Sometimes comfort foods can create a bit of discomfort, specifically with the amount of
fat and calories in the traditional recipes.
But don't give up on the classics.
With some creative changes, you can enjoy new versions of old favorites.
The comforting thought of some gooey, carb-filled mac and cheese will never go out of fashion.
This old-school classic is an all-time favorite, whatever the latest food trends may be.
When you're in need of the food equivalent of a hug, the soft pasta and velvety cheese
create the same feelings of warmth.
However, this traditional fare is being reimagined into a lower-cal, lower-fat dish, without
forgoing the cheesy taste.
You can also inject different cuisine elements, like, say, kimchi.
If you want to cut down on the fat, add shredded mozzarella to a pan with some reduced-fat
cheese, 0% fat yogurt, and some almond milk.
Save full-fat, strong-tasting Cheddar cheese for sprinkling on top before melting it under
the broiler.
Another option is to mix dairy-free milk with low-fat cheese and also light cream cheese.
Add some cooked chicken to up the protein factor if you like, and use larger pasta for
a more robust dish before baking in the oven.
It looks like mac and cheese.
It tastes like mac and cheese.
It's just less caloric and fat-laden.
Unless you're working with cauliflower crust, there's often no getting away from the fact
that pizza is pretty heavy on carbs, no matter what type of pizza you're making.
Pizza rolls are no exception, but you can switch out a basic ingredient and reduce the
carb intensity.
"Homemade pizza rolls!"
"Oh, that's great."
"Well, I guess the mystery of what we're going to snack on is solved!"
This idea comes from @fitfoodieee on TikTok.
Grab some low-carb flour tortillas and cut each one into four evenly sized strips.
Add marinara sauce on the bottom half of the two middle strips.
Place the unsauced strips across the center of the sauced ones.
Then add grated cheese to the sauce and pepperoni on the upper part.
Fold the lower half up, then fold the meaty part, and then the two flaps to the side.
Secure the folded tortilla with a toothpick and fry in a pan until browned on both sides.
If that's a little too complicated, another option is to roll some pepperoni and a cheese
inside a flour tortilla and air fry.
Kellogg's is well and truly investing in the plant-based market.
So it's clear the trend of plant-based foodstuffs is in the mainstream.
The breakfast boss brand has already introduced a vegan Eggo waffle.
And it's added a county-fair classic, a corn dog, to its Incogmeato line.
It's got vegan sausage enveloped in a pancake, making it perfect for a morning snack on the go.
If you don't want to ingest the carbs that come with the pancake of the Incogmeato corn
dog, you could try making your own.
Mix mayo, sugar-free syrup, and egg whites with salt and almond flour to make a batter.
Cut whatever type of hot dog you prefer in half and insert a wooden stick.
Dip these in the low-carb batter and fry in avocado oil.
The idea behind these newly emerging recipes is that you don't have to totally miss out
on the foods you've enjoyed since childhood.
You can just make them less unhealthy.
Biting into a luxuriously soft and crunchy cream cheese bagel is a little bit of heaven.
But this breakfast winner is loaded with dairy and carbs, so it's not especially friendly
to healthy diets.
If you're counting carbs and need to ditch the bagel, you could spread cream cheese on
some thick slices of cucumber.
Sprinkle on everything-bagel seasoning and add a kick with some chili flakes.
Or if the cream cheese is the problem, you could consider a plant-based option, such
as Kite Hill's almond milk variety.
Or you could start from scratch and cook up a keto-friendly stuffed bagel bite.
Melt cream cheese and grated mozzarella in the microwave before adding almond flour,
baking powder, and an egg to make a dough.
Roll the dough out between some parchment paper and cut into eight pieces.
Add a dollop of cream cheese in the middle of each piece and then roll them into balls.
Add some everything-bagel seasoning, brush with egg, and bake.
"You gonna be okay?"
"Of course, we have bagels."
