The Editors of Cooking Light - COOKING LIGHT The Good Pantry: Homemade Foods & Mixes Lower In Sugar, Salt & Fat

CONTENTS Cooking Light THE
Good
PANTRY Homemade Foods & Mixes Lower in Sugar, Salt & Fat 2015 Time Inc. Books 1271 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020 Cooking Light is a registered trademark of Time Inc. Lifestyle Group. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, excepting brief quotations in connection with reviews written specifically for inclusion in magazines or newspapers, or limited excerpts strictly for personal use. eISBN: 978-0-84875-002-2 Library of Congress Control Number: 2015931552 Printed in the United States of America First Printing 2015 Oxmoor House Editorial Director: Anja Schmidt Creative Director: Felicity Keane Art Director: Christopher Rhoads Executive Photography Director: Iain Bagwell Executive Food Director: Grace Parisi Photo Editor: Kellie Lindsey Managing Editor: Elizabeth Tyler Austin Assistant Managing Editor: Jeanne de Lathouder Cooking Light The Good Pantry Senior Editor: Betty Wong Editor: Rachel Quinlivan West, R.D.

Project Editor: Sarah Waller Editorial Assistant: April Smitherman Assistant Designer: Allison Sperando Potter Assistant Test Kitchen Manager: Alyson Moreland Haynes Recipe Developers and Testers: Stefanie Maloney; Callie Nash; Karen Rankin Food Stylists: Nathan Carrabba, Victoria E. Cox, Margaret Monroe Dickey, Catherine Crowell Steele Senior Photographer: Hlne Dujardin Senior Photo Stylists: Kay E. Clarke, Mindi Shapiro Levine Associate Production Manager: Kimberly Marshall Assistant Production Manager: Diane Rose Keener Contributors Writer: Dianne Jacob Designer: Alissa Faden Copy Editors: Jacqueline Giovanelli, Deri Reed Proofreader: Julie Bosche Indexer: Mary Ann Laurens Photographers: Jim Bathie, Beau Gustafson, Becky Luigart-Stayner Photo Stylists: Cindy Barr, Mary Clayton Carl, Missie Neville Crawford, Leslie Simpson Food Stylists: Tami Hardeman, Erica Hopper, Ana Price Kelly Recipe Developers and Testers: Tamara Goldis, R.D., Wendy Treadwell, R.D., Leah Van Deren Fellows: Laura Arnold, Kylie Dazzo, Nicole Fisher, Elizabeth Laseter, Loren Lorenzo, Anna Ramia, Caroline Smith, Amanda Widis Time Inc. Books Publisher: Margot Schupf Vice President, Finance: Vandana Patel Executive Director, Marketing Services: Carol Pittard Executive Director, Business Development: Suzanne Albert Executive Director, Marketing: Susan Hettleman Assistant General Counsel: Simone Procas Assistant Project Manager: Allyson Angle Wood letters on cover created by madfish designs WELCOME Last night I made lentils with sausage and spinach salad for my family. It was a last-minute, off-the-cuff kind of dinner made possible only because my pantry was stocked with the essentials. Even though my refrigerator was almost empty except for the sausages and spinach, I had fresh garlic and dried herbs to gently fry in extra-virgin olive oil to create the deeply flavored base for the brown lentils.

While the lentils simmered and the sausages roasted, I made a dressing by whisking tapenade from a jar with sherry
vinegar and olive oil. Call it a pantry dinner on the fly. A good pantry offers up an arsenal of assertive flavors and flavor-boosting weapons that make your cooking come alive. Im talking about ingredients like spices and salts, umami-rich flavor bombs like soy sauce and miso, plus a variety of cooking
and finishing oils and vinegars. To this, add a bevy of dried whole grains, legumes, and pastas that are easy to keep on hand, and you have the wholesome building blocks in your pantry for any healthy meal. The contents found in the standard American pantrypackaged, highly processed foods loaded with excess sugar, salt, and trans fatsmay provide convenience when your time is in short supply, but they won't make you feel very good.

Take inventory: If the labels contain more ingredients than you have fingers, chances are they are full of preservatives. Toss them and start fresh. Start here. This book gives you the keys to take control of what you feed yourself and your family. So the next time you start your shopping list, open your pantry first, and begin building a better one. Hunter Lewis, editor of Cooking Light GET READY One of the pleasures of a well-stocked pantry (and fridge and freezer) is the ability to put together a meal with minimal fuss.

Thaw a ball of made-from-scratch pizza dough, roll it out, top it with the pesto youve made in your food processor, and finish it with homemade mozzarella and a handful of fresh vegetables. Not only does dinner taste delicious, but youve also created a healthy meal thats fresher and better for you than the store-bought or takeout version. Oh, and youve saved a little money, too. Thats the goal behind The Good Pantry : to help you create homemade meals using items from your pantry that dont contain the excess sodium and fat or the chemicals and dyes found in many store-bought items. With that in mind, youll find an assortment of better-for-you versions of popular snack foods, doughs, mixes, stocks, and sauces as well as finished dishes that use those items so you can enjoy the delicious payoffs. You control the ingredients and customize them to suit your tastes using the suggestions youll find throughout the book or your own flavor preferences.

No matter which recipes you try, youll discover how satisfying it can be to make your own wholesome pantry items. ABOUT THIS BOOK Creating your own good pantry doesnt mean you want to spend your weekend in the kitchen, so the recipes in this book are made in small batches. Theres no need for hours of chopping and simmering. And for those days when you dont want to, or dont have time to, make everything from scratch, youll also notice weve included store-bought items that can easily substitute for the homemade versions. Some recipes offer variations to easily change the flavor profile. Youll also find dietary flags that mark dairy-free, egg-free, nut-free, and gluten-free recipes.

Even though peanuts are technically legumes rather than nuts, weve categorized them as nuts for the purposes of this book. ORGANIZING YOUR PANTRY Creating a good pantry means getting your kitchen in order. The first step: Take a good look at your cupboard. Smell your spices. Spices are derived from the bark, pods, fruit, root, seeds, or stems of plants and trees. They appeal to our senses, and theyre key in healthy cooking.

Spices add intrigue, depth, and zest to food without increased calories. They lose their potency after about 6 months. Check the color, too. If it has faded considerably, it might be time to let that spice go. Smell your oils, too. Cooking oils are indispensable.

They lubricate food, distribute heat, facilitate browning, create tenderness in baked goods, and provide richness. Many also impart their own unique flavors to dishes. Light, oxygen, and heat cause oils to spoil, so to prolong their life, stash them in tightly sealed, colored-glass or opaque containers in a cool, dark place. Be sure you dont keep them on the windowsill, on the back of your stove, or in a cabinet right above the heat. Get organized. An organized pantry makes meal preparation more organized, too.

Put the goods closest to expiration at the front, for high visibility. Create zones for groups of food, such as one for canned beans and vegetables, one for dry mixes, and areas for breakfast and snacks. Place all the Asian ingredients together, if you like, or put the dried shiitake mushrooms in with the vegetables and legumes. Theres no one right way to do it. Clearly label and date foods. Properly labeling food can save time and money, and keep your meal plans on track.