A-DOCTOR-IN-THE-HOUSE

Today started off the best way:  Oatmeal and egg whites with 1/3 sliced banana, blueberries, and a sprinkle of coconut.  Perfection.

After a long day at the hospital, I made a quick stop at the grocery because I was in desperate need of more peaches.  I must take FULL advantage of yummy summer produce and currently, I can’t get enough peaches.

Then this happened:

2 lbs of blueberries- which I am 99% sure will be gone in 2 days.

I was thinking about some ways that I have learned to healthify meals by swapping ingredients and I thought I would make a top 10 list for you.  So here it is!

Top 10 Swaps To Healthify Your Meals

1.  Pasta- Swap out pasta for spaghetti squash.  This amazing squash is full of mild flavored meat that when scraped with a fork, turns out to look just like spaghetti.  You can eat it with spaghetti sauce, veggies, or even some salt and pepper.  My favorite way to cook with it is to make a lasagna.  Scoop out all the meat and use the squash as your baking dish.  Layer sauce, veggies, ground turkey, and spaghetti squash until you fill up the squash.  Top with cheese and bake in the oven until ooey gooey.  It’s the perfect dinner for 2 because you each get your own lasagna!

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2.  Pancakes- Instead of using flour, make protein pancakes!! There are tons of variations on this recipe.  Mix in greek yogurt, some oatmeal for texture, or a mashed banana.  Delish!

3.  Chicken Fingers- Try this recipe asap:

2 large chicken breasts

2-3 egg whites

1 cup almond flour

1 tbs garlic powder

red pepper flakes to your desired spice

Mix almond flour, garlic powder and red pepper flakes in a large bowl.  Cut chicken breasts into strips.  Coat chicken in egg whites and dredge in flour mixture until covered.  Place on baking sheet and bake at 400F for 15-20 minutes until chicken is cooked through.

4.  Baking Flour for muffins, cookies, and breads- instead of using white flour, you can substitute oat flour and protein powder.  If you can’t find oat flour, just put oatmeal in a blender or food processor until it becomes a flour.  If the recipe called for 2 cups flour, I would do 1 1/2 cup oat flour and 2 scoops protein powder.

5.  Vegetable Oil- There are SO many incredibly healthy oils that add great flavor to your cooking.  My favorites include walnut oil, sesame oil, and coconut oil.  Experiment with different oils.  Especially the walnut oil- try that one for sure.

6.  Cheese- Instead of using lots of full fat cheese, just use a tablespoon or 2 of parmesan.  Parmesan is lower in fat and stronger in flavor!  So you don’t even need a lot of it to get that great taste.

7.  Eggs-  I’ve found that in most recipes that call for eggs, I can just use egg whites.  Skipping on the yolks cuts down on the fat in baked goods.  If you want some yolk in your life (I love egg yolks!) make 1 whole egg and 2 or 3 egg whites.  You still get the great taste, but you’re not eating 2 or 3 egg yolks.

8.  Ice Cream- If you’ve never made this soft-serve before, it will change your life.  Take very ripe bananas, peel and slice them, then into the freezer they go.  Once completely frozen, blend them up in a food processor or blender.  Add a little milk if you need to get things going.  The texture of this soft-serve is so creamy and tastes amazing.  The bananas make the best base for adding other flavors too!  Think peanut butter, cocoa powder, cinnamon, really anything!

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9.  French Fries- Sweet potato fries are the ultimate swap here.  Need I say more?  Simply slice up a sweet potato, toss in some olive oil and salt and pepper.  Then bake at 350-400F until nice and crispy (depending on your oven this can take 30 min+)

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10.  Salt- If you’re watching your salt intake, fresh herbs make the best swap.  They add a ton of flavor for few calories and no salt.  Another great option is Mrs. Dash salt-free.  I love the Caribbean Citrus flavor.

Question:

What are your healthy swaps?