And it got me thinking. There are many ways to reduce the calories in recipes without too much effort. Ideas range from the very simple to the strange. Of course, the strange ones may only be strange because I haven't tried them yet ...
Lower calorie doesn't have to mean less taste. Or less comfort food. So how to begin?
First, equipment. By changing what we use to cook with, we can reduce the oils we have to use to cook and that takes care of a lot of fats (which = calories). I've already talked about grilling. By grilling food rather than frying it, you remove the need to add in the fat/oil. And grilling adds a nice smoky flavor to the food.
Other equipment would include a kitchen scale. It is imperative to be able to know the proper portion size - at least in the beginning when we have no concept of what a serving size really is. Along those lines are the measuring cups. Just this morning, I measured out my cereal to make sure it was the one cup serving size. As we get better in our food intake, we might better be able to "guesstimate" the amount, but in the beginning, measure it.
A steamer is another way to cook without adding in fats, or leeching out vitamins. Steaming veggies is a great way to cook them. I'm one of those people who likes my veggies cooked to the point of mush as opposed to the normal person's crisp/crunchy kind. You can steam a veggie to whatever point you want.
Non-stick pans are a must. It is another way to be able to reduce the amount of fats/oils used to cook with. In fact, I try to use chicken broth or water rather than oil when my frying pan gets dry. Which brings me to the next step.
Second, substitution. This is the biggest one. The main one. It's amazing how many hidden calories are in our foods. And by substituting ingredients, we can make a huge difference in the amount of calories we end up with.
One of my first substitutions was mustard for mayo. When making sandwiches, I no longer slather on the mayo. I use mustard and actually like the flavor better than the thick mayo.
Some substitutions are obvious and easy. When cooking, substituting 2% milk, or even skim milk, for regular milk is a no-brainer. Substituting turkey sausage for regular sausage is also an obvious switch. Lower fat cheese for regular cheese (although, I have noticed that the lower fat cheese doesn't melt as well, so stick with using it in recipes as opposed to on top when you need the gooey melt). But there are some substitutions that aren't as obvious.
I like to start with a half-and-half rule. Like eggs. If the recipe calls for 2 eggs, I might use 2 egg whites and 1 egg with a yolk. When it comes to sugar, I'm experimenting with mixing regular sugar with Truvia. (I actually tried using Truvia exclusively when cooking a recipe and I could taste it - it had an odd after taste - so I think using some of each would solve that). If you can't stand skim milk, using part skim and part 2%. Any little substitution you do is going to cut some calories. And every calorie counts.
Some weirder ideas I've seen, but having tried yet, include swapping some oil in baking with applesauce. Since my weakness isn't really baked goods like brownies, etc, I haven't used this one yet. Evaporated milk for cream. I haven't tried this one either. It will be worth testing out.
Basically you can take any recipe and look at the ingredients and see what you can swap out. Yogurt for sour cream. Also think in terms of using the healthy request Campbell's soups as a base. Like in my enchiladas, I knew I needed a creamy filling so I used the cream of chicken soup as a base.
It is going to take experimentation. Which is actually kind of fun!
Third, flavor. You can add major flavor without a lot of calories. One of my main tricks is bacon. Everything tastes better with bacon! And while you probably think it's crazy to even consider bacon when you are trying to lose weight, one piece of bacon which is crisp-fried is only about 48 calories and yet it packs a HUGE punch in flavor.
Another flavor must is spice. Spices are key. I happen to like spicy, so for me making a dish spicy makes it satisfying without having to add the fats for flavor.
Fourth, technique. As I talked about above, the way you cook can help. Grilling, etc. Broiling is another option. I stumbled on a really good chicken finger type thing by accident. It was when I was making my chicken enchilada recipe. I sprinkled taco seasoning on the chicken tenders and let them "marinate" in that for about 2-3 hours. Then I broiled them, sprinkling some more seasoning on them just as I cooked them. They were so good just by themselves that the kids kept coming and stealing snippets of them while I was shredding them for the filling of the enchilada.
You can also "oven fry" food which is another way to cut the oils. Or fry-steam foods in a frying pan by using chicken broth and a lid.
The bottom line is that there are many ways to make our recipes "lighter." Some will be failures and some will be huge successes. Half the fun is trying. So go have fun with your food!
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