Healthy Ingredient Substitutions

 Healthy Ingredient Substitutions


One habit that leads to healthier eating is making your food at home rather than eating out. Prepackaged, processed, and restaurant foods typically have more fat, sodium, and added sugars than those made at home. When you prepare your own food, you also have more control on the ingredients and preparation methods. One of the ways you can make your food healthier is by making simple ingredient substitutions.

Here are some ideas for ingredient substitutions in the kitchen.

Instead of…
Try this. . .
Bacon
Canadian bacon, turkey bacon, or smoked turkey
Bread crumbs, dry
Rolled oats or crushed bran cereal
Butter
When coating pans, olive oil or cooking spray.
Regular cream cheese
Neufchatel cheese or low-fat cream cheese
Dressing
Low-fat dressing, or a vinaigrette
Eggs
2 egg whites or ¼ cup egg substitute for each whole egg
Flour, all-purpose
Whole-wheat flour for half of the called for all-purpose flour
Black beans (in brownies)
Gravy
Skim off the fat before serving
Ground beef
Lean ground beef, or ground turkey; drain off all fats before serving
Heavy cream
Evaporated milk, reduced-fat or skim milk
To thicken soup, pureed vegetables or potatoes
Iceberg lettuce
Arugula, romaine, spinach, and/or kale
Icecream
Low-fat frozen yogurt
Mayo
Greek yogurt; mashed avocado (as a spread)
Oil
Unsweetened applesauce (for baking)
Pasta
Whole-grain pasta, zucchini ribbons, or roasted and shredded spaghetti squash
Sour cream
Reduced-fat or fat-free sour cream, Greek yogurt, or reduced-fat cottage cheese
Sugar
Reduce the amount of sugar by up to ½; add more flavor with additional vanilla, cinnamon, or nutmeg
Syrup
Pureed fruit, unsweetened applesauce, or low-calorie, reduced sugar syrup
Table salt
Herbs, spices, or citrus juices (lemon, lime, etc.), vinegar, or salt-free spice mixes
White bread
Whole-grain bread
White rice
Brown rice

(Gluten-Free) Black Bean Brownies

1 19 oz. (540 mL) can black beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1/3 cup butter, melted
1/4 cup cocoa
2 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/3 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Place the black beans, sugar, eggs, melted butter, cocoa, vanilla and salt in the bowl of a food processor and blend until smooth, pulsing and scraping down the sides of the bowl to ensure all the beans are completely pureed. Remove the blade and gently stir in the chocolate chips and walnuts. Pour into an 8″x8″ pan that has been sprayed with non-stick spray. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until slightly puffed and set. Cool before cutting into squares.



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