1. Baked Ziti
Save your cash—and your ticker—and eat our healthier version of baked ziti. You can easily make it at home, and it won’t weigh you down. This is home-cooked comfort food at its finest.
Long a staple of red-sauce loving Italian-American cooks, baked ziti is only a rung below mac and cheese on the comfort-food ladder. It’s a simple formula—noodles covered in red sauce, speckled with cheese, maybe a bit of meat—but Italian restaurants can so often get it so wrong by loading the meal with exorbitant amounts of saturated fat that nobody in their right mind should pay to eat. Save your cash—and your ticker—and eat our healthier version instead. You can easily make it at home, and it won’t weigh you down. This is home-cooked comfort food at its finest.
NUTRITION: 410 calories, 12 g fat (5 g saturated), 600 mg sodium
SERVES 4
YOU’LL NEED
10 oz ziti, preferably whole-wheat if you can find it
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 links pre-cooked chicken or turkey sausage, diced
1 medium yellow onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 can (28 oz) tomato puree
Salt and black pepper to taste
1 cup fresh basil leaves, plus more for garnish
3⁄4 cup cubed mozzarella (preferably fresh)
Parmesan for grating
HOW TO MAKE IT
- Preheat the oven to 400°F. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Cook the pasta until a minute shy of being done (it’ll finish cooking in the oven).
- Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large skillet or sauté pan over medium heat.
- Add the sausage and cook for about 2 minutes, until lightly browned. Add the onion, garlic, and pepper flakes, and cook until the onion is soft and translucent.
- Stir in the tomato puree, plus a good pinch of salt and black pepper.
- Reduce the heat and simmer for at least 10 minutes.
- Drain the pasta.
- Add to the skillet and toss with the sauce.
- Remove from the heat and stir in the basil and mozzarella.
- Dump the pasta into a 12″ x 9″ baking dish, sprinkle the top with a bit of Parmesan, and cover with foil. Bake for 15 minutes, then remove the foil and bake for another 10 minutes, until the top is crusty and browned.
- Garnish with basil leaves and serve.
2. Chicken Pot Pie
Pot pies may be one of America’s favorite comfort foods, but there’s nothing comforting about a dish that can swallow up an entire day’s worth of calories, fat, and sodium, as many restaurant renditions do. We clear out the artery-clogging fats, cut the calories by more than half, and deliver an easy chicken pot pie recipe you’re bound to love.
Pot pies may be one of America’s favorite comfort foods, but there’s nothing comforting about a dish that can swallow up an entire day’s worth of calories, fat, and sodium, as many restaurant renditions do. We clear out the artery-clogging fats, cut the calories by more than half, and deliver an easy chicken pot pie recipe you’re bound to love.
NUTRITION: 350 calories, 15 g fat (8 g saturated), 650 mg sodium
SERVES 4
YOU’LL NEED
2 Tbsp butter
1 onion, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups stemmed and quartered white or cremini mushrooms
2 cups frozen pearl onions
2 cups chopped cooked chicken (leftover or pulled from a store-bought rotisserie chicken)
1⁄4 cup flour
2 cups low-sodium chicken broth, warmed
1 cup 2% or whole milk
1⁄2 cup half-and-half
1 1⁄2 cups frozen peas
Salt and black pepper to taste
1 sheet puff pastry, defrosted
2 egg whites, lightly beaten
HOW TO MAKE IT
- Heat the butter in a large sauté pan or pot over medium heat.
- When it’s melted, add the onion, carrots, and garlic and cook until the onion is translucent and the carrots begin to soften, about 5 minutes.
- Add the mushrooms and pearl onions and cook, stirring occasionally, for another 5 minutes.
- Stir in the chicken and the flour, using a wooden spoon to ensure the vegetables and meat are evenly coated with flour.
- Slowly pour in the chicken broth, using a whisk to beat it in to help avoid clumping with the flour (having the broth warm or hot helps smooth out the sauce).
- Once the broth is incorporated, add the milk and half-and-half and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes, until the sauce has thickened substantially and lightly clings to the vegetables and chicken. Stir in the peas. Season with salt and pepper.
- Preheat the oven to 375°F. Cut the pastry into quarters. Roll out each piece on a floured surface to make a 6″ square.
- Divide the chicken mixture among 4 ovenproof bowls. Place a pastry square over the top of each bowl, and trim away the excess with a paring knife; pinch the dough around the edges of the bowl to secure it.
- Brush the tops with the egg whites and bake until golden brown, about 25 minutes.