Tater tots are kid-friendly, easy to make, and complement so many other down-to-earth
favorites, from meatloaf to chicken pot pie.
And they're a pretty great snack on their own.
"Are you gonna eat your tots?"
"Can I have 'em?"
You can even use them as a topping for casseroles or pies.
A great tip to cut the high glycemic index levels of potatoes is to use sweet potatoes instead.
Frozen food titan Green Giant actually makes three varieties of potato-alternative tots:
cauliflower, sweet potato, and cauliflower with broccoli and cheese.
It's also fairly easy to make sweet potato or cauliflower tots of your own.
All you need is a food processor, almond flour, seasonings, and an egg for the cauliflower tots.
Certain foods, like meatloaf, represent so much more than nutrition.
They evoke memories of family dinners around the table.
"Hey, mom!
The meatloaf!
We want it now!
The meatloaf!"
But the old standbys don't always live up to your memories of them, and it may help
to spice them up a bit while you put a healthier spin on them, too.
So why not an Asian-inspired turkey meatloaf?
To make it, mix Panko breadcrumbs with ground turkey, seasoning, chopped onion, minced garlic,
soy sauce, sesame oil, and gochujang paste.
You also need Worcestershire sauce, Dijon mustard, and eggs.
Glaze your meatloaf with a glaze of ketchup, gochujang, brown sugar, and soy sauce.
If you'd prefer not to use turkey, you could also try it with venison or oats.
Chicken pot pie is a pretty versatile dish already.
Lots of people have their own spin on the country favorite.
For example, Martha Stewart's secret ingredients for pot pie include cremini mushrooms and
butternut squash to elevate the flavor.
Often, these tweaks create healthier dishes that are still as tasty as they've always been.
But they usually keep the pastry crust, which ups the carb content, and the high-fat filling.
You can also try making a lighter and healthier pie that includes the pie crust lid but ditches
the heavy cream.
Add a can of low-fat, low-sodium mushroom soup to a peeled, diced, and cooked sweet potato.
Mix in cooked chicken, low-fat Greek yogurt, and frozen mixed vegetables.
Spread the mixture in a dish.
Individually roll sheets of phyllo pastry and then cut them to create ribbons and tousle
these before adding them to the top and baking.
With its ribbons of al dente pasta covered in a creamy sauce, fettuccine alfredo is an
old-school classic that's still going strong.
But that doesn't mean that a modern-day culinary wizard can't have some fun creating new, healthier
recipes based on America's love for this beloved Italian dish.
Instead of pasta, you can use spiralized zucchini for a low-carb meal.
Mix light cream cheese and butter with the veggie noodles, Parmesan, garlic, onion powder,
and seasonings.
You can also make a vegan sauce that drops the heavy cream and cheese.
Blend cashews, onion, garlic, and lemon juice with nutritional yeast, salt, pepper, and
some leftover pasta water.
Stir this creamy sauce into the cooked pasta over the heat so each ribbon is coated and
the ingredients come together.
Kids and kids at heart love to eat sloppy Joes, and they're pretty much a godsend to
busy parents who don't have a lot of time to make dinner.
But of course, the classic version isn't going to win any awards for healthiness.
Before you banish it completely, though, try lowering the fat content, change the flavor
profile and substitute the type of bun.
You'll still get that recognizable texture and taste, but with a refreshed quality.
For leaner sloppy Joe, use ground beef that's high-grade and low in fat.
Beef with a higher fat percentage may be more budget-friendly, but it's worth it to make
your sandwiches a little healthier.
And swap out your white-bread buns for a multi-grain option.
Just check the ingredients to ensure nothing that might lessen its wholesomeness, like
high fructose corn syrup, has been added.
Sweeten the beef with some sugar-free barbecue sauce.
And you can boost the flavor by adding curry powder, garlic, and ginger paste.
Fry with chopped, fresh chilis and onions.
