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Not so fast: Is that decadent brownie really full of beans?

April 1, 2007 12:35 am

I'M GENERALLY an hon- est person, but April Fools' Day seems the holiday to confess some of the times I've fooled people into eating healthier foods. They're so delicious that no one guessed these foods were different than they appeared.

My husband has been the unwitting but satisfied victim of many meal make-overs. Most of the time, he doesn't notice and even remarks how good the food is that night.

Usually, I tweak ingredients to sneak in more fiber or vitamins, or maybe reduce saturated fat or sugar a little bit. But occasionally, the experiments have been a little bizarre.

Once, my husband, Rolando, was too busy watching a soccer game on TV in the living room to notice what I was doing in the adjacent kitchen until I turned on the blender.

"What are you making, honey?" he called.

"Dessert," I said. "A banana flip."

We'd had these shakes made from banana, milk and honey before. But little did he know, I had just read research showing that soy products and psyllium fiber, found in Metamucil, lowered cholesterol.

I've always hated gritty Metamucil, and said as much to a scientist I had interviewed earlier that day. That's when the scientist, Dr. David Jenkins of the University of Toronto, gave me his recipe for a banana mousse shake.

Skeptically, I tried blending 1 cup of soy milk, a small banana, 3 ice cubes and 2 rounded tablespoons of Metamucil. I sprinkled on ground cinnamon.

Surprisingly, the shake was light and smooth as silk.

"This is great, honey," Rolando pronounced after taking a sip. "How come you don't make it more often?"

He drained the glass in one long gulp before I had a chance to tell him it had 14 grams of fiber. This didn't have any harmful effects, but I did feel a little sheepish telling him after the fact.

Another time, I was the fool. A co-worker shared a plate of home-baked brownies. I ate three before she told me that she had substituted pureed black beans for all but 3 tablespoons of flour and 1 tablespoon of oil in the recipe.

The beans added protein, fiber, folic acid and minerals while drastically cutting calories.

Surprisingly, I couldn't taste the beans at all--probably because she left all the chocolate, sugar and walnuts in the recipe.

My favorite creamy salad dressing also fools people because it's actually made with plain yogurt rather than cream.

I buy Green Goddess herb seasoning (a dry mix of green onion, sugar, basil, celery flakes, minced garlic and dill) and mix it with a little water and plain yogurt.

It tastes divine on a summer salad of fresh tomatoes and Romaine lettuce, and it also makes a great dip. It's lower in calories and higher in protein and calcium than regular dressing.

One night, at the last minute, I realized we had forgotten to buy ground beef or ground turkey for our taco dinner. Instead, I sauteed a package of frozen soy crumbles with some chopped onion and taco seasoning. Voilà!

It was ready in two minutes flat, delicious, and lower in grease and calories than meat.

This time, I warned Rolando that the tacos had soy before I served them, but he loved them anyway.

I hadn't heard of Nutella until my high school French teacher brought some to class one day. Then I wondered where it had been my whole life.

This buttery chocolate-hazelnut spread is deliciously addictive on bread, crackers or apple slices. It's also loaded with sugar and trans fat, although I read that the European version doesn't use trans fat.

Instead of buying plane tickets, you can make your own healthier chocolate-hazelnut butter.

Take 2 cups of shelled hazelnuts, toast them on a cookie pan in the oven for 10 or 15 minutes, and then add them to the blender with cup of powdered sugar and cup of cocoa. Blend until smooth, then spread on foods. Store unused spread in the refrigerator for up to three months.

It's not a low-calorie food, but it has less sugar than Nutella. I actually like it better, as it has a darker chocolate flavor, not overly sweet. One of life's luxuries for me is a variation on the classic PBJ: a sandwich with chocolate-hazelnut spread and sliced bananas.

Happy fooling!

Jennifer Motl welcomes reader questions via her Web site, brighteating.com, or mailed to Nutrition, The Free Lance-Star, 616 Amelia St., Fredericksburg, Va. 22401.