Loaded Baked Potato Soup

Health Tips

• Before you pass up garlic because you don't want the bad breath that comes with it, keep in mind that the compounds that cause garlic breath also offer a lot of health benefits. Garlic has anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antibacterial, and antiviral properties. If you really want to get the most health benefits out of your garlic, choose Spanish garlic, which contains the most allicin (one of garlic's most beneficial compounds).

• You can easily swap half of the white flour in most recipes for whole wheat flour to add some fiber and protein. It does result in a heavier dough, so for cookies, cakes, etc., you might try swapping in whole wheat pastry flour.

• Since most of its calories come from fat, sour cream has a bad reputation for being an unhealthy food. However, fat is an important part of the diet and studies suggest people who eat full fat dairy are thinner than those who reach for reduced fat products. That said, fat has more calories per gram than carbohydrates or protein, so if you are counting calories to lose weight, you might want to try substituting greek yogurt for some of the sour cream in recipes that call for a lot of it.

• Don't make the mistake of assuming turkey bacon is healthier than pork bacon. Read the labels and look for short ingredient lists (not too many artificial ingredients, preservatives, and other additives). If you're watching your sodium intake, pay attention to that too. It is also important to note that the American Institute for Cancer Research has stated the consumption of ANY processed meat could increase your risk of developing cancer. Although it is not yet clear what causes the increased cancer risk, it could be the preservatives or other chemicals commonly used during processing.

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Price Tips

• Most dairy products stay good well past their sell-by date. Instead of throwing out perfectly safe food that is just a few days or maybe even a week or two old, make sure the product smells fine, has a normal texture, and doesn't taste funny. Sniff testing isn't exactly rocket science and it can keep you from wasting food (and money).

Cooking Tips

• You should not store your onions with your potatoes because the gases they emit will make each other spoil faster. For more information about selecting and storing onions, check out this lesson about onions in the academy.

• If you have too much bacon (is this even possible?) you can freeze individual slices by laying them between sheets of wax paper. Even better, you can put them on a single sheet of wax paper and roll the paper in such a way that you can just unroll it later and remove however many slices you want.

• Surprising tip: you will end up with better bacon if you add water to the skillet when cooking it on the stovetop. For large amounts of bacon, you can also prepare bacon in the oven.

• When buying celery, make sure the stalks feel firm and the leaves look fresh. Store in your refrigerator's crisper for up to two weeks.

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Green Tips

• According to the Environmental Working Group (EWG), celery is one of the worst vegetables in term of pesticide residue. If you're trying to reduce pesticide residue in your diet, be sure to buy organic celery.

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