My nutritionist friend taught me this trick.

When you make scrambled eggs or omelettes or whatever, instead of 2 eggs, use one whole egg and one or 2 egg whites. All egg whites tastes and looks gross to me, so unless I'd absolutely have to eliminate yolks, I'd pass altogether. But I can hardly tell the difference between a 2-egg omelette and a 1 1/2-egg one.

Only down side: the dog started to get fat from all the yolks!

I buy the bags of shredded carrots from the produce aisle and put them in just about everything I cook for dinner. Soups, casseroles, green salads, pasta salad, Chinese food, Indian food, Thai food, meatloaf, spaghetti sauce ... They don't have a strong carrott flavor so they blend right in to whatever I'm cooking.

I make a "sour cream" chip dip out of drained cottage blended with a bit of fat free yogurt and seasonings....and chips from baked wedges of whole wheat pitas.
When the object was to boost nutrition rather than cut calories, I would mix extra dry milk into cookies and muffins, bread contained a bit of soy flour ( not so much as to taste soy bean-ish) and lots of things that you might fry, like chickens trips and fish fillets, sweet potato wedges, can be rolled into toasted bread crumbs and baked.
And then there are things like "pink mashed potatoes"....but in order to pull it off you have to convince the kids that you just might be the type who would add food coloring to food to be playful....and never EVER admit you had mixed carrots or beets in with the mashed potatoes.
Linda C

I make spinach dip with half the lofat mayo, half the lowfat sour cream and then silky tofu for the other half. It has zero saturated fat, and adds protein, and you cannot tell because there are enough other flavors dominating that dip. This is one of my "go to" healthy party appetizers. That and roasted eggplant dip, which is a roasted eggplant mixed with a jar of roasted peppers and run through the food processor. Great dip and couldn't be easier. They go together. And then for one more healthy spread I mix lowfat cottage cheese with full fat sharp cheese and some herbs or scallions for a lowfat yet flavorful cheese spread or sandwich.

I routinely sub two egg whites for one egg in baked goods. They dry out a little faster than traditional but if you're careful about storage and eat relatively quickly you won't notice the difference. You can use 2/3-3/4 cup sugar for one cup and not notice much difference either, except the shorter storage time like I just mentioned. Has not been a problem for me, and it's worth the calorie savings since I love muffins and quick breads. Same for 1/2 cup, you can sub 1/3 cup sugar.

V-8 juice is great in vegetable soups for jazzing up the broth part.

I hate soda pop due to its extremely high corn syrup taste, but I make my own fun fizzy drink by mixing fruit juice with soda water.

Great responses so far :-)

That's good advice on the omelet. I actually like egg whites, but I buy good eggs from a chicken farm (and don't want to toss the yolks), so I think it would behoove me to pick up a carton or package of egg whites.

I have carrots! I can do that!

I keep meaning to try the bread crumbs and bake thing-- it always looks really good on cooking shows. And I have some whole wheat croutons in the freezer that might be perfect.

Although not technically a child, I love pink things. And beets. Sold!

That dip sounds really good, and I just bought some sharp cheddar. Do you melt the sharp cheese or just chop into pieces? Do you put the cottage cheese through the food processor?

It seems slightly disloyal to serve soda water without vodka in it, but I'm open minded :-P

I...um...oh, who am I kidding? I just finished making oatmeal-coconut-craisin-walnut cookies...to go with left over pizza for dinner. Oh, I did add wheat germ also, which I add to most of my baked goods. I guess that's my lame attempt at cooking healthy!

Shred the cheese and do it up in a food processor, but can be mixed manually with a fork or some kind of masher.

This has become a favorite at our house and I often add leftover meat (in addition or in place of the canadian bacon). Great side or main dish. I also make it with barley instead of rice sometimes!! Freezes well too.

Deanna

Unfried Chinese Rice Recipe

2 1/2 cups uncooked brown rice (or barley is really good too)
 1/2 cup finely diced ham or Canadian bacon (omit or sub a soy protein for veggie version)
 1 1/2 cups frozen peas
 2 eggs, scrambled and chopped up
 3-4 diced spring onions
 1/4-1/3 cup soy sauce
 1/8 teaspoon ginger powder
 1/2 teaspoon garlic granules
 1/8 teaspoon fresh ground pepper

1. Steam rice according to your steamer's direction.
2. Place all other ingredients in a large bowl.
3. Put hot rice directly on top and let sit for 2-3 minutes stir well and serve immediately.

