So you want to prepare the best meal for your family, you need to make sure it is a safe and healthy meal altogether. You can check to ensure you cut back on the fats, retain the nutrients and remember to go slow on sodium. These among other measures will help provide your family a tasty meal and a healthy one too.

Keep fats to a minimum

Choose lean meats and reduced-fat dairy products and limit processed foods to minimize hidden fats. Nuts, seeds, fish, soy, olives and avocado are all healthier options because they include the essential long-chain fatty acids and these fats are accompanied by other good nutrients.

Retaining the nutrients

Water-soluble vitamins are delicate and easily destroyed during preparation and cooking. To minimize nutrient losses:

Scrub vegetables rather than peel them, as many nutrients are found close to the skin.

Microwave or steam vegetables instead of boiling them

If you like to boil vegetables, use a small amount of water and do not over boil them.

General suggestions for healthy cooking

Steam, bake, grill, braise, boil or microwave your foods.

Modify or eliminate recipes that include butter or ask you to deep fry or sauté in animal fat.

Avoid added oils and butter; use non-stick cookware instead.

Don’t add salt to food as it is cooking.

Remove chicken skin and trim the fat from meat.

Sourced From: https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/healthyliving/healthy-cooking-tips

Cooking recipes don’t have to be pumped up with all the ingredients you could ever think of, or long lists of instructions, or even much unhealthy ingredients. You can make very simple but healthy meals from simple and easy recipes that will cost less time and give you a nutritious food to keep you going.

Broccoli & feta omelet with toast

This easy breakfast recipe, which takes just 15 minutes start to finish, packs a one-two punch that will leave you feeling satisfied yet energized.

The broccoli provides filling fiber (and just 30 calories per serving), while the protein-loaded eggs curb appetite and will help stave off those late-morning cravings.

Spiced green tea smoothie

Green tea is one of the top fat-burning foods, thanks to a metabolism-boosting compound known as EGCG. In one study, drinking four cups of green tea a day helped people shed more than six pounds in eight weeks!

This rich smoothie is perfect if you get tired of sipping hot green tea. Flavored with cayenne spices, lemon, and agave nectar, it provides all the nutritional benefits of green tea and will fill you up, to boot.

Banana & Almond Butter Toast

This simple yet tasty morning pick-me-up features no fewer than three of the best foods to eat for breakfast. The bananas and whole-grain rye bread are high in resistant starch, to help boost metabolism, while the almond butter adds hunger-curbing protein and healthy monounsaturated fats.

One slice contains just 280 calories, but it’s guaranteed to keep you full until lunchtime.

Sourced From: http://www.health.com/health/gallery/0,,20678467,00.html

There is no a master in the art of cooking, even the very professional chefs make mistakes in the kitchen table once in a while. So, if you happen to be committing yourself in the kitchen but making meals that you are not so proud of, there may be some mistakes you are making that you really need to rectify on. Here are a few of common mistakes made in the kitchen and ways to avoid them.

Boiling pasta in a pot that’s too small

Unless you are cooking a single serving of pasta (in which case you can get away with a smaller pot), do as Italian grandmothers do: Fill a large pot (5 to 6 quarts) with water and let it come to a rapid boil. Then add 2 tablespoons of salt (don’t be shy—professional chefs say pasta water should taste as salty as the sea). Finally, add the pasta and stir it occasionally until it’s al dente.

Using a Tiny Cutting Board

You can use a little board for a quick task, like cutting a lemon into wedges with a paring knife. But since most kitchen prep work requires a chef’s knife, you probably need a board that is at least 12 by 15 inches. It should be large enough to hold ingredients at every stage of the process.

Overcrowding the Pan

Don’t have a large enough skillet or baking sheet? Cook in batches, keeping the first batch warm on a plate tented with foil or in a low-temperature oven while you prepare the second. Or use two skillets or baking sheets (switch the position of the baking sheets in the oven halfway through the cooking time).

Sourced From: http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/cooking-tips-techniques/basic-cooking