Substitutions for Lower Calorie Recipes

Hungry Girl Lisa Lillien has lots of good ideas for making lower calorie substitutions. That way you can have all your favorite dishes with fewer calories. Here are some of her suggestions:

1. Campbell’s 98% Fat Free Condensed Soups – The Cream of Mushroom and Cream of Celery can be used instead of the full-fat versions in recipes. I think they taste just as good.

2. The Laughing Cow Light Cheese Wedges – They are GREAT in casseroles, sauces, and any dish that needs the addition of a l ittle creamy goodness.

3. Almond Breeze, Unsweetened Vanilla – For the calories (only 40 a cup!), this is by FAR the creamiest milk swap. (BTW, there’s an Unsweetened Original, too.) The creamy-flavor-to-calorie ratio is UNPARALLELED. In a pinch, light soymilk also works.

4. Fage Total 0% Greek Yogurt – It’s CRAZY how much creaminess this stuff brings without ANY fat at all. AWESOME.

5. Coffee-mate Fat Free Original Liquid Creamer – INSANELY creamy. I use it in SMALL amounts because that’s all you really need, and if you overdo it, calories can add up. An ounce of the stuff can do wonders for a creamy soup or blended beve rage.

6 & 7. Fat-Free Sour Cream and Fat-Free Mayo – I lumped these two together because while they’re both good, I tend to mix them with OTHER things to help with flavor — on their own, neither fat-free mayo nor fat-free sour cream tastes amazing. You really have to play around with them to get ‘em to work well. Try combining them with other items on this list, or if you don’t feel like experimenting, just use an HG recipe!

Hungry for more? Check out Hungry Girl Lisa Lillien’s book:
Hungry Girl: 200 Under 200: 200 Recipes Under 200 Calories (Paperback)

Tags: Healthy Cooking, Hungry Girl, Lisa Lillien, Low Calorie Substitutions