So, how healthy are your cooking and baking habits these days?

Sooner or later you may start looking for healthier ingredients for you recipes.

Be ingredient and health smart during the cold and flu season as well as holiday time you will be spending in the kitchen; that is why I  want to remind you about some healthier alternatives and healthier substitutes to the ingredients you normally use in your kitchen:

• 1 whole egg can be substituted with 2 egg whites
• white flour can be substituted with whole grain flour (rice, barley,millet, buckwheat – basically you can grind any whole grain)
• sour cream can be substituted with low fat plain yogurt or low  fat sour cream
• milk can be substitute with skim, 1% milk or powdered milk
• ice cream can be substitute with frozen yogurt
• heavy cream (not for whipping) – 1:1 ratio of flour whisked into non fat milk (eg. 1 cup of flour + 1 cup of non fat milk)
• whipped cream can be substituted with chilled evaporated skim milk or other low fat whipped products
• cheese can be substituted with low-fat cheese (please note: non-fat cheese does not melt well if use in cooking or baking)
• margarine can be substituted with butter
• butter can be substituted with light butter, vegetable oil or ghee
• sugar ( brown or white) can be substituted with date sugar, barley  malt, blackstrap molasses, pure raw honey; don’t forget that 1 tsp = 4 grams.
• table salt can be substituted with sea salt

Happy and Healthy Cooking and Baking !!!

Breathe, smile and be happy,

© Irina Wardas, HHC

Women’s Holistic Health, Nutrition Coach and Counselor

NaturalCounselorBlog.com

Healthier Substitutes for Your Holiday Cooking and Baking Ingredients

Halloweeen and the holidays are a good time to remember that we should try to do our best to protect our children from diabetes, obesity and heart disease when we can.

So, I would like to share with you a healthy Spiced Pumpkin Cookie Recipe.

Why is it healthy?

Just in case you don’t know, spices, like cinnamon and ginger can be used as an immune booster to help fight colds and flu.

Dark molasses is a great substitute for sugar, as well as a good source of iron and B vitamins.

As for raisins, they can be beneficial if you have constipation or anemia.

Imunity Boositing Spiced Pumpkin Cookie Recipe

• 2/3 cup whole-wheat pastry flour
• 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 3/4 cup canned plain pumpkin puree
• 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1/4 cup dark molasses
• 1 cup raisins

Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat 3 baking sheets with cooking spray.

Whisk whole-wheat flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, allspice and nutmeg in a large bowl.

Whisk pumpkin, brown sugar, oil and molasses in a second bowl until well combined. Stir the wet ingredients and raisins into the dry ingredients until no traces of dry ingredients remain. Drop the batter by level tablespoonfuls onto the prepared baking sheets, spacing the cookies 1 1/2 inches apart.

Bake the cookies until firm to the touch and lightly golden on top, 10 to 12 minutes, switching the pans back to front and top to bottom halfway through. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool.

Bon Appetit!

Don’t forget to breathe, smile and be happy.

Irina Wardas, HHC

Women’s Holistic Health Counselor HHC

For Halloween and the Holidays – a Healthy Pumpkin Cookies Recipe – Yummm