When making mashed potatoes, steam and mix them with mashed cauliflower to reduce the quantity of carbohydrates. On the plate it almost looks as though it's all potato.

Bread chicken breasts, veal or pork escalopes and fish with a mixture of half oat bran and half ground almond meal instead of bread crumbs. It makes a lovely crispy, healthy coasting.

Raw carrots have a lower glycemic rating than cooked, so grate and eat them raw.

Baked potatoes have a higher glycemic rating than steamed or boiled. To reduce your sugar level, avoid eating them baked.

Eat small quantities of food five times a day, three meals and two light snacks. That way your stomach is never overloaded and you don't store excess food as fat.

Avoid excessive high heat cooking and deep frying as some foods cooked at excessive temperatures are known to form a chemical called acrylamide, a carcinogenic.

Drizzle a bit of olive oil on bread and over cooked vegetables instead of butter.

SharonCb

I have found that serving a first course with dinner helps us eat more reasonably. We have a bowl of soup or a salad, after which I put the last minute touches on our main meal. During the time it takes me to quickly saute some veggies or carve meat, transfer dishes to the table etc lets the first course "sink in" so that we aren't so hungry that we eat more than we should before we realize how much we've eaten.

The starter can be as simple as a plate of vine ripened tomatoes drizzled with a bit of olive oil & za'atar seasoning or a nice chicken broth with a few vegetables that I can whip up in 3 or 5 minutes or something more elaborate like a few poached shrimp with avocado, grapefruit sections and a citrus vinaigrette or a long simmered bean soup of some sort. It depends on time available and my motivation level. But the simple act of eating a little, then waiting a few minutes before eating more helps us with portion control.

Another thing I do is make beef jerky, and keep a supply on hand. When you get quite hungry, it's so easy to grab a snack full of empty calories. A small piece of beef jerky provides quick energy, stops hunger pangs and is easily portable...not to mention the fact that it actually has some food value. Every diet I've ever heard about plans for snacks, knowing that hunger makes for poor judgment in food choices.

When you are cooking vegetables you can add a little bit of butter, chicken fat, bacon fat, etc. to the water. While cooking they get a lite coating of the fat/flavor, but most of the fat will get thrown away with the water when you drain.

I make my own yogurt, and routinely sub yogurt for mayo or sour cream in baked goods too, and it works fine. My homemade yogurt is thick, much like the greek yogurt, so I don't even drain it.

I also substitute apple sauce for half the oil/fat in things like pumpkin bread or banana bread, and I also use half and half whole wheat and all purpose flour. Yeah, I know, you mentioned the whole wheat, LOL, but King Arthur's white whole wheat is not as noticeable. I LIKE whole wheat, so it works for me. I also regularly add a tablespoon or two of ground flaxseed to baked goods like bread and to homemade granola or stir a little into fruit and yogurt.

If I freeze strawberries or blueberries, then dump them frozen into a blender with some homemade yogurt and a little honey, I'll get something the consistency of an ice cream shake.

I also raise grass fed cattle to get much leaner beef for my family, but I suppose that IS kind of over the top for most people. (grin)

I find that if I have a lot of fresh vegetables around, I eat them more because I can't stand to see them go bad. If I grew them myself, I'm even more likely to eat them because all that work went into them, by gosh I'm NOT letting them go bad! Plus I get exercise growing them...

I eat a LOT of beans, they are healthy and I like them. Tonight it was split pea soup.

My favorite healthy recipe, from Cooking Light, and it works with chicken as well as with pork:

APPLE CIDER BRINED PORK ROAST

3 cups apple cider
3 cups water
1 bay leaf
¼ cup salt
1 tbls black peppercorns
1 tbls coriander seeds
1 2 lb. Pork loin, trimmed
2 cups cider
1 ½ tsp chopped fresh rosemary
1 ½ tsp chopped fresh sage
1/8 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Combine the first 6 ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring until salt dissolves. Remove from heat, cool, and pour into a Ziploc bag or container big enough to hold the pork loin. Add pork, seal and let marinate 8 hours or overnight.

