Healthy alternative to bisquick 6 cups self-rising flour 1 cup coconut oil (solid ) ... Cut in shortening with a pastry blender until mixture resembles fine crumbs. Store mixture in airtight container in the refrigerator up to 4 months or better yet keep in freezer/ Use whenever your recipe calls for "Bisquick mix". We've never used Bisquick but I see a lot of recipes that calls for it.
@Sheldon Scott, I've only become aware of coconut oil as a solid recently. I've used the liquid form for several years, but mainly for medicinal purposes. Does it have a high or low burning point? Could it be used to cook things like eggs, fish, or veggies? Can it take the place of animal greases, or vegatable oils to cook with? I've not notice solid coconut oil in the store, so I have no idea of the cost. I would guess it is quite expensive.
We use coconut oil for all of our cooking that needs an oil, @Ina I. Wonder. You can cook eggs, fry chicken, make stirfry or sauteed veggies, or just use it anywhere that you would use any other kind of shortening or vegetable oil. You can buy the Luann coconut oil for cooking at most grocery stores, and it is not the pure virgin coconut oil like I use for health purposes; so it is a little bit cheaper. I buy mine from Amazon Prime, and I prefer the yellow coconut oil that is sold for popping corn. It is about $20 for a gallon, and mine has lasted around a year; so it goes a long ways. They also have the plain white coconut oil; but the yellow oil gives a nice golden color to chicken, and it is colored with betacarotene, which is part of vitamin A. Amazon has a good selection of coconut oil, regardless of what type you prefer. In the summer, when it is liquified, I put mine in one of the sports-drink bottles that you can squeeze out of, and it is a lot simpler than trying to get it out of the gallon jar every time you want some for cooking. However, in the cooler weather, it will solidify; so then I put it in a plastic container with a lid that I can spoon the coconut oil out of.
@Yvonne Smith, It must not have that coconut favor, because when I visited I didn't detect and difference in the very good food you served. I like coconut, but sometimes the flavor is too much for me. I only eat coconut on a few goodies, and then not often. But I would think it is better for a person than the alternatives. Yvonne, can you tell us about the benefits of coconut oil over the alternatives?
@Ina I. Wonder, there are a lot of great websites with information about coconut oil, so the one I am linking here is just a starting point for you to do some research on the benefits of coconut oil. I do use the unflavored kind for cooking; but I absolutely love the taste of the raw virgin coconut oil that has the "coconutty" taste . It is more expensive; so I buy that for mixing in my smoothies, or just putting a spoonful in my coffee, and sometimes I just take a bit on the spoon and eat it. When we are cooking an egg (as an example) we sure do not need it to taste like coconut; so the more processed oil is just fine for cooking, and still much healthier than regular cooking oils. Most of the oils they sell in the grocery store are heat processed, and then filtered with acids and bleaches to get the pretty golden color (which usually comes from yellow dye after the bleaching takes the color out). Obviously, all of this chemical processing not only ruins any health benefits of the oil; but it also makes it very unhealthy for us when we use it. It actually become cancer-producing rather than cancer protective, which it should be. The other oil that I use is extra virgin olive oil, cold processed. Since it stays liquid much better than coconut oil, it is great for making salad dressings. I make my own salad dressings, and use the olive oil for that, and sometimes also for cooking. Adding a dab of either coconut oil or olive oil on dog food is also a healthy benefit for our beloved pets, and they usually gobble it right up. Chipper loves it on his food ! http://www.coconutresearchcenter.org
@Sheldon Scott This sounds pretty easy. I've been wanting to get some coconut oil, but I hadn't considered using it in this manner. @Yvonne Smith Thanks for the information on the variations, that will be helpful when I'm looking, since I wasn't sure what to look for. I've seen the Luann brand, but hadn't noticed they sold coconut oil, too.
The main health benefit I can think of for the bisquick mix alternative is not so much that you are using coconut oil but that you are NOT using Crisco. The original mix that bisquick copied used lard, which is itself healthier than Crisco but doesn't keep as well on store shelves. I just started using coconut oil from reading others post about it but I haven't used Crisco for at least 25 years. I cook my eggs in butter.
I have some coconut oil but did not know what I could use it for. I want to make some cookies but I don't have any cooking oil, from what I hear in this post I can use some of the coconut oil in place of the cooking oil called for in the recipe. I think I will try it and see how it comes out...
I go the easier or lazier way of buying Heart Smart Bisquick mix. I like it for it's the same as using Bisquick. The other alternatives are good, but a bit expensive for me. Thanks though. image from http://www.bettycrocker.com/products/bisquick/bisquick heart smart pancake and baking mix.
It looks like they replaced the Crisco with canola. That's an improvement but I think coconut oil would be a better choice. I find it strange they came out with this product, as they seem to be finally admitting their original product is unhealthy.
I agree with you, but coconut oil is very expensive. Heart Smart goes on sale periodically like at CVS and they are online too.