5 Comfort Food Recipes to Get Your Hygge On (Feel Cozy)

by Team Dudash

January 20, 2017 • 0 comments

Times change, seasons change and if you have been outside lately, temperatures change too. As most of you know, I recently relocated from Arizona to the Midwest. My girls and my big kid (husband) have pulled out our winter coats from storage and our meals are much more “hygge.” By the way, it’s pronounced HOO-gah. If you are familiar with the term or don’t speak Dutch, hygge are those experiences that create a warmer atmosphere, like food.

When it’s this cold, it can be so tempting to indulge in heavy, high-calorie comfort foods. Instead, here are some of my favorite clean comfort food recipes that will warm you up from the inside and keep you feeling good.

Slow Cooker Hungarian-Style Chicken with Tomatoes & Mushrooms

Busy families may not have four hours to make dinner, so I like to save this recipe for Sunday mornings and serve leftovers for the rest of the week. It delicious—comforting, warming and curiously complex in taste despite its simple ingredient list. Prep time is a nifty twenty minutes and this meal serves up to six shivering dinners. Here is the full recipe, with 364 calories, 35 grams protein and 8 grams carbs.

Creamy Potato Soup

After a morning or afternoon digging out the driveway or chasing your kids through the snow, nothing warms our stomachs better than a bowl of cream soup. For this dish, I opted to use Yukon gold potatoes for a buttery taste.

This hearty recipe serves seven, one cup servings, with 134 calories, 7 grams fat and 3 grams saturated fat.

Five-Ingredient Slow Cooker Chili

One of the benefits of all this cold weather is winter sports. Whether its tailgating for the big football game coming up in February (Go Packers!) or a pickup hockey game over a frozen pond, chili can help warm you back up. I originally developed this recipe for the Food Network’s Healthy Eats. Prep time is thirty minutes and total cook time is six and half hours.

Sweet and Sour Shell Mac and Cheese

Cozy up next to the fire, wrap yourself up in a warm blanket and indulge in this clean, comfort food classic–Mac and Cheese. The key to this dish is the fresh lemon juice and zest for balance and a great way to reduce salt and sodium. If you want to increase the fiber, use whole grain pasta shells.

Baked Mini Frittatas with Goat Cheese, Spinach and Tomatoes

As I’ve mentioned, in cooler weather, a hot breakfast kicks your day off warmly and this recipe makes it possible–even during the work week. For this version, I use goat cheese and spinach, but have some fun and get creative with your pairings. Maybe a sharp, low-fat cheddar or even soy cheese. Check out the full recipe here, which has 230 calories, 15 grams protein and is a good source of iron, vitamin C and calcium.

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