While the weather's still cold, we have more comfort food to warm your family. Spice Market Pastitsio is a variation of what some know as Greek lasagna.

Ground beef is mixed with a combination of spaghetti sauce, cinnamon and crushed fennel. It is then layered with corkscrew pasta, drenched in a white sauce enhanced with feta and nutmeg, and sprinkled with Parmesan. Each serving contains 17 grams of fat.

For this recipe, we:

• Used 93% lean ground beef and reduced the amount by one-fourth.

• Used 1% milk.

• Replaced the feta with a reduced-fat variety.

Our husbands were stumped when they tested the dishes side by side. No one could discern a noticeable difference in the appearance, taste or texture in the high-fat and rehabbed versions. They not only couldn't figure out which was lower in fat, but they thought the pastitsio was delicious!

Try it out on your family. It has only 8 grams of fat per serving.

Recipe Rehab Tip of the Week: Freshly grated Parmesan imparts a more intense flavor than the pre-grated canned variety, which means you can usually use less cheese.

Spice Market Pastitsio

8 ounces rotini (about 3 cups, uncooked)

6 ounces lean (90% or better) ground beef

1/4 cup chopped onions

1 teaspoon minced garlic

14 ounces fat-free spaghetti sauce

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon fennel seed, crushed

1 envelope (1.8 ounces) white sauce mix

1 cup 1% milk

2 slightly beaten eggs

1/4 cup reduced-fat (4 grams per ounce) feta cheese

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly spray 2-quart square baking dish. Cook pasta according to package directions; drain.

In medium skillet, cook beef with chopped onions and garlic until no longer pink; drain fat; blot meat with paper towels.

In medium bowl, combine meat, spaghetti sauce, cinnamon and fennel seed; set aside. In medium saucepan, combine white sauce mix and milk. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly; remove from heat. Gradually stir half of sauce into eggs; return all to saucepan. Stir in feta and nutmeg.

To assemble: Layer half of pasta in prepared baking dish. spread meat mixture over pasta; top with remaining pasta. Evenly spread white sauce mixture on top. Sprinkle with Parmesan. Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees 35 minutes or until set. Let stand 10 minutes. To serve, cut into squares. Makes 6 servings.

Before and After

Values based on 1 serving (1/6 of recipe)

Spice Market

Pastitsio...................Adapted

Calories....323...................316

Fat..........17 g.....................8 g

Carbohydrate...46 g..........45 g

Sodium.....727 mg ......792 mg

Fiber.........3 g.....................3 g

Cholesterol..107 mg ......91 mg

Calories from fat....36%.................23%

Nutritionists recommend those on daily 2,000 calorie diet limit their fat consumption to 65 g or less, cholesterol to 300 mg or less and sodium to 2,400 mg or less per day.

Karen Weber, Pat Streicher and Ellen Illig are registered dieticians at Jewish Hospital's Cholesterol Center. Their Recipe Rehab Cookbook is available by mail. Send check or money order for $40 to RR Cookbook, P.O. Box 58100, Cincinnati 45258.