Preheat oven to 350, bring 2 cups cider to a boil over medium high heat. Boil until cider is thickened and reduced to ¼ cup, about 15 minutes. Set aside. Remove pork from bag or container and discard brine. Place pork on broiler pan or baking dish and lightly coat with cooking spray. Sprinkle with remaining herbs and bake about 1 hour, until pork is done, basting twice with the reduced cider in the last 20 minutes of baking. Remove from oven, baste with remaining cider reduction. Let stand 10 minutes before slicing.

Serves 8

200 calories per 4 oz. Serving, 6 grams fat

Oh, and Amanda agrees with you on the Dreamfields pasta!

Annie

You guys are the best! I love your tips. And Annie, I live in a studio apartment and our yard is the size of a postage stamp, but I think I could keep a cow on the deck. No chance it could be grass fed though- there's no grass for miles. Can someone provide me with statistics on the health Benefits of pasta-fed cattle? I can also have up to two or three chickens, according to Baltimore laws. (although I am deeply attached to my egg supplier, who recently emailed me pictures of her hens.) I do eat lots of vegetables- I just have to stop deep frying them :-/

Annie what do you grind your flaxseed with? I bought a bag once but had to throw it out eventually when I realized I couldn't grind it.

Not Annie here, but I bought a $10.00 coffee grinder to grind flax seeds. Works great.

Bonnie

Sharon:
I haven't tried Oat Bran and ground Almond Meal for breading.
But I've used Ground Rice Crispies and Corn Flakes, with a bit of WW flour, for breading Chicken.

Does that count ??? as healthier ?
Lou

I add puréed cauliflower, or celeriac, to mashed potatoes.

I also make my own yogurt, which I use in baking. But more often than not, I'll drain the yogurt overnight, add fresh herbs, salt and pepper to taste, and turn into a thick and creamy, herb spread.

Another healthy habit is to add a tablespoon of freshly-ground flax seeds to my morning oatmeal, breads, and even smoothies.

My favorite trick however, is to make flavor-packed herb, vegetable, or fruit sauces, where heavy cream will, sometimes, play a small role, or none at all.

Sol

I like the flavor grilling gives to food, particularly lean meats and vegetables making extra fat unnecessary.

L, I have a little coffee grinder but truthfully, I mostly get it already ground. I do have to store it in the refrigerator, though, because it goes rancid quickly, and I have to actually speak to my ex to get it, because I get it through the store (which he got in the divorce).

Jessica, a steer would eat a LOT of pasta and if you have hens you "know", I'd stick with that, LOL.

Annie

Let's see I reduce the sugar in baking by a 1/4 to a half, depending on the item. I add ground almonds and oat or barley flour to my chocolate chip cookies.

I have always used olive oil, whole grains, fresh veggies, very few to no packaged foods, drink 4 or 5 oz of red wine on most days, rarely anything else, walk outside 40 to 60 minutes every day.

I am 62, overweight and had kidney cancer 4 1/2 years ago and love to cook and eat. No heart disease or other ailments, though. I just eat too damn much of the good stuff I make, no matter how "healthily" I prepare it.

talk about a fence sitter, i just ate lunch. lastnight i dug some Yukon Gold potatoes and steamed them. i fried them in butter with a couple of shakes of fresh dried cayenne from my garden. i sliced my last Cherokee Purple tomato and added a pint of fresh sprouts. the tomato and sprouts were raw. the potatoes were sinfully good.

my trick is to eat as much raw food as i can. i limit my cooked food to things i really like.

Deam

That's a good one. And raw tomatoes are my absolutely 100% favorite food. My stepdad built me a little coldframe, so I still have a few rolling in :-D

Dry brining -

I dry brine EVERYTHING. Guess if you have high blood pressure, this might not be healthy but mine is low (even though I'm overweight) and when I dry brine vegetables and catfish fillets (with some minced jalapeno for flavoring), it enables me to add very little oil. If I do add oil, it is the type of spray olive oil you can get in a can and which enables you to use just a smidgeon before you roast whatever it is you've brined. You can steam too - flavor still very good.

