Helpful Hints To Tweaking a Recipe ....

Let's face it, dieting and cutting fats, calories and carbs have become a way of life for most of us, yet at times, we find ourselves cooking what we were accustom to growing up, in which case, are usually recipes that our mothers cooked or recipes handed down from family members and even if they weren't exactly the healthiest way to prepare the food, we still love them.

I thought this blog would be an informative way to illustrate how I go about tweaking a recipe to make it conform to the constraints of most our diets, mine included.  :D

First of all, I am going to use a recipe that I found on Paula Deen's website.  I love Paula Deen!  She is a good southern girl with a warm smile and great sense of humor, but to my dismay, I just can't eat food that contains bacon fats, tons of butter and shortening!  Lord help me, I would be dead if I cooked like that!  So here we go ... a recipe of Paula's that I tweaked and experimented with in my own kitchen.  Glenn and I were pleasantly surprised at how good it turned out.  And btw, tweaking recipes can become second nature for you as it has for me just by experimenting and knowing what products to use.  ;-)

Here is the recipe as I found it from Paula Deen's website.  I posted my tweaks beside the original ingredients and added directions following Paula's:

Country Style Fried Cabbage

Servings: 6 servings
Prep Time: 20 min
Cook Time: 8 to 10 min
Difficulty: Easy


Ingredients
1 small head green cabbage, shredded
3 tablespoons bacon fat
  (6 strips of turkey bacon cooked till crispy and set aside. Use the small amount of grease rendered from the turkey bacon and add 1 tablespoon of EVOO along with 4 ounces of filtered water)
2 teaspoons red pepper flakes

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Wash cabbage. For shredding begin by cutting cabbage into quarters. Cut by making thin slices across the cut sides of the cabbage. Discard core and any tough ribs. Heat bacon fat in a large cast iron Dutch oven. Add cabbage and stir just until glistening. Lower heat and add pepper flakes, salt and pepper to taste and continue cooking and turning until cabbage is just tender.
Notes from the Paula Deen Test Kitchen: A fast and delicious side dish to your St. Patrick’s Day cornbeef recipes. We also loved it with 4 slices of bacon, cooked crisp and crumbled over the top before serving.

Follow Paula's directions for washing and shredding the cabbage then begin these preparations;

Cook 6 slices of turkey bacon in a large non-stick skillet until crispy.  Allow to cool and then crumble into small pieces.  After adding the EVOO to your same skillet that you cooked the turkey bacon in, add the shredded cabbage, 4 ounces of filtered water and the crushed red pepper flakes.  Set the heat to medium and stir with a large wooden spoon turning the cabbage over from the bottom of the skillet allowing the oils to coat all of the cabbage.  Turn down the heat to simmer and put a tight fitting lid on.  Continue simmering and turn the cabbage periodically until it is well steamed and tender.  Add the crispy turkey bacon pieces blending them in evenly. ~

I served this with my tweaked southern cornbread recipe, fresh green onion, vine ripe sliced tomatoes, and a side bowl of plain (no pork fat added) great northern beans with fresh hot peppers chopped and added to them.

A very southern meal, without the pork fat, and no shortening or bacon drippings, not even in my cornbread.  ;-)

Comments and questions are encouraged.  :)