Natural Gourmet Institute for Health & Culinary Arts

Natural Gourmet Institute offers a variety of public classes on cooking with health-supportive foods such as whole grains, beans, sea vegetables, etc. Browse their selection of classes and take one to learn how to cook healthy meals, including vegetarian, gluten-free and macrobiotic.

Natural Gourmet Institute for Food and Health
48 West 21st Street, 2nd floor (between 5th and 6th Avenues)
New York, NY 10010

Class fees vary. For more information, visit the Natural Gourmet's website.

Save $$$ with a slow cooker

1. Save on Staples:
Instead of buying canned stock, freeze the bones, trimmings and juices from roasts. When you have enough scraps, place them in the slow cooker, fill it with water about 3/4 of the way, cover and cook on low for 8 hours. Strain the liquid and discard solids. Use the broth immediately or freeze for up to 3 months. If you are a vegetarian, you can also make a vegetarian stock from different vegetable scraps.

2. Conserve energy:
Using a slow cooker helps cut electricity costs - it costs $.10 for 8 hours of use vs. $.19 for 2 hours of stove time and $.29 for 1 hour of oven time.

3. Enjoy poultry for less:
Buying the whole chicken is cheap (on sale, it could be $.79 per pound). Remove giblets and put it in the cooker. Add spices, salt, pepper. Add a little bit water, cover and cook for 8 hours on low or 4 hours on high.

4. Cook once, eat twice:
Prepare a big roast in the slow cooker which yields several meals' worth of meat. Buy a chuck roast on sale and toss it in a slow cooker. Cooking cheaper cuts of meat in the slow cooker makes them tender and more flavorful. Add some water so that the meat won't toughen. When the roast is done, divide it into meal-sized portions in plastic storage containers and refrigerate or freeze for later use. The possibilities are endless - beef and noodles, roast beef sandwiches, etc.

4. Stretch your budget with beans:
Buy 1 pound of beans and soak in water overnight. Drain, put beans in the slow cooker and cover with fresh water. Add salt and garlic. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours.

5. Make homemade soup:
Keep a tupperware in the freezer and put leftover vegetables, starches and meat in it. You can use whatever you have left - for example, half a cup that is not enough to serve the next day. When the bowl is full, put everything in the slowcooker and make your soup.

6. Visit this site for more slowcooker recipes and inspiration.

Substitutions

Sometimes, while cooking, I realize that I am out of an ingredient. Did you know that you can almost always substitute an ingredient in a recipe? An added perk - sometimes, the substitution may be even healthier for you.

Here are some healthier substitutions for cheeses:
Cream cheese - American Neufchatel (don't confuse it with French)
Brie - Camembert
Gruyere - Swiss
Havarti - Gouda