Your favourite foods made healthy
Sometimes the foods we love don't love us back. They're the foods that make us feel slightly guilty; foods we know are not the best for our health. Think creamy pasta, cheesy lasagna, and big brekky. But with a change in technique, ingredients and composition, you can make your favourite foods healthier, and just as tasty. Here's how...
1 - Creamy Pasta
The secret to creamy pasta without the cream is to use lite
evaporated milk. Take care not to heat your sauce too hot;
evaporated milk can form a skin if the heat is too fierce.
2 - Garlic Bread
- Mix minced garlic, chopped parsley and a small amount of olive oil together
- Spread this thinly onto your bread slices and toast in the oven until heated through
- Try using sourdough bread for a different flavour or a grainy bread for a boost of fibre
3 - Meat Pies
A traditional meat pie can have a golf-ball-sized portion of
fat. They're not a good food to eat every day. If you
feel like a pie as an occasional food:
- Choose potato-top varities
- If you're cooking a meat pie, try using filo rather than flakey pastry. Use lean meat and leave the top of your pie pastry free or use mashed potato
- Make your own at home - in a casserole dish with a pastry top only (that way you still get the nice crispy pastry)!
4 - White and Cheese Sauces
- To make a leaner white sauce use a low-fat spread rather than butter and trim milk instead of full fat
- For cheese sauce - use a combination of half normal grated cheese, and 1/2-1t of mustard powder. The hint of mustard powder brings out the cheese flavour.
- For a cheese sauce for lasagna or vegetables, combine low-fat cottage cheese, parmesan and low fat milk then whiz in a blender.
5 - Crackers and Cheese
- While many crackers can be 20-30% fat there are also plenty of crackers with less than 10% fat. If crackers are a regular snack its best you find some you like that are less than 5% fat. Look on the back of the label to check.
- Standard cheeses, even edam, are too high in fat to be eating daily. For a different cheesy flavour try a little reduced-fat feta or even cottage cheese. Or if you want the cheddar taste try processed cheese slices.
6 - Big Breakfast
- Streaky bacon can be very fatty. Use middle or eye bacon; it has much less fat and kilojoules.
- Substitute hash browns with oven-baked cubed potatoes: Cut a potato into 1cm cubes and bake with a light spray of oil in a hot oven
- Rather than frying your eggs opt for microwave eggs: Scramble or poach.
- Add some oven-roasted tomatoes for a vege boost: Add these to the dish when you cook the potatoes.
7 - Potato Chips
Standard potato chips are around 37% fat - 17% saturated fat - and
have around 1100kj in a 50g serve. If you want a better
potato chip:
- Look for anything with less than 5% saturated fat
- Don't be influenced by the word "lite"; it refers to the cut, not the fat content.
- Alternatives like bagel crisps or rice crackers/snacks
are less 5% fat, but you're still getting 7-800kj in a 50g
serve.
Basically whichever you choose portion control is the key; these are high-energy treats. Put your chips in a small bowl and try not to eat more than a small handful in one go.
8 - Ice Cream
A premium vanilla ice cream can be up to 14% fat and 23% sugars,
and a half cup serve will range from 600-900kj. So for a
weekly treat choose a low-fat version, around 2% fat - you won't
notice the difference. Sorbet and frozen yoghurt are also
good alternatives.
