What substitutions do you regularly make in recipes?  For example, I
always leave out the salt, replace shortening with butter, and replace
animal products with non-animal equivalents.  Also, i try to reduce the
number of eggs or leave the eggs out completely.

How 'bout you?

80 responses total.

I usually try to leave out as much excess fat as possible--a lot of recipes
taste just the same without it.

I leave the salt out. 

I usually less sugar than a cake or cookie recipe calls for.

 A cakepan full of prevention is better than a teaspoon full of cure.

I also have one article from Eating Well that found you can substitute
pureed prunes 1:1 for butter in things like brownies and chocolate cake
with no loss of flavor.

folks on rec.food.cooking say you can substitute apple sauce for eggs
in a lot of recipes.

i tried substituting wild blueberry preserves for an egg in chocolate
chip pumpkin bread.  it came out fantastic!  i plan to do it again.

I always sub whole grains for any refined stuff called for, leave out the
salt, and use way less sugar.

I also use plain yougurt for half of any sour cream called for, and for
heavy cream I often sub a concoction I read about in a heart-healthy
book years ago.  You make up a quart of instant non-fat dry milk using
skim milk instead of water and use that inplace of half or more of the sweet
cream called for in a recipe.

I use vanilla or lemon yogurt in cheesecake instead of sour cream, too.

I always substitute a can of skim-evaporated milk when a recipe calls for
heavy cream and no one has ever noticed.  I am fascinated with how applesauce
can be used as a substitute for eggs in a recipe.  

Okay, I checked the article: prune puree does indeed substitute 1:1 for
butter, for a number of reasons (prunes retain moisture and provide
sugars in such a way that they substitute for fat). The author of the
article claimed the puree worked great in everything except shortbread,
and nobody had to relocate to the bathroom after eating prune baked
goods.

Re #7:  I would be careful leaving out the salt in things like
yeast-raised breads, since salt acts to regulate the rising action
of the yeast.  Personally, I like a little bit of salt in sweet
things...

yep, i've read that sugar and salt switch the action of the yeast on
and off by feeding or inhibiting its growth.  leaving the salt out of
a bread recipe is supposed to be disasterous; i've never tried it.

You shouldn't omit salt from bread recipes, but you can often cut the
amount down without any problem.  Applesauce can also be used in the
same manner as the prunes, i.e. substituting for the fat in baked goods.

I often replace salt with other spices.  We have recently discovered that
a lot of the behavior type problems we have had with Damon are caused by
food additives.  This means being even more label reading and buying 
organic.  We noticed that he was getting worse again during a very hectic
time when we were relying on pre-prepared stuff rather than the from scratch
cooking I normally do.  The hectic period settled down and I started cooking
in my usual manner and Damon became a reasonable child again.  STeve and
I were discussing Damon's behavior anomolies when a little light bulb went
on over STeve's head.  We did a little experimenting over the two weeks
that the kids were off from school for the holidays and confirmed the
corilation.  Sigh!  No more buying nuke foods when Mom is busy or hasn't
gone shopping or is sick.  Thank God is doesn't happen too often and that
STeve also enjoys cooking enough to take over once in a while.

Today I made a loaf of seven grain bread and in error added 1/3
again more honey than the recipe called for.  Also, the dough
looked a bit loose at first so I threw in a little gluten.  What I
ended up with was this *huge* loaf of very nutty bread.  It had a
very nice texture and tasted quite good, but the size of it!  I
guess the gluten/honey fix should only be used by trained
professionals.  I'm calling this one The Bread That Ate
Cleveland.

  Which would win in a battle between the Bread that Ate Cleveland 
and the Ohio National Guard, armed with Exploding Monkey Bread?

(Damn, mcnally, you have a good memory.) ;-)

It was a question that begged to be asked and Brian isn't around to
ask it..

For those of you that use the yogurt instead of sour cream in recipes,
have you ever tried the low or non fat sour cream?  I'm not sure how
it compares with yogurt, but I've used the lowfat version on occasion.

I've tried the low/nonfat stuff, Denise.  I find it misses out completely
on *flavour*!  Also, since many of them are based on gelitin for their
texture, they don't recommend cooking with them.

I tried a low-fat sour cream a few months ago and found it
terribly gritty or grainy, not a quality I ordinarily look for
in a sour cream.  There's another brand of low-fat sour
cream that my parents get out east that's quite decent, but 
it's not available here.

None of you would cook well with me and my housemate from last year:
        "But, Tom, the recipie says to put the ramen in TWO cups of boiling
        water."

   If I heard that I'd tie him up and force him to watch REAL cooking.

<<heh>>

We'd both enjoy that far too much for it to be effective.

