Recommended Cooking Oils For Low Health Hassles

Cooking oils can be a hidden source of some very damaging ingredients for both your cholesterol levels and health of your heart. You need to look at the contents for each one and watch out for those oils containing high levels of trans fatty acids.

Canola oil is frequently recommended by doctors who say it helps to lower your risk of heart disease. As it is low in saturated fats, and fairly high in mono-unsaturated fat, it offers a good fatty acid combination in comparison to some of the other oils.

Canola oil can be used to sauté foods, and also to marinate them. In addition, it can also be used as low temperature oil for stir-frying. As it has an extremely mild flavor, canola oil is good for well-seasoned foods, and won't get in the way of any of the wonderful flavors you have added to the meals you've worked so hard to prepare.

Olive oil is another very good oil for your everyday healthy eating. It is rich in monounsaturated fat, and antioxidants, and helps lower your cholesterol level, as well as reducing the risk of cancer. It is great to use in cooking, but it is probably the healthiest when used unheated for salads and dipping sauces. When you do use it for cooking, you'll want to keep the heat down to a low or medium temperature, because it has a fairly low smoking point.

Butter has been used for centuries, and let's face it people, it tastes great, and lends its wonderful rich flavor to other foods. Butter is rich in fat-soluble vitamins like A, E, K and D. Because it is made from purely natural ingredients, you don't have to be concerned with it being artificially or chemically tampered with.

Butter is terrific when used in cooking and baking, and what is better than a pat of butter applied directly to a nice hot muffin or biscuit? Butter can be used to add richness to creamy sauces and marinades.

Margarine first came into being as a substitute for high fat butter, although when it was first developed it was high in trans fats, which studies now show will actually raise your bad cholesterol level. Margarine tastes good, is easy to spread, and can be used as a cooking oil. It has less fat than most oils and butter, as well as being a source of vitamin E.

A trip to your local supermarket will reveal a whole host of possibilities in cooking oils. Just look out for the ingredients label and make sure the contents are healthy.

Tailor Made Cooking Recipes For Kids

When kids want to cook, it's a good idea to find recipes that are tailor-made for them. Picking a recipe solely by the delicious-looking picture is not the way to do it. They may find out too late that the recipe is really too complicated and they are in over their heads. This leads to cooking frustration and does not encourage budding chefs.

Here are some tips on how to decide if a recipe is a good one for your child to try:

1. Check out the number of ingredients.

Obviously the fewer ingredients there are, the easier the recipe will be. Look for 5 ingredients or less. Your new cook will generally fair better if the ingredients are ones your family is familiar with? If there are many ingredients, look them over and see if any can be eliminated or substituted to make it easier. For example, can they get by without adding the chopped onions? Or can they substitute a small handful of minced onions for the chopped onions?

2. Take a look at the number of items that need to be chopped, blended, or food processed.

If there is a lot of chopping involved, kids tend to lose interest while they wait for you to do it. A small amount of chopping can be done by kids after teaching them how to do so in a safe manner. You can also buy some vegetables already chopped and ready to go.

3. How do the recipe instructions look?

Are there lots of steps? Will the instructions be hard for your child to understand? Read it through and see if it makes sense to you. Next, ask your child to read it or read it to them if they don't read yet and get a measure of their understanding.

4. Are there pictures?

Some cookbooks will show a picture of the final masterpiece, while others will show pictures of each step. Pictures aren't necessary but they are so helpful to kids who might not understand some of the written instructions.

5. Does your child still want to try the recipe after reading it through?
Then go for it!

Help them when they need help and stand back when they don't. How much you hover will depend on their age, abilities, and previous cooking skills. Kids can pick up cooking know-how quickly if they cook fairly regularly. The key is to find recipes that are easy and quick for kids to do.