Tessie’s Kitchen Basics: Replacing Butter in Baked Goodies!

After writing the article on the difference between butter and margarine, I got a few emails with a great question. To sum it up, the question was “Ah! If everything’s ‘bad for you’, how can I feed my family without either butter or margarine!?” Well, I can see why a few of you leapt in that direction. The first thing I want to mention, is that using small amounts of butter or margarine is part of life. It’s ok to use these products in moderation, you just don’t want to drown your food in them! That being said, there are some options to help you avoid using those particular lipids as often, and the best ones are in the baked goods category.

Replacing butter/margarine (henceforth “butter”, for ease of conversation) in your day to day baking routine isn’t actually all that difficult, but it will take some getting used to. Within the recent years some brave souls have taken on a vegan lifestyle (using no animal products whatsoever) which has lead to broader thinking when it comes to butter replacements. There are lots of work-arounds, but be warned, nothing is quite the same. If you can get past the fact that your food “isn’t the same, but still tastes good”, butter replacement may be right for you!

When it comes to baking, one of the places we use butter most, I must say, replacing it can take some practice! You’ll probably need to experiment with these ideas, because the replacement ratio is not always 1 to 1. You’ll need to use some common kitchen sense to achieve the correct texture in your batters before baking. There are several options, and you may want to start using different ones depending on what you are making!

The answer is pureed fruit! It gives your more dense baked goods (brownies, cakes, etc) a nice texture and weight. Tons of options available to you here, but remember, fruit is sweet, so just by using it, your goodies will be sweeter than normal. You may want to reduce the sugar you add just slightly.

My mother started using applesauce in her baking years ago. It’s great for brownies, and makes them cakey. You can also use pureed pumpkin, prunes, banana or even pineapple. I suggest you think a bit ahead when using fruit in baked goods, and consider the way that the flavors will blend. Remember, fruit is NOT like butter, and you will taste it in your dishes! Banana and pineapple add those light tropical flavors, great for things like pineapple upside down cake! Prunes are good with strong flavors like dark chocolates, because they are slightly masked. I’ve found applesauce to be the lightest in flavor, but can add a lot of sweetness depending on what you use.

You can make your own puree if you like. Prunes do work well in many scenarios, and they keep in your pantry longer than fresh fruit does, so they are great to keep on hand. Easy to do too! Simply use ½ cup pitted prunes and ¼ hot water, and blend in your Magic Bullet . I use banana often, because the flavor is slightly less powerful than prunes. I used banana in these vegan brownies, which came out SO delicious, Rick even requested that I make them again! I didn’t use any water when I made that puree, I just smashed up a banana!! It all comes back to getting the desired consistency in your batter.

If you don’t feel like making your own puree, or messing around too much with figuring out measurements, try Sunsweet Lighter Bake. You should be able to find it in your baked goods aisle, usually somewhere around the canned pumpkin, fluff and shortening. It’s been around for quite a while now, my mother has been using it for years. It replaces butter or oil in baked goods. It is 100% fat and cholesterol free. This product makes baked goods cakey and does not have an overwhelming flavor. It’s made with both prunes and apples. I think it’s the apples that tame the power of the flavor a bit.

I appreciate the addition of fruit to my baked goods, because it adds some fiber and that makes me feel better about whatever I’m baking. However, as an alternative, you can use sour cream or yogurt as a substitution as well. I play with yogurt a lot, since there are so many flavors, which I think is really fun! Sour cream I don’t use as frequently, but my grandmother loves to use it in her coffee cakes.

Out of all of this, I guess the thing to remember is that you don’t need to strictly follow a recipe, but when you add fruit or yogurt to cut out butter, the texture and flavor of your dish will be slightly different. I’ve NEVER found it different in a BAD way, but different in a surprising way. Sometimes, like the vegan brownies, it’s SO surprising, your family will ask for more right away! Go ahead and experiment. If you have picky eaters in the house, I suggest starting to use these substitutions in recipes that aren’t family favorites. A change to a favorite can cause an uproar, and make you believe that they didn’t like the flavor, when really they are just upset that their favorite “doesn’t taste normal”. That makes a lot of sense. So find a cake or maybe blonde brownie recipe you haven’t tried before (seriously, this one’s killer!) and try the method that way. No need to inform the fam of your plot to replace their lipids, they’ll just think it’s a brand new recipe! You’ll know the real secret is that dessert just got more healthy!

