'Healthy Living for Summer': Cooking with fresh, seasonal ingredients

How to cook healthy meals with fresh ingredients and seasonal items.

By
OLIVIA SMITH
June 28, 2017, 3:56 PM ET
7 min read

— -- Fresh produce, organic ingredients, and seasonal fruits and vegetables are all elements that contribute to a nutritious meal. For the first episode of ABC News' "Healthy Living for Summer" series, we spent an afternoon cooking with Chef Yasmina Ksikes.

Ksikes, 41, is a chef with Cozymeal in Los Angeles, and has been cooking since she was 6 years old. Ksikes grew up in Morocco and said her favorite place to spend time as a child was in the kitchen.

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"We went to the market almost every day before school," Ksikes said. "We'd shop for everything seasonal, that's the only way we ate growing up."

Quick tips

  • Shop at a farmers' market when you can
  • Don't shop in bulk to keep your food fresh
  • The longer fruits and veggies sit in a fridge, the more they lose nutritional value
  • Pickling and fermenting can be a good option to save food instead of wasting it
  • Try to plan your menu in advance
  • Be adventurous with herbs
  • Use the skin when you can; for example: lemons hold more vitamins in skin than juice
  • Be resourceful and don't be afraid to experiment

    • Ksikes cooked two dishes with us, Moroccan beet salad and saffron salmon over couscous and vegetables.

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    Watch ABC News cook a healthy summer meal in the video above.
    This weekly health series will continue throughout the summer.