Just because a recipe calls for a specific ingredient doesn't mean you must use it. Recipes are only guidelines for preparing food, not rules. Your favorite recipes can be modified to make them more nutritious or lower in fat by reducing unhealthy ingredients, or by substituting healthier ones.

If that doesn't work, scrap your unhealthy recipe and search for a similar, healthier one.

• Use reduced fat ingredients. Substitute reduced fat and reduced sugar ingredients and products when appropriate. For example, use reduced fat cheese instead of regular; use fat-free or light sour cream instead of regular; or use fat-free half and half instead of regular. You can also use reduced calorie pancake syrup, unsweetened frozen fruit, etc., instead of regular.
• Reduce oil by 1/3. For example, if a cookie, quick bread or muffin recipe calls for 1 cup oil, use 2/3 cup instead. (Do not use this method for yeast breads and pie crusts.)
• Use vegetable oil instead of solid fats. Instead of using solid fats such as shortening, lard and butter, use vegetable oils such as corn, canola or peanut. To substitute liquid oil for solid fats, use about 1/4 less than the recipe calls for.
• Replace oil with different ingredients. When making brownies or cake, substitute unsweetened applesauce, liqueur, fruit juice, flavored yogurt, or nonfat sour cream for vegetable oil. Choose the substitute based on the recipe.
• Cut egg with egg replacement. Instead of using the 2 eggs called for in a recipe, use 1 egg. Then add 1/4 cup of Egg Beaters or two egg whites. You won't be able to taste the difference!
• Swap yogurt for sour cream. In baking, use plain lowfat or nonfat yogurt in the same proportion as sour cream and save on saturated fat calories. You can also substitute buttermilk or blended lowfat cottage cheese. This method produces a savings of 44 grams of fat!
• Use skim or 1% instead of whole milk or half and half. One cup of half and half contains 28 total g of fat and 17.3 g saturated fat. A cup of 1% milk contains only 3 g total fat, and 1.6 g saturated fat! For extra richness, try evaporated skim milk.
• Decrease sodium as much as possible. Use low sodium or unsalted ingredients in your recipes. Sodium intake for adults should be 1,100 - 3,300 mg per day. Americans currently eat about twice that much.
• Reduce sugar by 1/4 to 1/3. Cookies, quick breads and cakes can be successfully baked this way. Substitute flour for the omitted sugar. (Do not decrease sugar in yeast breads, because sugar feeds the yeast.)
• Use spices rather than sugar. Adding cardamon, cinnamon, nutmeg or vanilla to your recipes instead of sugar will enhance the impression of sweetness.
• Increase fiber. Use whole wheat flour, oatmeal and whole cornmeal. Whole wheat flour can be substituted for up to 1/2 of all purpose flour. For example, if a recipe calls for 2 cups of flour, try 1 cup all purpose flour and 1 cup minus 1 tablespoon whole wheat flour.

Remember, substitutions only work if the recipe actually tastes good when you're done. So do a little experimentation until you discover what works for you.