Which is Better for you? Butter or Margarine?

I’ve been asked this question so many times, it’s WELL worth writing an article on! I almost always use the term “butter” universally when I write recipes, I usually specify “Imperial” if I’ve found it to be the better choice in that application, but you really can use whatever you want! The difference between butter and margarine… in some ways, they are amazingly different, in other ways… gosh, so little difference it hardly even matters! Let’s start with the basics.

What Are Butter and Margarine Made of?
Well, here lies the most major difference between the two. Butter is made of natural products. It is very basically beaten cream (milk solids) and salt. Almost all butter is made of cows milk, but it can absolutely be made with other types of milk like sheep, buffalo, goat or other more exotic animals like camel and yak. In the US, butter is required to have a butterfat content of 80% to call itself “butter”. There are premium butters on the market with more, but c’mon! Who needs MORE fat!?

Margarine is a man made product. It is made from vegetable oil, most often corn or soybean oil. It was originally developed from beef suet (fat) flavored with milk. Sounds aweful, huh? Well, I’m not sure it’s gotten more appealing over the years. We now make margarine out of hydrogenated oils. At room temperature, vegetable oils are liquid, as you know. The process of hydrogenation came about in the early 1900’s and it is what makes the oil “hard”.

But it’s not JUST vegetable oil. Margarine is often flavored with synthetically produced compounds. It also contains artificial colors and preservatives. The “extras” aren’t always clear, so some folks lean more toward the use of butter just because they know for sure what’s in it!

Nutrition: The Info You Really Want
First, let’s take a look at butter. There’s no doubt that it’s not the healthiest thing in the world for your body. Butter naturally contains two known cholesterol raising ingredients, dietary cholesterol and saturated fat. Dietary cholesterol is only found in animal products, so margarine lacks it. Now, as you know cholesterol is a major factor in a lot of people’s diets, so if you have someone in your family with cholesterol or heart troubles, this is something worth considering. It is now widely thought that butter’s biggest downfall is its high level of saturated fat.

Saturated fats are solid at room temperature. They are currently thought to be a major contributor to heart disease risk (heart disease is the number one killer of women in the US). While it is true that eating saturated fats will raise your good cholesterol (HDL), it will tremendously raise your bad cholesterol (LDL) when eaten in excess. In spite of the fact that your good cholesterol may rise slightly with the use of butter, it is not thought that the tradeoff is worth it, as the bad cholesterol goes up faster. To put it into terms that are easy to understand, a healthy range of saturated fat is about 10-15 grams per day. There are over 7 grams of saturated fat in only 1 tablespoon of butter! Yikes! It is reccomended that if you want to stick with butter, to find whipped butter, which just has the volume pumped up with air, it helps you consume a little less each time you use it.

So, what about margarine? Well, margarine is also full of artery clogging fats. The major difference with the fats however, is margarines trans fat levels. Trans fats are created in the hydrogenation process, which is when hydrogen is added to the oil to make it more solid and less likely to spoil quickly. This process is what makes the vegetable oil in margarine solid at room temperature, so it’s essential to the production of the product. Trans fats have been shown over and over to increase bad cholesterol (LDL) in a similar manner to saturated fats, however, at the same time they lower the good cholesterol (HDL), which doesn’t happen with butter. Currently, the government is discussing trans fats in our diets, but I do not believe there are any standards set for them yet. One tablespoon of stick margarine contains 3 grams of trans fats and 2 grams of saturated fat. That’s actually a whole lot of fat… Margarine has been accused of lowering the quality of breast milk and decreasing the immune response. It’s a little harder to find solid info on these things, but there have been studies about the amount of trans fats found in breast milk. One study compares Canadian mothers breast milk to Chinese women’s breast milk. Overall, Canadians (like Americans) consume more trans fats than Chinese women, and they have 33% more trans fats in their breast milk to show for it. As far as our immune system is concerned, there are articles written by doctors out there, but as of yet, no major studies to report.
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Natural Flea Remedies

doginbathCharlie had fleas this time last year. It was aweful. She was miserable, and we were kinda grossed out. lol! If you happen to notice a flea or two on your dog, you should immediately attempt to eradicate them. Flea problems can get out of control nearly overnight, so if you’ve only noticed a couple of them, go ahead and treat the problem naturally. If you have an all out infestation, I’m sorry to say that you may have to turn to chemicals, but catching it in the early stages can save you time and the guilt of dumping your animal in a nasty chemical bath.

