Eating Healthy? Punch up Flavor with These Ingredients
Wednesday, January 11, 2012 at 1:00AM 
By Lori Powell
I have missed you all and hope you feel the same. Happy New Year!! Now begins a new year full of what I hope will be blogs that inspire you to cook and eat super-delicious healthy food in 2012.
I have never been a fan of New Year’s resolutions but for some reason I am into it this year and hopefully that enthusiasm will linger long enough to get me back on track and make me feel stronger.
To start the year anew, my own personal goal of eating healthier and moving more – in the form of 30 minutes of walking a day – began on January third. This does not sound too hard, but in reality, not as easy as it sounds for me. I am walking at least three days a week and hope to increase that by another three per week.
The healthy eating part is not as hard as since I adore vegetables and am not into sweets that much…plus I create healthy food for a living (as Food Director of Prevention magazine). Duh!!
What I wanted to share with you today are the things that I use in healthy dishes to help make them sing and burst with flavor. Below are some of my favorites.
To finish dishes, add any number of the following to punch up flavor:
- Fresh herbs: tarragon, basil, mint, cilantro, rosemary, chives, just to name a few
- Salt: smoked, seasoned, flakes and always use sea salt as the iodized kind is slightly bitter and not as sweet
- Vinegars: pomegranate (my favorite at the moment is the Boyajian brand from Canton, Massachusetts), aged sherry wine, seasoned rice wine, balsamic, Champagne, blood orange, and tarragon
- Citrus: lime, lemon, orange, grapefruit, tangerine
- Spices: smoked paprika, garam masala, cardamom, cumin, chili flakes, hot pepper flakes
- Tube food pastes: wasabi, tomato, anchovy, caper and sun-dried tomato
- Cheeses: Parmesan, Grana Padano, Pecorino, Romano, Queso Blanco, Manchego
- Nuts for sprinkling (always toasted): pecans, pine nuts, walnuts, pistachios
- Pickles: ginger, beets, gherkins, onions, cabbage, carrots
- Hot sauces: Tabasco, harissa, sriracha, hot Asian chili sauce
- Toasted seeds: sunflower, pumpkin, flax, chia, poppy seed,sesame
- Oils for drizzling: great-quality extra virgin olive, dark sesame, walnut, pumpkin, hazelnut, blood orange, lemon, and truffle (sparingly)
- Toasted crumbs mixed with scallions and garlic: whole wheat, rye, cornbread, Pumpernickel
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Reader Comments (2)
Very interesting for the people who's on healthy diet. Healthy lifestyle makes our life beautiful and cool. Thanks for the post Lori!
I hope your own personal goals are going well for you and thank you for sharing your own personal favorites! I love to walk and need to get back on track myself! Thank you for the post!