Healthy Versions of Comfort Foods

Staying on a nutrition plan can be challenging when you’re craving comfort foods like lasagna, pasta, loaded potatoes, and other comfort foods that we tend to eat when it’s cold out.

But with just trading out a few ingredients, making healthier versions of comfort foods is easy! Here are a few options when cooking at home.

Lasagna

Who doesn’t love gooey lasagna, with its oodles of cheese, chunks of meat, and filling noodles? (Yum!) It is possible to create a healthier lasagna by substituting out a few things. You can sub out one or two ingredients or more, depending on your preferences. And if you’re trying to get kids or a partner to eat healthier, you can add one substitution every time you make the dish.

• Instead of lasagna noodles, use thin-sliced eggplant or zucchini cut lengthwise
• Cut the cheese topping in half
• Use cottage cheese instead of ricotta (or use reduced-fat ricotta)
• Replace fattening beef or sausage with ground turkey or chicken
• Add shredded veggies to the sauce to thicken it up and sneak in some veggies

Au Gratin Potatoes

Au gratin potatoes are a staple with winter meat dishes, but they’re also very high in calories, carbohydrates, and fat. A few little tweaks will make you feel a lot better about adding them to your dinner table.

• Skip the heavy cream and use 2% or skim milk instead
• Substitute lower-fat cheese instead of full fat
• Try sweet potatoes for a more interesting, fall-feeling dish

Chicken Pot Pie

As the very definition of comfort foods, chicken pot pie is also the definition of unhealthy. Sure, it’s loaded with vegetables. But it’s also loaded with cream, cheese, and breading, depending on how you make it. Healthier options are available though, and they’re just as tasty!

• Substitute the cream or half and half for unsweetened almond milk
• Skip the full pie crust and add crust to the top only (and save half the calories!)
• Add mushrooms to your veggies for a meatier taste
• Go crustless entirely–we found this delicious looking option

Other Quick Substitutions

Of course, you don’t have to redo an entire meal; you can make small changes to parts of the meal as you step into a healthier lifestyle.

• Ditch the french fries and make turnip fries instead (they taste almost identical!)
• When baking bread, go for whole wheat instead
• Use whole wheat or gluten-free bread crumbs to coat meat before baking
• Skip the traditional pasta and go for brown rice pasta, zoodles, or palmini instead

Little changes go a long way to make for a healthier lifestyle. Choose one or two meals a week to turn healthier. Once you and your family gets used to the new recipes, make a few more changes.

You’ll soon discover that eating healthy isn’t as difficult as you thought!