One quick thing I’d like to mention is Comfortis. It’s a monthly pill for flea control, and I must say, I’ve NEVER seen ANYTHING work so well IN MY LIFE! To avoid going through all this again, I put Charlie on it last year. The stuff is amazing. You must get it from your vet, and it’s a little pricey, but many vets will sell you one pill at a time which can help if your finances won’t allow you to drop a hundred bucks on a six month supply. I really reccomend bringing your dog outside when you give it to them the first time if they currently have fleas. I’m not even joking, fleas will start jumping and falling off them within minutes. It’s amazing- and it’s FDA approved!

Vacuum EVERYTHING in your house!! Do it once per day until your flea problem has been resolved. Remember when vacuuming furniture to remove all the cushions and get in all the crevasses (check for cash first!!) EVERY time you vacuum, you need to know that you probably sucked up fleas and eggs, so be certain that you empty out your vacuum bag or container. Be sure to do this outside of your home, and put what you collect into some kind of sealable bag and throw it away outdoors. When you vacuum, you’ll pick up fleas and eggs, but not larvae. (EW!) There are “non-chemical” things you can put down on your carpet like diatomaceous earth or borate based carpet cleaners, however, you should see warnings on the bottom of this article before you use it!

If you must wash your furniture, try using Dawn dish washing liquid. Test it in a discrete place first, but it shouldn’t harm your furniture. This is a very difficult task due to the fact that couch cushions are big, etc. You might want to use your bath tub for the job. Use water as hot as you can tolerate to do the job. I also used the tub to wash Charlies doggie bed in, because the core of it is foam. I wouldn’t recommend putting foam-core items (like dog beds or cushions) into your washer.
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Easy, Cheap and Chemical Free Blood Stain Removal (Yikes!)

meattenderizerThis tip is really good, and I’ve hesitated to post it… but I think everyone here can deal with the subject matter.

Ok, blood stains. They happen to everyone. Either your kid scrapes himself falling off his bike, your husband cuts the hell out of himself while working on some project (common in my house) or… ya get an unexpected/early visit from everyone’s “favorite Aunt”… it happens. For years (out of embarrassment) I was throwing panties away and wasting cash on new ones regularly. My mom caught me tossing a pair of awesome panties on a visit home from college, and she imparted this AMAZING tip to me:

Put the stained item in some cool water (to help it from setting) and then sprinkle some powdered meat tenderizer on the stain and rub. The enzymes work on the blood quickly. Not even joking, it’ll come right out in front of your eyes. Now just toss them in the wash. I keep some meat tenderizer in my laundry room at all times. It’s cheap, and it WORKS. If you’re someone like me who doesn’t have kids (and therefore is not in constant need of heavy stain treatments), this is all I have to buy to manage stains. It saves me TONS of cash vs buying the chemical stuff from the laundry isle because one container lasts me a couple of years. Besides that, I hate the idea of applying EXTRA chemicals to the crotch of my panties. Some people with delecate systems may find themselves suffering from yeast infections frequently because of chemicals in the wash. This will help keep your grocery bill down, and help solve a problem in a more natural way.

Chicken and Black Bean Enchiladas with Creamy Green Chilli Sauce

I made up this recipe after finding a different one for “white enchiladas” on Food Gawker. I mostly use recipes as a jumping off point, it’s a rare day when I follow one to the letter. There’s almost always some ingredient Rick doesn’t like, or something I don’t have… if you find yourself in the same boat, don’t be afraid to step outside of the recipe and do your own thing!! That’s how we get NEW recipes! Inspiration is a wonderful thing, but feeling like you always have to follow a recipe to the letter takes all the creativity out of the kitchen. So what if you screw something up, or if it “could have tasted better”? The only real way to learn to be a GREAT cook is trial and error. So girls! GO for it!

