Comfort food is anything, which makes us feel good, and it is often directly linked to the foods we grew up with, made with love by our mothers and grandmothers.
Everyone has their own idea of comfort food and popular dishes include homemade macaroni and cheese, meatloaf with mashed potatoes, apple pie with ice cream, chocolate chip cookies and generously topped pizza recipes.
High in Flavor but in Fat Too
Do you see a pattern in the above foods? Comfort food is often high in calories and fat and this is what makes it comforting. How many people would say their idea of comfort food is a plateful of broccoli?
As well as enjoying comfort foods like the above, the current generation is becoming more aware of making healthy food choices. We want less fat and fewer calories but without sacrificing flavor. We might indulge in our favorite comfort foods less often or have smaller portions. Sometimes though, this can make us feel deprived.
Home Cooking is the Answer
The best way to make sure you know exactly what you are eating is to cook it yourself. Before you roll your eyes and claim not to have the time, think about the cooking methods we use today and what is available. You can get ready chopped ingredients, pizza crusts, which are ready to top and bake. Microwaves and pressure cookers make speedy work of cooking our food and blenders, food processors, and other gadget speed up the cooking process too.
If you want to make a healthy pizza recipe, for example, you can buy a whole-wheat pizza crust (or make one) and top it with delicious ingredients. Use low fat cheese if you want. Be generous with the vegetable toppings to fill you up. Add herbs and spices for an interesting flavor and bake it for twenty minutes.
A takeout pizza is expensive as well as fatty, but you will be able to put whatever you like in a homemade pizza. The following recipe shows you just how easy a healthy pizza is to make.
Healthy Chicken and Tomato Pizza
This deliciously simple recipe makes four servings of pizza and each serving has fewer than three hundred calories. You will get the wonderful flavors of chicken, tomatoes, basil, and mozzarella with every mouthful and this is one comfort food you can enjoy without any guilt.
Low fat cheese melts better than fat free cheese, so that is recommended for this pizza. In addition, oil helps cheese to melt, so a few squirts of cooking spray over the pizza before you bake it is a good idea.
You will need:
- Nonstick cooking spray
- 10 oz package of refrigerated pizza dough
- 1 cup shredded low fat mozzarella
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 3 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
- 4 oz cooked chicken, in 1-inch cubes
- 3 plum tomatoes, sliced thin
- 1 tablespoon cornmeal
How to make it:
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Coat a 12 inch pizza pan in cooking spray and sprinkle the cornmeal over it. Press the refrigerated dough into the pizza pan, making it thicker at the edges. Arrange the chicken and tomatoes on the dough, then sprinkle on the pepper and basil. Add the mozzarella and bake for about 15 minutes or until the cheese is bubbly.