Neat recipe adaptation: Rob and I both love Annie's Alfredo (a box of food
that works like Kraft Macaroni and Cheese, but the results aren't glow in
the dark orange), but at 1/2 stick of butter per two servings, the fat level
is high enough to make it a rare treat and not an everyday food.  Yesterday
I substituted organic nonfat yogurt for the butter.  The results tasted
wonderful, and the fat content is very much improved.  Now if I knew what
was in the cheese packet I could figure out if Annie's Fredo is actually
*good* for you.

I'd guess you could substitute nonfat yogurt for the butter in Kraft mac and
cheese, too.  Hm....

There are white cheesse 'n macaroni in boxes in the store, albeit not as cheap
as Kraft and their clones.

Funny you should mention the White Cheddar and Macaroni - I just had 
that served to me, by a real good friend.   WOW That's some Stuff!
 
The difference is simply amazing. I don't know what the cost
differential is, but, it would certainly be worth it
for a "special meal." 
 

Annie's Alfredo costs $1 a box if you buy a case (24 boxes) of it directly
from Annie, or about $1.50 at the People's Food Coop.

Noted earlier mention of substitution of applesauce for eggs... try this
instead:
        About 10 medium sized D'anjou pears, chunked (skin on or off), cored
        1-2 tablespoons grated fresh ginger root
        2-3 tablespoons honey

        Place pear chunks in a pot, cover well with water, boil until soft
        Add water as necessary to keep to slightly wetter than desired
        consistency.  As the pears soften, break them up in the pot with
        a fork or knife.
        Add honey and ginger.  Stir well.  Reduce gently to desired
        consistency.

        This applesauce susbstitute is something I came up with while playing
        in the kitchen one day.  The amounts are extremely variable, as, 
        I think, is the process.  In other words, I'm trying to share an idea
        I stumbled upon without having greatly tested and refined it.
        My only comment is: Do  *not* add thickeners to it!  You will ruin
        the consistency and taste.
        Be careful with the ginger, if you cook it too long, you will lose
        it's flavor and have to add more.  The strength of the ginger in the
        overall flavor can be safely varied over a nice range from very subtle
        to quite strong without upsetting the sauce itself, but if you're
        going to use it within another recipe, I would recommend strengthening
        the ginger flavor, or possibly just stirring it in after the rest is
        cooked.  This depends a lot on you and the degree to which you like
        ginger.  Me, I love the stuff!
        Good luck, and *please*  send comments, as this is my own creation
        (as far as I know)  and any suggestions for refinement will be happily
        taken.  Thanks!

Hey, I'll try this.  I make applesause in the crockpot and it comes
out great.  I don't see why this wouldn't work as well.  I'll keep
an eye on the ginger and name it Other-Sauce.

I did something like this about 7 years ago, when relatives
desperate for non-allergenic ideas (and Swiss Colony with an
unusual duplication error) sent us *three* boxes of pears for
Christmas.  I didn't put in any spices at all, just peeled them
& cooked it down a little, and canned the result.  It seriously
lacked flavor, to adult tastes, but I never got around to any
experiments with adding things to it because the unadorned version
proved to be a great success as baby food.  Dave likes ginger
(I'm neutral), I'll keep this in mind if we see some inexpensive
pears.

A kid I used to babysit for used to embarrassedly eat gerber pears.
(She was 11, and *much* too old for baby food).  It seemed to be sort
of the pear equivalent of apple sauce.  She liked it lots.

 I love stirring baby food into my oatmeal or cream of wheat. It's a great
source of unsweetened, pure fruit without all the hassle. Of course
I'm strange and I have lots of weird food habits.

Well, if you want wierd, the first time i served this ginger pear sauce was
to a vegetarian, so i served it over breaded and sauteed slices of eggplant.
What can i say?  She liked it, I liked it......

 And then what happened?  ;)

Uhh, she went back to Kalamazoo?

 Oh. I thought you might have gotten some.

I may have...I don't remember that part of the story... <shrug>

Based on my recent pudding experience, it seems that you can replace a
high-fat white sauce with a sauce made with nonfat milk and maybe some
water, warmed and thickened with arrowroot or cornstarch.  For pudding,
you mix in 1 tablespoon of arrowroot or cornstarch for each cup of
liquid and stir thoroughly before heating it, so it doesn't form clumps.

To test this theory, I'm making a very experimental tofu pot pie, which is
baking as I type this.  I started with about 1/2 tablespoon of arrowroot
per cup of liquid, on the theory that the sauce shouldn't be as thick as a
pudding.  That didn't make the sauce thick enough, so I added more
arrowroot, in several batches, mixing each arrowroot addition with cold
liquid (water or soy sauce at different times) before adding it to the pot.

Why is cornstarch frowned upon by people who know their food information?
Sometimes they mumble about it being a processed food, but is that the
entire reason why people write it off?  Because of this I've been using
arrowroot, without entirely understanding the reasoning why you're
supposed to prefer arrowroot.

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