Oh, but one quick note. When baking, it’s best to follow the recipe with regard to the dry ingredients to the letter, and you SHOULD measure. Baking is a nice word for “chemistry”. When it comes to the flour and leavening ingredients, don’t screw around of you might just make a new recipe for hockey pucks! When it comes to the rest of baking, I think you should be bold. For instance, I use this one recipe for banana bread to remind me of the amounts of dry ingredients that go into the mix, but I often put pumpkin in there…or citrus and cranberries, or whatever.

Chicken and Black Bean Enchiladas with Creamy Green Chilli Sauce

•1 chix breast
•6-8 small flour torillas
•1 can refried black beans
•3-5 tbs sour cream (for the sauce) 2tbs (for the meat)
•salsa
•green chilis
•shredded cheese
•garlic powder
•onion powder
•salt

Preparing the Chicken
This is so easy. I like to have shredded chicken in my enchiladas, so the best way to do that is to toss a chicken breast into your crock pot with a some water and some salsa. Cook for on low for at least 4 hours. If you have to leave it for longer, be certain that the chicken is completely submerged in liquid and cover tightly.

After it’s cooked, remove it and use two forks to “pull” the meat (this is how you make “pulled pork” as well).

Making the Sauce
Toss the sour cream, chilies, a bit of the juice from the crock pot and a little more salsa in your Magic Bullet. When I put the salsa in at this point, I usually use a fork to keep too much of the liquid from going in. I don’t like the sauce runny, but of course, you do need some liquid in order to blend. I’m not giving you measurements, it’s important to eye this and make it the way YOU want it!

I make enough sauce to put a little on the bottom of my pan, and then spread over the top. Your enchiladas don’t need to be swimming in sauce. (If you have any left over, I like to combine it with any refried beans I have left and make dip).

Preparing the Enchiladas
This is also super easy. Combine the chicken, beans, sour cream, a heaping handful of cheese and the spices in a bowl.

Using your fingers, fleck a little water on each tortilla and put them in a stack on a microwavable plate. Cover with a paper towel and heat for about 40-50 seconds. The tortillas should be soft and pliable. They make “tortilla warmers” to do this job, but I will probably never drop the cash on one because this works just as well!

Spoon a small amount of the meat mixture into each tortilla and roll up.

Pour some sauce on the bottom of your pan, just to cover (this helps to keep things from sticking). Lay the enchiladas in the pan as you roll them. Pour sauce over the enchiladas, and as an extra treat, put some shredded cheese on the top!

Cover with foil and bake in a 350° oven for 30-35 minutes. Everything should be gloriously bubbly.

Just a few side notes here. I’ve mentioned before that I stopped using regular refried beans in favor of black bean refried beans. They contain less calories and a tremendous amount of fiber. Personally, I even like the flavor better. As for the cheese, use whatever you like! I used shredded cheddar in the meat, but ran out when it was time to add some to the top, so I just used colby-jack slices I had in the fridge. It’s all the same in your tummy! I used small flour tortillas and only one chicken breast because there are only two of us eating. Using one chicken breast and small tortillas, I get 6 enchiladas, and always have 2 left over to send to work with Rick for his lunch. You can up the ante if you want to make more. It’s very easy to double or even triple this without spending much money, this is one of the cheapest dishes I make!

The last really awesome thing about this recipe is that it’s so easy to freeze. It takes only a few minutes to prepare, and you can freeze it with or without the sauce. When I freeze these, I do it without the sauce and make that fresh when it’s time to cook. I like the fresh sauce, but being realistic with you for a moment… I do not have a lot of space in my freezer, so I may put enchiladas in a few different zippy bags and tuck them in small spaces! My grandmother freezes her enchiladas right in the pan she plans to bake them in, which I don’t have the space to do. Whatever you do is fine, but it’ll make a busy night easier if you have something already prepared in your freezer!

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  • Tessie Gilmour

  • Welcome! If you are passionate about green living, interested in cooking or just looking for general household tips, you're in the right place!
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    As for me, I'm completely devoted to my husband. I'm a die-hard, card-carrying member of Red Sox Nation, and a rock-chick to the core.