The Diet Doc La Grande s Tips to Baking Lighter
Food Substitutions: Butter Brit s Favorites 1. Canned Pumpkin Puree : it s easy and you don t have to make it! Low carb and no fat. 2. Butternut Squash Puree: Low carb and thicker than pumpkin, but you have to make it generally. Low carb and no fat. 3. Sweet Potato Puree : No fat. Like squash, you have to do a little more work. Good texture! 4. Applesauce! You may taste apple or it may sweeten your recipe. Best for baked goods. 5. Avocado : This isn t lower in fat than butter, but is packed with nutrients and really adds great texture to chocolate recipes. 6. Greek Yogurt : Avoid if you have to be dairy free. Will leave flavor in some recipes. Butter in summary: Almost always you can simply substitute out part of the butter. For Example, use half the oil/butter and add in a substitution listed for the other half. This creates a lower fat recipe vs a fat free.
Food Substitutions- Cooking Oil Brit s Favorites 1. Cooking Spray: Almost always, my first choice is olive oil or coconut oil in a spray. A light spray to the pan will do the trick. (When purchasing, check the ingredients, very few sprays are only olive oil or coconut oil. Compare labels.) 2. While sauteing veggies, when the pan starts to dry out, splash water or cooking broth into the page to bring moisture back into the pan. 3. In Baked Goods: a. Applesauce b. Pumpkin Puree c. Banana Puree Just take into account the flavor of the recipe! Food Substitutions: Flour 1. Protein Powder - Add a little protein and reduce carbs by subbing out some flour for protein powder. (gram for gram) Never do a direct substitution or you will get a different texture. 2. Black Beans or Garbanzo Beans : More fiber, fewer carbs. You would want to use a food processor to blend/puree your beans(check out The Beany Proteiny Brownie in The Diet Doc book!) 3. Potato Puree : Sweet potato or white potato both can be mashed/pureed and subbed out for flour in recipes like rolls and muffins.
Food Substitutions: Sugar 1. Applesauce : when you use applesauce instead of oil, you may find that you don t need to add sugar! 2. Stevia: Zero calorie, natural sweetener! 3. Protein: Protein powder, like chocolate or vanilla, add flavor, protein and sweetness! 4. Use Less: Simply use less sugar in recipes! Give these substitutions a try on the following recipes! How to calculate your macros? -The basic steps to calculating your macros is to figure out the protein, carbs and fat that go into the whole batch, and dividing it by the servings. You can do this simply by using MyFitnessPal s recipe calculator OR if you don t use MFP there are other calculators online such as the USDA s site that do not require you to create an account.
Food Substituting in Action Original Recipe: Raspberry Maple Scones (6 scones) 412 Calories 19 grams fat, 56 grams carbs, 3 grams protein 1 ½ cups brown rice flour or sorghum flour (I used 1 cup brown rice flour + 1/2 cup sorghum flour) ½ cup tapioca flour 1 tablespoon baking powder ¾ teaspoon xanthan gum ½ teaspoon sea salt ½ cup organic palm shortening ⅓ cup maple syrup ½ cup + 2 tablespoons cold non-dairy milk (unsweetened hemp milk or light coconut milk) 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 1 heaping cup fresh raspberries -First things I look at are where is all that fat coming from? How can I lower the carbs/sugar? Can I stretch out the recipe and make more servings? Edited Recipe: Raspberry Maple Scones (6 scones) 412 Calories 4 grams fat, 30 grams carbs, 2 grams protein 1 ½ cups brown rice flour or sorghum flour (I used 1 cup brown rice flour + 1/2 cup sorghum flour) ½ cup tapioca flour 1 tablespoon baking powder ¾ teaspoon xanthan gum ½ teaspoon sea salt 2 tbsp Coconut Oil + 2 tbsp Pumpkin Puree 1/8 cup maple syrup ½ cup + 2 tablespoons cold unsweetened cashew milk 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 1 heaping cup fresh raspberries
Squash Brownies Uses squash for less flour! What if I told you, you could eat mouth watering, fudgy brownies AND not blow your macros for the entire week? Here s your recipe. Choose your other two wishes wisely. Cream: 1/4 cup maple syrup 260g butternut squash puree or canned pumpkin! 14g (1 tbsp) coconut oil 1 egg 1 tsp vanilla Add: 4 tbsp powdered peanut butter ½ cup cocoa powder 3 tbsp coconut flour 3 tbsp flour (I use rice flour to keep this gluten free!) ½ tsp baking soda I cream ingredients in a food processor to ensure the squash is chunk free! Bake at 375 for 25 minutes in an 8x8 pan sprayed with coconut oil (or coconut spray) Let cool before cutting into 9 brownies. Macros: 100 Calories, 3.7g Fat, 16.2g Carbs, 2.8g Fiber, 6.4g Sugar, 2.1g Protein Brit s Kitchen Tips: Try pumpkin puree instead of butternut squash! Like chocolate chips? Throw them in! Nuts? Go nuts! Just remember, use a recipe calculator to adjust the macros.keep Refrigerated If you are egg sensitive, here is an egg substitute: 1.5 tbsp Ground chia seeds, flax seed or beef gelatin + ⅓ cup of water mixed together. (If using gelatin, water must be boiling hot)
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies Uses avocado for butter! 100g avocado 1 Egg 2 tsp vanilla ½ cup sugar ¼ cup Molasses 3/4 cup pumpkin 60g (2 Scoops) Protein Powder (I used Quest Peanut Butter or Diet Doc Vanilla) 225g (1 ½ Cup) Rice Flour (Or all purpose flour) ½ tsp nutmeg 1 tsp cinnamon ¼ tsp cloves ½ tsp ginger ½ tsp baking powder ½ tsp baking soda ½ tsp salt 64g chocolate chips (or more!) Cream together avocado, egg, vanilla and sugars and pumpkin until smooth (1-2 minutes) Add in dry ingredients and mix well. Lastly add chocolate chips. Bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes. Macros for 26 medium cookies: 89 Calories, 1.5g Fat, 16.2g Carbs, 2.9g Protein Brit s Kitchen Tips: Substitute nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, and ginger for 2 tsp of pumpkin pie spice. You can opt out of adding protein powder by using an additional ½ cup or 60g of flour.
Wheat Free Brownies Makes 9 Brownies 60g Coconut Flour ½ Cup Cocoa Powder ½ Cup Coconut Sugar 80g Pumpkin Puree 1 Cup Egg Whites 1 tsp Baking Soda ¼-½ Cup Almond Milk Mix ingredients well- I have no special way of mixing.. You can could also add vanilla if you wanted. This batter is very thick and you have to spread it out. IF it s too thick though, add more almond milk. Bake at 350 in a greased 9x9 glass baking dish! 9 Brownies: 1 Brownie= 106 Calories 1.8g Fat, 21g Carbs, 5.4g Protein