Comfort Food

Comfort food. It even sounds warm and welcoming - like cuddling up by the fire on a cold winter day. Comfort food trends on menus have steadily increased over the years and appear to have real staying power. So what is comfort food? Generally it's the food we have good memories about, that reminds us of simpler times, the food we think of when we think “homemade”.

Comfort food has never gone out of style. Yet, some of our customers are aging and becoming more aware of health and the importance of making healthier food choices. Customers want fewer calories and all the taste while eating their favorite foods. So where does this leave operators? How do we combine comfort food trends with healthier lifestyle trends?

We can tweak those great recipes from the past so we maintain (or sometimes even improve) the taste but forgo some of the fat, cholesterol, sodium and sugar. Here are some suggestions for updating traditional comfort foods.

Comfort Food	Better-For-You Tweaks
Meatloaf	Use lean ground beef, turkey, chicken or BOCA Meatless Ground Burger. Add fresh herbs and finely chopped vegetables.
Pasta Sauces	Use less oil and butter and add extra vegetables. Serve over whole wheat pasta.
Mashed Potatoes	Use skim milk and less butter. Add garlic and scallions for flavor.
Pizza	Replace half of the flour in your dough with whole-wheat flour. Use reduced fat shredded cheese. Top with fresh vegetables, like baby spinach, caramelized onions and roasted tomatoes and peppers. Use small amounts of feta or blue cheese to increase flavor.
Potato Salad	Prepare with KRAFT Light Mayo or KRAFT LIGHT DONE RIGHT Ranch Dressing.
Macaroni & Cheese	Prepare with whole-wheat macaroni and reduced fat shredded cheese.
Biscuits and Scones	Replace half the flour in biscuits recipes with whole-wheat flour and serve with reduced sugar jams. Replace part of the flour in scones recipes with ground oatmeal.
Chili	Prepare with BOCA Meatless Ground Burger, lean ground beef, turkey or chicken.

Try these other comfort food recipes:

Greek Village Salad Pizza