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Are vitamins lost during cooking?

Our body needs vitamins for a healthy metabolism. Vitamins ensure, among other things, that our resistance is maintained. Many people get a flu during this period, so it is important to get enough vitamins from your food. Unfortunately, there are a number of vitamins that are very sensitive to heating, which means that many vitamins are lost during cooking. That is why it is important to know how you can cook in a different way so that the vitamins are retained!

All vitamins at a glance

There are 13 types of vitamins:

Vitamin A
Vitamin C
Vitamin D
Vitamin E
Vitamin K
Vitamin B1
Vitamin B2
Vitamin B3
Vitamin B5
Vitamin B6
Vitamin B8
Vitamin B11 (folic acid)
Vitamin B12
All these vitamins have their own effect. For example, vitamin A is important for the skin and vitamin C is important for the immune system. We need these vitamins every day, one more than the other. To get enough vitamins, it is important to eat healthy and varied food.

The preparation, what goes wrong here?

Everyone has their own way of cooking. The preparation will therefore also be different for everyone. Vitamins can be lost during the preparation of a meal. If you look critically at how you prepare your food, you can adjust certain ways that you save vitamins!

Wash your vegetables briefly. Soaking your vegetables for a long time is a real no-go!
Did you know that vitamins are already being lost while vegetables are being cut? Therefore, do not buy pre-sliced vegetables, because you never know how they prepared the vegetables. Cut your vegetables yourself and preferably as short as possible before cooking.
Prefer not to peel vegetables. It is often customary to peel a zucchini, for example, but the skin is full of vitamins!
Place the vegetables in boiling water instead of cold water. If you let cold water heat up in a pan with vegetables, more vitamins will be lost.
Cook with the lid on the pan. There are many vitamins in the cooking fluid! Therefore, also use your cooking fluid as the basis for a sauce, for example.
5 tips to preserve vitamins during cooking
Many vitamins are also lost during cooking, while you naturally want to keep every vitamin !

# 1 Eat fresh

Fresh vegetables contain the most vitamins. That is because it has not been processed much and is therefore still in the store in a short time. Always store fresh vegetables in a dark and dry place.

# 2 Poach

If you poach vegetables, the cooking temperature stays below 100 degrees. This means that the taste is better preserved and the vitamins are still in your vegetables!

# 3 Cook at a higher temperature

By cooking at a higher temperature with a shorter baking time you limit the loss of vitamins even more!

# 4 Wok

Wok is very easy and fast. You can put everything in the wok and bake everything briefly. Meat sears quickly so that all juices and vitamins remain in the meat. The vegetables are quickly cooked without losing the vitamins.

# 5 Use as

little water as possible By using little water, you lose fewer vitamins. Is it customary for you to add salt during cooking? Do not! Salt extracts all vitamins from your vegetables. That’s how they disappear in the water. Therefore, add a little salt only when you start serving the dish.

Hello Fresh makes me a top chef!

After my sister-in-law and best friend had both enthusiastically recommended me the Hello Fresh box, I could no longer ignore it. So hop on to the Hello Fresh site to order one. I was somewhat suspicious about it (as with almost all new things). Would it really be that fresh, tasty and “easy” ?! Well, I can tell you: I’m up!

No worries about your dinner

With a man at home who wants to eat low-carb / free food, a toddler son of 2.5 who decides on the spot whether he wants to eat and myself as an anti-stampot woman, it is really a drama in the supermarket every week. How in heaven’s name do I put together a menu for the three of us in which I also mainly cook healthily? Hello Fresh offers me a solution: no longer putting together a menu, but simply receiving it in a beautiful booklet with accompanying ingredients.

Freshly delivered at home

In the supermarket it is quite a hassle to get everything together for such a great meal. And when my son interrupts my search for the tenth time, it sometimes happens that I just forget something. That does not happen anymore, because everything (except for some oil, salt, etc.) is supplied ready-made in the box. The quantity for the number of people is also taken into account, so I don’t throw away half afterwards.

