How to Convert a Recipe
Ingredient Changes
- Sugar- rapadura, sucanat, light muscovado, dark muscovado, raw honey, Grade-B
maple syrup, stevia, piloncillo, or coconut palm sugar. Piloncillo is available
at some mega-marts in the refrigerated produce cases by the jimaca or in the ethnic
food aisle with the spices. You could also check Mexican or Latin American grocers.
It runs about one dollar for a half-pound at the mega-mart. I buy coconut palm
sugar from the local Asian Market. I have heard that a product similar to piloncillo
is available in Indian Markets pressed into a flat disc instead of a cone.
- Powdered sugar - sucanat or rapadura pulsed through a coffee grinder.
- White flour- soaked whole wheat flour, soaked spelt flour, sprouted flour. Gluten-free
flours are usable if gluten isn't needed for the recipe. Gluten-free flour blends
plus xantham gum can substitute for white or wheat flour in any recipe. Coconut
flour can also be substituted for about 10% of the amount of flour called for in
many recipes. I typically use 1 tbs coconut flour plus enough flour to make one cup
for each cup of flour called for in a recipe.
- Shortening- Coconut oil, Spectrum brand shortening or palm oil. If being used
for a pie crust, lard does wonderfully.
- Margarine- butter or coconut oil. Kerry Gold, Natural by Nature or Smjor are good
brands of grass-fed butter.
- Olive Oil in cooking- since Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO) is not heat stable for
cooking, any recipe calling for heat can be changed to coconut oil, ghee, lard or
butter.
- Vegetable oil, canola oil- coconut oil, ghee or butter if heated, EVOO if not heated.
- Canned fruit in syrup- fresh fruit with a little honey and enough added fluid for
the recipe or fruit canned in water or its own juice.
- Evaporated milk- cream or coconut cream.
- Skim or 2% milk- whole milk, coconut milk if heated.
- Half and half- cream or coconut cream
- Soy milk- whole cow's milk, coconut milk, Blue Diamond Unsweetened Almond Breeze
or Pacific Rice Milk if casein intolerant.
- Nuts- crispy nuts of the same variety.
- Peanut butter- crispy nut butter, sunflower seed butter, or tahini.
- Water and bouillon cubes or canned stock- home-made chicken or beef stock.
- Tofu- when being used as a binding agent, substitute eggs (1/4 cup tofu = 1 egg),
sour cream, applesauce, cream cheese, mashed banana or squash puree. When cubed,
marinated and used as a meat substitute, use queso fresco (an unmelting, bland cheese)
or squares of polenta in equal amounts.
- Flavored yogurt- plain yogurt with 1/2 tbs all-fruit preserves.
- Vanilla yogurt- plain yogurt with vanilla extract added.
- Cornstarch- arrowroot powder, non-GMO cornstarch or sprouted wheat flour. If thickening
soups, you can use arrowroot or leftover mashed potatoes instead.
- Alcohol- white wine can be replaced with apple or white grape juice with a splash
of vinegar. Red wine can be replaced with red grape juice with a splash of vinegar.
- Cream cheese- yogurt or kefir cheese, NT cream cheese.
- Canned beans- soak dry beans overnight, bring to a boil, and boil 20-60 minutes
or cook on low in a crockpot 2-10 hours. Drain.
- Iodized salt or "table salt"- Real salt or Celtic sea salt.
- Cocoa powder- Cacao nibs or ground cacao nibs. Use organic, dutch-process cocoa
if cacao isn't available.
- Soft drinks- fresh-squeezed juice with naturally carbonated water (such as Appolinaris),
water kefir, NT ginger ale, kvass, or other fermented drink.
- Cheese- raw milk cheese, if not heated. If heated, check the temperature of the
final dish- if under 130, use raw. If over 130, I use organic but not raw cheese.
If casein free, Road's End Organics makes a cheese sauce substitute using nutritional
yeast.
- Mayo- homemade mayo from NT's recipe. Duke's does make a sugar-free mayo, but it's
still soybean oil. NT recommends Del Louis Fils mayo.
- Bottled juice- fresh squeezed juice.
