COOKING TIPS
Forget the Oil
Roasting squash, making french or sweet potato fries, cooking lentil patties, roasting cauliflower (or any other vegetable), or sautéing vegetables can be done easily without oil.
Why?
Contrary to popular news reports, oils (olive, flax seed, coconut, canola, etc) provide nothing more than empty fat (14 grams per tablespoon) and calories (119 per tablespoon) while lacking any nutrients. See Jeff Novick's article Marketing Junk Food: Don't Go Cuckoo Over Coconut Oil comparing the nutritional content of coconut oil vs. table sugar. In summary, calorie for calorie sugar has more nutrients and that is not saying much.
How?
If you intend on cooking a lot of vegetables in the oven it would be worthwhile investing in a silicon or silpat baking sheet. When cooking vegetables on a silicon baking sheet, vegetables brown nicely without sticky to the pan and most importantly, emerge from the oven tasting delicious without absorbing hundreds of calories and grams of fat. Parchment paper is another alternative, however, it must be thrown away.
Sautéing vegetables without oil is easy. Simply use water in place of oil when sautéing vegetables. Cooking onions in water (or vegetable stock for a richer flavor) until the liquid evaporates, brings out the sweetness of the onions without the fat and calories of oil. Save the water used to boil potatoes, sweet potatoes, sweet corn, beets etc. and use for this purpose or to cook rice or other whole grains.
Vegetables can also be sautéd in a dry pan. Once the vegetables begin to cook they usually release enough water to prevent them from sticking. If not, add a little water or vegetable broth to the skillet.
Use apple sauce in baking instead of oil.
Why?
Contrary to popular news reports, oils (olive, flax seed, coconut, canola, etc) provide nothing more than empty fat (14 grams per tablespoon) and calories (119 per tablespoon) while lacking any nutrients. See Jeff Novick's article Marketing Junk Food: Don't Go Cuckoo Over Coconut Oil comparing the nutritional content of coconut oil vs. table sugar. In summary, calorie for calorie sugar has more nutrients and that is not saying much.
How?
If you intend on cooking a lot of vegetables in the oven it would be worthwhile investing in a silicon or silpat baking sheet. When cooking vegetables on a silicon baking sheet, vegetables brown nicely without sticky to the pan and most importantly, emerge from the oven tasting delicious without absorbing hundreds of calories and grams of fat. Parchment paper is another alternative, however, it must be thrown away.
Sautéing vegetables without oil is easy. Simply use water in place of oil when sautéing vegetables. Cooking onions in water (or vegetable stock for a richer flavor) until the liquid evaporates, brings out the sweetness of the onions without the fat and calories of oil. Save the water used to boil potatoes, sweet potatoes, sweet corn, beets etc. and use for this purpose or to cook rice or other whole grains.
Vegetables can also be sautéd in a dry pan. Once the vegetables begin to cook they usually release enough water to prevent them from sticking. If not, add a little water or vegetable broth to the skillet.
Use apple sauce in baking instead of oil.