Cooking Made Easy

     I love to cook, I find it relaxing and it just makes me happy when people enjoy the food I cook. I think people get intimidated by cooking because they think it had to be a whole big production, which is not true! I have six simple tips for anyone who wants to start cooking more at home!  

~ Cook with what’s in season, foods that are fresh will taste better and make your meal even better.

~ Keep it simple. Everyone is not going to be Julia Child, steamed vegetables and grilled protein is not crazy hard but it makes a great meal.

~ Use a timer. Until you get the hang of things in the kitchen use a timer. It helps food cook to where it is supposed to and you don’t have to stay in the kitchen waiting for the food to cook. Your days not “wasted” in the kitchen alone.

~ Calm down! Cooking doesn’t and shouldn’t be stressful. There is a period of learning and you will feel pressured but know that it’s ok to burn something, just try it again, or if you under cook something just put it back in the pan or oven, no big deal!

~ Taste and season everything. Once you know something  is almost done taste it before taking it out of the pan, you can always add more seasoning if you need to while it finishes cooking in the pan. If you over season with say salt for example add a pinch of sugar to balance it back out, or a raw potato that can soak up the salt (don’t eat the potato as it will be salty! )

~ Plan! You can make something once that you can repurpose into another meal later in the week. For example, if you make chicken one night, you can use what’s left and make chicken tacos another night. Two full meals and you only labored hard in the kitchen once!

With these simple tips I hope you are more at ease about getting into your kitchen and trying out new dishes. If it helps follow a recipe until you can think of things you want to try on your own, but know that a recipe is just a guide, if you don’t like something the recipe calls for try substituting it for what you and your family do like.  Good luck and have fun with it!

 

Live Healthy,
   Nadia

Helpful Links to Great Information

   I wanted to send out some helpful sites and things to help you on your journey to a healthier you. You can add these to your list of references and refer to them when needed.

 

CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention) (helps if you have a health concern and want to address that specifically)

My Plate (great place to get information for kids and to help them eat better)

USDA (guide lines for eating as set by the US Department of Agriculture)

Eating Well (free meal and menu planning plus great recipes)

Fitness  (good site for overall fitness and health, interactive)

Womens Fitness  (great information about fitness just for women)

Yahoo Food (this site has fun food articles if you've never checked it out)

Food Network (my go to for new recipes and ideas) 

My Personal Site (this is again my website and has great links to other blogs and recipes, and a way to contact me personally and privately)

 Feel free to comment below if you want any more information, have any question or have a site that you love and would like to share!

Live Healthy,

Nadia

Healing from the Kitchen

     How many times have we had minor injuries or illnesses and our first stop is the drug store or medicine cabinet. Why not change that and make our first stop the kitchen. There are many common illnesses/ injuries that you can cure (or minimize) from all natural ingredients.

Bee Stings- Mix a little bicarbonate of soda (baking soda) and water then put it on the sting

Burns (minor)- Vitamin E oil or aloe vera gel

Colds- Garlic (best thing to fight a cold), also honey and fresh squeezed lemon mixed together.

Cuts- Tea Tree Oil (which is also good for insect bites)

Diarrhea- Dry (toasted) plain bread, cooked white rice

Hangover- Vitamin C, essential fatty acids (fish, leafy vegetables and nuts)and water

Sunburns- plain yogurt, vitamin E oil and aloe vera

Earache- a drop of warm olive oil and tea tree oil put directly in the ear

These are all great things to keep in mind when trying to remedy small illnesses at home because its way better than filling our bodies with chemicals and medicines. 

**All of these are for MINOR issues, if things are serious or last a long time please see a doctor**

 

Don't forget to get your FREE consult before they are all gone!!! See my post from last week for full information!!

 

Live Healthy,

    Nadia

Special

     This post is for anyone who has been reading my blog and feels like they can and have been doing the things I post, but want more personal information.  I am offering the first 10 people FREE on-line consultations, you can follow the links on my website and I will get back you to via e-mail. My passion and goal is to help people get healthy and happy. So feel free to contact me about your person health or life goals and we can work something out!

When you click on the link, at the top there are two options, you can go to connect and just put in contact information, or you can click on Health Forms and fill out all that information and it will get sent directly to me and we can work from that!

http://nadia-wasef.healthcoach.integrativenutrition.com/

Take the first step to getting healthy, and I'll take the walk with you!

Live Healthy,
    Nadia