In the food business, it's long been the general consensus that if you want to make something taste better, you add more fat, sodium and/or sugar. Lots of processed foods and many restaurants live by that motto.

That's why most nutritionists suggest cooking your own food, as it's easier to control how much of the "bad stuff" (or the "good stuff," depending on your perspective) you include in your diet. Of course, denying yourself an indulgence every now and then seems a little over the top.

So when my oldest son wants the same thing for his birthday every year — homemade pasta with creamy mushroom sauce — that's what he gets. It's rich, deeply flavored and bathed in an absurd amount of cream, which is fine … on your birthday. Still, who wants to wait a full year to have a dish you enjoy so much? My son certainly doesn't, and I don't blame him.

The good news is he doesn't have to. With a few alterations, I can make a reasonable facsimile with a fraction of the fat and calories. It's not even that difficult. The trick, which is really more of a tactic, is to subtract some of the fat and add in ingredients that have a high impact on flavor.

Originally, this creamy mushroom pasta used only fresh button mushrooms, which tasted great, as they were cloaked in a few cups of cream. For this "lighter" version, I simply reduced the cream, used a combination of dried mushrooms, which tend to be intensely flavored, along with fresh cremini and shiitake mushrooms and a dash of fresh herbs.

To make up for the lost liquid, I added white wine (although chicken or vegetable stock could also work) and the strained soaking liquid from the reconstituted dried mushrooms. The result is a rich, deeply mushroomy sauce that tastes decadent, but isn't.

Of course, once a year my son still wants the original full-fat version and that's fine, but it's nice to have an everyday version for when you want to treat yourself to something delicious, even if it's not your birthday.

Meredith Deeds of Edina is the author of "Everyday to Entertaining" and "The Big Book of Appetizers." Reach her at meredith@meredithdeeds.com. Follow her on Twitter @meredithdeeds.