Please share a food or a dish that you thought you would either have to give up completely or find some funky "compare to" recipe that has like 1 ingredient in common and tastes like a lab experiment gone awry, only to find that it isn't nearly as bad as you thought. Also if you have a dish that you had been eating guilt free only to find out that it was not what you thought, share that also.

Mine is:
Biscuits and gravy. As a southern guy, gravy is practically a food group. It is something I have loved since childhood. Being from a single mom family Mon-Fri was grab a bowl of cereal which you ate while your mom brushed your hair but on the weekends she had time to cook. Biscuits, gravy, eggs, sausage or bacon. It was something I loved and still love and a tradition that we have carried on after I became a father. However we thought it was a no-brainer when dealing with the "D" word that that would have to go. One morning my son was asking for biscuits and gravy. My wife agreed that sounded great but we couldnt because she and I can't have it and my daughter doesnt like gravy (the paternity test is pending) and it is too much trouble to make it for 1 person. Out of curiosity I get the ingredients out just to remind myself what diet suicide it would be to have it. Here is what I found.
1/4 cup of flour 113 calories
2 tablespoons of bacon drippings 226(Crisco has the same calories since most healthy people don't have bacon grease lying around)
2 cups milk (the one thing I changed is that I used to always use 1 cup whole and 1 cup water. All we had was skim so I used 2 cups skim which garnered pretty much the same taste/consistency) 170

509 calories for 2 cups of cream gravy. At 1/4 cup servings that is 8 servings at 64 calories a serving.

My wife doesnt measure when making homemade biscuits but I know you can make Reduced Fat Bisquik Biscuits for 130 per.
2 Slices Turkey Bacon (50)
1 Egg (70)
1 Biiscuit (130-200 depending on type)
1/4 cup of Gravy (64)
Country breakfast for 314 calories.

Before the nutrition police come out. I know this isn't healthy and despite the calories still has to be a splurge meal but if having this 1-2 times a month can help you stay on track I feel it is well worth it.

I love biscuits with sausage gravy. I've discovered that turkey sausage makes an acceptable gravy... It's certainly not low-cal, but better than traditional sausage gravy. A person's gotta eat tasty stuff every now and again.

I have looked for turkey sausage and can't find it. I am in a small town with just a Wal-Mart and a Piggly Wiggly.

I get the Jenny-o turkey sausage at Walmart. It's in frozen packages. Ask a clerk or look in the open freezer section.

I get the Honeysuckle brand turkey sausage at Walmart, which is in the meat case with the rest of the turkey. It's a Walmart Supercenter, though.

Thanks for sharing the recipe. I dont see why you say its a splurge and unhealthy and all. I've heard of a lot worse, though sure there's some processed stuff in the turkey bacon and of course the white flour in the Bisquick, but most of us eat it! You've got dairy, and both carbs and protein which is good. I doubt you'd want to go much lower in the calories for breakfast either. So now if someone will just cook this up for me..for a change since I'm the only cook around here.

Mal says you can make your own turkey sausage

1lb ground turkey
1 medium Bosc pear, grated
1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh sage
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 large egg, lightly beaten

(note: use plain ole ground turkey -the all breast meat - 98 percent lean - is too lean for this - you need a little bit of fat - or use a combination ...

Form patties in 1/4 cup chunks and pan saute or bake on a cookie tin in the oven.

(this recipe was originally in Gourmet magazine - that called for a lot more salt -I use less and the garlic powder and cayenne pepper were my additions.

these freeze really well... and they don't have to be patties -they can be cooked in crumbles or stuffed into sausage casing if you can find them - personally sausage casing creeps me out..

The original recipe called for the pear to be peeled before grating -I like the texture of the peel in it - an apple could be used as well- what it gives is some added moisture to a pretty dry meat...

Withe turkey? duh. I been looking in the sausage section. No wonder I can't find it. The turkey bacon is in the bacon section? I will never understand store lay-outs.

turkey sausage is usually sold in the turkey section

*saving Mal's recipe*

That sounds great!!