The New Year is here and one of the top New Years resolutions is to start eating healthy. The best way to do this is to try to cook most meals at home. This way you know exactly what you are eating and can limit the amount of unhealthy ingredients used in your food. For instance, if you love the chicken fried rice from your local Chinese take out, but realize that this dish probably contains lots of oil as well as msg and calories you can simply make it at home using less oil and no artificial ingredients. Here are some simple changes to recipes that can make them healthier as well as lower in calorie.


Fried rice
Fried rice served in restaurants and take out stands tends to be made with lots of unhealthy oil as well as heavy and sometimes fatty meats such as pork and pork belly. When making fried rice at home you can simply use less oil and healthier oils such as grape seed or olive oil. However when using olive oil make sure to use a medium to medium high heat instead of high so that it does not burn.
Here is a recipe for ginger chicken fried rice that uses 3 and ½ tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil. You can cut this to 2 tablespoons by simply using ½ of tablespoon in steps 7 and 10; and just 1 tablespoon of oil in step 13. This hardly changes the flavor or texture of this recipe.

There are many recipes in which the oil can be reduced without compromising the recipe. Also, meats can be substituted (I often use boneless skinless chicken breasts) and even vegetables can be used in place of meat.


Stir Fries
Stir fries are another restaurant favorite that sometimes contain msg or lots of oil depending on the restaurant or take out place. Again, by making stir fries at home you can choose the ingredients you want to add and what you want to leave out. Here is a simple chicken stir fry recipe made with chicken, carrots, and celery. The chicken in this recipe is marinated with garlic salt, sherry, cornstarch and oil. To make it healthier you can simply marinate it with garlic salt and leave out the other ingredients. This will change the texture slightly, but the final dish will still be delicious. Also, the sauce in this recipe is contains chicken broth, which depending on the brand you use often contains msg. Try to use an organic broth or one with no msg.

Another healthy stir fry is this. Vegetarian Cashew and Peppers Stir Fry Recipe, which contains cashews, carrots, and green and red bell peppers. The sauce in this recipe has soy sauce, sherry, and just 2 teaspoons of sugar. You can leave the sherry out if you wish here as well.


Fried Chinese Dishes
Finally there are some Chinese recipes that require deep frying, meaning lots of oil. These I suggest staying away from altogether, or making a healthier version by simply not deep frying. For instance, if you’re craving honey walnut shrimp you can simply boil the shrimp plain and toss it in a little sauce instead of deep frying and pouring the sauce on.

Cooking meals at home and making healthier choices in both the ingredients and in they way the foods are prepared will make you healthier in the long run, enjoy.