Healthier comfort foods....

As winter kicks in for some of us, I find myself craving different kinds of not-so-healthy comfort foods. And while we all have  our own preferences, I was curious how you all doctor up your preferred dishes to make them healthier...

(I am sure there have been other threads on this topic, but perhaps an updated list is in order...?)

Here are my latest 'tricks'

1. I am not a dessert person, but I love apple pie. It became apparent to me the other day that I actually love the filling more than the crust. So, I baked the apples with cinnamon, raisins soaked in rum, and walnuts, and some cornstarch....topped with Greek yogurt and a tablespoon of grape nuts....delicious!

2. Baked French toast - love French toast (savory, sweet, any form and shape). Baking it saves me the time I would spend in front of the stove flipping messy slices, and it's healthier. I use half eggs and half egg whites.

3. Mac'n'cheese. I am not a big fan (nor do I believe in reduced-fat cheese, sorry), but my neighbor makes this killer baked mac'n'cheese with tomatoes and leeks.

What are your comfort food makeovers?

1. Chili made with extra lean ground turkey 

2. Sloppy Joes made with extra lean ground turkey

3.  Tacos made with extra lean ground turkey

I'm sure you are sensing a pattern here....lol  I substitute the ground turkey for pretty much anything you would normally use beef for and it tastes just as good and you still get that comfort food taste!

My favorite is "fried" chicken.  I take boneless skinless chicken breasts, rinse under cold water, then coat with crushed low fat triscuits.  Bake at 350 until chicken is done (170 with meat thermometer).  My kids say it's the best!

weird; but i drain half a can of chickpeas, microwave them, smush them together by adding a little light salad cream/mayo or something then heap onto a sesame seed ryvita; great snack before the cold walk up to the gym!

also love low fat vanilla yogurt, with a few sultanas and some honey; sooooooo sweet!

irisica- ilike the baked apple idea...what kind of apples do you use?

I have two fav healthy comfort foods:

1) chili (turkey ground, canned tomatoes, garlic, onion, corn, chipotle peppers, with a little bit of sour cream/plain yogurt)

2) sauteed mushrooms with red onions, garlic and chicken broth (great alone but also good to top on steak or salad)

YM - the sauteed mushrooms sound great!

I used some leftover apples (I think they were empire), but come to think of it, the sweeter the apple, the less sweetener you need. Adding raisins also helps - I didn't even notice that I totally forgot to sweeten the whole thing... So, I would use sweeter apples: Jonagolds, Fuji, Galas...

All these ideas are great! Keep'em coming :)

Fat Free Cream of Potato and Leek Soup  (edited to add link.  I put the recipe in the Analyzer so I could add it to my log)

Peel and cut in half, 1 pound of potatoes.  Put them in a pot with 3 cups of water and 1/2 tsp of salt and cook them for 20 minutes.  Drain, reserving 2 cups of the cooking liquid.  Add 1 cup of any broth to this and return to the pan with the potatoes. 

Add the chopped white part of one leek and half that amount of finely chopped celery.  Simmer for 20 minutes, covered, stirring frequently and adding more water if it boils away.  (if you don't have a leek, you can use half a sweet onion)

Remove the pot from the stove and put it on a dampened, folded kitchen towel to prevent slipping.  Get in there with your potato masher and break up the potatoes.  Using a hand mixer or hand held stick type blender, puree the soup right in the pot (or pour into a blender or processor an whiz it up.)  It will be smooth with little flecks of green. 

Combine 1 cup of fat free milk with 3 tablespoons of Wondra flour (sometimes called gravy flour) and mix well.  Stir into the pot.

Return the pot to the stove and heat just to the boiling point.  Stir until it thickens.  Taste and adjust the salt and add some pepper. 

Serve with a garnish of croutons and a sprinkle of shredded cheese. 

Baked pork chops with apple and onions. I don't have the recipe but I sear the pork chops (I use loin chops, with the fat trimmed off) and then bake (covered) them with apples and onions, a little cumin, cinnamon and allspice, with a little container of apple sauce to keep it moist. I usually have this with a baked sweet potato as well. mmmmmmm.

