Archive for February, 2010
Heart Healthy
Being good to your heart for Valentine’s Day
For Valentine’s Day this year, George Foreman would like to spread the love by encouraging you to make a commitment to be good to your heart (and the hearts of all your loved ones that gather around your table). Be good to yourself by focusing this year on maintaining a healthy diet that’s good for your heart, so you can be around for many more Valentine’s Days to come.
Know the Facts
If you haven’t made a heart smart commitment before or you’ve been avoiding thinking about it, you may not know too much about how to eat healthy for your heart – specifically what all the terminology means when doctors talk LDL cholesterol, triglycerides and other cholesterol related words. If you’re in need of an overview of the basics, read our Being Heart Smart article to help get you started.
Knock Out the Fat
Fat, particularly saturated and trans fats, are not your heart’s friend. To help promote a healthy heart, cut as much fat as you can from your diet. To start knocking fat out of your diet, it’s not necessary to completely change what you’re eating – just be more focused in making sure your meals are healthy.
Always trim meats before you cook them. This cuts the excess fat off the meat, so you’re getting the protein you need without adding as much fat to your diet. When possible, also try buying leaner meats and using them in place of their more fattening protein cousins – buffalo or venison, for example, are both leaner than regular beef.
For even healthier meals, cook meats on your George Foreman grill. Grilling can be a healthier method of cooking, in general, because you’re not adding oils, butters or creams to sauces like you do in baking or sautéing. In addition, your George Foreman grill will help knock out even more fat, so healthy cooking is easy without a lot of extra work.
Watch Additives
When you’re cooking fresh, you don’t really have to worry about chemical or synthetic additives in your food, but you do have to pay attention to what you’re adding.
A healthy piece of chicken isn’t so healthy if you cook it in a stick of butter. For grilling, the nonstick plates of your grill are designed to cook without adding oil or butter to “season” the cooking surface. Don’t add oil or butter, because they’re not needed and just add extra fat and calories.
For sauces and toppings, always make sure to use light oils – particularly olive oil. Mayo Clinic Nutritionist, Katherine Zeratsky explains that this is, “a healthier type of fat that can lower your risk of heart disease by reducing the total and low-density lipoprotein (LDL, or “bad”) cholesterol levels in your blood.” In addition, use low-fat alternatives when you add things like milk or cheese. By cutting a few calories and fat grams here and there, the meal is healthier overall and better for you.
Diversify Your Diet
Eating healthy successfully and being good to your heart while doing it is all about diversifying your diet. You don’t want to be bad to your taste buds while being good to your heart, because it will probably only be a temporary fix. Limited diets get boring, making them easy to break. Instead of limiting yourself, try diversifying instead.
Keep your family’s Hamburger Fridays, but do Tuna Steak Tuesdays to change up your protein and add some vital Omega-3 fatty acids to your diet for your heart. Then, when Hamburger Friday rolls around, try using special toppings on the burgers to add in more vegetables – and even possibly some fruit – to make it a healthier meal. Remember, little changes add up, so each change you make is a step towards a healthy diet and a happy heart.
George Foreman Valentine’s Day Breakfast
Valentine’s Day Breakfast with Your George Foreman Griddle / Griddle Plate
Fruit-Topped Pancakes & French Toast
Valentine’s Day falls on a Sunday this year, which makes it the perfect opportunity to serve up a little breakfast-in-bed to your valentine. You actually have the time to cook a full meal and make it with love this year, instead of trying to rush something in the morning before you head off to work. With either a George Foreman Griddle or a George Foreman Grill with an interchangeable griddle/bake plate, doing breakfast-in-bed is easy!
The nice thing about making breakfast on a griddle surface is that you can pretty much do everything at one time, with one appliance. This makes cooking less stressful (especially nice for sleepy mornings) plus minimizes cleanup so you can get on with enjoying your Valentine’s Day instead of washing dishes.
So what can you cook on using a George Foreman griddle or griddle plate? Just about anything you could imagine in the way of breakfast food:
A full spread for a special Valentine's Day breakfast
- Eggs
- Bacon, Sausage, Ham
- Hash Browns
- Pancakes
- Corncakes
- French Toast
- Omelets & Scrambles
- Breakfast Sandwiches
- Breakfast Tacos & Burritos
- Toad-in-a-Hole
All of our griddles, plus any grill that has a griddle plate, will have variable temperature, since griddles can handle such a wide variety of foods. Refer to the cooking chart in your Use & Care manual for specific temperatures, but most breakfast foods range between 325° and 350°F.
Once you have the food ready, just put everything nicely on the plate, add some juice and a fresh flower for decoration, and you have the perfect start your Valentine’s Day without a lot of work.
If you need a recipe to get you inspired, here’s a great one for English Muffin Breakfast Sandwiches…
English Muffin Breakfast Sandwiches
- 2 English muffins
- 4 slices Canadian bacon, 3” diameter
- ⅓ cup Egg Beaters®
- 4 slices sharp cheddar cheese
- Butter, softened
- Salt and pepper
- Preheat griddle surface to 350°F.
- Spread butter on cut side of English muffins. Place butter side down on griddle surface.
- Place Canadian bacon slices on griddle surface.
- Drop ½ tsp. of butter on the griddle surface and pour Egg Beaters® on top of the butter. Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Turn Canadian bacon over and top with cheese slices.
- Turn eggs over after they have set.
- When egg is done and cheese is soft, turn over English muffin, top with Canadian bacon, cheese side down, and then add the egg.
