Cooking & Baking Tips: Healthy Fats, Grain Prep & Substitutes

Mastering the kitchen involves understanding healthy fat profiles, variety-specific grain preparation, and safe food handling techniques.

stevia plant

How Much Stevia Can You Have a Day?

Stevia is a blanket term for all sweeteners derived from the Stevia rebaudiana bush, which is prevalent in Asia and South America. Sweeteners labeled stevia are actually extracts called steviol glycosides.

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Cayenne Pepper and Anxiety

Anxiety is your body’s natural response to physical or emotional stress. The National Institute of Mental Health says anxiety can be used by your body as a coping mechanism, but if your anxiety levels become uncontrollable, or if they begin to affect your daily life, you might have an anxiety disorder.

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Soy Oil

Cottonseed Oil vs. Sunflower vs. Soybean

If you are looking for an alternative to cooking with lard or butter, consider trying cottonseed, sunflower or soybean oil. These versatile and healthy vegetable oils are derived from plants grown in different countries and climates.

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boiled rice

How Much Sodium Is in Rice?

Sodium, also known as table salt, is essential to the natural electrolyte balance that protects your body from dehydration and serves other crucial biological functions. Sodium intake is a delicate balance, because excess consumption of sodium can increase your blood pressure and possibly cause kidney damage.

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bowl of rice and vegetables

Rice & Constipation

High fiber foods can help with most digestive problems, including constipation. Fiber acts as a stool normalizer. It adds bulk and adds water to soften the stool, making it easier to pass through the colon. See your health care provider If you experience constipation.

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birch sugar

Sugar's Effects on Digestion

Sugar provides both health benefits and negative consequences. It supplies an important source of energy that is easy for the body to metabolize and use. However, if you consume large amounts of sugar, you can increase your risk of obesity and the complications it can cause such as diabetes and heart disease.

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Does Palm Oil Lower HDL or Raise LDL?

Palm oil is a tropical oil that originates from the fruit of palm trees. This type of oil is rich in unhealthy saturated fats that can affect your cholesterol levels. Palm oil is a common ingredient in margarine and processed foods.

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Salmão grelhado com vegetais

How to Pan Fry Tuna

Fresh tuna steaks are packed with protein and cook quickly in a frying pan, making them an ideal choice for a healthy dinner on short notice. Tuna is best when seared in a pan at high heat, allowing a nice crust to form while protecting the tender, silky quality of the meat in the center.

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Succulent medium rare beef steak

Can Baking Soda Make Meat Tender and Juicy?

Today's cooks have rediscovered the old-fashioned technique of soaking meat in salted water, or brine, because it adds moisture and tenderizes tougher cuts. When the brine's salt gets replaced with baking soda, something remarkably different but equally tasty happens.

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Grilled beef steak close up on paper

How to Cook Sirloin Medallions

Sirloin medallions, also called petite sirloins, differ from their full-size counterparts in both thickness -- they measure between 3/4 and 1 inch thick -- and width, at about 3 to 4 inches wide.

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High angle view of bowl of frosting

What Can I Subsititute for Corn Syrup in Frosting?

Corn syrup is an ingredient with many uses in the baker's kitchen. It is one of a class of sugars called "invert" sugars, which remain liquid rather than crystallizing. It also helps prevent other sugars from crystallizing, which is one reason it's often added to candy and frosting.

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The Difference Between Roasting Pans & Baking Dishes

Roasting pans and baking dishes are two closely related types of kitchenware. Often, they can be used interchangeably, with each performing the other's function. The difference between the two methods is more a matter of custom and tradition as opposed to anything physical.

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Can You Cook a Beef Rump Roast in a Slow Cooker?

Beef rump roast, which is cut from the primal round in the animal's hindquarter, benefits from long, moist-heat cooking. Slow cooking breaks down the well-exercised protein strands and gristle in beef rump roast.

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Roasted chicken leg and vegetables

How to Boil a Chicken Leg Quarter

Boiling chicken leg quarters is not only one of the easiest ways to prepare chicken, but it's also super healthy, as you can avoid the fat of the frying pan or deep-fryer. A chicken leg quarter includes both the thigh and the drumstick portion of the legs, but you can divide them into two sections, if you prefer.

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Baked Mac and Cheese in Skillet

How to Cook Velveeta Shells and Cheese in the Microwave

Original Velveeta Shells & Cheese is a product from Kraft Foods. It is similar to macaroni and cheese, but it includes small shell pasta instead of macaroni and creamy Velveeta cheese sauce instead of a powdered cheese mix.

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Paprika Allergy

Paprika is a reddish, piquant spice that is made from finely ground peppers, such as red bell peppers, green peppers or jalapeno peppers. Sometimes a blend of these peppers are used to make paprika, which can vary from spicy to mild. Consult an allergist if you think you may have an allergy to paprika or other foods.

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Mustard

What Is the Difference Between Dry & Prepared Mustard?

Mustard is a seed that shows up on grocers' shelves as whole seeds, as dry mustard powder, and as a prepared condiment. Among its many uses, it can spice pickles, emulsify salad dressings, and flavor hot dogs. Two main varieties of mustard seed are available.

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Homemade Biscuits

What Can You Sub for Baking Powder When Making Biscuits?

Baking powder seems mysterious when you don't understand the science. You add a tiny amount to biscuit batter and what would have emerged as a flat, dense hockey puck comes out of the oven a fluffy treat. If you don't have any baking powder around the house, don't fret.

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Pan of biscuits in oven

What Can Be Used to Substitute for Shortening in Baking Biscuits?

While shortening is a typical ingredient in most biscuit recipes, you can whip up a batch of fluffy and delicious biscuits without shortening. Depending upon your needs, you can create delicious flaky biscuits, perfect for honey or jam, or cut the fat and calories for biscuits without the guilt to pair with soup.

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Muscovado sugar

Organic or Natural Substitute for Brown Sugar

The molasses-tinged flavor of brown sugar can be enjoyed in an organic or natural diet, you simply need to know the right substitutes Although brown sugar appears healthier with its brown color and robust flavor, it is created when molasses is added back to processed white sugar.

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