1) Sauteed cabbage - yummmmmmm, love it even when not on a diet.  [To round out the meal, I may add some ground turkey and rice to make it an unstuffed cabbage meal :)]

2) In the other thread I saw that you had ties to Romania, therefore I am going to suggest a slavic comfort food - borscht with lots and lots of veggies (i make mine as sick as a stew and depending on the mood and style of borscht add meat as well)

3) My favorite healthy dish is baked veggies - i cut up 2 turnips, 2 zucchini, 2 peppers, 2 onions, and broccoli into large chunks and slice 2 carrots.  Combine all veggies except broccoli and pour a dressing of 3 parts oil to 2 parts vinegar and salt and pepper.  Bake at 450 for 30-45 min, stirring once or twice.  Add the broccoli and bake another 30-45 minutes.  The vegetables come out beautifully caramellized and slightly marinated due to the vinegar - yum yum yum

Caramel Apples!

I take 1 apple and slice it (75 cals). Then I take a 60cal jello caramel pudding cup and use it as dip. Delicious.

Ice cream sundaes:

I take1/2 cup Vanilla Bean slow churn ice cream (100 cals), 2 tbsp fat free redi whip (10 cals), and a little sugar free Hershey's syrup (kind of hard to find) (2T. 15 cals). mmm

French Toast:

1/4 cup egg beaters (30 cals), packet splenda, 1tsp cinnamon, little vanilla extract, and 3 slices of sara lee delights bread (45x3 cals). Little cooking spray and cook it up! Delicious with sugar free maple syrup (1/8c 15 cals).

Bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch:

1c Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Breeze (40 cals), 1c Fiber one (120 cals), 1tsp cinnamon, 2 packets of splenda. AMAZING.

Apple Pie:

I don't like cooked apples, so I take an apple (75 cals), slice it, throw it in a ziplock and squeeze 1/2 a lemon over it (15 cals?), cinnamon, and shake. mmm

Hamburgers:

4oz 96/4% fat beef (150 cals), 1 light wonder bread bun (80 cals), 1tbsp sugar free Hunt's ketchup (5 cals). Add tomatoes, onions, lettuce, whatever you want. Eat up! I think this is tonights dinner.

Chocolate Pudding Pie:

1 cup 60cal Jello dark chocolate pudding (60 cals), 1/2 sheet graham cracker (35 cals), 2tbsp fat free redi whip (10 cals)

The caramel apple dip idea sounds delish. :)

Dont know if I saw the recipe here or on a cooking show but it turned out great last week when I tried it-Breaded chicken faux fried----

Took pieces of skinned chicken parts (I used thighs and drumsticks). dredged in wheat flour then into a bowl with low fat buttermik, with a touch of garlic powder, and parsley flakes mixed in- took kellogs corn flakes and smasked them up in a baggie and mixed them with some japaneese panko breadcrumbs about 50/50.  dredged the chicken out of the buttermilk into the crumbs. Sprayed a large glass baking dish with pam and baked at 425 degrees for  20 mins-turned the chicken over and baked 15 more mins-reduced the heat to 350 and baked ten more minutes--crunchy, juicy and fabulous

I do the same thing with pumpkin pie!

1 can pumpkin

sugar / "pie spice" to taste

~microwave for a warm treat.  One can pumpkin makes TONS of it, more than I can eat for one snack.

This one was doctored up from Martha Stewart's "Meatloaf 101"

Lean Meatloaf

I used half extra lean beef and half ground turkey breast, increased the grated vegetables and added some flaxseed meal to the bread crumbs for more fiber. 

irisica-i modified your baked apple recipe b/c i forgot to print it out last night.  i used fuji apples; sprinkled turbinado sugar and sweetened coconut over the slices.  i had to bake them for ~30min at 350degrees.  served them in a small bowl/dish (used for individual souffles) and topped it with fat free reddi whip.  it was outstanding.  I will try to eliminate the turbinado sugar since i added the whip cream and see how it goes.  thanks for the great idea!