Today most of us strive to maintain our body weight, size and health, to do that we have to understand what we are cooking and eating. It is very vital to provide not only ourselves but also our families’ healthy meals. Healthy meals help us to grow both physically and mentally. Healthy foods can boost our body immune system and also protect us from server illness such as diabetes, cancer and heart diseases. Eating too much or too frequently does not mean that one is eating healthy, the best to make sure you are eating healthy is to observe and choose your diet; make sure you are eating a balanced diet. 

A balanced diet is a diet that comprises all the right nutrients your body requires. The right nutrients include Vitamins, Carbohydrates and Proteins. Eating a balanced diet helps the body to grow faster, run smoothly, improves mental abilities, reduces the risk of getting sick, and helps the body to relax and sleep well.

There is a lot of information all on the internet about healthy foods, with all this information, sometimes it can be hard to know what is true or false. Definition of good food is quite confusing, but healthy food is food that rate high on Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity (ORAC) scale. Most or all healthy food contain antioxidant ability; they are low in salt, sugar and Trans fats.

Most people consider that healthy eating should include 5-7 portions of fruits and vegetables a day that is not true; eating only vegetables does not also mean that one is eating healthy. A healthy balance diet should be 3-4 vegetables and 2-3 fruits 2-3 grains (such pumpkin seeds, ground nuts, cashew nuts, brown rice and whole grain barley) and finally a 2-3 portion of low fats protein such as fish and skinless chicken. It is common for people to have favorite meals that is not bad just remember that one food cannot make you healthy on its own, try and vary and balance your diet.   

Ingredients-

fresh shrimp, butter, olive oil, ham, dry white wine, lemon juice, capers, salt, fresh parsley, fresh bread.

Preparation-

Melt the batter together with the olive oil. Gradually increase the heat and add the shrimp and the Ham. Cook while tiring slowly for 3 to 6 minutes or to when the shrimp turns pink. After that, reduce the heat to medium. Add vermouth and the other mentioned ingredients, leave to boil for some time. Pour into a bowl, sprinkle parsley and you can serve with French bread.

Ingredients-

 Fresh orange juice, sodium less and fat free chicken broth, orange marmalade, fresh lemon juice, cornstarch, rosemary, salt, black pepper, chicken(boneless and skinless),breadcrumbs, olive oil and fresh parsley

Preparation-

Put together the first eight ingredients in a bowl. Using a whisk, stir the ingredients together. Heat the oil and add chicken. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes, making sure both sides are well cooked. And the broth mixture, reduce the heat to medium, cover and simmer. Stir occasionally. In around 4 minutes the chicken will be done. Sprinkle with the parsley

Bake Ziti and Summer Veggies

Ingredients-

Uncooked zit, olive, chopped yellow squash, zucchini, onion, tomato, minced cloves, shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese, fresh basil, oregano, salt, red pepper, part-skim ricotta cheese, egg, and a cooking spray.

Preparation-

Prepare the pasta according to the package direction. Preheat your oven at 400 degrees. Heat a large skillet on a medium heat, add some oil in the pan, onion, squash and zucchini. Sauté for five minutes. Then add the chopped tomatoes and the garlic. Sauté for three minutes. The pan out of the heat, stir in the prepared pasta, pepper, salt and mozzarella. After that, put together some salt, ricotta and an egg. Stir into a paste. Spoon in a baking dish coated with some cooking spray, sprinkle some mozzarella and bake at 400 degrees for 114-15 minutes until it turns brown. 

Ingredients-

Brown rice, olive oil, yellow onion well diced, minced cloves, sliced mushrooms, chili powder, marjoram, corn kernels, shelled frozen peas, rice milk, vegan sour cream, cheese,  and pepper.

Preparation-

As always preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Cook the brown rice according to the package instruction. Prepare a medium casserole dish by using a light coating of oil. In a large sauté pan, heat the olive oil. Stir in some onions and the garlic, cook for 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in some mushrooms, chili powder and some marjoram. Cook for another three minutes while stirring regularly. Add in some corn kernels and some peas the continue stirring. When the mixture is well heated and the mushrooms are well cooked, put out the heat.  

Add the brown rice you prepared, some milk, sour cream and Daiya shreds to pan, put some salt and some ground pepper to taste. Put the mixture into the prepared casserole dish, you can cover using a foil and bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes.

While waiting for the casserole to be ready, heat some earth balance spread in a pan until melted. Add the bread crumbs and add some salt. Stir continuously for 3 minutes to make sure the breadcrumbs are evenly heated. When the casserole is cooked. Put the casserole evenly with the breadcrumb. Cook for 15 minutes and serve while it’s hot