Light Substitutions

Susie asked about my light substitutions, so I thought I'd throw out some of my most commonly used switcharoos. Keep in mind, this is for when I'm trying to eat healthy. When I'm going full steam ahead on the weekends with an ooey-gooey goody, you'd better believe there's not a light sub anywhere in sight.

• Applesauce for oil or butter in baked goods - I almost always do a 1 for 1 ratio. If you've never done this before, you may want to start with half, just to see how you feel about the way it changes taste and/or texture. 
• Egg beaters for eggs - 1/4 cup egg beaters equals 1 egg. I use egg beaters quite a bit.
• Egg whites for eggs (sub 2 egg whites for 1 egg, though I've heard you shouldn't completely leave out the yolk because it changes the texture). You can read more here.
• Whole wheat flour/Whole wheat pastry flour for all purpose flour - I often sub out most of, if not all, of the all purpose flour for a combination of whole wheat and whole wheat pastry flour. Pastry flour makes things more tender, though as I really read about it just now, I see that it's on the lower end of the spectrum for protein content, so I may start to play around with a flour that has higher protein. 
• Less Sugar - I've read that you can cut out 25% of the sugar in pretty much any recipe without noticing it at all. I almost always cut at least half of the sugar out of my "healthy" recipes.
• Flaxseed
• For Fat
• Substitute flax for fat in your recipes, using 3 tbsp ground flax seed for 1 tbsp of margarine, butter or cooking oil. Flax can be substituted for all or some of the fat, depending on the recipe. Note that baking with flax, as fat substitute will cause baked goods to brown more quickly.
• For Eggs
• Substitute a ground flax seed/water mixture for eggs in recipes such as pancakes, muffins and cookies. Use 1 tbsp ground flax plus 3 tbsp water - left sitting for several minutes - for each egg. Note that this will result in a chewier version of the recipe, with less volume.
• Ground turkey for ground beef - read labels though...a lean ground beef is quite similar to a lean ground turkey. Then you're talking taste preferences and red meat vs. white meat etc. We just happen to eat quite a bit of lean ground turkey in place of ground beef (tacos, meatloaf, etc.)
• Plain yogurt for mayonaise - I often will use less mayo and toss in some plain yogurt to make up the difference (example: chicken salad)

Allrecipes has a nice chart here for light substitutions. I haven't tried some of these, but I love that there are a lot of great ideas in one place.

 

Not sure if that helps at all, or gives you some ideas of what might work for you, but it's what I do!

 

Anyone else have some favorite substitutions? I'm always on the hunt!