Look up "dry brining" in google if you're interested. You will find your family who hates vegetables will find them quite palatable once you have dry brined them. At least DH will now eat broccoli.

Apparently some place called Zuni Cafe is famous for it but I began by elaborating on the concept after finding on the web and using a pickled carrot recipe that requires dry brining for several hours before you add vinegar and water for chilling.

You can use rosemary, oregano, etc. instead of jalapenos. We don't eat meat except for fish but apparently, if you do this with pork, chicken or beef and herbs, it can be quite outstanding too.

Of course you can use a brine solution for meat but that is messier from what I understand. (Soaking a turkey in brine solution for 24 hours apparently makes it quite juicy.)

A great question. I have to say that I admire a person who can create great tasting and health conscious food more than someone who douses everything in butter, cream, etc. That said, I do subscribe to everything in moderation (think one/two cookies not rows.)

This isn't a recipe, but it's something that I tell my kids. Rather than think of 60 minutes/day of exercise per se, use a rake instead of a leaf blower, use a shovel instead of a snow blower, scrub instead of power wash ... Just move!

Cathy in SWPA

Interesting! You won't find any anti-salt sentiments here! :-D So basically, you coat the food in salt and spices, and leave in the fridge for a couple days?

Cathy:
You are right. I always said the same.

Only problem is , everyone can't do that.( Physical )

The other problem is we don't stop eating as much.
We " Just move! " to get something else to eat.

Sherrman:
You should be ashamed LOL ! I do the same " Sometimes ".

Pinky :
I use a blender to grind Coffee Beans. Just use " Pulse "
Lou

here are some of my tips:
1)when sauteeing veggies I use a little vegetable broth (we are vegetarian but chicken broth would work too) instead of oil. adds flavor and salt but no fat. also works for rice and other things you want to add flavor to

2) i make roasted potatoes and don't use any oil, i just spray a few short squirts of cooking spray on the pan so they don't stick. but the potatoes just get tossed in cracked pepper, lowrey's seasoning salt and a little garlic (I used the pre-minced and the liquid from that helps coat the potatoes with liquid so the spices stick)

3) we bake tofu instead of frying. same would apply for meat i am sure

4) our favorite breakfast is 1 whole egg and two egg whites on whole wheat english muffin. I used to do just egg whites but find the protein and fat are important for keeping me full

5) instead of peanut butter we use almond butter with no sugar added and add in a tiny bit of honey for sweetness. less processed sugars and still tasty, and filling. for 1 english muffin I use 2 teaspoons almond butter and 1-2 tsp honey depending on how sweet I want it.

6) salad dressing - sometimes i find the low fat ones don't have much flavor so i often add a little full fat (just a drizzle) to otherwise fat free salad dressing. alternatively i add a little balsamic vinegar for flavor. depends on my mood

7) laughing cow cheese wedges - the reduced fat kind. great snack with low fat crackers

8) I pre-apportion light chex mix or wheat thins into my own 100 calorie snack packs and NEVER eat out of the box - this way i always know what I am eating

9) there is a great website - fat free vegan that has a lot of great recipes you could 'meat'-ize if you aren't veggie and you can at least learn some tips about ways to cook healthy

10) soup. soups are a great way to fill up without all the calories (obviously as long as it's not creamy soup).

11) I count calories. I've lots 30lbs this way and along the way I learned to eat smaller portions, learned tricks to get the most out of a snack and I have gotten really good at estimating after all the measuring and tracking we've done at home

12) finally, I try and eat beans (like someone else mentioned) whenever possible. here is an excellent recipe for sloppy joes but with lentils instead of meat: Snobby Joes. She also recently posted a low fat pesto recipe using edamame that I'm excited to try

Cathy, my old doctor, now retired, said the same thing: "Eat less, move more". He also told me to eat anything I wanted but I should only eat half of it, and that I should remember 80/20. If I'm "good" 80 percent of the time I can slip up 20% of the time and it's OK.

Annie

maybe I do need to explain my idea of dry brining a little bit. I did a google search and it seems I differ from some of the info. Almost all of it is about meat and I must tell you that dry brining is just as good for vegetables. It takes that little hard edge (maybe bitter for some people) off the vegetable making it more palatable.

