Weekly Tip: Healthy Cooking Substitutes

Today's weekly tip comes from a program available on our cable system's on-demand menu last week. I thought these were some great healthy cooking substitutes that anyone can use to lower calories and fat in their cooking. Some of them are cheaper, too!

Heavy Cream~ Substitute an equal amount of Evaporated Skim Milk. in a 1 Cup portion, you'll save 620 calories and 88 grams of fat!

1 Egg~ Substitute 2 Egg Whites and you'll save 45 calories and 5 grams of fat!

Oil~ Substitute equal amounts of Unsweetened Applesauce (great for cake mixes!). For a 2 Tablespoon portion, you'll save 225 calories and 28 grams of fat!!!

Mayo~ Substitute an equal amount of Nonfat Yogurt. In a 4 Tablespoon portion, you'll save 373 calories and 38 grams of fat!

Sour Cream~ Substitute equal amounts of Plain Low Fat Yogurt and for every cup, you'll save 350 calories and 44 grams of fat!

This post submitted to Works For Me Wednesday.

Individual Pizzas

We call them "Pizza Burgers", but they are basically individual pizzas made on french bread, sub buns, hoagie rolls or even sandwich buns or hot dog buns. No matter what you call them, they are a family favorite in our house any day.

This is an especially quick supper to make when you have leftover pizza ingredients in your fridge or freezer. It also makes a nice meal if you have picky eaters who like different toppings. You can set toppings out and let each person create their own pizza!

To make your pizzas you'll need:
Buns or rolls split horizontally
Pizza sauce
Shredded (sliced works very well, too) Mozzarella or Provolone Cheese
Any pizza toppings you prefer (pepperoni, sausage, onion, mushrooms, peppers, etc.)

First, turn on your broiler and cover your broiler pan with foil (makes for easier clean-up). Split your rolls and place cut side up on broiler pan. Lightly toast rolls under broiler for about 2 minutes watching closely so as not to burn them. Top toasted roll halves with sauce and toppings desired. Place under broiler again until cheese is melted and toppings are heated- about 3 minutes. Serve hot. Refrigerate any leftovers.

Weekly Tip: Freezing Pie Dough

When you're making pie dough (or practically anything else for that matter), it is just as easy to double the recipe and freeze some for later.
Pie dough is especially nice to have at the ready and my tip for this week will make it even nicer!

Roll out your pie dough, place it in a pie tin, smooth a piece of plastic wrap onto the dough and freeze it in a zip-top bag! It will be ready to go into the oven or to fill and bake when you are!

For more tips, visit Rocks in My Dryer.

Simple Pie Dough

Pie dough or pie paste is so very simple to make and whether you fill it with fruit, veggies (think pot pies) or pudding, it is so delicious and comforting! Here is my recipe for a simple pie dough.

PIE DOUGH

1 1/2 Cups Flour

1/2 Cup Shortening

1/2 Tsp. Salt

1/4 Tsp. Baking Powder

Cold Water

Sift together flour, salt and baking powder. Cut shortening into flour mixture with a fork or pastry cutter until mixture is crumbly and pieces are smaller than pea-sized. While stirring (you can also use a mixer with dough hooks here), add water a little at a time until a dough forms.

At this point, you can begin rolling the dough out OR, as I recommend, wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for a couple of hours or overnight before rolling out.

This recipe makes enough for a 2-crust pie.

TIPS:

I also recommend using 1/4 C butter and 1/4 C shortening in place of the 1/2 C of shortening. YUM!!

Link-a-dink-a-doo 5/6/08

We're busy as the bees this spring, so only a couple of links for you today. Enjoy!

The latest edition of the Make It From Scratch Carnival is up over at Creatively Me! Check it out!

Ever wondered what kind of foods Elvis would have liked? Here is an article that suggests a few.

Click here to vote on "Who has the best fast food hamburgers"!!!

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Spice Up Your French Toast

If you are tired of Classic French Toast or if you'd just like to try something different, add a twist to it with one of the following tips!

~Add a splash of vanilla or almond extract or flavoring to the egg wash before you mix it up. It adds a ton of flavor to the finished product!

~Add 2 teaspoons of cinnamon to your egg wash!

~Make cinnamon stuffed french toast by softening 4 ounces of cream cheese and adding a teaspoon of cinnamon and a teaspoon of sugar. Spread one or two tablespoons cream cheese mixture between two slices of bread to make a "sandwich"; dip sandwich in egg wash and cook as usual.

~Make fruity stuffed french toast by adding 1 tablespoon of powdered sugar to 4 ounces softened cream cheese. Spread a tablespoon or two of this mixture between two slices of bread to make a "sandwich", dip sandwich in egg wash and cook as usual. Top with sliced fruit (strawberries or blueberries would be yummy!) mixed with sugar.