When it comes to cooking and baking healthy, there are many choices you can make which will significantly impact the health characteristics of the final product. The main decisions will be method of cooking and ingredients to use.
Regarding cooking methods, the healthiest methods are baking, grilling, roasting or steaming. Avoid deep frying foods. When cooking meats and vegetables in a pan on the stove top you can lower the fat content of the final meal by adding water to a very small amount of oil in combination with tasty seasonings such as garlic, ginger or pepper. This method of stove top cooking simmers and steams food resulting in a healthier, lower fat meal.
When cooking and baking, there are some great ingredient substitutes you can make in the traditional recipes which will result in very healthy, tasty dishes. Even baked goods such as breads, cakes, pies, cookies and muffins can be transformed with substitutions into healthy and tasty baked goods:
1) Substitute whole milk or 2% milk for 1%, ½% or skim milk
2) Substitute Evaporated Whole Milk for Evaporated Skim Milk
3) Substitute oil-based marinades for fat free broth, wine or basalmic vinegar
4) Substitute creamed soups for skim-based soups or pureed carrots, tofu or potatoes for thickening
5) Substitute full fat salad dressings or mayonnaise for light or nonfat salad dressing or mayonnaise. Do not cook with the non-fat varieties because they will turn sweet with heat.
6) Substitute Full fat Sour Cream for Low Fat or Fat Free Sour Cream or Low Fat or Fat Free Yogurt.
7) Substitute Salt and salt seasoning for finely chopped garlic and onions or herb-only seasoning.
8) Reduce up to ½ the sugar stated in a recipe. With that reduction you can add if you choose to some vanilla, nutmeg or cinnamon
9) Substitute half of the butter shortening or oil for apple sauce or prune puree
10) Substitute Buttermilk for 2% Buttermilk
11) To prevent sticking in the pan substitute butter, oil or margarine for non-stick spray
12) Substitute cream for fat free half & half or evaporated skim milk
13) Substitute full fat cream cheese for low fat or fat free cream cheese or pureed cottage cheese. It is best to use light cream cheese instead of fat free cream cheese for dips or frosting
14) Substitute Block or shredded cheese for low fat or nonfat cheese
15) Substitute each whole egg for two egg whites or ¼ egg substitute for each whole egg
16) Substitute ½ of all purpose white flour for whole wheat flour
17) Substitute white rice and pasta for brown rice and whole-wheat pasta.
18) Substitute canned fruit in heavy syrup for fresh fruit or canned juice in light syrup or water
19) Choose healthy fat oils such as olive oil, calnola oil and healthy fat foods such ad almons and avocados.
20) Substitue regular peanut butter for reduced fat peanut butter
21) Substitute 1 Cup chocolate chips for 1/2cup mini chocolate chips
