Recipe Makeover - 1: Getting Started
In this 5-Part series we explore the quickest and the simplest ways to tweak your recipes so that you can still enjoy your favorite foods while decreasing the number of calories in them.
How Much Difference Can Recipe Tweaking Make?
If you experiment (or find better recipes) and manage to decrease 100 calories for every meal you have at home (assuming you have 15 meals per week at home), this comes to: 15 x 100 = 1,500 calories decreased/week. This equals about 6,500 calories/month or 80,000 Calories/Year (22 lbs/10 kg lost in a year). So depending on how many meals you have at home, the impact can be very positive.
When Not To Modify A Recipe:
Of course there are times when recipe modification is unnecessary or just not needed. For example: if it’s something you’re only going to make once a year, like a special Christmas pudding. In this case, it’s fine to go with the original.
Getting Started:
Let’s start with an overview of how the recipe modification process takes place:
Step 1: Find Out The Total Number Of Calories In Your Recipe.
Let’s take a sample Banana Pudding recipe for this purpose. For the sake of simplicity we’re going to assume that this recipe creates 10 servings:
8 Bananas
1.5 Boxes Vanilla Wafers
2 Large Boxes Vanilla Instant Pudding
3.5 Cups Milk
8 Oz. Sour Cream
1 (12 Oz.) Cool Whip
Let’s start with bananas. We search for “Calories in Bananas” and come up with the following information:
1 banana = 110 Calories
Therefore: 8 Bananas = 880 Calories
After repeating the process for all the ingredients, we get the following result:
8 Bananas = 880 Calories
1.5 Boxes Vanilla Wafers = 220 Calories
2 Large Boxes Vanilla Instant Pudding = 750 Calories
3.5 Cup Milk = 510 Calories
8 Oz Sour Cream = 490 Calories
1 (12 Oz.) Cool Whip = 950 Calories
————————————————————
Total = 3800 Calories or about 380 per Serving
Step 2: Try Better Alternatives
To replace a high calorie ingredient, we can use 1 of 3 methods:
- Eliminate it completely
- Reduce the amount of the ingredient
- Substitute it with a lower calorie alternative
In this recipe let’s make 2 quick substitutions. Let’s go with Skim Milk and Lite cool Whip:
8 Bananas = 880 Calories
1.5 Boxes Vanilla Wafers = 220 Calories
2 Large Boxes Vanilla Instant Pudding = 750 Calories
3.5 Cup Skim Milk = 320 Calories
8 Oz Sour Cream = 490 Calories
1 (12 Oz.) Lite Cool Whip = 760 Calories
———————————————————–
Total = 3,420 Calories or About 340 per Serving (40 Calories Decreased/Serving)
Of course when you’re actually doing this, the key consideration is taste. If you don’t like the taste, it simply won’t be worth it.
Next in the Recipe Makeover Series: General Cooking Tips
The Recipe Makeover Series:
- Part 1: Getting Started
- Part 2: General Cooking Tips
- Part 3: Baking Tips
- Part 4: Sauces, Salad Dressings & Gravies Tips
- Part 5: Ingredient Quick Reference Chart
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