TAKE COMFORT
If ever there was a time for comfort food, it’s now.
Old-fashioned comfort food — the stuff that reminds you of Mom’s warm kitchen or other pleasant memories — is a natural for brisk winter evenings. It’s also a natural for times of stress, so here we are.
But the food that’s so comforting to the soul is not so great for the body. Maybe that’s because there was less concern about fat content in those times when we moved more and didn’t know as much about fat’s deleterious effects on our bodies. Or maybe it’s just because, like a waistline spare tire, those memories tend to stick with us.
"The things we were taught to eat had a tendency to have a lot of fat in it — butterfat especially," said Kerry Simon, chef-partner of Simon Restaurant & Lounge at Palms Place. "That reminds us of something. It takes you somewhere."
"Fat adds flavor," noted Millicent Braxton-Calhoun, program officer with University of Nevada Cooperative Extension. "That’s the bottom line. It just does."
But the good news is that you can still have your comfort food — and eat it, too — without endangering your health. And if you do it right, you and your family and friends won’t know the difference.
Braxton-Calhoun leads a program called Food for Health and Soul. It’s designed to teach participants how to modify favorite family recipes for better health, and to try to avoid heart disease, certain types of cancer, stroke and Type 2 diabetes, she said.
"We know from current research from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that some dietary trends are associated with four of the 10 leading causes of death," she added.
Modifying those recipes is easier than you may think. Take macaroni and cheese, which is commonly cited as a leading comfort food. Braxton-Calhoun said to start by not adding salt to the pasta water, and using low-fat milk and low-fat cheese.
"I don’t know what they’re doing with low-fat cheeses these days, but they sure are melting nicely, and there’s a lot of flavor," she said. "And with the salt that’s in the cheese, you don’t have to add salt to the pasta water."
Other comfort-food classics — meatloaf and lasagna, for example — tend to involve ground beef. Instead of reaching for the meat that’s 80 percent lean and 20 percent fat, try one that’s 90 percent lean and 10 percent fat or even lower in fat, she said.
Another choice is to use ground turkey breast meat, but Braxton-Calhoun stressed it’s important to read the label. If you get ground turkey that’s not all breast meat, it may be as high in fat as some higher-fat ground beef.
"You can have a ground turkey burger, or if you’re going to make a pasta sauce, a meat sauce," she said. "Meatloaf is very comforting to people."
Braxton-Calhoun noted that modern nonstick cookware also helps us cook with less fat, because a bit of nonstick spray or a little bit of oil goes a long way toward avoiding the sticking that was inherent to older cookware such as cast iron.
To make up for any change in flavor that may stem from low-fat, low-sodium substitutes, increase the use of onions, green pepper, and herbs and spices to bump up the flavor, she said.
"The more herbs, the better," she said, adding that parsley tends to complement other herbs.
And Braxton-Calhoun suggested adding vegetables to increase both flavor and nutrition. When making lasagna, for example, she suggested layering mushrooms or carrots between the pasta sheets.
Mary Wilson, a registered dietitian and nutrition specialist with University of Nevada Cooperative Extension, said such use of vegetables also is a good way to sneak them past picky kids. She cited an extension macaroni and cheese recipe "that’s low fat and that the kids love. We used a light Velveeta; I think a lot of kids like the creamy taste of Velveeta. Throw in tomatoes to make it a little more healthy. It provides a vegetable and still gives them what they want."
Simon pointed out that substitution ideas can be found on the Internet.
"There’s so many," he said. "It just depends on what you’re going to do." For macaroni and cheese, he’d suggest low-fat cottage cheese and low-fat milk, and whole-wheat pasta to increase fiber.
"If you’re doing, say, sliders or something like that, go to using tuna and maybe instead of bacon use cucumber salad with a rice-wine vinegar that’s a little spicy, and some ginger like they use in sushi bars, with whole-wheat bread," he said.
He suggested quinoa or millet instead of bread crumbs in meatloaf, and turkey or chicken for meatballs.
Simon also suggested cutting the ends off of zucchini and slicing them pasta-thin on a mandolin, then briefly cooking them in a sauce: "It’s like having pasta but it’s so healthy."
"There’s a lot of things you can do," Simon said. "You just have to look at what the ingredients are and search out what’s out there."
MACARONI, CHEESE AND TOMATO BAKE
8 ounces corkscrew pasta
2 tablespoons margarine
2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups nonfat milk
8 ounces Velveeta Light cheese, chopped
1/2 teaspoon hot pepper sauce
1 14-ounce can chopped tomatoes, with liquid (about 2 cups)
Cook pasta according to package directions.
Melt margarine in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir in flour and salt until blended. Gradually stir in milk and cook until thickened, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to low; stir in cheese and hot pepper sauce until cheese is melted.
Place drained pasta in 8-inch square baking dish. Gently toss in tomatoes (with liquid). Pour cheese mixture over pasta. Bake 30 minutes at 350 degrees.
Serves 6.
— Recipe from University of Nevada Cooperative Extension
CREAM OF BROCCOLI SOUP
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 cups cut broccoli
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme, crushed
2 small bay leaves
Dash garlic powder
2 tablespoons margarine
2 tablespoons flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
Few dashes pepper
1 cup fat-free milk
In a saucepan combine chicken broth, chopped onion, broccoli, thyme, bay leaves and garlic powder. Bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 10 minutes, or until vegetables are tender. Remove bay leaf.
Place half of the mixture in a blender or food processor, cover and blend 30 to 60 seconds or until smooth. Pour into a bowl; repeat with remaining vegetable mixture and set all aside.
In the same saucepan melt the margarine. Stir in flour, salt and pepper. Add the milk all at once, stirring rapidly with a wire whisk. Cook and stir until mixture is thickened and bubbly. Stir in the blended broccoli mixture. Cook and stir until soup is heated through. Season to taste with additional salt and pepper.
Serves 4.
— Recipe from University of Nevada Cooperative Extension
HEARTY LASAGNA
3/4 pound ground round
Vegetable cooking spray
1 cup chopped onion
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley, divided
1 28-ounce can whole tomatoes, undrained and chopped
1 14-ounce can Italian-style stewed tomatoes, undrained and chopped
1 8-ounce can no-salt-added tomato sauce
1 6-ounce can tomato paste
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried basil
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 cups nonfat cottage cheese
1/2 cup (1 ounce) finely grated fresh Parmesan cheese
1 15-ounce container nonfat ricotta cheese
1 egg white, lightly beaten
12 cooked lasagna noodles
2 cups (8 ounces) shredded Italian provolone cheese
Fresh oregano sprigs (optional)
Cook meat in a large saucepan over medium heat until browned, stirring to crumble; drain and set aside. Wipe pan with a paper towel. Coat pan with cooking spray; add the onion and garlic, and saute 5 minutes. Return meat to pan. Add 2 tablespoons parsley and next 7 ingredients; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 15 minutes. Uncover; simmer 20 minutes. Remove from heat.
Combine remaining 2 tablespoons parsley, cottage cheese and next 3 ingredients in a bowl; stir well, and set aside.
Spread 3/4 cup tomato mixture in bottom of a 13-by-9-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Arrange 4 noodles over tomato mixture; top with half of cottage cheese mixture, 2 cups tomato mixture and 2/3 cup provolone. Repeat layers, ending with noodles. Spread the remaining tomato mixture over noodles.
Cover; bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour. Sprinkle with remaining provolone; bake, uncovered, for 10 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes before serving. Garnish with oregano, if desired.
Serves 9.
— Recipe fromCooking Light magazine
Contact reporter Heidi Knapp Rinella at hrinella@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0474.
