Posted by Danielle Downs on Jun.05, 2009

ⓒiStockPhoto - AndrewJohnson

Simple substitutions can make a recipe vegan, reduce the sugar or calories, change the fat profile, and more to make everyday foods and old family recipes greener and healthier. Here is a sampling of quick tricks to smarten anything.

Sugar Tricks

Unsweetened apple sauce is a fabulous one-to-one substitute for sugar in most baked goods. Apple sauce cakes, pancakes, and muffins aren’t too far fetched, but imagine apple sauce in your brownies! The creamy texture will give more body and fiber to your baked goods while healthfully sweetening them, making them more nutritious and satisfying.

Dividing sugar by half is often a simple way to decrease the sugar for most recipes. Just leave it out. No other adjustments are needed. While this will not work for homemade candies, it will work great in sauces, salads, desserts, and baked goods. If you miss the sweet flavor, substitute dark brown sugar which will give your dishes a deeper flavor.

Fat Busters

Yogurt is a great ingredient to shift fat into protein. Low fat yogurt can replace oil in brownies, pancakes, muffins, and more. Oil-based dressings and sauces like aioli can be made creamy and lower in fat with low fat plain yogurt too. Most any dip that uses mayonnaise will be made tangier with yogurt.

Neufchâtel is what is most commonly packaged as “1/3 less fat than cream cheese.” Your regular grocery carries this cheese in its American version rather than the French version that has a soft rind like brie or camembert. This is an amazing substitute for butter when making frostings and cookies. The added protein can’t be beat. Shortbread cookie dough made with this cheese doesn’t break as easily and frosting holds its shape better.

Vegan Substitutions

Eggs: Tofu and bananas replace eggs in most baked goods as binders. In savory recipes, tofu can replace the consistency of scrambled eggs for quiche or custard-type pies. Psyllium husks and flax seeds will gelatinize in water and make a quality binder as well.

Cheddar Cheese: Many soy or rice based cheeses are on the market. Nutritional yeast is a fabulous flavoring for vegan cheese sauce. It mixes well with broth or water and can be thickened with flour, corn starch, or a vegan roux.

Butter: High quality margarines are now on the market. Flavor-neutral vegetable shortenings can be purchased at most groceries. The addition of nuts, nut oils, yeasts, sprouts, and other fatty flavorings can enrich the flavors of the finished dish accordingly.

Cream Cheese: In a food processor combine 1 block of silken tofu and 1 generous handful of cashews. Beat until whipped and uniform. Adjust salt to taste.

Milk: Soy, rice, almond, oat, barley… the list goes on. Unfortunately, many vegan milks are full of sugar. These sugars will develop in cooked dishes. For sweet dishes, omitting sugar will balance the flavor. For savory dishes look for unsweetened varieties.

Get More Fiber

Flax, chia, sunflower, and pumpkin seeds are a great salad topper. Blend them with herbs and cream cheese (vegan cream cheese) for a tasty sandwich spread. Seeds of all sorts are easy to sneak into smoothies, dips, pancakes, muffins, hummus, trail mix, and even ice cream toppings.

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Posted under Cooking Healthy, Food, Nutrition & Recipes.