By Lisa Messinger
Food and Cooking at Creators Syndicate

Mom is often the comforter behind many of the dishes we consider our own longtime personal comfort foods. Wouldn’t it be fun then to target some of those all-time, hearty favorites, add our own special touches and give them to Mom as treats in the days leading up to Mother’s Day or for a memorable brunch or supper on the holiday itself? Just think back to what you enjoyed most growing up and give it a slight twist. For a little inspiration, the following are some popular “topics” that gave many of us a lot of happiness, like French toast, fried chicken, meatloaf and brownies. Each one, though, has been tweaked, like a few fiery additions to the chicken or a bagels ‘n’ cream cheese rendition of the French toast. Another comforting perk: for these dishes to have earned their status as favorites, they usually, too, relied on trusted, highly economical ingredients. That’s a bonus not just for yesteryear, but for today’s often cost-conscious times as well.

Cooking can be easy, nutritious, inexpensive, fun and fast, as the following savvy substitutions prove. The dishes are delicious evidence that everyone – including you and your kidlet helpers – has time for tasty home cooking and, more importantly, the healthy family time in the kitchen that goes along with it! Another benefit: You effortlessly become a better cook since there are no right or wrong amounts. These are virtually-can't-go-wrong combinations, so whatever you choose to use can't help but draw "wows" at the table, whether it’s at a time like Mother’s Day or as a way to make any day more special.

Omelet Worth Ovation
While the omelet is cooking, in another skillet saute olive oil with dashes of basil, oregano and garlic, add some thin strips of zucchini and carrots until tender. When omelet is set, carefully brush half with store-bought pesto and fill that half with the sauteed vegetables before folding other half over it.

Bagels ‘n’ Cream Cheese French Toast
Saturate well entire halves of raisin bagels in well beaten eggs and cook until well done on both sides, flipping once in a skillet that is well heated with half butter and half olive oil. (Besides providing some antioxidants, this tends to make the French toast more light and fluffy than when cooked in margarine or nonstick pan spray.) Serve warm topped with whipped cream cheese into which you’ve stirred dashes of maple syrup and ground cinnamon.

Fried Chicken Made More Fiery
To your fried chicken batter, add cayenne pepper and use only three-quarters of the egg wash or buttermilk you might usually, replacing the other quarter with spicy salsa you’ve mixed in.

Meatloaf Stuffed with Love
Stuff the meatloaf made from Mom’s best recipe with her favorite cheese, like bleu cheese, gruyere or parmesan, as well as some of her favorite vegetables finely diced and fresh herbs, such as: a mix of mushrooms, broccoli, cilantro and chervil.

Brownies with a White Topcoat
After brownies cool (or to store-bought brownies), spread a layer of marshmallow cream and drizzle with white chocolate chips. Sprinkle vanilla wafer crumbs over the top.

QUICK TIP OF THE WEEK: Pulled pork, beef and poultry are popular offerings at barbecue restaurants. The process is easy to emulate at home – especially using shortcuts like store-bought rotisserie chicken and jarred barbecue sauce. Let the chicken or other meat you are using cool. As the name implies, after removing and discarding any skin, simply pull apart the poultry or meat and it will be shredded. Place the pieces of poultry or meat in a pot, stir in the barbecue sauce and a dash each of water, spicy brown mustard and any type of vinegar of your choice. Cook on medium heat until hot, stirring frequently. Serve over whole-grain hamburger buns.

Lisa Messinger is a first-place winner in food and nutrition writing from the Association of Food Journalists and the National Council Against Health Fraud and author of seven food books, including the best-selling The Tofu Book: The New American Cuisine with 150 Recipes (Avery/Penguin Putnam) and Turn Your Supermarket into a Health Food Store: The Brand-Name Guide to Shopping for a Better Diet (Pharos/Scripps Howard). She writes two nationally syndicated food and nutrition columns for Creators Syndicate and had been a longtime newspaper food and health section managing editor, as well as managing editor of Gayot/Gault Millau dining review company. Lisa traveled the globe writing about top chefs for Pulitzer Prize-winning Copley News Service and has written about health and nutrition for the Los Angeles Times Syndicate, Reader's Digest, Woman's World and Prevention Magazine Health Books. Permission granted for use on DrLaura.com.