Do you have a 'Not-Good-For-You' food turned.... good? Share! (Mac+Cheese anyone?)

I love to cook, and I'm on the hunt for yummy recipes, that are also CC friendly/ healthy! Do you have any good evil to good recipe transformation? Share it (and maybe the recipe if you're feeling kind) =)

Here's mine: Today I made mac and cheese from scratch for my Kraft loving sister as a treat after her track meet (does she have ANY idea whats in that stuff? haha). But not just any mac'n'cheese...  Key ingredients: butternut squash, whole wheat pasta, and 75% reduced fat cabot cheddar- and it tastes AWESOME (with ~100% Vit. A, ~30% calcium, and a ton of protein /fiber)  We all ate a ton, and she didn't even know there was squash in it until I told her... Secret switcharoo is a success!

>> P.S. Other success story: amazing whole wheat, no butter crepes that taste sooo good with no sugar added strawberry jam...

 

wow that sounds so YUMMY!! i have to try that sometime! i love to cook but i can never think when i get to the grocery store , even if i have a list i'm always missing something!

 

i'm gonna be making the bran flake coated onion rings tomorow with egg whites & vidalia onions , i live in georgia so we have a ton of those gifted to us all the time~ can't wait to try them, i bet they're yummmmm!~

Instead of eggplant parmigianna with those breaded fried eggplant slices, I make eggplant pizzaiola.  Slice the eggplant lengthwise and arrange on a round pizza pan, overlapping.  Top as you would a pizza, with about half the amount of cheese.  You get all the flavors and far fewer calories.

You might enjoy last week's Recipe Blog about reducing the calories in favorite recipes.  Feel free to comment in the blog and add your own recipes.

Cool idea on the onion rings! I have relatives in SC, and the produce they bring up is always amazing...

Oh my goodness, the eggplant dish sounds amazing! I don't like the texture of breading/ frying, so I'm always up for new idea of how to cook my beloved eggplant. I make pasta-less pasta sautes along that line (marinara sauce, toss with evey veggie you can think of; peppers, onions, eggplant, tomatoes, broccolli, and add a ton of basil, garlic, and oregano.... so good....) But I can't wait to try that... I even have an eggplant in my fridge now... mmm....

I've had a lot of luck with Cooking Light magazine recipes.  They really lighten up the calories and fat without losing the flavor.  I made a mexican chicken casserole recipe from their site last week that was awesome and very rich.  It used low-fat cheese, a bit of low-fat cream cheese and condensed skim milk for the "sauce".  Honestly, we loved it.  They also have a feature in the print copy, which I got for about a year, where people can write in their recipes and the magazine reworks them into light recipes.  Some of them are amazing how many calories the original v. the revised is able to reduce.  I'm sure they have a good mac and cheese recipe on their site and their recipes have reviews, so I always stay with four or five stars and read comments for tips on improving flavor or tweaking if necessary.  Plus they provide serving size and nutrional information for all their recipes.  It's been a real godsend for logging here.

One of my favorite indulgences is their baked garlic fries recipe.  They are simply awesome.

Went over to cookinglight.com and found a mac and cheese recipe for you...

http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinde r.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1611 727

Make sure you read the comments for tips.  Sound like pretty much all 11 people liked it, but it needs some tobasco or cayenne.  Bon appetit!

I found that "cheesy" rice is so much better than mac and cheese! I'm a big mac and cheese fan too. I used whole grain brown rice with veggie shreds mozzarella flavor and soy milk. It is so much better for you than regular cheesey stuff, and in my opinion, better tasting!

I've read my share of cooking light; I've found some good recipes in them! I really like my whole wheat mac and cheese, but cheesy rice sounds good too, I might try putting my healthy cheese sauce over rice... mmm... Since I like to go healthy and filling, I looked up a few recipes then made my own- this is the recipe that I patched together and really liked:

Ingredients

7 oz whole wheat rotini 1 3/4 cups butternut squash 1 cup skim milk 4 ounces 75% Light Cheddar 1 ounce part skim mozzarella cheese 1 ounce Sharp Cheddar Cheese 1/4 cup reduced fat sour cream 1/2 tsp salt 1/2 tsp pepper 1 teaspoon mustard 1/4 c. diced onion 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper 1/2 tsp garlic powder 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan 1/8 c. eggbeaters 1/2 teaspoon olive oil

Directions

1. Cook the squash on the stove with the milk until softened, and mash or blend well. While cooking, grate the cheeses, and cook the pasta until very al dente ( you don't want it to get soggy!).
   
   
2. Remove from heat, and add the onion and spices, stir well to combine.
   
   
3. Add the sour cream, olive oil, and eggwhites or eggbeaters.
   
   
4. Add the cheese to the mixture, and blend until well combined (the cheese should melt in, and make one lovely, Kraft colored mix.) 
   
   
5. Pour the cheese over the pasta in a casserole dish, and stir well to combine. 
   
   
6. Opt. : sprinkle with crushed garlic herb all bran crackers- yum!
   
   
7. Bake at 350 degrees for 45-60 minutes. (it should be bubbly and cooked through)

CC even gave it a B+!!!! Soo good...

Well I have a great WHITE CLAM SAUCE recipe that is very healthy because it doesn't include cream, butter, milk, etc... here's what it has:

- Bottled Clam Juice

- Extra Virgin Olive Oil

- Canned &/or Fresh Clams (and some Oysters too)

- Chopped Parsley

- Diced Garlic

- White Wine

- Salt, Pepper & Thyme 

Other healthy "replacement" recipes I have come up with:

- Sliced Eggplant (roasted into chips) - can be done with kale and other veggies too

- Pancake made with egg whites, pureed pumpkin, cinnamon & stevia

- Spaghetti Squash as Pasta (yea, that's not new)

- Nori Sheets as a WRAP

- Diced Steamed Cabbage as noodles 

- Kelp & Konbu & Yam Noodles as um yea, noodles! haha. 

- Blend Decaf Coffee with Ice Cubes, Water & Stevia into Ice Cream consistency 

Mmm... pumpkin pancakes sounds awesome!