MAKE SIMPLE HEALTHY CHANGES WITH SLOW COOKER COOKING

This is a message I received from an email a few years ago. I thought it was very interesting and simple to do. I am going to try it, why don't you try it, too?

This is called a 'Slow-Cooker Switcheroo'.

Halve the amount of starch (potatoes, pasta, rice, etc), double the veggies, use the amount of protein called for in the recipe to make healthier meals.

Brian Wansank, Ph.D. did a study some time ago trying to teach people to use slow-cookers to produce healthy meals. They asked participants to cook a recipe in a slow-cooker and report back as to how it tasted. The next week, they asked the same people to prepare the same recipe with the same amount of meat but to double the vegetables and to half the starch (see above). When the participants came back and were questioned the next week they reported they didn't notice any difference in taste.

Bottom line, you can halve the starch, double the vegetables and not notice a difference in taste but your meal with be healthier. So if you are tired of grilled chicken and steamed veggies, get out the slow-cooker and change your recipe around a little.

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