Here Are 10 Classic Recipes Made Surprisingly Healthier

We sometimes half-joke at the office that every recipe we create is a makeover. After all, you'll probably find a "classic" version somewhere that's way higher in calories, fat, sugar, or sodium. But our job, one we've relished for nearly 30 years, is to deliver all the same pleasures of flavor, texture, and appearance that you expect in the dishes you love and crave—in a lighter context. Thankfully, we have a brilliant team of creative cooks to get us there, folks who love to innovate in the kitchen and who make incredible discoveries every day. Pureed tofu works brilliantly to lighten hollandaise sauce, for example, and canola mayo makes cheese extra gooey so that less seems like more in your grilled cheese. You'll find plenty of these cutting-edge techniques in Amazing Recipe Makovers, available wherever books are sold.

Guest contributor Gina Homolka shares her secret to getting kids to eat their vegetables, no bickering included. Better yet? Adults will be happy to have a healthier version of this old-school fave, too. Homolka is the founder of skinnytaste.com and @skinnytaste.

We call for organic ketchup because it's usually sweetened with sugar, not high-fructose corn syrup. Feel free to toss in chopped fresh herbs for more flavor.

We transform the cinnamon roll into a portable muffin that's packed with whole grains, ribboned with nutty streusel, and topped with a tart-sweet yogurt glaze. Yeasted cinnamon rolls take hours. These speedy muffins are done in just 30 minutes. Keep leftovers in an airtight container up to 4 days, or freeze up to 1 month.

When our crumbly-crisp topping meets the light, fluffy belly of this muffin, you'll swoon.

Our whole-grain muffins cuts 30 calories, 3.5g sat fat, and 6g added sugars from a traditional blueberry muffin. Bonus: An extra 2g fiber.

Broccoli salad is usually drowning in a creamy, often very sweet, dressing and studded with 1/2 pound crumbled bacon, making it more about the creamy dressing and bacon than about the actual broccoli. Ours uses a combination of canola mayonnaise and Greek yogurt to keep the calories in check. We opt for center-cut bacon (a bit less of it) and swap the usual raisins for lower-sugar dried cranberries to pack a subtle punch of tart. The best part of this salad? The longer it sits, the better it gets.

This creamy-crisp salad saves over 269 calories, 5g sat fat, and 121mg sodium over traditional broccoli salad.

The real kicker on this breakfast classic is the buttery, luscious hollandaise sauce. We lighten it up with a mixture of silken tofu and reduced-fat sour cream. When poaching eggs, choose the freshest possible; the white adheres to the yolk better, making for an easier, cleaner poach.

Ours saves 456 calories, 39g sat fat, and 498mg sodium over the classic version.

A splash of coconut milk adds richness to silken tofu, the mousse's secret ingredient, while whipped egg whites give volume in place of heavy cream. Dates lend natural sweetness with notes of caramel and honey. Don't give in to temptation too soon—the mousse needs to chill at least 8 hours to set properly. Serve chilled with fresh berries.

Our light, decadent mousse saves 89 calories, 8.6 sat fat, and 13g added sugars over traditional.

Roasting the tomatoes adds an intensely deep flavor and buttery texture that defines comfort.

Our no-cream version saves 183 calories, 10g sat fat, and 618mg sodium over classic tomato bisque.

A gooey, golden-crisp grilled cheese sandwich is the perfect partner to our Creamy Roasted Tomato Soup. We lean on reduced-fat cheddar but add a little canola mayo to stretch the cheese and encourage extra meltiness for a mixture that has 50% less sat fat than regular cheddar and saves 190mg sodium over processed American cheese.

Ours trims 225 calories, 12.1g sat fat, and 161mg sodium from a classic American grilled cheese.