Stroganoff's slim secret is less butter, half-and-half

When Janette Judd's sister Denise came for a visit, she brought a special recipe along.

"She made the most awesome beef stroganoff that I can't get enough of!" Judd wrote. "She continues to bug me about sending it to you to see if you can slim it down for us."

Just reading the recipe made my mouth water, so I went home to see what I could cook up for them. Most of the excess fat and calories in this stroganoff come from the creamy sauce, and that's where I focused my efforts.

The original recipe calls for a more than a cup of half-and-half. I get good results by using a fraction of that amount along with some beef broth and fat-free milk, saving 59 calories and 5 fat grams per portion.

Judd's sister uses a half a stick of butter to saute the onions and mushrooms, but you can get the same flavor with less than two tablespoons of butter. That switch shaves off 43 calories and about 5 fat grams per serving.

I also substitute light sour cream and reduced-fat, reduced-sodium cream of mushroom soup to lighten this dish up a bit more. I tried this stroganoff with whole-wheat noodles and No Yolks noodles, but I think regular egg noodles work best.

My recipe trims the calories by25 percent and the fat by 27 percent. You can have a serving of my beef stroganoff for 394 calories and 19.3 fat grams.