Hey everyone!
So a little while back, Jason from Blog Carnival emailed us offering to write a guest post for us! He had a lot of really good ideas for this post, but finally settled on something that we LOVE to do here at Two Saucy Sisters – Easy Substitutions that Don’t Cut Out Flavour!
As we’ve said on the blog before, simply swapping out one ingredient for another can take a once unhealthy dish and make it a health superstar! Of course, when it comes down to it, if it doesn’t taste good it doesn’t matter how good-for-you it is, you won’t want to eat it! So, without further ado, here’s Jason with some simple substitutions that keep your dish tasting awesome! 🙂
When I am cooking and baking I tend to get a little crazy with my substitutions. I have to admit
that I am not the most well prepared cook. I tend to find out that I am out of an essential part of
my recipe halfway through the mixing process. Oh no! Beyond that I have also been trying to
cook healthier meals with less fat because a member of my family has some health issues. If you
are like me, then here are some helpful substitutions that you can use when you are in a jam or
just when you want to cut calories:
1. Vanilla for sugar – I don’t know how I go through sugar so fast, but it seems like I
need to pick up a new bag every time I go to the store. When I was baking the other day
I found myself lacking in the sugar department. Instead of freaking out I just used less
sugar and added more vanilla flavoring. Adding just a teaspoon of vanilla can help you
to cut out almost half of the sugar called for in a recipe. Now, I am not advocating this in
very delicate dishes, but for your average dessert you can make the switch with no cutting
down on flavor.
2. Apple sauce for butter or eggs – Butter cannot be substituted for all the way, but you
can cut out half. If a recipe calls for two sticks of butter try adding one stick and a half
of a cup of apple sauce. While you do need some butter for the recipe to be successful in
most desserts, you can easily cut it down with applesauce. Just don’t try this in a white
or yellow cake because the apple flavor will come through! You can also substitute apple
sauce for eggs, but again I would go for half and half. A quarter cup of applesauce makes
up for one large egg.
3. Neufatchel cheese for cream cheese – Think of this as light cream cheese. It has less fat
but tastes exactly the same. Super easy and it can be found in almost any grocery store
right next to the cream cheese. I use it on my bagels and never miss the extra fat.
4. Low fat cottage cheese for ricotta – Although cottage cheese tends to be a little thinner
than ricotta you can still use it in many recipes. You can thicken it up with a bit of flour
or corn starch if you would like, but I find that the thinness doesn’t bother me. Using low
fat cottage cheese can save you a lot of calories with no effort or loss of taste! If you want
you can add cinnamon, lemon, or other flavors to spice it up a bit.
5. Olive oil for butter – I love making recipes with phyllo dough. Spanakopita is my
absolute favorite dish. However I did not like using all that butter to make the layers nice
and crispy. That is when I discovered you can use olive oil instead. Just a few drops can
cover a whole sheet. Be careful to use only good quality extra virgin oil or it will give it
a slight olive flavor. If you do not have that available you can also do a half and half mix
for the best flavor to fat ratio. Olive oil lets the phyllo get nice and toasty and makes your
dishes look beautiful!
These are just a few of the ways that you can use healthy and tasty substitutes without having to
go out of your way or change the flavor of your dish. There are many more out there, so the next
time you are looking to cut calories or just missing an ingredient take a minute to see if there is a
healthy and easy alternative!
Author Bio: Jason Miner plays a vital role for http://www.blogcarnival.com. He is an expert in writing
topics of different categories. He is helping the carnival team to grow & working on making this
an even better place for bloggers.
Thanks so much Jason! What a great post, we certainly learned a thing or two! 🙂 Make sure you all head over to Blog Carnival and check it out – it’s pretty cool!
And to anyone else who thinks they want to write for us, shoot us an email at twosaucysistas@gmail.com – we’d love to hear from you! 🙂
~twosaucysisters
twosaucysisters 