As promised, here are a few tips to reduce calories, and increase nutrition….
The obvious things are to substitute low fat ingredients (mayo, sour cream, etc), whenever possible.
Add carrots to your homemade spaghetti sauce. Saute them until they’re almost soft, then add. This brings out the carrots’ natural sugars, adding sweetness, as fresh sauce can be a bit tart.
Add finely chopped spinach to your brownie recipe.
TRY to eliminate salt and sugar from your recipes, unless you are baking. That’s a separate science, and sometimes you need those ingredients to ensure your baked goods come out right. Baking is not my forte, and I’ve messed up enough recipes trying to play around!
Try to use olive oil as much as possible, but be aware that olive oil has a unique taste, and doesn’t work with everything.
Sneak a little cauliflower, or celery root into your mashed potatoes. I boil garlic cloves with the potatoes and the celery root, which you might want to boil first, as it takes a while to get soft.
I know a lot folks think 100% juice has too much sugar, but I prefer that to soda, sport drinks, energy drinks, etc. So there’s always apple, orange, or grape juice in my fridge.
When they’re in season, I try to keep cold watermelon around. It’s delicious, low in calories, and filling!
Check out watermelons’ nutritional info at: www.dietaryfiberfood.com/nutrition-watermelon.php
Add a little chopped apple in your tuna salad. You’ll be surprised at how yummy it tastes.
Instead of using half and half or heavy cream in your soup recipes, you can eliminate dairy completely by pureeing some of the veggies in your soup, or using 2% milk and pureeing if you want the light, creamy look. Remember, food should look good as well as taste good!
Good luck on your healthy eating quest! I think since the holidays are coming up, the next post will be on healthy appetizers. Enjoy your week!
