Greek yogurt can be your best friend in the kitchen: It has a creamy, thick consistency that’s a perfect swap for some of the more calorie dense ingredients we find around our kitchens. Each 5.3 ounce container of nonfat to low fat plain Greek yogurt can range from approximately 80-100 calories. This puts a tablespoon of Greek yogurt at 8-10 calories, where other common ingredients are around 60 calories on the low end. Plus, Greek yogurt is a great source of protein, which are the building blocks for your muscles!
Any ingredient that is labeled creamy can often be replace by Greek yogurt. Go ahead and grab your mayonnaise, ranch dressing, sour cream, crème fraiche, and tzatziki from the fridge: You can 100% replace every single one of these items with Greek Yogurt. You won’t necessarily taste a difference and you may like it better as well as saving hundreds of calories.
Greek yogurt swaps can be found in every meal from breakfast parfaits and snacks to dressings for salads and even desserts.
Love those convenient veggie dips from the store? This recipe is so easy you won’t stop making it this summer. Dip raw veggies or use it to dress up any Mediterranean meal.
The Everything Dip
-1 cup plain Greek yogurt
-1 minced garlic clove
-1 TBSP minced fresh mint
-1 TBSP minced fresh dill
-juice from ½ of a lemon
-salt, pepper and lemon zest to taste
Mix it all together!
Greek Caesar Dressing
Swap in Greek yogurt for egg yolk, cutting the fat way down.
-3/4 cup low fat plain Greek yogurt
-juice from 1 lemon
-5 anchovies
-1 TBS olive oil
-1 chopped garlic clove
-1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
-1 tsp fresh or dried oregano
-salt and pepper to taste
Place all into food processor and process until smooth!
OMG It Can’t Be Carrot (Cup) Cake
This recipe is full of swaps that cut down the calorie dense carrot cake we all love, without compromising the taste.
Cupcake Ingredients
-1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour (adds more fiber)
-1 1/2 tsp baking soda
-3/4 tsp salt
-1 tsp cinnamon (or more – I love cinnamon)
-1/3 cup baking stevia
-1/2 cup raisins
-2/3 cup applesauce (this replaces the oil in original carrot cake recipes)
-2 tsp apple cider vinegar
-2 tsp pure vanilla extract
-1 packed cup shredded carrot
-1/3 cup chopped walnuts
-1/2 cup orange juice (add more if batter too thick)
Icing Ingredients
-4 oz light cream cheese
-1/2 cup nonfat greek yogurt
-2 tsp pure vanilla extract
-2 TBSP stevia
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Mix dry ingredients together. Mix wet ingredients together. Fold dry into wet ingredients then immediately place in cupcake liners. Bake for 18-20 minutes. Begin to watch after the 15 minute mark. Allow to cool and mix all icing ingredients together. Ice after cupcakes are cool.
These are just a few swaps that can be make with Greek yogurt. I challenge you to get creative. When something is creamy, use Greek yogurt, when something needs to be moist use Greek yogurt, when you want a delicious snack on its own – eat Greek yogurt!
Heather Dorak
Heather fell in love with the SPX style Pilates workout and experienced amazing results after just a short amount of time. Amazingly enough, this all happened at a time when she was in her last year of college at UCLA and considering her career options. It was a combined passion for health and fitness with her new found favorite workout that led Heather to open her first studio in Hollywood in 2006. At that time, she had a small goal in mind to introduce this amazing workout to the community. To Heather’s surprise, the phenomenon caught on very quickly, so much that she decided to expand her business and open three additional studios- Santa Monica, Venice and Brentwood.
When Heather is not fully involved with her studios, she love to run, dance, laugh, be with family and travel the world. Most days you can find Heather walking her dog on the beach, sipping on coffee at a local coffee shop, and/or drinking a local fresh cold pressed organic green juice. She loves supporting her community around her and being involved with them as much as possible.
Check out Heather on Social Media:
https://twitter.com/pilatesplatinum
https://www.facebook.com/Pilatesplatinum
https://instagram.com/heatherdorak/
