Say goodbye to the delivery guy

PROFILE. It’s late, you’re starving and you have a pile of takeout menus on the counter. The angel on one shoulder tells you that food you make at home is healthier, cheaper and lets you emulate your favorite Food Network hero. The devil on your other shoulder, however, is seriously craving Pad Thai from around the corner.

Chef Meredith Deeds knows the dilemma all too well, which led her to write “The Take-Out Menu Cookbook” (Running Press, $20) with fellow cooking teacher Carla Snyder. “No matter what cuisine we were teaching, there was a group of recipes, iconic recipes, that students wanted to learn,” says Deeds. Those staples were foods her students were used to ordering out, so Deeds realized that the average American could use an all-cuisine roundup as well.

“I grew up in San Diego where good Mexican food is a staple,” says Deeds. “I mean really good Mexican food. And when I left San Diego, I had to learn to make it myself.” Her book covers her favorite unfindable food, carnitas, as well as Greek, Italian, French, Japanese and Eastern European foods. “When  you move away from  your favorite foods, you find yourself in dire straits,” says Deeds, but it’s not just cooks in remote spots that can consider takeout alternatives. “Even if you live in a city with restaurants, it doesn’t mean you can’t make it cheaper and healthier at home.”

Deeds notes that while her recipes aren’t all “a dieter’s wonder,” nearly all are healthier than restaurant alternatives. “One of the best things you’ll ever do is hand-make pasta, which is not that hard to do, and toss it in an alfredo cream sauce,” she says. “When you do it at home ... at least you’re getting the bang for your caloric buck.”

Deeds isn’t scared of homemade pasta, homemade tandoori chicken or even homemade sushi.

“It’s not hard to do, and my kids get a huge kick out of it,” she says.