I feel like a top chef

The first week was just as exciting, because I am not such a great cook and now I suddenly had to “really” start cooking. There was just ginger in my package, Hake fillet and pumpkin. But with the handy recipe book where everything is mentioned in detail, I even managed to create a great meal! Cutting the vegetables myself is not that bad, I now also enjoy cooking much more. All of a sudden I put a delicious dish on the table every evening, made of all pure ingredients and I feel like a true chef!

Suitable for any age & diet

The meals that I have made so far were very tasty and also suitable for our young son. Hubby eats carbohydrate-free twice a day, so he can eat some carbohydrates in the evening. The advantage of Hello Fresh is that the proportions are correct and that you do not eat more rice or pasta than you need. In addition, we also eat much more varied than before, we all get the nutrients that we need. A win-win situation for all of us.

Not expensive and flexible

We now eat a Hello Fresh dish 3 days a week, but we eat 5 next week during the holidays. You can adjust the frequency and sometimes skip a week. If I look at what I had previously lost in the Jumbo and now on my Hello Fresh box, I see no financial reason for not doing it, it is rather cheaper and more expensive.

Become a top chef too!

Are you now also a busy woman, not a master chef, or weekly plagued by all choice stress? Then I would definitely try the test box without obligation. You will be amazed by your own cooking skills: D!

Crispy Potato Tacos


Yield: 8 Tacos

Ingredients:

2 Large Russet Potatoes 3/4 cup Sour Cream 2 cloves Minced Garlic 1/2 tsp Cumin Salt, to taste 1/2 tsp Oregano 8 Corn Tortillas Oil for Frying Optional Toppings: Sour Cream Salsa Cotija Cheese Cilantro

Instructions:

Thoroughly wash the potatoes & peel the skin off. Cut into smaller pieces and place in a pot of cold water. Bring to a boil over medium high heat and allow potatoes to cook until they are soft. Place softened potatoes into a large bowl.

Mix in sour cream, cumin, salt and pepper and mash until well combined. Wrap the tortillas in a damp towel or paper towel and microwave for 15-20 seconds, so they don’t break.

On half of the tortilla, place about 1 Tbsp. of the potato mixture and spread it around. Fold the tortilla in half and repeat with the rest of the tortillas. Heat 1 inch of vegetable oil in a pan. Carefully, place the potato tacos in the pan, allowing them to cook for about 2 minutes on each side.

Once they have developed a golden color, remove from oil and strain excess oil off on a paper towel. Serve with your favorite toppings & enjoy! Recipe by: Carrie Hildebrand

Loaded Queso Tortilla Bowl

Ingredients

for 4 servings

1 flour tortilla
¼ cup  olive oil (60 mL)
1 lime, juiced
1 tablespoon  cumin
1 tablespoon  paprika
1 teaspoon  garlic powder
1 teaspoon  chili powder
1 teaspoon  salt
1 lb  flank steak (455 g)
1 tablespoon  olive oil
2 tablespoons  butter
½ onion, diced
2 jalapeñoes, seeded and diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons  flour
1 cup  milk (240 mL)
4 cups  cheddar cheese (400 g)
guacamole, to serve
tomato, diced, to serve
sour cream, to serve
fresh cilantro, to serve
tortilla chips, to serve

Preparation

  1. Preheat an oven to 400˚F (200˚C).
  2. Place a flour tortilla over an oven-safe bowl. Place another oven-safe bowl over it. Bake for 15 minutes. Remove the bowls and set the tortilla bowl aside.
  3. In a shallow container, place olive oil, lime juice, cumin, paprika, garlic powder chili powder and salt. Mix well.
  4. Place the flank steak in the spice mixture, rubbing until fully coated. Marinate for 1 hour in the refrigerator.
  5. Heat a cast iron pan or stainless steel pan over high heat. Coat with olive oil and Add the steak and sear for 6-8 minutes.
  6. Rest the meat for 5 minutes. Cut them into a bite size. Set aside.
  7. In a medium size saucepan, melt the butter. Add the onion and cook until translucent, about 4-5 minutes.
  8. Add the jalapeños and cook for 3 minutes. Add garlic and cook for 1 minute.
  9. Sprinkle in the flour, and cook for 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Add milk and cook until the mixture has thickened, about 3-4 minutes.
  10. Add the cheddar cheese ½ cup (50 g) at a time. Stir constantly until the cheese is completely melted.
  11. On a flat plate, spread tortilla chips. Place the tortilla bowl on top. Pour in the queso and top with chopped steak, chopped tomatoes, guacamole, sour cream and cilantro.
  12. Enjoy!

