The New Year brings with it many well-intentioned resolutions that for many of us usually involve a pledge to lose a few pounds. Our focus at Glutenfreeda.com is the creation of great tasting gluten-free recipes that are gourmet in nature. Three things distinguish gourmet from every day cooking: ingredients, technique and presentation. Velvety rich desserts, heavenly creamy pastas and smooth, silky sauces all get their luxurious flavors and textures from butter and cream.

Perhaps you’ve enjoyed a meal at a great restaurant and wondered how the chef achieves those mouth-watering results. The answer is butter and cream. Chances are the chef begins the preparation of your meal with butter, adds cream and then finishes with butter.

I asked a friend of mine who recently graduated from the Cordon Bleu Culinary Institute in Paris to share with me the single most important thing he learned at the Institute. He replied, "If whatever you are making doesn’t taste just right, add more butter. If it’s still not quite there, add a little cream. Taste again, and If it’s still just shy of perfect, add more butter". Sadly, to the heart conscious and low-fat eaters, this is true; fat makes everything taste better.

Having said that, I’d like to offer a few ideas that will enable you to enjoy the rich recipes in our archives instead of avoiding them because they call for butter or cream. Take note that substitutes will produce less than nirvana results, but if you already eat low-fat, we’re sure you’ll be delighted.

First, let’s talk about butter. Unless otherwise stated, when our recipes call for butter, we are referring to unsalted butter. Unsalted butter adds so much to food, that our first suggestion for cutting fat would be to use unsalted butter, but cut the amount in half or less.

We strongly urge you not to substitute butter with margarine or heaven forbid, ‘I can’t believe it’s not butter’, because we CAN believe it’s not butter! These substitutions will compromise your meal’s flavor, instead, substitute with a little olive oil or vegetable oil, depending on what you are making.

Cream can be substituted with low-fat milk, soy milk products or in some recipes, chicken stock. We always use homemade stocks and freeze them in one or two cup containers for future use. Once frozen, the fat solidifies on top and can be easily removed before using the stock.

Instead of sour cream or crème fraiche, try substituting pureed fruit in quick breads, muffins and cakes.

Of course, if you are watching your weight but subscribe to an Atkins type philosophy, well then, go ahead and enjoy all the butter and cream, but by all means, avoid those carbs!

There is no one low-fat secret that works for everyone, but our philosophy is to choose recipes that call for whole natural foods with lower fat for the majority of our meals and to dine on the rich, creamy, decadent meals just a couple of days a week; moderation. Good advice for a all aspects of living, including eating well.

- Glutenfreeda