Lightening Up Your Favorite Recipes

(NAPSI)-Most people love the rich and creamy taste of macaroni and cheese, fettuccine Alfredo and creamy tomato soup.

Fortunately, popular creamy recipes can be made into something even better and healthier with recipe secrets from award-winning cookbook author Pam Anderson for losing weight and eating great.

The following are a few tips for creating healthy meals at home:

• Shop smart: Always keep a well-stocked pantry of flavorful but healthy items. Having several types of vinegar on hand helps to serve up a flavorful punch without adding fat or calories. Store lower-fat, high-flavor cheeses such as goat, blue, Parmesan and feta in the fridge to add flavor to any dish. A well-stocked pantry will help you to easily make the perfect recipe at home.

• Eat smarter: Eating frequently and in small amounts throughout the day may prevent you from overeating; you should never go more than three hours without eating. Before making dinner, have a predinner nibble to stop you from grazing while cooking.

• Make every cup count: You typically use your drinking milk for cooking, but why not try using evaporated milk for richer and creamier meals with more nutrition? Low-fat evaporated milk has twice the calcium and protein of low-fat drinking milk, plus it's much lower in calories than the half-and-half or cream typically added to Alfredo recipes. Heavy cream has 50 calories per tablespoon, while evaporated milk has 20 calories per tablespoon and low-fat 2 percent evaporated milk has 12.5 calories per tablespoon. Simply use one cup of evaporated milk to replace one cup of milk or cream. Try a delicious CARNATION® Evaporated Milk recipe such as Crustless Broccoli & Cheddar Mini Quiches, which are great as an appetizer or with a salad for a light meal.

Crustless Broccoli & Cheddar Mini Quiches

(Makes 12-16 quiches)

Ingredients:

1 can (12 fl. oz.) NESTLE® CARNATION® Evaporated Lowfat 2% Milk

3 large eggs, beaten

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon ground black pepper

2 cups (8 oz.) shredded mild or sharp cheddar cheese

2 cups chopped, frozen broccoli, thawed and drained

½ cup chopped red bell pepper

Directions:

PREHEAT oven to 350° F. Grease and lightly flour twelve 2½-inch muffin cups.

WHISK evaporated milk, eggs, flour, salt and black pepper in medium bowl until blended. Stir in cheese, broccoli and bell pepper. Spoon ¼ to ⅓ cup of mixture into each prepared muffin cup, filling almost to rim*. Stir mixture frequently to evenly distribute ingredients.

BAKE for 23 to 28 minutes or until knife inserted near centers comes out clean and tops are lightly browned. Cool in pans for 15 minutes. Run knife or small, flat spatula around inside edges of muffin cups. Carefully remove quiches.

*NOTE: Number of quiches that you get will depend on the size of your muffin cups. Bake time may need some adjusting.

Nutrition facts per serving: 120 cal, 7 g total fat (5 g sat fat), 80 mg chol, 220 mg sodium, 6 g carbo, .5 g fiber, 8 g pro, 15% Daily Value vitamin A, 35% Daily Value vitamin C, 2% Daily Value iron, 25% Daily Value calcium

For more recipe ideas, visit TheCookingMilk.com.

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