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Dr. Hill Weighs In: Flavor Boosters

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Apr 1, 2009 9:25 am US/Mountain

Dr. Hill Weighs In: Flavor Boosters

By Guest Editor: Patti Parkis

Click to enlarge 1 of 1: Dr. Jim Hill, Co-Founder of America on the Move
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If you are reducing or eliminating the fat in your recipes and are looking for a way to keep the food tasty, here are some great tips to give your food a flavor boost and increase its nutritional value too:

Cook grain dishes such as rice, couscous or quinoa with vegetable broth or fat-free meat broths instead of water. Eliminate the salt and oil normally called for in the cooking instructions. If you open a container of broth and don't use it all, you can freeze the remainder in ice cube trays. Once they are frozen, pop them out of trays and store in plastic baggies for future use.
Liberally add fresh herbs such as cilantro, dill, rosemary, parsley and chives to your foods. Many herbs can be grown in containers indoors making it convenient to snip off fresh herbs as needed.
Wine adds a lot of flavor to cooked dishes. If you have leftover wine, it can be frozen in ice cube containers for future use in cooking.
Slow cooking brings out the flavor and natural sweetness of many vegetables such as tomatoes, peppers and onions. If you don't have time to keep an eye on the stove, try using a crock pot to slow-cook foods
The zest of citrus fruits like oranges, limes and lemons adds lots of zing to cooked and raw foods-just be sure to scrub the outside of the fruit well to remove any pesticide residue.
Balsamic vinegar has a rich, almost sweet flavor. Turn it into flavorful, intense syrup by reducing its volume as you cook out some of the water. This syrup becomes a wonderful flavor enhancer for broiled meats, chicken, or vegetables. It's even delicious drizzled over strawberries!
Add plain, non-fat yogurt to cooked dishes instead of heavy cream or sour cream. Your dish will be much lower in fat and will have a wonderful tangy flavor. A bonus is that yogurt is less likely to curdle than cream when it is cooked.