What I do is pretty informal. I prepare vegetables for cooking such as washing and snipping off the end of green beans, or slicing mushrooms or peeling some of the coarse stem off broccoli and chop, etc.

I then put the vegetables in a collander. I use about 1 tsp kosher salt per 8 oz of fresh mushrooms. Or two teaspoons for 1 1/2 pounds of green beans. For carrots, I use two teaspoons for 10 mediums carrots thickly sliced (on the diagonal).

But don't leave out the seasoning step. Stir the salt into the vegetables in the collander. Then I mince a large jalapeno with seeds in my food processor. Then stir the jalapeno bits into the vegetable mixture in the collander. I think this is the point you could substitute other seasonings such as thyme or dill or garlic or oregano.

Stir everthing well trying to make sure your veggies are coated with the herbs (or jalapeno bits). Then put the collander over an empty bowl and cover the collander with a dishcloth.

Here is where I get really loose with the directions depending on how much time I've got. But I rarely leave the veggies sitting on the counter in the collander (covered) for more than 3 hours. But I think you could if you accidentally went that long but I have no idea what the maximum time would be. May depend on the veggie.

Once your ready to cook, then nothing else special to do but cook. A lot of veggies are good roasted. You can put the results from your collander on a roasting pan and spray lightly with one of those spray cans of olive oil. And then roast for normal amount of time. There will be liquid probably in the bowl beneath the collander. I just discard this though it might be good for making a stock but could be rather salty.

Sorry I'm winging most of this but the main point of this is that the salt besides taking the edge off the veggies seems to somehow cause the seasonings to really be drawn into the veggies and penetrates them better than without the brining, IMO.

When I cook catfish fillets, I let them sit in the collander with the jalapeno bits and salt covered for a few hours. But inevitably, when I roast them, I need to roast for about 10 minutes, drain and roast some more. Not sure if I get the liquid because my catfish is cheap or what but the final version of the catfish with the jalapeno spicy flavor is nothing short of fabulous. I don't eat catfish any other way now. Yum, yum, yum.

Sorry to make this so long but when I went looking on google, turns out there isn't much on this. I posted a pickled carrots recipe in other thread that I love for low fat, diet snacking and healthy too that involves dry brining first with minced jalapenos, then briefly boiling in vinegar and water and chilling in jars in the fridge. If you like spicy food, the salt will really enhance the jalapeno flavor, IMO. Search for "pickled carrots" and I bet it will pop up.

Annie 1992, my goodness! There's all the sage advice you need in a nutshell. My Confession: Swedish Fish. Yep, I eat the whole bag.

Lou, you're absolutely correct about being mindful of people's health and personal stories. But I did laugh when you wrote "We " Just move! " to get something else to eat."

My teenage daughter looked at me like a deer in the headlights when she heard she should be getting 60 minutes of exercise a day and queried about a membership to our local gym. I told her she had a year's membership for exercise waiting in her room if she would clean it:)

I'm enjoying the all the "tricks."

Cathy in SWPA

Elphaba, that sounds good. I usually clean and chop veggies after the market, so I think this would work well for me.

Oh gosh, we're not confessing, are we? I deep fry broccoli. I know, I know, but it's soooo good!

We make a big salad almost every night - with healthy stuff like beans, steamed veggies and tasty things like cheese, some nuts, avocados, etc. That fills you up so that you don't overeat your dinner.

Also, I developed a habit out of necessity - I like to cook enough of dinner to have leftovers to take for work lunches. But DH (and sometimes me) would raid the leftovers after he finished his first plate. So now I put out the dinner servings and immediately put the leftovers in the fridge. No more raiding!

Cathy:
I'm in NEPA but I hear you loud and clear.
I've noticed in the past decade or more the parents are doing ,
all the work around the house and outside.
The guys are " hanging out " with their buddies.
I did this myself but I had certain things to do first.
What is worst, the parents pickup after.
I've seen some bedrooms that look like a cyclone went thru.
No way !!!

I learned very young to keep my bedroom neat.
But I'm from another planet.
LOU