthier meals, you should:

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Cooking the Healthful Way
• Use standardized recipes.
• Select recipes that follow the principles of the
moderate use of fat, saturated
fat, cholesterol, sugar, and sodium.
• Develop new recipes if needed.

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Cooking the Healthful Way
• Read labels on pre-prepared food products and
select those that follow these same nutrition
guidelines.
• Select lower fat cooking methods.
• Learn to properly prepare each food on the
menu so that it smells, looks and tastes good to
children.
• Make food fun!

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Cooking the Healthful Way
A plan is needed to reach the goal of healthier
meal preparation. The plan begins with the menu
and the recipes. It is important to follow the plan
carefully.
**Get started**
• Plan the work to be done.
• Get all supplies and equipment ready.

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Cooking the Healthful Way
• Cook all foods using the correct methods.
• Serve all foods at the peak of quality.

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Cooking the Healthful Way
**How to use a standardized recipe**
A recipe tells us how to make a certain menu item.
There should be a standardized recipe for each
item on the menu. Even foods that are pre-
prepared should have a recipe or directions for
preparation on file to make sure they are prepared
properly. A recipe tells us the ingredients
needed, the amounts needed, and how to
combine them.

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Cooking the Healthful Way
**How to use a standardized recipe**
A standardized recipe is a recipe that has been
tested and results in a consistent product each
time. Recipes are standardized only after you have
tested them in your own kitchen. A recipe should
be adjusted to the equipment available in your
kitchen and the taste preferences of the children in
your center. When followed exactly, a standardized
recipe insures a good product and a specific
number of servings and consistent nutritive value
every time the recipe is prepared.

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Cooking the Healthful Way
**Tips for recipe selection and development**
• Make changes gradually when lowering fat, salt
and sugar in the menu so the meals will be
acceptable to children.
• Try different herbs and spices as seasonings to
replace flavors lost when fat, salt, and sugar are
reduced.

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Cooking the Healthful Way
**Tips for recipe selection and development**
• Select cooking methods that require less fast
such as baking, broiling, grilling, steaming and
boiling.
• Try new fat-reduced products to replace high-fat
products such as mayonnaise and sour cream.
• Use a little as one-half of the sugar in baked
products.

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Cooking the Healthful Way
**Tips for recipe selection and development**
• Select more whole grains and legumes for lower
fat meals that add lots of flavor and nutrients.
• Serve healthful desserts made from grains and
fruits.
• Make as many foods from scratch as possible to
control the amount and kind of fat, salt and sugar
added.

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Cooking the Healthful Way
**Tips for recipe selection and development**
• Follow the recipe! Resist the temptation to add a
little extra fat, salt or sugar during cooking.