Cook Healthier!!!

I love to keep fresh baked goodies around the house for friends, family, and myself - I have a huge sweet tooth!!  Looking at different recipes made me realize how unhealthy most baked goods are.  I am a firm believer in moderation (a couple of cookies a week is not going to kill you!), but also realize how much healthier baked goods could be with a few simple substitutions. 

 A couple examples:

• If a recipe calls for shortening, real butter, or oil, I like to substitute using applesauce or soft margarine - it's a great way to cut down fat. 
• I also use less sugar and use whole wheat flour instead of white, or use a mixture (1/2 white flour 1/2 whole wheat flour). 

Another great tool - my mother in law recently sent me a subscription to Cooking Light - I've found it to be a a great magazine and would recommend it to others.  It's got a ton of great recipes and gives good direction on how to cook healthier. 

You can play with certain recipes and see what works best for you! Health conscience recipes can still taste great - even my husband (who is a pretty picky eater) enjoys the healthier items we've been cooking! Often the substituted items go unnoticed, or even make the recipe better - apple sauce keeps baked goods really moist!

 

Here's a great recipe for chocolate chip cookies with healthy substitutions:

Ingredients

1 cup butter, softened   (substitute w/ 1 cup applesauce)

1 cup white sugar (use 3/4 cup white sugar)

1 cup brown sugar (use 3/4 cup brown sugar)

2eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

3 cups all purpose four (use 1.5 cups of whole wheat flour and 1.5 cups all purpose flour)

1 tsp baking soda

2 tsp hot water

1/2 tsp salt

2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 cup chopped walnuts  

 

  Nutritional Information per cookie :          298 calories, 15.6g of fat,  cholesterol 38 mg

  Nutritional Information w/ Substitutions:   210 calories, 5.8 g of fat, cholesterol 15.4 mg

 

***With the substitutions you save yourself 88 calories, 9.8g of fat, and 22.6 mg of cholesterol!!!!!

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Cream together the butter, white sugar, and brown sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Dissolve baking soda in hot water. Add to batter along with salt. Stir in flour, chocolate chips, and nuts. Drop by large spoonfuls onto ungreased pans.
3. Bake for about 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges are nicely browned. 

Here are some healthy substitutions according to the American Heart Association: 

When recipe calls for .. .	Use this instead  …
Whole milk (1 cup)	1 cup fat-free or low-fat milk, plus one tablespoon of liquid vegetable oil
Heavy cream (1 cup)	1 cup evaporated skim milk or 1/2 cup low-fat yogurt and 1/2 cup plain low-fat unsalted cottage cheese
Sour cream	Low-fat unsalted cottage cheese plus low-fat or fat-free yogurt; or just use fat-free sour cream
Cream cheese	4 tablespoons soft margarine (low in saturated fat and 0 grams trans fat) blended with 1 cup dry, unsalted low-fat cottage cheese; add a small amount of fat-free milk if needed
Butter (1 tablespoon)	1 tablespoon soft margarine (low in saturated fat and 0 grams trans fat) or 3/4 tablespoon liquid vegetable oil
Egg (1)	2 egg whites; or choose a commercially made, cholesterol-free egg substitute (1/4 cup)
Unsweetened baking chocolate (1 ounce)	3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder or carob powder plus 1 tablespoon vegetable oil or soft margarine; since carob is sweeter than cocoa, reduce the sugar in the recipe by 25% http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/