Canned Pumpkin When recipes call for one cup butter: use one cup canned, unsweetened pumpkin. At about 80 calories per cup, this superfood gives you more potassium than bananas or sweet potatoes and will make your muffins and cakes taste great! For those of you that want to experiment first: try a half butter/half pumpkin combination.
Carob Powder: While the benefits of dark chocolate are wellknown, for those looking to increase the
nutritional value when baking with chocolate, consider Carob. It's actually a legume and contains B
Vitamins, is loaded with trace minerals and 3 times more calcium than chocolate. It's also caffeinefree in addition to being low in calories and fat. This healthy alternative is showing promising research in lowering cholesterol http://researchmedicalcenter.com/hl/?/2010816622/Carob
Tofu Same as apple sauce, so you can replace half the fat in your recipe with soft tofu. Made from soybeans and containing phytonutrients, tofu is popularly used as a meat/poultry alternative. Most store bought tofu has not been fermented. For the add-itional benefits of fermentation, try finding fermented tofu at specialty health food stores or Asian markets. I also love using a blend of tofu and cashews as a vegan cheese alter-native to spinach dips and other veggie dishes, which I will get into more detail later.