For a New Year resolution you can stick to, turn to an oven range with convection heating to whip up the most healthful entrées and desserts—efficiently and with ease! You can trust a convection oven to scorch your meats evenly and to churn out crisply fried crusts. What’s more: this oven setting cooks and bakes everything faster with interior fans circulating the air all around the food (as opposed to just having the heat rise like in a conventional range).
Here are 5 recipes you can add to your culinary repertoire for a healthier you in 2020!
1. Roasted vegetables
If you can stand to incorporate more greens in your diet, we’ve got a recipe that will make that goal feel like less of a chore. FYI, seasoned veggies thrive when cooked in a drier environment, as convection heating roasts them more thoroughly and brings out the flavors of the herbs and spices.
Preheat your convection oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit, and in a large bowl, mix together cubed squash, diced red bell peppers, cubed Yukon Gold and sweet potatoes and quartered-and-separated red onions. Then, in a small bowl, stir together thyme, rosemary, olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper, and then toss the veggies in this mixture until they are coated. Pop them in the oven until the vegetables are browned, and enjoy!
2. Gluten-free zucchini lasagna
Try a low-carb, noodle-less and gluten-free zucchini lasagna! This recipe is brimming with flavor, so we guarantee you won’t miss the pasta. To make this fortified dish, you’ll need lean ground beef, olive oil, chopped onions, minced garlic cloves, canned tomatoes, chopped basil, thinly sliced zucchini, part-skim ricotta cheese, grated parmesan, shredded mozzarella, 1 large egg, kosher salt and black pepper. Before you get to work, remember to preheat your convection oven to 350 degrees!
3. Sweet potato toast
Avocado toast is so 2010s; in the 2020s, sweet potato toast is in! Swap out the multigrain bread for thick slabs of sweet potato, and you’ve got yourself a gluten-free offering that, while less crunchy, isn’t any less comforting—and is even more satisfying.
Host brunch at your place next weekend, and pop in several sweet potato slices in your convection oven after preheating it to 375 degrees. Bake your “toast” until the slices are slightly tender (but not mushy), checking the texture by piercing one of them with a fork. Serve your sweet potatoes with your favorite toast toppings, including honey, almond butter, roasted tomatoes, sliced bananas and, of course, mashed avocado.
4. Oatmeal cranberry walnut cookies
Don’t lose your momentum in the dessert arena. For a tasty dessert that doesn’t feel like a cheat meal, bake a batch of these oatmeal cookies—no butter required! First, preheat your convection oven to 325 degrees, and then, beat together some all-vegetable shortening, sugar and brown sugar until the mixture is light and fluffy. Gradually incorporate eggs and vanilla extract.
In a separate bowl, stir all-purpose flour, ground cinnamon and salt until everything is well blended. Combine both bowls of ingredients, and stir in rolled oats, dried cranberries and chopped walnuts. Form the cookies, and bake the dough until your batch is a light golden brown.
Pro tip: If you’re an avid baker, go for a KitchenAid double-door convection range for double batches and an even faster job!
5. Arugula-prosciutto pizza
For perfectly toasted thin-crust pizzas, leave the job to your convection oven. At 435 degrees, bake a healthful take on the popular dish with prepared pizza dough, all-purpose flour, cornmeal, extra-virgin olive oil, grated garlic cloves, chopped rosemary, part-skim ricotta, shredded mozzarella, Kosher salt and pepper.
After the pizza’s out of the oven and cooled, top your masterpiece with some baby arugula and thinly sliced shallot that you’ve tossed in lemon juice, olive oil, Kosher salt and pepper. Lastly, sprinkle in some warmed, thinly sliced prosciutto.
Pro tip: Invest in a convection oven with a warming drawer like the Samsung 30-inch slide-in gas range so that warm ingredients don’t cool as other components are baking in the oven.
For more information regarding oven ranges with true convection heating, stop by Spencer’s TV & Appliance. We’d be more than happy to help you revamp your kitchen for the new decade. Visit us today!