Be Choosy with Recipe
Ingredients
Patrice
Powers-Barker, OSU Extension, Lucas County
The Truth
Contributor
Give your meals a makeover by
lightening your recipes with healthier ingredients. The Ohio
State University Extension has a fact sheet titled,
Modifying Recipes to Be Healthier. You do not have to
count every calorie that you eat but take a moment to think
about your favorite recipes. How you can increase amounts of
healthy food options and decrease extra amounts of high
sodium, high fat or high sugar ingredients? How many of
these substitutions can you try?
To decrease
total fat and lower the calories of a recipe:
Try this: |
To replace this: |
Use cooking methods such
as bake, boil, broil, grill, poach, roast, stir-fry
or microwave |
Frying in fat
|
When frying foods, use
cooking spray, water, broth or a nonstick pan |
Frying in fat |
Use unsweetened
applesauce, fruit puree, mashed bananas or canned
pumpkin when baking muffins, brownies or quick
breads |
Half of the butter,
shortening or oil in a baked good. You might need to
reduce the baking time of the item by 25 percent |
Fat free milk, 1% milk
or half and half |
whole milk,
half-and-half |
Neufchatel, low-fat
cottage pureed until smooth |
Full-fat cream cheese |
Plain Greek Yogurt
|
Sour cream (yogurt is
not heat stable so don’t substitute for a baking
recipe). The Greek Yogurt will offer more nutrients
including calcium compared to the sour cream. |
Extra-lean ground beef,
ground turkey breast or ground chicken breast
(without the skin) |
Ground beef |
User leaner cuts of meat
and remove any skin before cooking |
Fatter cuts of meat,
with the skin on |
Canadian bacon, lean ham |
Bacon |
Decrease the
sodium (salt) in a recipe:
Try this: |
To replace this: |
Omit salt or reduce by
half in most recipes (except when baking foods that
include yeast). Don’t store the salt shaker on the
table. |
Salt |
Frozen vegetables
without sauces, no-salt added canned goods. Rinsing
canned vegetables with water will reduce the amount
of sodium |
Frozen vegetables with
added sauces and canned vegetables |
Use herbs and spices.
Look for garlic powder instead of garlic salt.
|
Seasoning salt or spice
mixes with added salt |
To reduce
sugar in a recipe:
Try this: |
To replace this: |
Unsweetened frozen
fruit, fruit canned in its own juices, or plain
fresh fruit |
Sugar in frozen or
canned fruits |
Reduce sugar by
one-quarter to one-half in baked goods and desserts.
If a recipe calls for 1 cup, use ⅔ cup or less. Add
cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla or almond extract to give
impression of sweetness. (Do not remove all sugar in
yeast breads, as sugar provides food for the yeast.) |
Sugar |
For most baked products,
replace sugar with equal amounts of sucralose (*Splenda).
Add ½ teaspoon baking soda in addition to each cup
of sucralose used. Baking time is usually shorter,
and product will have a smaller yield. Try using
aspartame (*Nutra Sweet), saccharin or acesulfame
potassium in other products that are not baked. The
sweet taste will vary with product combination or
amounts of each sweetener used. |
Sugar |
To increase
fiber in a recipe:
Try this: |
To replace this: |
Whole-grain rice, brown
rice, wild rice, whole cornmeal, whole barley,
bulgur, quinoa |
White rice or enriched
grains |
Substitute whole-wheat
flour for up to half of the all-purpose flour in a
recipe. For example, if a recipe calls for 2 cups
all-purpose flour, try 1 cup all-purpose flour and 1
cup minus 1 tablespoon whole-wheat flour.
|
All-purpose flour |
Use “white whole-wheat
flour” or “whole-wheat pastry flour” for the total
amount of all-purpose flour. |
All-purpose flour |
100% whole-wheat bread
and 100% whole-grain bread |
White bread |
Add extra fruits and
vegetables to standard recipes such as shredded
carrots. Leave on the apple peel. Add extra fruits
and vegetables to recipes and include the peel when
appropriate. |
Peeled fruits and
vegetables |
Use more dried beans,
peas and lentils to many different dishes. For
instance, add cooked lentils to spaghetti sauce.
|
Using just ground meat
as a protein ingredient in a recipe (use half of the
ground meat and add half cooked beans or lentils) |
If you exchange gifts this time
of year, give a gift of good health to friends and loved
ones. Schedule a time to walk together, participate in a
healthy cooking class or prepare a meal that can be eaten
later, during a busy week. Look for books by authors with
medical or nutritional backgrounds or subscriptions to a
health magazine. Purchase kitchen appliances for stir-fry,
grilling or juicing. To encourage physical activity give
dance music, sports equipment or pedometer, t-shirts or gift
certificates for shoes. For outdoor play, don’t forget lip
balm, gloves and a sled!
|