As I was driving home yesterday, my car thermometer showed an outside temperature of 17 degrees F. In these frigid temperatures, comfort foods make you feel warm and cozy. But they don’t have to be over-the-top indulgent; here are 12 comfort food classics with fewer than 500 calories per serving.
Fried Chicken
Ellie’s super-simple spin on fried chicken uses crushed corn cereal flakes plus a blend of spices for a very crunchy dish. It’s a staple in my busy house with only about 10 minutes of prep time!
Recipe: Oven-Fried Chicken
Lasagna
A touch of sweet Italian turkey sausage makes this pasta dish hearty, yet sensible. The cheese layer’s filled with part-skim ricotta and low fat cottage cheese along with some part-skim mozzarella, which helps keep the calories in check at 350 per serving.
Recipe: Food Network Kitchen’s Sausage Lasagna
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This backyard classic can be tricky to make, messy to eat and tough on the waistline. We can’t do much about the mess, but can help out with everything else. Grab your napkins!
Nutrition Facts
Order up a platter of baby backs at a restaurant and you’ll be downing over 1,000 calories and a staggering 70-plus grams of fat. Portion control must be emphasized no matter what and making your own is your best bet.
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- Ted Allen's Fresh Strawberry Balsamic Basil Daiquiris
Most daiquiris are cloyingly sweet and filled with booze, but make your own for a much lighter version of this classic summer cocktail.
Nutrition Facts
A 2-ounce portion of frozen daiquiri mix (no alcohol) has 120 calories and more than 5 teaspoons of added sugar. The quality of the ingredients is another sticky issue – most bottled mixers are filled with artificial colors and high fructose corn syrup. Pour in the rum and it’s another 100-plus calories per shot. There are better options….
Virgin
Replace rum with pineapple – save hundreds of calories per serving.
Recipe: Virgin Daiquiri
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- Make breakfast for mom . . . or yourself.
Eggs Benedict is my all time favorite breakfast, but it can be a bit heavy. Here’s a traditional recipe with a few healthy twists.
Nutrition Facts
An order of Eggs Benedict at IHOP has 1020 calories and almost 60 grams of fat – and those aren’t even the most outrageous numbers I’ve seen. Large portions of meat and gobs of buttery sauces are mostly to blame.
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- Homemade Girl Scout cookies, inspired by Thank U Berry Munch cookies.
It’s that time a year again! We covered homemade recipes for classics like Samoas, Thin Mints and Tagalongs, now it’s time for one of the newest Girl Scout cookie flavors.
Giving Thanks
Don’t get us wrong – our intention is not to thwart the fundraising efforts of deserving girl scouts. But let’s face it, all packaged cookies need preservatives to stay fresh. We’re offering a recipe with nothing but real ingredients. Besides, you can only get your hands on these cookies once a year so it’s nice to have a recipe on hand when girls scouts are on hiatus.
“Thank U Berry Munch” cookies debuted in 2010. Made with sweet-tart cranberries and white chocolate, our version has all the flavor and none of the preservatives. Some online reviews noted that this cookies was overly sweet so we took that into account when creating this tasty version.
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Soaked in sugar, eggs and half-and-half, bread pudding is decadent to say the least. Good news – it’s possible to cozy up with a tasty version of this comfort food for less calories.
Nutrition Facts
Classic bread pudding recipes can have over 600 calories and 30 grams of fat per serving. If you’re using doughnuts and buttery croissants instead of bread, you’d be lucky to keep things under 1000 calories.
The basic recipe is simple, combine bread with custard and bake. To lighten things up, use smarter ingredients at each stage of the recipe and keep portions to about ½ cup per person.
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- Ellie Krieger's lightened-up lobster roll.
Gobs of mayo and butter can wreck this summertime goodie. Lighten up your favorite recipe and dive in!
Nutrition Facts
Restaurant offerings for lobster rolls range from 600 to 1440 calories and 34 to 98 grams of fat per serving! Lobster certainly isn’t the problem: 3 ounces of cooked lobster meat contains 83 calories, 1 gram of fat and 17 grams of protein. It also packs in 44 percent of the daily requirement of vitamin B12 and more than 50 percent of the mineral (and antioxidant) selenium.
Shellfish like lobster does contain a fair amount of cholesterol: a 3-ounce portion has 20 percent of the daily recommendation. But since shellfish like lobster and shrimp are low in saturated fat, they can still be incorporated into a heart-healthy diet.
So if lobster isn’t to blame, what is? Heaps of mayo and butter are to thank for the skyrocketing calorie counts.
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- Ellie's Baked Beans With Ham
While they’re certainly convenient for summer cookouts and parties, canned baked beans can be a deceivingly high-calorie side dish. Make your own flavorful, lightened up version with our recipes and tips.
Lighter, still-delicious baked beans »
- Panko-Crusted Fish Tacos
Warm weather is prime time for fish tacos, but some recipes can do some serious damage to your beach-ready body. Try our lightened up versions — even your favorite fried recipes can be made more bikini friendly.
Fish tacos, 3 healthier ways »
- Lighten up Alton's best-ever fried chicken with a few easy fixes.
When I taught at a culinary school, the chef’s motto was “fat equals flavor.” Unfortunately, the wrong kinds of fat can also means a bigger waistline along with an increased risk of heart disease, diabetes and cancer. Save the real deal for a once-in-a-while treat and try some slimming ways to cook up Alton’s famous chicken for your Memorial Day picnic, or anytime.
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