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Fun Family Recipes & Tips
Food doesn’t have to be high in fat to be interesting and delicious. Get the whole
family to help slice, dice, and learn how to put fat and calories on the kitchen chopping
block. You’d be surprised how easy heart healthy cooking and snacking can be.
Scroll down this page to learn how you can make healthy snacks for children; to learn
how to substitute lower-fat and lower-calorie foods; and for links to nutritious recipes
for kids that can help make your meals healthy but still tasty.
Healthy Family Snacks
• Put sliced apples, berries, or whole-grain cereal on top of low-fat plain yogurt
• Put a slice of low-fat or fat-free cheese on whole-grain crackers
• Make a whole-wheat pita pocket with hummus, lettuce, tomato, and cucumber
• Pop some low-fat popcorn
• Microwave or toast a soft tortilla with low-fat cheese, sliced peppers, and
mushrooms to make a mini-burrito or quesadilla
• Blend low-fat milk with a banana or strawberries and some ice for a smoothie
Heart Healthy Cooking Tips
• Cook with low-fat methods such as baking, broiling, boiling, or microwaving rather
than frying
• Choose low-fat or fat-free dairy products, salad dressings, mayonnaise, and other
condiments
• Serve fruit, instead of cookies or ice cream, for dessert
• Add salsa to baked potatoes, instead of butter or sour cream
• Eat fruits canned in their own juice instead of syrup
• Remove skin from poultry and discard before cooking
• Cool soups and gravies and skim off fat before reheating to serve
• Use the microwave because it’s fast and adds no fat or calories
Healthy Baking and Cooking Substitutions
Instead of: Substitute:
1 cup cream 1 cup evaporated fat-free milk
1 cup butter, margarine, or oil 1/2 cup apple butter or applesauce
1 egg 2 egg whites or 1/4 cup egg substitute
Pastry dough Graham cracker crumb crust
Butter, margarine, or Cooking spray, chicken broth, or a
vegetable oil for sautéing small amount of olive oil
Bacon Lean turkey bacon
Ground beef Extra lean ground beef or ground turkey breast
Sour cream Fat-free sour cream
1 cup chocolate chips 1/4 - 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
1 cup sugar 3/4 cup sugar (this works with nearly
everything except yeast breads)
1 cup mayonnaise 1 cup reduced-fat or fat-free mayonnaise
1 cup whole milk 1 cup fat-free milk
1 cup cream cheese 1/2 cup ricotta cheese pureed with
1/2 cup fat-free cream cheese
Oil and vinegar dressing with 1 part olive oil + 1 part vinegar (preferably a
3 parts oil to 1 part vinegar flavored vinegar, such as balsamic) + 1 part
orange juice
Unsweetened baking chocolate 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
(1 ounce) + 1 tablespoon vegetable oil or margarine
NOTE: Substitute the ingredients in YOUR own favorite recipes to lower the amounts
of fat, added sugar, and calories.
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