Catching These Kitchen “Zs” Will Spice Up Your Grilling

Want to add a little zip, a little zest, a little zing to your meal? Catching these kitchen Zs means no more snooze fest at dinner. Fire up the grill, choose your meats and use these simple tips to add flavor without adding calories. Healthy Steps by Jokari offers some tasty twists on the summer tradition of outdoor cooking:

• Maximize the marinade
To make the most of your meal, to add zip, marinate the meat before cooking – it tenderizes the meat and adds unique flavors.  Also use the marinade to baste while grilling, so the meat doesn’t dry out. Matching the right marinade and meat maximizes your meal. Minding the marinade minutes optimizes the process; here’s how: poultry can marinate for up to two days in the refrigerator, according to the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service. Very acidic marinades can actually toughen the meat over time, so follow the recipe or package directions. Marinating is best suited for the tougher steak cuts like flank, skirt, sirloin, round and hanger. These cuts can usually marinate up to 24 hours. You can actually ruin better-quality steaks, like porterhouse or rib-eye, by marinating them, so check with your meat department.

Here’s an easy marinade from Healthy Steps, perfect for pork tenderloin, chicken or fish.
Pineapple Marinade
1 cup crushed pineapple
1/3 cup low sodium soy sauce
1/3 cup honey
1/4 cup cider vinegar
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon ginger, peeled and freshly grated
Mix all ingredients together and use immediately, or store in airtight container for up to 7 days.

Marinade bumps up the flavor of meat, so you can forgo any extra sauce, gravy or toppings and avoid adding empty calories to your gastronomical masterpiece.
• Grate the rinds
Zesty! For a flavor punch without calories, grate the rind of a lemon, lime, orange, grapefruit or a combination of zests, and add it to meat or fish on the grill. Healthy Steps Citrus Pro speeds up prep time in your kitchen. This feature-packed citrus tool reams, zests, peels and creates decorative garnishes with ease.
• Garden Fresh Herbs
Give your taste buds a burst of flavor, a little zing, by using fresh herbs when grilling. Snip, strip and mince fresh herbs. Healthy Steps Multi-Use Herb Pro is a mincer, stripper and pair of herb scissors, all in one! Spices and herbs add exciting flavors to foods without adding fat or sacrificing taste. Get away from the traditional butter and salt flavors, and spice up your foods the healthy way with fresh herbs. Pair beef with basil, cumin or mint. Finish your fish with chives, dill or thyme. Choose lemon balm, rosemary or tarragon for your chicken.

Healthy Steps is a wellness-focused line of everyday kitchen tools developed to help manage and maintain a healthy weight. For example, the Portion Control Pasta Basket is a basket and colander in one; it cooks one proper portion of pasta every time. The Portion Control Protein Server is a spatula measuring one serving of cooked protein. Once your meals are planned, the serving is a breeze.

Currently, the Healthy Steps by Jokari line has 30 products with MSP ranging from $2.99 to $14.95. The entire line is available online at Organize.com and Amazon. A selection of products is available at many different retailers including Hy-Vee, Garden Ridge, Cost Plus World Market, Schnuck’s, Zabar’s, Chef Central, QFC, Stop & Shop, Giant Food Stores and the Spartan Stores’ family of grocery stores.
For more information, log on to http://www.myhealthysteps.com for products, recipes and nutritional information. Follow Healthy Steps by Jokari on Facebook.com/healthysteps, Twitter at www.twitter.com/healthy_steps and on YouTube at www.YouTube.com/user/MyHealthySteps. 

Media Advisory: For more information on Healthy Steps by Jokari or product samples, contact Jane Jarrell at TrizCom, 214-718-4408 or jane@trizcom.com.

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About: Healthy Steps by Jokari has built a strong reputation since 1974 and is well-known in the industry for creating innovative products for the home and beyond. The company offers a wide range of mostly patented products designed to simplify everyday tasks, create storage solutions and extend the life of common household products such as carbonated beverages and wine.