Food & Nutrition: Culinary Techniques, Diets & Metabolic Health

Nutritional health is achieved through the therapeutic use of whole foods, safe culinary preparation, and understanding the metabolic impacts of specific dietary frameworks and ingredients.

Bananas and strawberries

How to Ripen Fruit in the Microwave

Fruits and vegetables produce ethylene gas as they ripen. Certain fruits such as bananas and apples give off greater amounts of ethylene gas. Exposing unripe fruit to ripe fruit increases the unripe fruit's exposure to ethylene gas to speed up the process.

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How to Bake With Flax Seed Flour

Flax seed flour, also called ground flax seed, offers some benefits over whole flax seed. Whole flax passes through your system undigested, causing your body to miss out on the health benefits.

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Stack of Homemade Corn Tortillas

How to Fry Corn Tortillas and Make Them Soft

Corn tortillas provide the basis for many Mexican or Mexican-inspired dishes. These pieces of bread made from corn and lime are hard and unappetizing straight out of the bag. Softening them requires some type of frying method.

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How to Make Corn Starch Gravy

Making gravy with corn starch lets you enjoy it without all the fat. Usually gravy is made with fat drippings, but with corn starch gravy, no extra fat is required. Corn starch is a flour ground from corn kernel. Unlike flour, corn starch contains no gluten.

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How to Cut Fresh Rosemary

Cut fresh rosemary from your herb garden to use its aromatic leaves in any of your chicken, fish, pork or meat dishes. The leaves this woody-stemmed plant produces are also tasty in breads, butter, soups, sauces and vegetable dishes.

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Taylors Gold Pears

How to Cut Pears

Slice a pear however you like it, based on your recipe or fresh eating preference. While there is not necessarily a right or wrong way to cut pears, there are techniques you can use to make it simpler to get the most fruit. You want to remove only the core so you have all of the flesh left.

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Halibut

How to Cook a Halibut in Tinfoil in the Oven

Halibut is a creamy textured, mild fish that even people who don't regularly eat fish seem to like. When you use tinfoil to bake it in the oven, it keeps the fish moist, another characteristic your diners can appreciate. Drying out the fish definitely makes it less appetizing.

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blond woman opening the microwave

How to Defrost Frozen Skinless Chicken Breasts in the Microwave

You've forgotten to set out the frozen skinless chicken breasts again and now need them for your recipe. While you don't have sufficient time to thaw them in the refrigerator, the often recommended method, your microwave can provide a sufficient way to defrost the breasts.

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Nachos

How to Cook Nachos in the Oven

It's easy and quick making nachos in your oven. The dry heat of your oven melts the cheese while keeping the chips crisp. Using extra-thick tortilla chips in this recipe keeps the chips from breaking when you make the nachos as well as while eating this game time or anytime snack.

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How to Cook an Egg Over Hard

Cooking an egg "over" refers to frying it on both sides. Whether the yolk is kept runny or cooked to firmness is what is meant by the terms "over easy" and "over hard." A solid cooked egg yolk is cooked to the hard state.

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Tilapia in foil

How to Cook Fish in Foil Packets in the Oven

Cooking fish in foil packets in the oven locks in moisture and flavor. Use any vegetables or seasonings you wish, particularly if you already have a favorite recipe. The enclosed packet cooks the fish and vegetables to a soft, moist state.

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Pumpkin seeds

How to Roast and Pan Fry Pumpkin Seeds

Roasted pumpkins seeds are a tasty, healthy snack containing few calories and little to no cholesterol or sodium. The traditional method of roasting pumpkin seeds is by oven, but you can achieve similar results by pan-frying them. The hot skillet puffs up the seeds and browns them.

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Fish burger

How to Cook a Salmon Burger

A healthier version of your typical hamburger, the salmon burger combines flaked salmon with a variety of other ingredients to make a flavorful burger. It tastes little like the fish fillet it started out as, with all the flavors you can use.

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Rice Soup with Mushrooms and Spinach

Adding Cooked or Uncooked Rice to Soup

When it comes to adding rice to soup, there is no one way to do it. Whether to cook the rice first depends on your recipe, when you want to add the rice and the variety of rice you are using. Ultimately, you want the rice to be done but not cooked so long that it turns your soup into a gummy concoction.

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fresh spinach leaves

Do You Cook the Spinach First for Quiche?

Whether you cook spinach first when making quiche depends on the type of spinach you use and your preference. There is no correct answer since quiche can use both cooked and uncooked spinach.

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Sliced butternut squash on wood

How to Boil Butternut Squash With Salt

Boil butternut squash to make it tender for eating on its own or using in other dishes. This quick way of cooking butternut squash produces soft chunks in about 10 minutes. The general belief is that adding salt to boiling water makes the water boil at a higher temperature, reducing cooking time.

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How to Reheat a Brisket

Reheat a brisket so it stays moist and tender, just as when it first came out of the oven or smoker. Reserving the juices when you cook it makes reheating easier, but you can use other liquids, if necessary. Chilled brisket is actually easier to cut so the reheating stage is the ideal time to cut it into slices.

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Bowl with cooked Jasmine rice

How to Pre-Cook Rice

Pre-cooking rice is not so much about how to cook the rice, but how to store it. You follow the same cooking instructions as you would for immediate consumption, making sure to cook the rice to a fluffy texture and avoid a gummy outcome. Once the rice is cooked, store it properly so it's ready to use in dishes.

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Raw meat for burgers with spices on wooden board

How to Fully Cook Pork Patties

Whether you make pork patties from fresh ground pork or buy the pre-made version, the cooking instructions are the same. The goal is to cook pork patties to a safe level without sacrificing quality. They should remain moist and juicy, not dried out and overcooked.

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