I’ve set aside a tablespoon of flaxseed each day this week in a little container so I can sprinkle it onto foods throughout the day rather than douse one food with it. I’m hoping by next week to have worked myself up to two tablespoons each day. Here are some ideas to help you incorporate flaxseed into your daily routine, too:
Add flaxseed to foods you habitually eat. Foods like oatmeal, smoothies, soup, and yogurt, are perfect hosts. Since I’m a breakfast sandwich girl, I fried an egg for one, sprinkling flaxseed as it fried like I would pepper, and I didn’t taste the flaxseed at all. Soon it will be a habit and I won’t have to think about it. I’ll just do it.
Hide flaxseed in dark, moist dishes. Dishes that hide flaxseed the best usually have a darkly colored sauces or meat mixtures. No one tends to notice flaxseed when it's stirred into enchilada casserole, chicken parmesan, chili, beef stew, meatloaf or meatballs. For a 4-serving casserole, you could use two to four tablespoons. For a dish serving 6-8, use four to eight tablespoons. (Don’t worry, Johnnie: I won’t do it unless I tell you first! J)
Use it in baking. Substitute ground flaxseed for part of the flour in recipes for quick breads, muffins, rolls, bread, bagels, pancakes, and waffles. Try replacing ¼ to ½ cup of the flour with it, provided the recipe calls for 2 or more cups of flour.
Since flaxseed also contains oil, you may be able to reduce some of that in your recipe, too. Use 3 tablespoons ground flax seed for 1 tablespoon margarine, butter or cooking oil. Flax can be substituted for all or some of the fat, depending on the recipe. Note that baking with flax as a fat substitute will cause baked goods to brown more quickly.
As a substitute for eggs, combine 1 tablespoon ground flaxseed with 3 tablespoons water, left sitting for several minutes, for each egg that might be used in pancakes, muffins, and cookies. Note that this will result in a chewier version of the recipe, with less volume.
Since flaxseed also contains oil, you may be able to reduce some of that in your recipe, too. Use 3 tablespoons ground flax seed for 1 tablespoon margarine, butter or cooking oil. Flax can be substituted for all or some of the fat, depending on the recipe. Note that baking with flax as a fat substitute will cause baked goods to brown more quickly.
As a substitute for eggs, combine 1 tablespoon ground flaxseed with 3 tablespoons water, left sitting for several minutes, for each egg that might be used in pancakes, muffins, and cookies. Note that this will result in a chewier version of the recipe, with less volume.
On to the recipes...
No comments:
Post a Comment