Turning A High Calorie Recipe Into A Highly Tasty Low Calorie Meal

So a friend of mine posted this recipe today for John Wayne Casserole and boy it sure does look delicious!  It also looks like it has a lot of things in it that I don't eat (insert pouty face here).  But, since I had no other ideas for dinner, I decide to take the recipe, shake it up a bit and make a more Whole Foody spin of it!  Here's what I did.

I made some Faux rice (that's Cauliflower turned into an amazingly delicious rice substitute) and put that on the bottom of a casserole dish.

I ground up a couple chicken breast, cooked the ground chicken with onion, green bell pepper, garlic and a jalapeno.  Poured that on as a second layer.  Then sliced up a tomato, added that as a third layer.  Topped that with 1/2 - 3/4 cup Greek Yogurt (Sorry Sour Cream and Mayonnaise, you do not belong in my house!) then sprinkled some cheddar cheese on top (If it were just me, I'd leave off the cheese for health reasons, but my hubby loves cheese) and baked at 350* for about 30 minutes.  Once it was done, I added a little bit of shredded lettuce.

Now, why did I make the changes I did?  Because the original recipe had over 4500 calories for a 9 x 13 casserole.  If you made 8 servings out of that (Incredibly easy to do), that's over 560 calories per serving, and not all great calories either.  The revised version I made tonight comes in about half that.  A 9 x 13 would have just 1800 calories and that's 225 calories per serving, mostly good calories (Except cheese.  Seriously, cheese is a killer).  Did this dish I made turn out anything like the original?  Probably not.  But it was still fantastic.  :)

One of my favorite things to do is take an old recipe that I've always liked that may not be so good for me and shake it up a bit, put a healthier spin on it and it becomes a new, healthier favorite!

**Please note, anything you make at home is far better than anything you could buy at a Fast Food joint!  There was nothing wrong with the original recipe.  But, for those on a Low Calorie Diet or a more Whole Foods diet, it's nice to be able to take a recipe and adjust it to fit your own diet and preferences.