As the warm days slowly slip away, like many, I’m not as heavily drawn towards lighter summer fare as I once was in months past, and instead gravitate towards more comfort-driven meals like spaghetti and meatballs, hearty soups and my personal Russian-turned-American comfort food classic – beef stroganoff.

While this creamy beef and noodles classic isn’t the prettiest plate of food to look at, for a meat, pasta and creamy-sauce lover, this old-school favorite sure it delicious – you’ll just have to overlook the sea of brown, dull colors. Although, the pops of parsley and bright yellow egg noodles help, right?

Even when I wasn’t the biggest fan of red meat in my earliest days, beef stroganoff was something I fell in love with instantaneously, and still adore to this day. And I’ll let you in on a deep-not-so-secret confession of mine, I love beef stroganoff so much, that occasionally when I’m feeling lazy and Kevin isn’t home for dinner, I’ll buy one those pre-packaged sides and eat the entire package myself…

Although if I’m being perfectly honest, laziness really shouldn’t be an excuse to forgo making this favorite from scratch, since it actually happens to be a meal that requires very little time to throw together. In fact, you can whip it up from start to finish in less than 30 minutes — add another five minutes to throw together a super quick garden salad, and you’ve got yourself a complete meal.

In my version, I made a few calorie conscious substitutes to make this comforting classic something you don’t have to feel guilty about going to town on. The fattier beef is swapped out for lean beef tenderloin, the butter is reduced significantly and full-fat sour cream is replaced with non-fat, protein-packed Greek yogurt. And while each swap out saves you some serious fat and calories, one thing it doesn’t do, is compromise flavor…

Head on over to Laura’s Lean Beef to get the recipe!