For Those Who Cook at Home — Some Must-Have Ingredients

Whoo-hoo! Thanksgiving is coming in two weeks. Many people including myself weight gain problems during the winter time especially holidays. If you want to eat tasty but also health, you need to keep eyes on the ingredients you use.

I’v been cooking for 5 years. At the beginning, I thought delicious food are high-calories and unhealthy, so I used limited ingredients and barely ate any dessert. But having a strict diet made me crave junk food more and get bad moods frequently. After studying and practicing nutrition, I found some food can keep you fit but also let you enjoy cooking and eating. Now, let’s take a look at 4 essential healthy-cooking ingredients that I always have on hand.

1. Cauliflower Rice If you are a rice lover like me, you must try caulirice. It’s made of chopped cauliflower roots. It tastes exactly as same as rice but only contains 25 calories per 100g. You can use it as alternative of rice in salads, or use it to cook fried rice or risotto. You can get cauliflower rice at any grocery store’s frozen zone. Check my recipe with Cauliflower Rice!

2. Peanut butter powder Do you have a sweet tooth and can’t live without peanut butter? Use peanut butter powder instead. Mix the same amount of powder with water, and you will get the perfect peanut butter with only 1/4 amount of calories in the regular one. You can also add it directly to your smoothie or put on your desserts. I got mine from amazon.

3. Purple sweet potato. Purple sweet potatoes are great choice for Thanksgiving side dish. They have plenty of iron, vitamin C, and 4 times as many antioxidants as regular potatoes. Antioxidants, which helps regulate blood pressure and prevent skin aging, are really good for females. Also, purple sweet potatoes are fat-free and can provide you satiety though out the day! You can make purple latte, bread spread, cake, and salad with them.

4. Acai Bowl Frozen Packets You must have heard of acai berries, the “super food” that are nutrient-dense, loaded with antioxidants, and good for brain function. Don’t struggle with finding fresh acai berries anymore. You can simply run the packet under hot water for 5 seconds and throw it in your blender with bananas to get a freshly-made acai bowl dessert, which tastes even better than ice cream! I got mine at Trader Joe’s.

Hope you enjoy your holiday meals with those ingredients above!