Luscious, Low-Fat, Lightning-Quick Meals

Luscious, Low-Fat, Lightning-Quick Meals

Learn to create delicious and nutritious meals by reducing fat without sacrificing flavor. This course provides tips on menu planning and quicker cooking, and it allows you to try out over 50 exciting lower-fat recipes.

6 Weeks Access / 24 Course Hrs
  • Details
  • Syllabus
  • Requirements
  • Instructor
  • Reviews
$125.00

Select Instruction Type:

$125.00
Self-Guided

Details

Have you ever wished you had a personal chef preparing luscious, low-fat meals for you? This course is the next best thing! You'll learn how to reduce fat in recipes without sacrificing flavor or texture. Explore how to use flavor profiling to expand your culinary horizons. Learn how to prepare casseroles, crock-pot dishes, vegan dishes, oven-fried foods, meat-based meals, and many other entrees that are both nutritious and delicious!

You will discover tips for grocery shopping, menu planning, food preparation, and quicker cooking. You will have the chance to try out over 50 exciting and easy lowered-fat recipes.

Syllabus

Have you always suspected that the only function of fat was to attach itself to your stomach, hips, or thighs? In this lesson, you'll uncover the functions of fat in cooking and learn some easy, lower-fat ways to replace these functions. You'll begin to identify high-fat ingredients in recipes, too. You'll use your new skills to prepare a quick and easy Chicken a la King that's lower in fat but even more flavorful than the original recipe! Then you'll try your hand at a luscious and lowered-fat recipe for Lasagna Mexicana.

Earlier, you learned that two of the functions of fat are carrying flavor and adding "mouthfeel". Seasonings are a fat-free way to improve flavor and mouthfeel. You'll explore the functions of seasonings in lowered-fat cooking and examine several of the most commonly used seasonings and their uses. You'll also learn about flavor profiling, and then use these terrific techniques to create three easy, flavorful lowered-fat recipes: Mexican Shepherd's Pie, Greek Pizza, and New World Pasta y Fagioli.

Many recipes are based on sauces, and many of them tend to be high in fat. In this lesson, you'll look at the functions of fat in sauces. The lesson will discuss several ways to make easy and delicious lowered-fat sauces. You'll use this knowledge to prepare a classic Lowered-Fat Macaroni and Cheese, and an easy, elegant Fettuccine Tofredo with Chicken and Broccoli, both of which are deliciously smooth and rich. You'll learn how to use canned condensed soups to make easy low-fat sauces when you make Quick and Easy Turkey Tetrazzini. You'll also discover the differences between opaque and glossy sauces as you prepare a quick and easy recipe for Sweet and Sour Chicken.

This lesson is a student favorite! The lesson will define add-in ingredients and you'll discover how to incorporate them into delicious lowered-fat recipes. Armed with this knowledge, you'll prepare a kid-friendly Spaghetti Pie that adults will love, too! If you enjoy Asian cuisine, you'll be delighted with a 15-minute recipe for Spicy Peanut Chicken. You don't have even 15 minutes to make dinner? After you apply your knowledge of seasoning, flavor profiling, and add-in ingredients, no one will believe you made Very Veggie Soup using canned and frozen foods. Last but not least, you'll learn how to make some alterations to a typical restaurant-style fried rice recipe to create an unforgettably delicious "Fried" Rice.

Have you sworn off red meat because it's too high in fat or it's too difficult to prepare tender and flavorful cuts of lower-fat meats? Are you sick to death of the same old recipes for chicken? If you answered yes to either question, you'll love this lesson! You'll uncover many tips and tricks for preparing tender and flavorful meals based on leaner meats when you prepare Ground Beef Stroganoff, Pan-Broiled London Broil, and Sweet and Sour Meatballs. You'll revisit flavor profiling as you explore rubs and marinades, two great ways to enliven plain old poultry. To showcase these skills, you'll prepare Cinnamon Chicken. Finally, you'll discover how to convert a time-consuming recipe for Chicken Cordon Bleu into a quicker, easier, and lower-fat casserole recipe.

Seafood offers so many health benefits that several health organizations recommend eating it at least twice a week. Unfortunately, many people avoid fish and shellfish because they aren't familiar with how to prepare it, or they're not excited about filling up the kitchen with that fishy aroma. This lesson will discuss how to choose seafood, and you'll prepare a bounty of fish and shellfish-based meals that won't leave your house smelling funny, including Grilled Ginger-Lime Salmon with Sauce, Drunken Cod, Poached Asian Salmon, Fish Puttanesca, Thai Shrimp, "Crab" Salad, Quick Crab Bisque, and Asian Tangerine Scallops.

Are you suspicious of soybeans? Any doubts you may have will be dispelled when you taste Marinated Three-Bean Salad and Farmer Chili. Are you baffled by tofu? You'll discover how easy it is to use it to replace high-fat ingredients like cream and whole eggs when you prepare Creamy Butternut Squash Soup, Pasta Carbonara, Spicy Peanut Tofu, Tofu Pumpkin Custard, and Tofu Guacamole. As easy and delicious as these recipes are, what most students enjoy about this lesson is sneaking healthful soybeans and tofu into their family's meals. Your diners will never be the wiser, either!

