Cooking & Calorie Saving Tips
Salt: Just a tiny sprinkle of salt can add a lot of flavor to any dish. The key is to add salt at the end of the
meal so that it hits your taste buds immediately. When you add it during preparation it gets mixed in
and the flavor gets hidden, so you need more. Instead, adding salt at the end keeps sodium in check.
Salad dressing: Most bottled dressings are high in sodium, fat and calories. Check out the Herbed
Vinaigrette and the Honey Dijon Vinaigrette below; they are delicious and both contain less than 29
calories and 66mg of sodium for two tablespoons. Many salad dressings can be more than 100 calories
and 200-400 milligrams of sodium for the same-size serving. So our dressings will help to keep you lean
and bloat-free. If you don’t make these vinaigrettes, we suggest that you always keep your favorite lowsodium, low fat dressing available so that you can use it to flavor any veggies.
Vegetable broth: Simply sautéing veggies in a broth can add an incredible amount of flavor without
adding the fat and calories that oil add. The caveat is that just one cup of many store-bought broths can
give you close to two-thirds of your daily sodium allotment! If you don’t want to prepare broths, be
sure to purchase low-sodium or no-salt added varieties.
Spray bottle: As registered dietitians we’ve witnessed that one of the healthiest foods has also caused
some of the most unwanted pounds to accrue. Olive oil. Just a tablespoon of it (or of any oil) has 120
calories. That’s a little less than 1/10 of the total calories many women should get in an entire day if
they would like to shed a few pounds—and that’s before even eating! It’s easy to pour several
tablespoons of oil onto your salad. That’s why we suggest putting your oil in a spray bottle. This will
disperse the oil, so you can use a lot less. You still get the flavor and texture while sparing your waist,
hips and thighs.
Frozen Vegetables: Frozen vegetables are just as healthy as fresh ones. In fact, in some instances,
frozen are even healthier. Frozen vegetables are picked and frozen immediately, nutrients intact. Fresh
vegetables may lose nutrients during shipping and storage, or when on the store shelves as nutrients are
lost when vegetables are exposed to light, heat and air. You’ll notice that several of our recipes call for
frozen vegetables. This not only ensures retention of nutrients, but it also helps to make meals quick and
easy to prepare. You can keep frozen vegetables in your freezer for months (nearly up to a year!) so you
never have to worry about not having vegetables if your fresh ones go bad.
© 2016 The Nutrition Twins. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form, in whole or in part.
Cooking & Calorie Saving Tips
Herbed Vinaigrette
This dressing is packed with flavor, not calories and salt. So you can enjoy your salad and all of its health
promoting benefits without having to worry about it bloating you or hurting your waistline. It can be
prepared in minutes and you can keep it in your fridge so that you always have a healthy, tasty dressing
on hand.
Ingredients
1 garlic clove
1/3 cup water
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon virgin olive oil
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/8 teaspoon dried oregano
1/8 teaspoon dried basil
1/8 teaspoon dried salt
Directions
1.
Crush garlic and let it sit for 5 minutes to release its healthy promoting qualities.
2.
Add all ingredients in a bowl and whisk together.
3.
Pour over your salad or use as a dip for your favorite vegetables.
Per serving (2 Tablespoons or 1 ounce): Calories 29; Total Fat 3 g; Saturated Fat 0 g; Cholesterol 0 mg;
Sodium 66 mg; Carbohydrates 1 g; Dietary Fiber 0 g; Sugars 0 g; Protein 0 g
© 2016 The Nutrition Twins. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form, in whole or in part.
Cooking & Calorie Saving Tips
Honey Dijon Vinaigrette
This dressing is light, citrusy and flavorful. It won’t weigh you down or puff you up like most dressings
do—and it tastes so good it will encourage you to get more veggies and eat more salads!
Ingredients
3 tablespoons lemon juice
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon virgin olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon honey
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/8 teaspoon dried basil
Dash of salt
Directions
1.
Add all ingredients in a bowl and whisk together.
2.
Pour over your salad or use as a dip for your favorite vegetables.
Per serving (2 Tbsp. or 1 ounce): Calories 22; fat 1 g; saturated fat 0 g; cholesterol 0 mg; sodium 50 mg;
carbohydrates 2 g; fiber 0 g; sugar 2 g; protein 0g
© 2016 The Nutrition Twins. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form, in whole or in part.