Well, okay, there are four ingredients…
Wouldn’t it be great if there were healthier options to the food that we love? Believe it or not, there are! Eating healthy doesn’t mean you must sacrifice on taste! With just a few tweaks, some of your favorite recipes can be made healthier without losing the flavor you crave!
Who doesn’t love ice cream – especially on a hot summer day!
Use bananas as an ice cream substitute! Simply freeze pealed and sliced bananas in an airtight container for at least eight hours. Empty the frozen bananas in a blender and zip up until smooth. You’ll want to make sure to scrape the sides of the blender as you go. Once blended, eat immediately or return to the freezer to enjoy later.
Not only will you cut out a lot of the fat and sugar, but it will be dairy-free as well.
Side note – I’ve tried this and messed it up the first time.
I thought I would be a gourmet and make it taste better by adding a little heavy cream and sugar-free vanilla coffee syrup. Didn’t quite work out! My two-year old son loved it, but it was very hard when frozen. If he wanted some, it would need to sit out for a bit before serving!
Substitute Rice
Rice is such a great medium for all sorts of dishes, from shrimp creole and sushi to general Tso’s chicken and caldo de pollo. However, it is loaded with carbs.
Cauliflower works as a healthy alternative of rice. It can be used in place of rice or even mashed potatoes. All you need to do is pulse the florets in a processor and then cook with a little water, a pat or two of butter, and then season with salt and pepper.
If you are using it to work in sushi, (which I’ve tried and thought it worked great!), cook the cauliflower without butter or salt and pepper. Once it’s tender, drain off the water and prepare it as you would sushi rice.
Move over, noodles
If you’re trying to replace noodles, there are two options to consider, zoodles (aka zucchini noodles) and spaghetti squash.
To make zoodles, you need a zucchini and a spiralizer. Basically, you treat the zoodles the same way as pasta, except it needs far less cook time.
However, my personal favorite is spaghetti squash. You can use it to replace the noodles in our Alfredo tortellini recipe, found HERE.
To cook a spaghetti squash, cut it in half and scrape out the seeds. Put a pat or two of butter in the newly created well where the seeds used to be. Then take saran wrap and cover the inside part. Microwave one half for 8 minutes or both halves for 12 minutes. WORD OF CAUTION: it will be very hot! Use potholders to take from the microwave.
Have any healthy substitutions or recipe makeovers that you’d like to share? Comment below!