Off the heat, add chopped tomatoes, light cream cheese, and low-fat grated cheese.
For an even leaner version, consider turkey or a vegan sloppy Joe using red lentils.
There are lots of different types of meatballs: Italian, Swedish, Turkish, Polish, Spanish,
and the list goes on.
You can eat them in tomato sauce with spaghetti or served with gravy and some mashed potatoes.
Or use them in other applications!
"You've been meatballed!
Are ya ready for some meatball?"
They're usually made of the same basic components, though: meat, seasoning, and perhaps some
binding ingredients such as bread crumbs and eggs.
They're an absolute delight when you're visiting your local Italian restaurant or IKEA, but
they can be a little bit healthier when you make them at home.
For juicy, less fatty meatballs, stir a packet of dried gelatin into some low-fat buttermilk.
Add this to some seasoned 5% fat ground beef after mixing in some egg whites.
Excluding the yolk means cutting back on calories.
The buttermilk makes the meatballs juicy.
Form this mixture into balls and bake them in the oven.
Then fry them for that crunchy, seared texture.
You could also try making ground turkey meatballs and cooking them in an air fryer.
You could also mix ground chicken with almond flour, seasoning, and herbs, plus an egg.
Bake and serve with a dairy-free tzatziki dip and lemon wedges.
Fried chicken has been part of the comfort food legacy of the United States long before
KFC began in the 1930s, but the commercial chain took it throughout the globe.
The juiciness of the meat, the crunch of the coating, and the succulent, salty taste are
what make it so undeniably craveworthy.
It's a staple for family meals, but if you want to refresh it with some modern culinary
caution when it comes to fat and calories, there are plenty of interesting variations to try.
Marinate chicken pieces in sugar-free barbecue sauce and coat them with spiced and seasoned
crushed cornflakes.
Bake and brush some more sauce over the crispy chicken.
You're getting that crunch without deep frying.
Or you could go for a little Chick-fil-A style pickle flavor and leave the chicken pieces
in some pickle juice for a few hours.
Take them out, pat them with a kitchen towel, and cover them with egg before coating them
with crushed barbecue chips.
Add the chips to a bag big enough to shake and completely coat each piece.
Air fry and serve.
Whoopie pies are believed to have been invented in the Pennsylvania Amish community, though
there's not a lot of documentation to back up that claim.
These sweet sandwiches caught on and became a dessert classic when bakeries in New England
started to make and sell them in the 1920s.
Given just how good they are, you may balk at changing a whoopie pie recipe in any way.
But if you're trying to avoid a sugar bomb, carb explosion, or dairy disaster, you can
enjoy a whoopie pie that tamps down on the damage.
Blend banana with peanut butter and cocoa powder.
Pour small circles of the mixture on a baking sheet and bake in the oven to make the cookies.
For the filling, mix cream cheese and plain Greek yogurt with honey or maple syrup and
vanilla extract.
There's something nostalgically magical about a glass sundae dish filled with creamy scoops
of ice cream dripping with chocolate fudge and strawberry sauce.
Nuts and cherries are fabulous to add as toppings too, to make the flavor even more complex.
But they're bad for you, right?
"Lose the sundae."
Wait, you don't have to!
There are so many varieties of this classic treat, including ideas that make it healthier
without sacrificing too much flavor.
Freeze mashed-up bananas mixed with Greek yogurt and vanilla extract for a fruity sundae
that doesn't have any ice cream at all.
You could also use low-fat yogurt to cut down the calories tremendously.
You'll want to leave your mixture in the freezer for at least a few hours.
You can also make your ice cream substitute with coconut milk, almond milk, and maple
syrup with salt and vanilla extract.
Freeze into cubes and blend these when you want to enjoy a dairy-free sundae.
For the chocolate sauce, try cocoa powder and agave.
With plenty of plant-based ice creams available, there are plenty more choices for vegans and
those who're just trying to cut down on fat and their dairy intake.