When it comes to soul-satisfying food, people just can't get enough of the creamy textures of comfort food dishes. Mac and cheese, fettuccini, chowders and cream soups top many people's list of favorite indulgences, along with ice cream and milkshakes. But do things have to be loaded with fat to be creamy and taste good?

My short answer is an emphatic "No!" I've developed a few easy ways to keep the creaminess in and the fat out, starting with my method for making savory, velvety corn chowder. This is the perfect soup for this time of year, when you're yearning for something that reminds you of warm weather, like chowder at the beach side -- but which will still warm you up on chilly March evenings.

Here are three skinny secrets that you can use in any of your favorite recipes or even add to store-bought items to ramp up the creaminess and lower the fat.

Tips and corn-chowder recipe are after the jump.

I've have a weakness for ice cream that was flecked with bits of cherry ever since my mom brought home that first carton of Ben & Jerry's Cherry Garcia when I was in high school. To this day, when I'm craving a treat, it's one of the first things I turn to.

I think that's why this picture spoke to me so strongly, it's that tie to cherry studded ice cream. This image (and recipe) comes to us from Susan at Sticky, Gooey, Creamy, Chewy. She takes her ice cream a step further than the folks at Ben & Jerry's, soaking her cherries in brandy before stirring them into the ice cream. Sounds quite good to me!

Peanut butter preference can be a very personal thing. Some people like theirs chunky, others prefer theirs to be creamy and smooth. Some would rather have natural, others enjoy the familiarity of commercial brands that they ate growing up. Growing up, my family solved the problem of preference by having multiple jars of peanut butter on hand at all times, ensuring that everyone had something they liked for toast and sandwiches, in addition to making sure there was something to use for baking peanut butter cookies.

If you just want one jar in your kitchen, Food and Wine listed their three favorite brands for consideration: Peanut Butter & Co. Smooth Operator (ultra­creamy), Skippy Natural Creamy (unusually thick, natural) and Santa Cruz Organic Dark Roasted Creamy (deeply flavored, made with Spanish nuts). No chunky peanut butters made their list, unfortunately, but all three of these sound worth a try for those who like it smooth.

Whichever peanut butter you eventually opt for, don't forget to try it out in your favorite peanut butter sandwich recipe.

Hot, comforting and filling, risotto is comfort food - albeit one that is a cut above a casserole or other hearty, quick-fix dish. It is not that risotto is difficult to make, but the thing that makes it special is the slow cooking and constant stirring that develops the creamy texture that is so satisfying. This Risotto with Smoked Mozzarella and Radicchio was made by Tami, from Running with Tweezers for the food blogging event, Hay Hay It's Donna Day, in which variations of Donna Hay recipes are celebrated by bloggers. This particular variation on a basic risotto comes from Food & Wine magazine. While many risottos use Parmesan as the main cheese, this one gets a deeply satisfying flavor and creamier than usual texture from smoked mozzarella cheese. The richness of such a cheesy dish is cut by the slightly bitter crunch of radicchio. The wonderful thing about risotto is that there are so many ingredients that can be used to make it that it can really be customized to your preferences. It is just a matter of getting down the basic technique and being willing to commit a few extra minutes to stirring.

Hellman's Mayonnaise (Best Foods, for shoppers in the western US) is the favorite brand of Cooks Illustrated and Cooks Country test kitchens, but for all its good qualities, mayonnaise can add a tremendous amount of fat to a sandwich or a dip. Cooks Country compared four varieties of their favorite mayonnaise brand this month to see if you could cut back on calories by switching to a lower fat version, or whether you're really missing out if you do.

The types taste tested were Hellmann's regular, canola oil, light and reduced fat. Unfortunately, the tasters all really preferred the original, full-fat (9g per each 1-tablespoon serving) variety and said that it provided the best flavor when tasted alone and in a dip. The reduced fat (only 2 grams fat per 1-tbsp serving) didn't have nearly as much flavor, but it still produced a creamy texture in dips.

Since most people don't want their spinach dip to taste like straight mayo anyway, you can save some fat and calories by using one of the lighter mayos in your dips and save the full-fat for when flavor really counts, on a sandwich.

Whether you like them or not, there is no escaping the fact that natural peanut butters are healthier than their more processed counterparts because they contain no trans-fats. It can be hard to decide on a brand when you have reached for the same Skippy or Jif brands for so many years. EatingWell magazine took the time to review several brands and the health-conscious taste testers - ranging from a toddler to an attorney - picked their favorites:

• Nut ‘N Better Organic: Creamy - Smooth and silky, this peanut butter is sold under the Safeway Organics "O" brand.
• Smucker’s Natural: Creamy - With a very peanutty flavor, this brand was named "the crunchy-lover's smooth" and can be found in most grocery stores.