 

Sweet Potato Breakfast Bake

Ingredients

for 8 servings

2 large sweet potatoes
1 tablespoon  olive oil
2 teaspoons  salt, divided
2 teaspoons  pepper, divided
8 eggs
1 tomato, diced
¼ cup  green onion, chopped (40 g)
1 bell pepper, diced and cooked
½ teaspoon  garlic powder
½ cup  milk (120 mL)
cooking spray
10 slices ham
2 cups  spinach (80 g)

Preparation

  1. Preheat the oven to 425°F (220°C).
  2. Using a mandolin, slice the sweet potatoes lengthwise into about 3-millimeter thick slices.
  3. In a large bowl, combine the sliced sweet potatoes, oil, 1 teaspoon of salt, and 1 teaspoon pepper. Toss until well coated.
  4. Lay out sweet potato slices on a baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes, until the edges start to crisp.
  5. In a large bowl, combine the eggs, tomatoes, green onions, bell pepper, garlic powder, remaining teaspoon of salt, remaining teaspoon of pepper, and the milk. Whisk well.
  6. Remove sweet potatoes from the oven and reduce the oven temperature to 400°F (200°C) .
  7. Grease a 9 x 5-inch (23 x 13 cm) loaf pan. Line the sides and base of the pan with sweet potato slices, overlapping slightly.
  8. Layer half of the ham slices over the sweet potato, then add the spinach, another layer of sweet potato, the egg mixture, the rest of the ham, and the rest of the sweet potato slices.
  9. Fold the outside sweet potato slices over the loaf.
  10. Bake for 30 minutes.
  11. Invert the loaf onto a serving plate, then slice and serve.
  12. Enjoy!

 

Loaded Vegetarian Nachos

Ingredients

for 6 servings

1 cup  lentils, rinsed (200 g)
2 cups  vegetable broth (480 mL)
1 teaspoon  salt
½ teaspoon  pepper
2 teaspoons  chili powder
2 teaspoons  cumin
1 teaspoon  garlic powder
1 teaspoon  dried oregano
15 oz  corn, 1 can, drained and rinsed (425 g)
15 oz  black beans, 1 can, drained and rinsed (425 g)
1 lb  tortilla chips (455 g)
1 ½ cups  shredded mexican cheese blend (150 g)
1 cup  shredded lettuce (75 g)
1 cup  tomato, diced (200 g)
½ cup  red onion, chopped (75 g)
2 jalapeñoes, sliced
⅓ cup  fresh cilantro, chopped (15 g)

Preparation

  1. Preheat oven to 350˚F (175˚C).
  2. In a large pot, over medium-high heat, bring lentils, broth, salt, pepper, chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, and oregano to a boil. Once boiling, reduce to a simmer, cover and cook for 35 minutes.
  3. Once cooked, mix in the corn and black beans.
  4. On a baking sheet, place a layer of tortilla chips, followed by the lentil mixture and cheese.
  5. Add another layer of tortilla chips, lentils, and cheese.
  6. Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until the cheese has melted.
  7. Top with lettuce, tomatoes, red onion, jalapeños, and guacamole, and cilantro.
  8. Enjoy!

Yummy AVOCADO SALSA

Serves 6

INGREDIENTS

3 ripe avocados, diced ½ red onion, chopped 2 tomatoes, diced ¼ cup cilantro, chopped 2 limes, juiced 2 cloves garlic, chopped Salt, to taste Pepper, to taste 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar ½ cup feta cheese Tortilla chips, for serving

PREPARATION

 

  1. In a medium bowl, combine all ingredients and gently mix together. For best flavor, allow
  2. to set 30 minutes. Garnish with additional feta just before serving. Enjoy!
  3. Garnish with additional feta just before serving. Enjoy!