How to Cook With Unprocessed Food
Enjoy eating nutritious meals by cooking with unprocessed food. Because processing often adds preservatives to foods and can make preparing meals quicker, you must buy unprocessed foods frequently and store them properly if they're to stay fresh. And you must plan enough time to cook these foods. Does this Spark an idea?
Instructions
-
-
1
Prepare vegetable and fruit salads to use unprocessed foods when they're in season and at the peak of freshness. Create salads of completely raw foods or add cooked beans, potatoes, hard-boiled eggs and lightly steamed vegetables.
-
2
Simmer soups in a crock pot or on the stove. Add whole grains, such as barley, wheat berries, brown rice and quinoa to the pot. Include colorful vegetables, such as carrots, peppers, spinach and beets. Don't overcook the vegetables, or they'll lose their nutrients.
-
-
3
Chop vegetables and stir-fry them with small amounts of meat, eggs or tofu. Serve over whole grain rice or noodles.
-
4
Roast nuts, potatoes, onions, peppers, eggplant, squash and broccoli. Season with sea salt and freshly cracked pepper.
-
5
Grill fresh fish and vegetables with a little olive oil. Season with fresh herbs or lemon juice squeezed from a lemon instead of a container.
-
6
Cook your own tomato sauce and mix your own Mexican salsa and salad dressings. You'll know exactly what ingredients you'll be eating.
-
1
Tips & Warnings
Shop the local farmer's market for vegetables and fruits. Buy and cook a variety of foods to meet your nutritional needs, which means you'll probably have to use some processed foods.
Some foods must be processed lightly for our body to digest them. For example, whole grains may be lightly processed to remove inedible fibers.
Wash unprocessed foods thoroughly.
