Healthy Substitutions

[The Late Night Gourmet]

Mod.Edit: this post has been moved to start a new thread.

Despite all the times I've posted fried things and baked things that I've made, I do try to eat healthy whenever I can. I used to be a complete lunatic when it came to substitutions. I went through a phase where I tried to use spaghetti squash in place of pasta in every recipe. The Spaghetti Squash Pad Thai I made wasn't terrible, but it also wasn't great. Now, I realize that I can still have things that I like, but just limit the serving size.

Moderation is often the key, but there are also other things that can be done to lighten up a recipe and still have it taste great. Here are some of the things I do:

• I always want to substitute light butter for regular butter in a recipe. Some people think this is heresy, but I've really enjoyed the results.
• I usually add just enough olive oil to my pesto recipes to allow it to come together, which is usually a lot less than most recipes (I might use a quarter cup of oil vs half a cup in many recipes).
• You can also experiment with using less oil in other recipes, as long as you're not baking (baking needs to be SO precise that reductions in quantities could have disastrous results).
• I often replace Heavy Cream with Half-and-Half in recipes with absolutely no difference that I can detect. I sometimes play with using low cal Half-and-Half, but that often changes the consistency.
• I've just about completely abandoned making Cream of... soups. Soups that I love with cream in them often taste delicious without it. The basic idea is to pile on extra vegetables (if it's a mushroom soup) and thus avoid the need for a thickener. Here's a recipe for Mushroom Soup that I've modified by removing the milk, and I've found that it's still delicious. I did the same thing with my current batch of Asparagus Soup, with equally great results.
• Replace regular coconut milk with light coconut milk (550 calories and 51 grams of saturated fat vs 160 calories and 11 grams of saturated fat per cup)
• Replace regular mayo with olive oil mayo, which cuts the calories at least in half. When I was looking this up, I found out that there's also a thing called tofu mayo, which apparently is significantly lighter than olive oil mayo.

 

[Morning Glory]

Spaghetti squash and or courgetti (spiralised zucchini) are OK in their own way - but they aren't really very successful masquerading as pasta!

What is 'light butter'?

 

[The Late Night Gourmet]

What is 'light butter'?

Once again, I'm confronted with the reality that not everyone has access to the same things! Land O' Lakes light butter - which I often buy - has half the fat and cholesterol of regular butter, and 47% fewer calories. And, to me, it tastes just as good. It certainly works perfectly well on a one-for-one basis as a replacement for regular butter.

 

[Morning Glory]

I use yoghurt in place of mayo. Also yoghurt in place of coconut milk in curry (@Yorky does the same).

 

[Morning Glory]

Once again, I'm confronted with the reality that not everyone has access to the same things! Land O' Lakes light butter - which I often buy - has half the fat and cholesterol of regular butter, and 47% fewer calories. And, to me, it tastes just as good. It certainly works perfectly well on a one-for-one basis as a replacement for regular butter.

In the UK there various products which are lighter in calories than butter (but they are not allowed to call themselves butter). Usually they contain buttermilk. What is in the Land Lakes?

There was a well known one called 'I can't believe its not butter' - It recently changed its name to:

 

[The Late Night Gourmet]

I use yoghurt in place of mayo. Also yoghurt in place of coconut milk in curry (@Yorky does the same).

This reminds me of two more things that I also do! Please see above...

here was a well known one called 'I can't believe its not butter' - It recently changed its name to:

I used to joke that the name should be "I can't believe people think this tastes like butter". Seriously, I'd be concerned about using it for anything other than a spread on toast (and then only in case of a toast emergency).

 

[Morning Glory]

Replace regular mayo with olive oil mayo,

How does that work? Olive oil has just as many calories as any other oil, doesn't it?

 

[The Late Night Gourmet]

How does that work? Olive oil has just as many calories as any other oil, doesn't it?

There is some sort of sorcery at work here, since you actually make mayonnaise with eggs and oil! But this is what the nutritional labels show (comparing Hellmann's brand). But, maybe it's not sorcery: the Olive Oil Mayo has water as the first ingredient (by law, US labels must show the ingredients in order of quantity, with the highest quantity first). Regular mayo has water second, behind the oil.

Olive Oil Mayo:

Regular Mayo:

 

[Elawin]

I often substitute yoghurt for cream or mayo because I have a more or less unlimited supply (I make my own), but butter has to be butter - I don't use substitutes for that - some of the substitutes have so many artificial additives they really need a larger tub to list everything on, and I don't like the one which contains wood. I can't eat mayo anyway. And I also use unhomogenised whole milk - can't have UHT or so-called "filtered" milk because of health issues, and can't tolerate the homogenised stuff.

 

[Morning Glory]

I don't like the one which contains wood.

Wood?

 

[Yorky]

Also yoghurt in place of coconut milk in curry (@Yorky does the same).

I do but only because I don't particularly like coconut milk. A few years ago, coconut milk/cream was much easier to get than yoghurt here.

 

[Morning Glory]

I don't particularly like coconut milk.

Same here. I do use it in recipes if others are eating and not me. I have a bad reaction to it. Too fatty, I think. I prefer a lighter taste anyway.

 

[medtran49]

In things that have a gravy, you can use a mirepoix to thicken instead of a roux, slurry or beurre manie to thicken. Just take out any bigger veges or proteins and use an immersion blender or regular blender. I especially like to do this with pot roast.

 

[Elawin]

Wood?

There was one several years ago that was made from some sort of wood derivatives, but it hasn't been advertised for ages. I can't remember what it was called.

 

[MrsDangermouse]

I also don't like substituting things - I'd rather just use a bit less if I can, or just eat less of it
I don't use light butter or margarine or "fake" cream like Elmlea as I prefer to avoid overly processed foods as much as possible - personally I think that the chemicals/additives/processing of those kind of products are probably worse for us than the fat in the original food!

Also lot a lot of so-called healthy options may well be lower in fat, but they're usually much higher in sugar to make up for it. Concerns are growing that sugar may actually be as bad for you, or worse, than fat (I'm not going to go into this here - we've already discussed that before - here). For most people the cholesterol in food is not an issue.....its not as simple as high cholesterol food causes high blood cholesterol. There's an interesting article here about how dietary advice around cholesterol has changed recently. Interestingly, hubby has just had a blood test that shows his cholesterol has reduced hugely since it was last tested 2 years ago - despite a diet that includes plenty of the so-called bad foods (butter, lard, goose fat, fatty meat, full fat milk & cheese).