Are you tired of never having an answer to the question, "What's for dinner?" If you shouted "Yes!" then this is your lesson! Even if you usually have dinner under control, you'll be delighted to learn how to develop and use a cycle menu to save you time, reduce food waste, and help encourage diner acceptance. To prove these points, you'll prepare Bean and Basil Salad, Tomato-Basil Meat Sauce, Chicken Curry, Shrimp Cashew Salad, and Greek Skillet. The lesson will also discuss how to develop a grocery list that works for you. You'll finish up by taking a look at shopping for groceries, including the pros and cons of online and warehouse shopping.

Break out your slow cooker and discover how delicious and easy lowered-fat cooking can be! You'll prepare an exotic but oh so easy recipe for African Chicken. You'll learn how to convert the Chicken à la King recipe you prepared before into a slow cooker recipe. You'll uncover the secrets of lowered-fat casserole cookery as you prepare a yummy Chicken Enchilada Casserole. If you've given up deep-frying because it's too high in fat, you'll love the recipe for Oven-Fried Chicken, Oven Fries, and Oven Onion Rings. You'll be licking your fingers because these recipes taste so good—not because they're greasy!

If you prefer to cook rather than clean, you'll love the tips and tricks that are covered in this lesson! You'll examine how to organize and take control of the pantry, kitchen, refrigerator, and freezer. You'll read up on some kitchen cleanup tips, too. Once you've got things organized and tidy, you'll learn how to make "cupboard meals". These family-favorite recipes are perfect for when you're pressed for time—Chicken Florentine Pasta, Speedy Lasagna, and Quick Chicken Risotto. You'll revisit flavor profiling and discover another way it can benefit you when you prepare Caribbean Chicken Pizza. Additionally, you'll use the slow cooker to prepare Mexican Pork, a simple but delicious twofer recipe.

In this lesson, you'll learn how to keep cool as a cucumber on the hottest dog day of summer as you prepare Summer Seviche, Gazpacho, and Chicken Caesar Pasta Salad. You'll find out how to use your small kitchen appliances to make Slow Cooker Iberian Meat Loaf and Tomato-Olive Bread. Then, you'll beat the heat while grilling up Grilled Margherite Pizza, Grilled Veggie Medley, and Grilled Fruit Cups. These summer-perfect recipes are so scrumptious, though, you'll want to enjoy them year-round!

Bring your sweet tooth to this lesson! You'll have several opportunities to wow your taste buds, as you'll prepare Very Cherry Cake, Tofu Key Lime Pie, and Peanut Butter Cup pie. You'll learn how to choose and make tasty, colorful lowered-fat side dishes, including Fruit Salad, Asian Coleslaw, and Green Beans and Bells, as well as a variety of garnishes. The lesson will talk about one last hurry-up technique—how to break the rule of mise en place. To close out the course, you'll learn the basics of evaluating nutrition research.

Requirements

Prerequisites:

There are no prerequisites to take this course.


Requirements:

Hardware Requirements:

  • This course can be taken on either a PC, Mac, or Chromebook.

Software Requirements:

  • PC: Windows 8 or later.
  • Mac: macOS 10.6 or later.
  • Browser: The latest version of Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox are preferred. Microsoft Edge and Safari are also compatible.
  • Adobe Acrobat Reader.
  • Software must be installed and fully operational before the course begins.

Other:

  • Email capabilities and access to a personal email account.

Instructional Material Requirements:

The instructional materials required for this course are included in enrollment and will be available online.

Instructor

Donna Acosta

Donna Acosta, RDN, ACE-Certified Health Coach, is a registered dietitian and nutrition educator. Her clinical expertise is in weight management, diabetes nutrition care, and cardiac rehabilitation management. She has developed and taught a hospital- and community-based nutrition programs for a number of clients, including Warner Bros. Studios, Neutrogena, and Fluor-Daniel.

Reviews

Great course, lots of helpful information. The instructor is passionate about nutrition and it shows in her course content.

I am an active member of a weight loss group and found this information invaluable! The course also helped me look at my family's diet and easy ways to improve it. Thank you!

I really enjoyed this course...Both my husband and I lost a couple of pounds.

I really enjoyed this course. The recipes were delicious as well as healthy. I have learned many ways to improve my cooking, marketing, and housekeeping.

I thoroughly enjoyed this class and would highly recommend it! I've used the recipes since the class started and have had wonderful results from my family!

I thoroughly enjoyed this course. I learned so much about nutrition, as well as cooking! The instructor is very knowledgeable, and makes the course fun, and practical. I highly recommend this course.

I was a little skeptical about taking a cooking class online. I was greatly suprised at how much I learned and how informative it was. This was due in large part to the instructor.

Loved the class. Motivated me to cook more and am finding I enjoy it.

This course has been wonderful! I have learned so much and am incorporating all of it in my daily cooking routine. My family has been very receptive to the new recipes and ingredients. I can honestly say that I am becoming a better cook, shopper, and nutritionist. Thank you for a great experience.

This course was extremely helpful in learning how to lower the fat content in any recipe. It also provided a lot of recipes I've never seen before. Applying these methods to my cooking will make all my meals more healthy. Thanks for offering this course!

Self-Guided Course Code: T9656
Instructor-Moderated Course Code: llf