Ever wonder how you might “slim down” your favorite recipes?
“Adjusting amounts and types of ingredients can make a difference,” said Dr. Mary Kinney Bielamowicz, Regents Fellow, professor and extension nutrition specialist, Texas Cooperative Extension with the Department of Nutrition and Food Science.
In her report, “Altering Recipes for Good Health,” she expands on how to modify recipes for better health.
Recipes specify the ingredients, proportions and methods necessary to produce a quality product. Any change made in a recipe will produce a slightly different product, which you may or may not like.
For example, a cake made with less fat will not have the same flavor or texture as the high-fat version. Cookies with less sugar or fat will still be acceptable but might not look or taste the same as those made by the original recipe. Substituting skim milk for whole milk in puddings, soups and sauces will result in products that are less rich and creamy, but have less fat and calories.
“Most people either fail to notice much difference or accept the differences that result when the following kinds of changes are made,” Bielamowicz said.
| INSTEAD OF | TRY | OR EVEN BETTER, TRY |
|---|---|---|
| Butter | 60/40 margarine (butter blend) | Margarine or reduced-calorie margarine |
| Sour cream | Lite sour cream | Mock sour cream To make 1 cup of mock sour cream, blend 1 cup low-fat cottage cheese, 2 tablespoons skim milk and 2 tablespoons of lemon juice or vinegar. Using non-fat sour cream instead is not recommended as it will make an extremely thick, paste-like substance. If used, use only the manufacturer’s recipes that have been tested. |
| 2 whole eggs | 1 whole egg plus 2 egg whites | 4 egg whites, commercial egg substitute or homemade egg substitute |
| Whole milk | 2% milk | Skim milk |
| Cream | Evaporated milk | Evaporated skim milk |
| Cream cheese | Lite cream cheese | Yogurt cheese |
| Whipped cream or non-dairy whipped topping | Nonfat whipped topping | |
| Cheddar, Colby, Swiss cheese | Part-skim mozzarella, reduced-fat natural cheese, farmer cheese or low-fat processed cheese | |
| Cottage cheese | Low-fat cottage cheese | Nonfat ricotta or cottage cheese |
| Baking chocolate (1 ounce) |
3 tablespoons powdered cocoa plus 1 tablespoon cooking oil | |
| Mayonnaise | Lite mayonnaise | Half cholesterol-free mayonnaise and half nonfat yogurt |
| Salad dressing | Reduced-fat dressing | Fat-free dressing |
| Chicken with skin | Remove skin after cooking | Remove skin before cooking |
| Regular ground beef | Lean ground beef | Extra lean ground beef or lean ground turkey |
By making a few substitutions and changes, you can still prepare your favorite recipes and reduce your intake of calories, fat and cholesterol.
Recipes for preserved products such as pickles, salsa, jellies or candies should not be changed at all.
While recipes for most baked products can be altered, certain ingredients are not interchangeable. For example, oil cannot be substituted for margarine or shortening when baking cookies because doing so would make the cookies look and taste greasy. Why? Because oil is 100% fat, and margarine is an emulsion containing 80% fat and 20% water. Substituting 1 cup of oil for 1 cup of margarine would add more fat than the recipe intended.
Likewise, since a well-textured cookie depends on thorough creaming of fat and sugar, oil cannot be substituted for solid shortening since oil cannot be creamed.
So what about substituting a lite margarine for solid shortening when baking?
“This is possible, but it cannot be a direct substitution,” Bielamowicz said.
Since lite or diet margarines have more water, the amount of liquid in the recipe also must be reduced. Rather than substituting reduced-fat margarines, try using less regular margarine. You won’t have to alter the amount of liquid, and you will save calories.
This information is provided as a service by Texas Cooperative Extension. For more information, contact your dietician or Texas Cooperative Extension.
H.E.A.D.s Up is a monthly column that features articles on a wide array of Health, Exercise And Diet issues. Information for these articles is provided by health and wellness professionals from throughout the A&M System. If you have questions or story ideas for this column, email Ruth McMullan.