Creative in the Kitchen

Getting creative in the kitchen can be planned…or it can be a result of having to pull together lunch for four faster than you can say, “peanut butter and jelly anyone?”  We are so used to foods being the same all the time. For example, a salad almost always consists of lettuce with a sprinkling of vegetables on top. Why not change it up, skip the lettuce, or other leafy greens and make the whole salad just a medley of colorful vegetables: tomatoes, yellow peppers, broccoli and sliced cabbage are four easy ingredients to chop and you’ll have a gorgeous salad with lots of crunch that will fill you up a lot longer than four cups of leafy greens with a floret or two of broccoli on top!

Thinking outside the box in the kitchen means bucking the traditional rules about what foods are eaten at what time of day. If you want a warm, low-sodium chicken noodle soup for breakfast-just have it. And the same goes for supper. Eggs are a great source of protein and cook up in a snap, try having an egg white omelet for supper, throw in a piece of whole wheat toast and an apple and you’ll be so content you won’t be sneaking into the kitchen later for a little snack or two.

Traditionally for supper in America we think of what meat (or poultry) we will serve and what sides will go with it, usually a starch and a vegetable. Why not shake it up. Skip the meat, or make it a side, focus on having the center of the meal be a delicious jasmine or basmati rice, or a colorful vegetable with a little bit of diced chicken sautéed and thrown in. By putting these fiber rich grains and vegetables in center stage you will fill up faster in likely take in fewer calories.

There are so many ways to think outside the box at meal times. Next time you sit down to eat think about how you could have made that meal different. What could you have added, or even better what could you have replaced with a funky and tasty alternative.