Comfort meals, with a healthy twist
Comfort meals often include warm, savory, and hearty ingredients like potatoes and pasta, that are warm and satisfying. Some popular comfort meals include beef stew, classic lasagna, macaroni and cheese, chicken pot pie, shepherd’s pie and hearty soups.
Check out these classic comfort meals, each one with a healthier twist that we have added! Enjoy!
Scroll to the end for more healthy meal twist tips.
Lighter lasagna
Extra virgin olive oil
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
500g mince beef
850g canned, diced tomatoes
3 tbsp tomato paste
2 tbsp fresh oregano, finely chopped
2 tbsp fresh basil, finely chopped
500g low fat cottage cheese
250g frozen spinach, thawed and drained well
½ cup fresh basil, chopped
200g instant lasagna sheets
100g grated cheddar cheese
Freshly ground salt and pepper
Green salad for serving
Preheat the oven to 180°C (160° fan-forced).
Heat a medium sized frying pan to medium-high heat, add olive oil. Sauté onions and garlic until soft and add beef mince, breaking mince up until browned and cooked through.
Stir in canned tomatoes, tomato paste, oregano and basil and simmer on low heat for 30 minutes or until most of the liquid has been absorbed. Season with salt and pepper.
In a separate bowl, combine the cottage cheese, spinach and extra basil, mix gently until combined. Season with salt and pepper.
In a 2 litre capacity lasagna dish place 1/3 of lasagna sheets over the base. Cover with 1/3 of beef mixture and then 1/3 of the cottage cheese mixture. Repeat two more layers and finish off by sprinkling the cheddar cheese over the top. Bake 30 minutes, cover with foil and bake a further 30 minutes.
Serve with green salad.
Cauliflower mac and cheese
5g unsalted butter
1 leek
1 stick of celery, diced
Optional: ½ a bulb of fennel
1 small head of cauliflower (600g)
450g dried pasta
1 tablespoon plain flour
500ml milk
500ml water
1 tsp English or dijon mustard
100g mixed cheese, such as Cheddar, Parmesan, feta, halloumi, grated
100g stale bread
2 cloves of garlic
Freshly ground salt and pepper
Optional: a few sprigs of fresh herbs, such as thyme or oregano
Olive oil
Preheat the oven to 180ºC (160° fan-forced).
Put a large pan on medium heat with the butter.
Wash and slice leek and add to pan. Stir for several minutes and add the celery, and fennel if using (chop fennel into 1cm pieces).
Break the cauliflower into florets, then cut into 2cm-thick slices and finely slice the stalk and any leaves. Add the stalk and leaves to the pan and cook for 10 minutes, or until soft, stirring regularly.
Meanwhile, cook the pasta for 8 minutes (5 if using macaroni). Reserve a cup of cooking water, drain the pasta and pour into a 2 litre capacity baking dish, with the cauliflower florets.
Stir the flour into the pan with veg for 30 seconds, then gradually pour in the milk, stirring constantly, followed by 500ml of water. Simmer for 5 minutes, then stir in the mustard and season with salt and pepper.
Let the sauce simmer until thickened.
Stir the cheese into the sauce, remove from heat. Blitz until smooth with a hand blender, or a food processor.
Pour over the pasta and cauliflower florets. If its too thick, add a little reserved pasta water – the sauce will thicken up as it bakes.
Blitz your stale bread into crumbs in a food processor (or smash up in a clean tea towel). Peel and grate the garlic. Mix all together, with herbs and 1 tablespoon of olive oil.
Scatter the crumbs over the pasta, grating over extra cheese, if you want, then bake for 30 minutes, or until golden and bubbling.
Veggie beef stew
1 kg chuck or boneless shin/gravy beef, cut into 3cm pieces
2 tbsp olive oil
1 large brown onion, thinly sliced
4 medium carrots, thickly sliced
4 celery stalks, sliced
1 large fennel bulb, roughly chopped in 2cm cubes
2 tbsp plain flour
2 cups (500ml) beef stock
400g can diced tomatoes
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp soy sauce
5 sprigs fresh thyme
1 small bunch silver beet, stems trimmed, leaves shredded
1/3 cup parsley leaves, roughly chopped
Mashed potato and steamed green beans, to serve
Preheat the oven to 180°C (160° fan-forced). Place beef in a large snap lock bag or dish, add half the oil, season and mix well.
Heat a large oven proof dish or pan on medium-high heat. Brown the beef in 2 or 3 batches, setting beef aside on a plate.
Reduce heat to medium and add remaining oil. Add onion, carrot, celery and fennel and cook, stirring, for 4 to 5 minutes.
Sprinkle in flour and stir until vegetables are coated. Gradually pour in stock stirring well. Return beef to the pan with any juices and add tomatoes, sauces and thyme, stirring until the mixture boils.
Cover dish, place in oven and cook until beef is very tender (2 to 2 ½ hours), stirring occasionally, adding extra stock or water if necessary. Remove from oven, stir in silver beet and set aside, covered, for 10 minutes.
Serve beef sprinkled with parsley with mash and green beans.
Chicken veggie pie
400g potatoes, diced in 2 cm cubes
400g pumpkin, diced in 2 cm cubes
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 leek, washed well and sliced
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 tbsp plain flour
1 cup milk
1 cup chicken stock (make with stock powder if you like)
500g chicken breast/ thighs, diced in 2 cm cubes
¼ cup parsley
¼ cup grated cheese
6 sheets of filo pastry
Preheat the oven to 180°C (160° fan-forced).
Boil, steam or microwave potato and pumpkin cubes until tender. Set aside.
Heat olive oil in a large pan on medium-high heat. Add leek and garlic and cook until tender. Then add chicken and cook for another 5 minutes until chicken starts to brown.
Add in flour and mix well to coat everything. Gradually add in milk and stock, constantly stirring, until mixture comes to a boil and thickens. Cook for another minute.
Stir in cooked potato and pumpkin, parsley and cheese and mix well. Remove from heat.
Spoon mixture in a shallow oven proof dish, 2 litre capacity. Crumble filo pastry sheets over the pie mix, spray with olive oil and bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown.
Healthy twist meal tips:
Add extra vegetables to the standard recipe, don’t be afraid to double the vegetables or add extra vegetables not included. The more variety the better.
Use butter, instead of other options such as margarine.
Extra virgin olive oil is much better to use than seed oils.
Use herbs and spices, rather than premade spice mixes and sauces.
Lean cuts of meat are best. make sure to trim off excess fat before cooking.
For slow cooker meals, use meat cuts that include bones, this adds nutrition during the cooking process, but can be taken out before serving.
Don’t include processed ingredients, substitute with unprocessed ingredients where possible.
Want more recipes? Check out our RECIPE HUB.
Sources:
https://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/cauliflower/cauliflower-mac-n-cheese/
https://www.australianbeef.com.au/recipes/the-master-beef-casserole/
Lasagna and chicken pie are editor’s own recipes.
