Baby, it's cold outside! Which means you're probably craving
hearty comfort foods, right? But there's a problem: the foods that
give us comfort-rich stews, pot pies, creamy pastas, substantial
meat dishes-are often the ones that pack the highest caloric punch.
However, all is not lost. It's still possible to enjoy the
stick-to-your-ribs concoctions you love. You just need to choose
the right recipes, or make a few changes to the recipes you already
use. Here's how:
1. Beef Stew: Although beef is not the leanest meat in general,
and stews can often contain a great deal of fat, there are ways to
get this classic comfort dish to conform to the parameters a
healthy lifestyle. After browning the meat, be sure to drain off
the oil and excess fat well. Also, use less meat and more veggies
(you can even try cutting the meat content in half and really
ramping up the vegetables) and serve this with steamed green
vegetables, or a crisp salad. To add an extra health boost, stir
spinach into the finished stew and let it wilt. Recipes to try:
2. Creamy Soups: Soup seems like such an innocuous main dish-but
it's not, especially when it's creamy and paired with tons of bread
and butter. Be sensible when making a cream soup by using potato
puree to replace some-if not all-of the milk or cream content. Use
light cheese, and less of it, and increase the vegetables in the
recipes you use. Or, skip the creamy soup altogether and go for
another substantial recipe, like lentil, squash, or chicken noodle.
Pair your soup with a salad and multigrain bread with minimal
butter, or small amounts of flavoured olive oil and vinegar for
dipping. Recipes to try:
3. Asian Food: On busy winter nights, ordering in a substantial
Asian meal may seem like a great idea. But take-out can be full of
hidden fat and calories, and also isn't very easy on your pocket
book. Make your own take-out inspired and oh-so-comforting Asian
food spreads by using low sodium soy sauce, cutting back on oil,
increasing vegetable amounts, and stir-frying lean meats. Also try
with these easy and healthy recipes:
4. Pasta: Big plates filled with meaty, creamy stuffed pasta
shells or hunks of lasagne, or enormous plates of spaghetti with
meat balls covered in cheese are the stuff midwinter food dreams
are made of. Be careful, though, because cream sauces and high-fat
ground meats can be major waist-line expanders. Instead, go with
herb-laden marinara sauces, cut back on the cream your rose sauce
recipe calls for (or replace it with light cream), and use lean and
extra lean ground meats, or replace beef with chicken or turkey.
Recipes to try:
5. Fried Foods: Fish and chips. Fried chicken. Delicious, yes,
but laden with fat. Instead of deep frying anything (or picking up
deep fried take out on your way home from work), try dipping
chicken breasts or fish fillets in egg whites and rolling in panko
or cornmeal, then baking until golden. Also, bake potato wedges or
make your own sweet potato fries on the side. Or, get afaux fryfix
this way: