How to eat comfort food in a better-for-you way

We are back and in the kitchen for something I like to call cheated or eat it where we talk about foods that are an indulgent cheat or ones that we've put a slightly healthier spin on and you could eat without the guilt here to share a delicious mac and eat please welcome back to GMA three celebrity chef and TV host Jameika Pessoa looking beautiful and it smells so good in the studio really really good okay so this is your jam yes this is Jameika's jam I am bad in the kitchen take us through this I will do exactly what you tell me all right so we're showing two comparisons we have the indulgent mac and cheese all the butter bells and whistles but I'm going to show you one that I call a super food mac and cheese okay so we're starting off with some olive oil and I'm putting in zucchini we're going to saute some vegetables here some red onions and you just want them to go until they brown because we're making a mac and eat as I like to call it so we don't want to cook them all the way through till soft but just ground them got sun-dried tomatoes a little garlic going in there and I want you to keep in mind this is like a one-pot dish so I've already gone ahead and boiled my chickpea pasta you guys I boiled it and I've drained it so yes we're starting here I like that you're excited about chickpea pasta so you'll let that go just a few minutes until it's brown and then we make the sauce it already smells amazing I know right that's sun-dried tomato because it's a mediterranean inspired mac and it's not is it cheating if you use the jarred garlic because I do I'm not using my own garlic you okay if you don't want to mince it go ahead and buy it in source totally fine now we are changing the game on cheese sauce we're not doing the traditional roux or anything like that flour and butter we're starting off with cottage cheese cottage cheese like having a moment right it is having a star moment right now and I like using cottage cheese because you get that creaminess but instead of using like cream cheese or like any other ultra processed cheese this is where everyone needs to go start putting cottage cheese in any of your mac and cheeses that you're making and it's really high in protein I've always been kind of intimidated by cottage cheese but if you mix it like this mix it like this and it's high in protein so I'm telling you this is packed with so much flavor I added in some feta cheese we have fresh mozzarella cheese going in and then I want you to put in those spices we have some garlic powder all of them some oregano some chili flakes if you like it spicy I do now this is the hack of all hacks this right here is the salted pasta water from the chickpea pasta that boiled I saved the water this is going to change the game because it has the starch in there it's going to thicken your sauce so I don't have to add any additional dairy heavy cream any milk like that and it's going to give it a nice little that's why you're a no save just a little bit of that water and then we finish with nutritional yeast this is you'd see this more so in like vegan cooking but it adds so much flavor gives us that cheesiness that saltiness that nuttiness that we crave with mac and cheese love it you're not missing any flavor here so zhuzh it up yes we're gonna zhuzh and then this is what it comes out to a nice and creamy thick cheese sauce here all right so we finished our sauteed vegetables well look at all the color that's the color that's the flavor you want to go for I've added in my chickpea pasta and some people are afraid it might not taste the same it tastes the same and texturally it holds up like regular pasta so don't feel like mozzarella yes fresh mozzarella because I love mozzarella gives us that cheese pull that we that's right and by the way I believe in the full fat cheeses most of the time but now the thing is feta and mozzarella are like that's healthier cheeses if you will and by using that fresh you know it's got to have that pull on it that's just makes it so much more fun that's what mac and cheese is all about and then we come in with that creamy tangy I mean this is like a super powered pack we've got fiber we've got protein and this is it and this is all you can make this in one pot you can bake it off in the same dish or you can put it in a baking dish we bake this off until it's golden brown and bubbling and delicious I top it off with feta cheese right before it goes into the oven and this is what we come out with you're going to let it sit for a few minutes let that sauce thicken I top with some fresh basil and I mean we have everything that we need in here we've got fiber we've got nutrients we got vitamins we got protein that's incredible and it tastes good so let's look I mean I'm so blown away by this you have to taste let's look at the profiles head to head and compare where the things that I think are important to look at calories for the cheat 845 total fat 48 grams and for the eat you're talking about almost half calories 396 total fat 17 grams it tastes good and it makes you feel even better that's the important thing about standing next to you makes me feel like a more confident chef in air quotes thank you jameika for joining us today and for today's recipe go to goodmorningamerica.com slash food or you can scan the qr code on your screen well hey there gma fans robin roberts here thanks for checking out our youtube channel lots of great stuff here so go on click the subscribe button right over right over here to get more of awesome videos and content from gma every day anytime we thank you for watching and we'll see you in the morning on gma