White Beans

One of the reasons I haven't been posting as much lately is because I don't know how appetizing a lot of the food we've been eating around here would seem to most. We've been working our bodies a bit more than normal and thinking more about what we put back in them. But to keep track of what my favorites have been, I'm going to post some of them anyway.
One of my favorite healthier food tricks is replacing oil/butter with beans for baking. I know many have heard of substituting applesauce for oil, but we get plenty of apples in our diet and I love the protein/fiber the beans add.  Once a month I cook up a couple pounds of small white beans and make liquid and solid oil replacements.

*Cook beans according to package instructions (I try to get them a bit softer than you'd normally have them to eat). I use my electric pressure cooker and use no seasoning. When done rinse and drain.
*The whole beans can be used as a 1:1 substitute for solid oils like shortenings and softened butter. So I measure out commonly used amounts into small baggies and freeze them. For example, my chocolate chip cookie recipe uses 1/2 c. beans, so I pre-portion several 1/2 c. and a few 1/3 c.
*Take the rest of the beans and puree them with enough water to get an oil consistency. This puree can be used 1:1 for oil or melted butter.  I then measure this puree into baggies for freezing as well.  My zucchini muffins take 1 c., oatmeal-wheat pancakes take 1/6-1/3 c., brownies will take 1/4-1/2c.
*Make sure to clearly label each baggie with the amount inside.  I keep them in an ice-cube box in my freezer. When you need to use them, just thaw and use as recipe directs.
*Note: some things like olive oil have such a distinctive taste you may want to only do a partial substitution, also, if you're making butter cookies or shortbread where you really need the full-butter taste, stick with the butter.
I know it sounds strange, but really if you try it in a dessert I would bet you won't even notice.