- Pasta - brown rice pasta, spaghetti squash. If you're looking for something to
replace noodles to go under sauce, you can also use polenta or French-cut green beans.
- Egg noodles- soaked flour pasta.
- Salad dressing- make your own with EVOO.
- Sausage- homemade turkey or pork sausage. See replacement listings below for recipes.
- Lunch meat- home-cooked meats, thinly sliced or HFS nitrate-free varieties such
as Wellshire Farms or Applegate Farms.
Ingredient Choices
- Avoid products with soybean anything in the ingredient list.
- Make your own sauces from scratch instead of using bottled products.
- Avoid products with corn syrup, artificial dyes or msg (sometimes listed as "natural
flavorings or spices"). The Truth in Labeling Website has excellent information on
this subject.
- Dairy- use raw dairy if unheated. If heated until the temperature of the final
dish is above 160, I generally use grass-fed and pasteurized. Avoid ultra-pasteurized
if at all possible.
- If purchasing pasteurized dairy, look for "pasteurized" and not "ultra-pasteurized."
This is most likely found in a health food store.
- If a recipe calls for white sugar, you can reduce the amount by one-third to a
half and use rapadura or muscovado. If making a syrup or liquid dish, reduce the
volume to one-fourth and use Grade- B maple syrup if cooked or raw honey if uncooked.
And use slightly less fluid. For example, a recipe calling for 1 cup white sugar
in baked goods, I would use 1/2 cup muscovado. For a syrup recipe calling for 1 cup
white sugar, I would use 1/4 cup Grade-B maple syrup or honey. Then I would reduce
the water called for in the recipe by 2 tbs. It's difficult to impossible to replace
a solid sweetener with a liquid sweetener in a baked item, since the solid sweetener
lends structure to the final product.
- If you don't have a grain mill, blender batter recipes are good for breakfast.
Sue Gregg has some of these.
My steps for converting a family favorite recipe
- The first thing I change in a recipe is the sweetener. This is the easiest substitution
to make. First change the type of sweetener used, then gradually reduce the amount
used.
- Change the fat and add more fat if needed.
- Change the cooking vessel if necessary.
- Remove canned goods, boxed or packaged items. Substitute NT-friendly homemade ingredients.
- Change the flour and dairy if needed.
- Learn how to soak the flour if needed.
- Add additional dairy or vegetables.
Hints and Tips
- Go slowly. Change one thing or acquire one new skill at a time. Doing too much
at one time will only overwhelm you. Converting family favorites can be a good way
to introduce your hesitant family to a new way of eating instead of introducing new
recipes.
- In picking recipes to try to convert, first look at the grains. If it's possible
to convert them, then look at packaged ingredients needing to be made from scratch,
then sweeteners. Followed by other substitutions listed above. Grain-less recipes
are the easiest to convert.
Easy changes to make or foods to add
- Changing from iodized salt to Real Salt or Celtic sea salt.
- Making kefir from grains. Makes wonderful smoothies.
- Changing dairy if you're in a friendly state .
- Making soup.
- Changing from margarine and canola oil to butter, lard and coconut oil.
- Changing from cooking with EVOO to butter,lard and coconut oil. Use EVOO in unheated
dishes only.
- Moving to organic produce, if available and within your budget. If not, changing
to the produce least likely to be contaminated. Peel any non-organic produce, and
wash all unpeeled produce to remove any wax.
- Making homemade stock.
- Changing to pastured/free range eggs.
- Changing snacks to friendlier fare such as fruit, yogurt, or veggies with dip.
Also see the 'kids snacks' page and the snacks and finger foods on the main page.
- Going to cooked grains such as soaked oatmeal or eggs/bacon/pancakes for breakfast
and eliminating boxed cereals.
- Soaking rice.
- Eliminating packaged and processed foods.
- Locating organic/free-range beef and chicken from a local farmer, if available.
When I buy a quarter of a cow at one time and place it in my freezer, the price
per pound drops incredibly, and you get ground beef, steak, roasts, and ribs. You
get to choose the cuts and packaging, as well.
Tropical Traditions- enter referral code 492524 when you place your order and receive
the book "Virgin Coconut Oil: How it has changed people's lives and how it can change
yours!” for free!
