This one is probably old hat by now, but it’s a go-to trick for me that Mom taught me in childhood. When you really want french fries, fried potatoes or potato chips do this instead:
slice a potato as thin as possible (you can use thicker slices, but they won’t get as crispy) place in a single layer on a baking sheet that you have (very lightly) sprayed with cooking spray/oil, spray the top side with cooking spray/oil and stick them in a preheated oven (350-400 degrees F should work nicely) and bake them until, crispy (12-15 minutes depending on thickness). Sprinkle with salt and enjoy- it’s almost as good as the fried version. 
Anyone have a good alfredo substitute? I’ve never made one, but it’s something I’ve always wanted to try. I’m worried that any recipe I try will end up being watery and plastic-y from the low-fat milk, low-fat cream cheese, etc.
I am going to try that!
Actually (and I can dig for a cite if needs be), there’s a lot of evidence that not only are frozen veggies not worse than fresh, they may be better. Let’s take a look at some corn:
Say you buy five ears of corn at the supermarket. They may have been in that bin you picked them out of for several days; they may have sat in the stock room for several days prior to that. They were almost certainly harvested a couple of days before they ever hit the supermarket. They may well have been harvested before they were really ripe, so they didn’t over-ripen/spoil during the whole process. The whole time between the time they were harvested/picked and the time you actually ate them (and you may not eat them for several days after you buy them), the nutrients have been slowly deteriorating.
BUT if you buy a bag of frozen corn, well, most of the big companies (Bird’s Eye, Green Giant) have packaging plants right next to the fields where the crops are grown. So the corn is harvested, stripped off the cob, bagged and flash-frozen, within hours. So, no deterioration of nutrients.
Canned veggies are a little different, nutritionally, mostly because of the added sodium.
Well, that’s good to know - if not for frozen veggies, we’d hardly eat veggies at all around here.
Wait . . . what? You mean you eat it alongside, or you mix it in?
Someone upthread mentioned fat-free evaporated milk; that’s the key to a good low-fat alfredo. Mine isn’t super-low-fat, because I use regular cheese, but it’s healthier than anything bought in a store or restaurant. These are very rough directions, since I’ve never bothered to write it down before:
Whisk two teaspoons of flour into a small amount of fat-free evaporated milk. Add this slurry and the rest of the can of milk to a pan, along with some chopped garlic (I like a lot, 3 or 4 cloves), a couple tablespoons of white wine (I like to use dry vermouth, because I always have it on hand for martinis), a little salt and pepper, and about a quarter cup of grated asiago, pecorino romano, or parmesan. Fresh-grated cheese works best, because it melts into the sauce better, but I’ve used pre-grated cheese in a pinch. It tastes as good, but you won’t get a smooth a consistency. Cook the sauce on medium heat, stirring frequently until it comes to a simmer and thickens. If it’s too thick, add some more wine. If it’s too thin, make another slurry of flour and wine, whisk it into the sauce, and let it simmer a bit more.
The nice thing about the cheeses you use is that, if you get good quality ones, they are very flavorful, so you don’t need a ton of cheese to get good flavor quality. I will say that if I were going to make this recipe, I’d grate a little fresh nutmeg into it as well. No fat, no calories, just another little layer of taste.
I just dump it on top of the cereal in my bowl and pour milk over the whole thing. I eat Life Multigrain cereal with no sugar (I don’t like sweet breakfasts usually), so it sort of blends in with the milk. Except with lumps.
OK, may I say, as kindly and respectfully as possible. . .ewwwwwwwwwww.
Instead of offering, I’m requesting a healthy eating hack.
I normally use Trader Joe’s organic tomato sauce, and add my own spices (cayenne, black pepper, Pasta Sprinkle from Penzey’s), herbs (snipped fresh basil), and sauteed veggies (bell peppers, onions, mushrooms, and garlic) to the mix. However, Muir Glen was on sale this week, so I got their no salt added tomato sauce. I added the same stuff I always do, but it tasted…off. I seldom add salt to dishes, and am always religious about getting low-salt broths and such whenever possible…but I added a touch of salt. It was decided better, and it was certainly the missing ingredient. I refused to add much, but the SO mentioned offhand it tasted a little “bland” after the meal, and he was right. I know it can’t be the quality of the sauce, as Muir Glen really has a great tomato-y flavor. We both are fairly sensitive to large amounts of salt - restaurant food always leaves us really thirsty later in the night.
Basically, what do you add to get that similar flavor of salt, when it’s especially needed? Or should I just suck it up and add salt, since we’re young, don’t have high blood pressure, and generally keep our salt intake low to begin with?
That’s a good idea, thanks!
Eh, don’t knock it till you’ve tried it.
The latter.
Salt in processed foods - including a lot of food served in restaurants that use things like soup base or canned sauces - is the real issue. They manage to pack so much salt into a small amount of food that it’s truly scary.
Cooking at home, from scratch? Don’t worry about adding salt. As you mentioned, it’s essential to get things to taste right. And unless you really have crazily insensitive taste buds, you’re not going to add so much salt that you are venturing into unhealthy territory. The food will taste WAY too salt to eat before you have enough to worry about.
More on salt - Here’s a really good explanation about why you really don’t need to worry about adding salt to meals you cook yourself, and why you do have to worry about it in processed foods.
Uh…quartered potatoes basically are gnocchi. In that vein, my healthy eating hack is: instead of a bowl of pasta, eat a bowl of flour! 
Hmm, that was a good article. You’re right, I’m not putting much in, nor anywhere close to where it’d be worrisome. It’s hard to remember that not all salt is bad, especially if you rarely eat processed foods. Thanks Athena :).
Sure except that 100 grams of potatoes has about 85 calories and 100 grams of gnocchi has about 250 because gnocchi is quartered potatoes plus free bonus high calorie flour and egg yolks.
As a general rule of thumb your dinner plate should be 50% vegetables, 25% meat/protein and 25% grain/potato. I grew up using meat and vegetables to flavour rice, which was the bulk of my meal, and have to make a conscious effort to change the ratio. I find the visual reminder very helpful.
If you throw some raw spinach, kale or broccoli into your fruit smoothie, it will turn green but not taste like vegetables.
Can’t wait to try this out simply because it doesn’t sound right. Should be fun.