Q. I was at a restaurant in Texas this summer and saw a dish on the menu that I immediately thought I would send to you. I'm on pretty strict orders to keep my dietary cholesterol in check, so I couldn't order it there, but with your help I can make a lighter version at home. It was a breakfast casserole that had fried breakfast potatoes with blankets of cheddar cheese, sour cream, ranchero sauce, sliced avocado and fluffy scrambled eggs.

A. We can definitely make a lighter version of this, and I'm going to design the recipe to be more like a two-serving dish (and less like a "casserole").

The base of the dish is the breakfast potatoes. A quick version of this is to buy frozen wedge potatoes (check the nutrition information label and make sure there are no more than 3 or 4 grams of fat per serving) and heat them up quickly in the microwave, then it just takes a few minutes to brown them in a nonstick skillet with canola or olive oil cooking spray. Instead of covering the potatoes with "blankets" of cheese, use a healthy sprinkle of flavorful reduced-fat sharp cheddar. There are great-tasting brands of no-fat sour cream (Naturally Yours is one), so we might as well use that and trim back even more on the cholesterol and calories.

Avocado contributes protective monounsaturated fat, so the garnish of sliced avocado is definitely staying on the plate.

Which brings us to the fluffy scrambled eggs. To eliminate the cholesterol — all 210 milligrams, from each egg — we must toss the yolks. Here are some options:

• Make scrambled eggs using an egg substitute (which is basically egg whites), or you can make an egg white "fried egg" or "omelet" by cooking up the egg white (without the yolk). If having one egg in a day, preferably one higher in omega-3s, is medically doable for you, you can make a fried egg using a nonstick frying pan with a quick coat of cooking spray.

All the ingredients in this dish worked very well together and didn't require a lot of fuss. And the total cholesterol for each serving plummeted from at least 315 milligrams (if one large egg per serving) in the original dish to 25 milligrams in the lightened version. Fat grams went from about 51 grams to 14 grams, and saturated fat decreased from 21 grams to 6.1 grams. This has 90 percent less cholesterol and 70 percent less fat and saturated fat from the original dish, which probably contains 711 calories, 51 g fat, 21 g saturated fat and 315 mg cholesterol per serving (if one large egg per serving).

DON'T MESS WITH TEXAS BREAKFAST CASSEROLE

• 8 ounces frozen wedge potatoes (with 3 or 4 grams of fat per 4-ounce serving)

• Canola or olive oil cooking spray

• 4 egg whites, lightly beaten, or 1/2 cup egg substitute (or 2 higher omega-3 eggs)

• 2 ounces reduced-fat shredded sharp cheddar cheese

• 1/2 cup fat-free sour cream

• 2 tablespoons ranchero sauce (or any similar Mexican sauce or salsa)

• 1/3 avocado, pitted and sliced lengthwise

• Salt and pepper to taste (optional)

Microwave potatoes until hot and tender (about 3 to 4 minutes).

Meanwhile, coat a nonstick skillet or frying pan with cooking spray and heat the pan over medium-high heat. Pour half of the egg-white mixture on one end of the hot skillet and the remaining egg white on the other half of the skillet. If using a whole egg per person, crack one egg on one end of the skillet and crack the remaining egg on the other half of the skillet. Coat the tops of the eggs lightly with cooking spray. When the underside is just cooked, flip the eggs over to cook the other side. If you are using egg substitute, cook the egg mixture as you would scrambled eggs (this seems to work best with the thinner liquid). Remove eggs from skillet and set them aside.

Give the same skillet a new coating of cooking spray and add the potato wedges (from microwave). Cook over medium-high heat until nicely browned and starting to crisp up (4 minutes). Turn off the heat and sprinkle the cheese over the potatoes. Cover with a lid for one minute (this will melt the cheese).

To serve, portion half of the potatoes on two plates and add a 1/4-cup dollop of sour cream on top. Drizzle the red sauce or salsa over the top of the sour cream and garnish the plate with avocado slices and the cooked egg whites. Salt and pepper can be added as desired at the table.

Makes 2 servings.

• Per serving: 374 calories, 20 g protein, 40.5 g carbohydrate, 14 g fat, 6.1 g saturated fat, 5 g monounsaturated fat, .7 g polyunsaturated fat, 25 mg cholesterol, 5.5 g fiber, 580 mg sodium. Calories from fat, 33 percent. Omega-3 fatty acids, .1 g; omega-6 fatty acids, .6 g. Weight Watchers points, 8

Read more at www.recipedoctor.com, including information about Elaine Magee's book, "Food Synergy."