How to Convert Your Delicious, but Unhealthy Recipes into Super Healthy Ones!

We all have favorites foods and recipes we tove to prepare, but hesitate because of all the fat and caloires! Maybe you have recipes passed down through the generations by family members that are delicious but use shortening, cream and other unhealthy ingredients. You feel guilty just reading the recipe!

Wouldn't it be great to be able to make over those unhealthy recipes and convert them into healthy ones?

Fortunately, there are lots of healthy subsitutions you can make to your recipes to make them healthy and guilt free:

1. Alter the amount of sugar in your recipes or use sugar substitutes.

You can quickly and easily make a restaurant lower in calories and carbs by reducing the amount of sugar in the recipe. You can decrease the amout of sugar by up to 1/3 in some cases without altering the taste. Another alternative is to replace the sugar in the recipe with a noncalorie sugar substitute such as Splenda. Usually, Splenda can be used in equal amounts to replace sugar. If you use a different sugar substitute, you may need to experiment a bit to determine the optimal quantity.

2. Replace some of the heart unhealthy fats with healthier ingredients.

Replace half the shortening, butters, and oils with heart friendly pureed applesauce or macerated banana. For example, if the recipe calls for 1/2 cup of cooking oil, use 1/4 cup canola oil and 1/4 cup pureed applesauce. The finished recipe should still taste moist but will be lower in calories and fat.

3. Replace whole milk with lower fat substitutes.

Where a recipe calls for whole milk, use skim milk or low fat soy milk in equal proportions.

4. Determine which ingredients are extraneous to your recipe and eliminate them.

For example, do you really need to add the icing to the cake you're making or would it taste almost as good without it? If so, eliminate it along with the extra calories.

5. Consider cutting back on some of the high calorie ingredients when possible.

For example, if your chocolate chip recipe calls for 1/2 cup of pecans, go with 1/3 cup instead. This shouldn't significantly affect the basic recipe and you'll still have great tasting chocolate chip cookies.