Not a Top Chef

I'm not watching Top Chef this season. I freely admit I got bored of it, which seems weird because I really do love cooking shows. Maybe I just like them better when there's less manufactured drama. I find Iron Chef (the real one, not the American version) and Alton Brown pretty entertaining, for instance.

That doesn't mean I'm totally disinterested, though. I'm reading the recaps over at Television without Pity, which I do for shows I've seen as well because they're frequently really funny and point out things I missed. Right now, because I'm bored, I'm noodling through some of the old recaps, and I just got up to season 3's "reinvent a classic home dish as an updated, healthier dish" challenge, which I really liked.

Now, I'm not a professional chef and never will be, but I do like to cook, and I'm fairly good at it. I'm actually a lot more familiar with the classic home dishes than upscale food, in fact, and cooking healthily is usually a goal of mine (nothing wrong with occasional unhealthy food, mind you). So when they did this I thought about what I would make, and I'm thinking about it again now that I'm reading the recap. I don't know if I'd be able to come up with this stuff on the fly, but then, I'm not aiming to be a contestant. I haven't tried any of these (though some use elements I've used before). I actually am planning to try some of them since typing it up made me hungry. :D I think, though, they'd work reasonably well.

Sloppy Joes Two things tend to make this unhealthy: high-fat ground beef, and fried potatoes (the show's version used tater tots; we used to eat 'em with fries). So start with browned ground turkey. Make the sauce from tomato sauce, celery salt, onions, green peppers, garlic, and tabasco sauce. Serve it on sliced french bread in lieu of hamburger buns. Bake steak fries brushed lightly with olive oil and seasoned with garlic powder (easier to handle than fresh garlic for something like this) and salt. Serve with a lightly pickled cucumber and onion salad.

Tuna Casserole I don't really think of this as horribly unhealthy but I guess it's got a fair amount of dairy and salt in the usual version and a lot of people use cheap, oily tuna. You could still used canned tuna, white chunk in water, which is what I'd do for home cooking; I presume a restaurant chef would rather use fresh, though. Season the tuna with salt, tarragon, and garlic, and bake it until it just gets flaky. Sautee some mushrooms and onions in olive oil. Mix the tuna, mushrooms, and onions with al dente whole-grain pasta, green beans (see below for why not peas), and low-fat yogurt. Top it with quinoa instead of bread crumbs and bake until quinoa is browned.

Franks and Beans I have to admit this one is hard because I really don't do legumes in general as they tend to cause me to spend unfortunate time in the bathroom. I think I might put a sorta Tex-Mix spin on it, though... use a turkey chorizo (tastes good and much lower fat) and serve it with a black bean and corn salad with salt, tomato, red onion, cilantro, and lime.

Pork Chops and Applesauce Usually when I want a lower-fat pork I just slow-roast pork loin, but that takes hours. For a quicker dish, I think I might braise it in apple cider with chili powder and cinnamon. Serve with steamed cabbage and boiled potatoes with sweet paprika and not too much butter (I maintain a little butter is still perfectly healthy).

Meatloaf This one seems like it doesn't need much help other than a better quality of meat, but why not add a little twist? Turkey meatloaf with sage and onion (and salt) with a mushroom sauce in lieu of ketchup. Make stuffing instead of mashed potatoes, using low-sodium, low-fat broth, onions, black pepper, and sage (your choice of breads, but I'm a fan of rye mixed with white), then baked. Serve with a balsamic vinegar-tossed green bean and pearl onion salad. It's a sort of "Thanksgiving Meets Meatloaf" idea.

Tacos Another dish where meat choice can make a big difference in health. Chicken breast stewed in low-sodium, low-fat broth with cayenne, hot paprika, sweet paprika, garlic, and onions, wrapped in lettuce, topped with salsa and baked tortilla strips brushed with cilantro oil and lime.

Chicken and Dumplings How about an Asian take on it? Chicken wontons boiled in low-sodium, low-fat broth, served with a hoisin dipping sauce, paired with steamed broccoli with soy sauce. About the only problem with this is it trades fat for sodium, but hopefully not too badly.

Stuffed Cabbage Once again the biggest culprit for fat here is meat choice. I think I'd go with ground chicken rather than ground turkey, though, since I think that it'd work better with tomatoes. So lightly-salted ground chicken cooked with rosemary, then mixed with the traditional white rice (or substitute brown for a bit more healthiness), wrapped in steamed cabbage, topped with grape tomatoes stewed with celery salt, sweet onions, and garlic.

Chicken a la King Braise chicken breast, dill, red onions, green onions, and mushrooms in a minimum of low-sodium, low-fat broth with a couple dashes of white wine. Stir in yogurt when chicken appears done; keep burner on warm for about 10 minutes, stirring regularly. Serve over basmati rice (I know some people put it on toast, but I've always had it with rice), with a side of cucumber spears lightly sprinkled with salt and pepper.

Fried Chicken with Macaroni and Cheese This is a double-whammy for fat: the frying and the cheese in the mac & cheese. The second one's harder to deal with. I think I'd try low-fat cream cheese sauce with chives on shell pasta (again, whole-grain if you want more healthy). For the chicken, dip in egg whites and then flour mixed with salt, paprika, garlic powder, and cayenne, and broil it to give it the brown-ed-ness (it's a word now!) fried chicken ought to have. Serve with a side of fruit salad with melons, berries, grapes, and apple.

Fish Sticks Mmm, breaded, fried, frozen, and then re-heated. My favorite! Seriously, we used to have these every Friday with tartar sauce and french fries. I used to love that. These days, though, I tend to serve baked fish, so why not go with that? I'd use tilapia, maybe cut it into strips to give it that 'stick' connection, brushed lightly with olive oil, seasoned with salt and dill. Serve with strips of warmed pita, tsatsiki, lemon wedges, and lemon-pepper steamed green beans with just a touch of butter.