In the last few months, I've been making dietary changes in an effort to eat more healthily -- more fruits and vegetables, more whole grains, less senseless fat and grease.

One of the things that has been problematic for me is my love for meatloaf, hamburgers, and meatballs. All of these things are typically made with cheap (and fatty) meat, and yet, are so comforting. Swapping out the beef for turkey or chicken definitely helps with the caloric issues, but It Just Doesn't Taste The Same, and sometimes, what you really want is that comforting taste from home, the beef. After many experiments, I have finally found something that saves the ground beef! It really was obvious, I don't know why I couldn't think of it on my own, especially given in my days of vegetarianism, I often used mushrooms as a meat substitute.

Swapping out 1/3 of the meat for cooked minced mushrooms, adding more diced vegetables, and swapping out bread crumbs for steel cut oats are all things that go for the good cause: switching to leaner meat (reducing the fat content and calories), increasing the grains (and better-for-you than pulverized white bread), and adding all sorts of vegetables ends up making meatloaf healthier without sacrificing the texture or flavor is great! And I'll be honest: as good as my mom's meatloaf was, this tastes better. (Sorry, mom!)

According to the magazine whose recipe I based this off of, the ground chuck/ground pork/bread version has 440 calories and 30 grams of fat per portion and their version (which has less vegetables - I've marked my additions in the ingredient list) has 268 calories and 12 grams of fat.


Since trying this out, I've tried swapping out 1/3 of the meat for cooked minced mushroom in meatballs and hamburgers, and it's worked out really well. As well, grinding the oats down (to be as fine as the bread was) makes the oats a fairly good substitute for bread crumbs in meatballs, as well.

Today, I bring you the blissful carb coma that is homemade mac and cheese.

I've never really been a fan of mac and cheese. I mean, it's alright in a pinch, but most of the time, it's too cheesy (instead of being creamy), or it's got a weird combination of cheeses (leaving stringy or separated cheeses).

But my mom and sister love it. So I ran into the recipe at cooking for engineers and offered to make it. It didn't look like it could be too bad. After all, it's originally from Cook's Country (Cook's Illustrated laid back baby sister), and they do some serious research into their recipe creations and analyze it in ways that would make even an engineer cry


Now, I made it a little differently. I'm a big fan of not going to the store for one or two items if I've got something that I can substitute with. So, instead of American cheese (which I really don't care for and only buy if I have a hankering for a cheap grilled cheese sandwich), I used colby. It doesn't have the stabilizing influence that the processed cheese has, but the flavor profile is similar (American cheese used to be made with a combination of colby and cheddar). Actually, I didn't even do that, because all I had on hand was a block of colby-jack (which is a blend of monterey jack and colby), and hey, monterey jack was called for in the recipe too, so there you go. 8 oz colby-jack instead of 5oz American/3oz monteray jack. And it didn't really sit for the whole 10 minutes afterwards.

I also put a pinch of my truffle salt in there, because I love adding just a pinch of it to cream sauces (which this very much is - a béchamel that has cheese melted into it). And there you have it: truffle salt, nutmeg, and cayenne are my cream sauce secret ingredients. And I used a generous pinch of cayenne instead of the hot sauce (because, again, I'm not going to the store for one or two items, especially when I have to buy way more than I will need for this one recipe and I pretty much NEVER use it)


Anyway... the carb coma was blissful afterwards. Creamy and cheesy without being clumpy or separated (which is so, so disgusting) or being too creamy or too cheesy, smooth. Perfect, really. I wasn't really expecting to like it as much as I did (especially since I normally am not one for a sprinkling of bread crumbs on top), but even that turned out quite well.

This is a long-loved recipe -- I first made it more than two years ago, when I was living in New Mexico. (Oh, the memories it brings back - the dinner party where everyone brought something, so we had this, mashed potatoes, miso, wine wine wine, salad, and some Black Forest-inspired brownies.)

Pork's one of those meats that pairs beautifully with fall fruits - apples, pears, cherries, figs, peaches. I love eating it in the fall because of all the interesting things you can do with it. Fresh juices, fresh fruits, making fresh compotes, glazes sauces ... you name it, I've tried it.

This recipe's a little off balance because while a traditionalist may marry pork with white wines (white meats with white wines), it calls for a Beaujolais. Never fear - the Beaujolais is perfect with the cherries and the pork and the cloves.

Anyway, my mom doesn't know it yet, but this is what I'll be making for her on her birthday, with some roasted garlic mashed potatoes, a chopped salad, and probably a light soup to start with. For dessert, we're having this decadent chocolate-and-Bailey's cake, but that'll be its own entry, eh?

I mentioned yesterday that there were two delicious recipes from the current issue of Cuisine at Home. This one's the other - and let me tell you, it is as delicious cold the next day as it is piping hot from the oven (if not moreso).