Spring Chicken and Biscuits

Many years ago I found some chicken recipes in Good Housekeeping magazine and they are still a couple of my favorites. One of them can be found in an earlier entry here. In the May 2009 issue there are several chicken recipes that I am looking forward to trying. We tried the first one tonight and it was good. Not sure it will become a classic at our house but it was good and was fairly easy to prepare (which is a prerequisite for any recipe in my kitchen :-) )
So without any further ado - here is the recipe:

Spring Chicken and Biscuits
1 cup plus 2 Tbsp all purpose baking mix (not with buttermilk)
1/3 cup plus 1/2 cup reduced-fat milk
4 medium skinless, boneless chicken-breast halves (1 1/2 lbs)
Salt and pepper (or sepper as my 3 year olds call it)
5 teaspoons olive oil
2 medium carrots, chopped
1 small onion (4 to 6 oz), chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
1 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 cup frozen peas, thawed
1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill plus additional sprigs for garnish if desired
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. In medium bowl, mix baking mix and 1/3 cup milk until just combined. Onto ungreased cookie sheet, drop biscuit dough to make 4 even mounds. Bake biscuits 10 minutes or until golden brown.
Meanwhile, with meat mallet, pound chicken (I put mine in a ziploc bag) to an even 1/2 inch thickness, cut chicken into 1/2 inch chunks and season with 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper.
In 12 inch skillet, heat 2 teaspoons oil in medium high until hot. Add chicken and cook 6 to 7 minutes or unitl no longer pink throughout, stirring occasionally. Transfer chicken to bowl.
To the same skillet add remaining 3 teaspoons oil, reduce heat to medium. Add carrots, onion and celery and cook 8 minutes or until vegetables are tender, stirring occasionally. Add broth and heat to boiling on medium high. In cup, stir cornstarch into 1/2 cup milk and add to skillet. Heat to boiling on medium-high; boil 1 minute, stirring. Remove from heat; stir in peas, dill, lemon juice, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and chicken.
To serve, spoon chicken and vegetable mixture into 4 shallow dinner bowls. Top each bowl with a biscuit; garnish with dill sprigs.

Crispy Chicken Fingers

We were invited to join a couple other families on an outing today. At 8:40 am the one who organized the day called me to say everyone was running late and it came up that I was supposed to make chicken :-) She had sent an email at 6 something this morning but I had just turned my computer on when she called. Unfortunately, I had no chicken in the house. Fortunately Troy had just left the house and I called him to run to the store for chicken and cereal. Unfortunately he forgot the cereal. Fortunately I needed to let the chicken soak in the buttermilk for 15 minutes. Anyway, my fortunately and unfortunately could go on and on but I will get to the point. I got the call at 8:40 am with no chicken in the house and out the door at 10 am with these chicken fingers cooked and ready for our yummy lunch. It is a fast, easy, semi-healthy (compared to McD or W*ndys) recipe. We had the leftovers tonight for dinner and they were still yummy :-)

1 1/4 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, cut across into 1/2 inch-thick slices
1/2 cup lowfat buttermilk
Cooking spray
4 cups whole grain cereal such as Corn Chex or corn flakes
1/4 teaspoon salt
Pinch of freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
Combine the chicken and buttermilk in a shallow dish, turning the chicken to coat it with buttermilk. Cover and chill for 15 minutes.
Coat two baking sheets with cooking spray.
Put the cereal in a sealable plastic bag and crush with a rolling pin. Transfer the crumbs to a shallow dish and season them with salt and pepper. Dip each piece of chicken in the cereal to fully coat and arrange on the prepared baking sheets. Bake until cooked through, about 8 minutes. Leave the chicken on the baking sheet to cool slightly. It will become crispier.
Serve with honey mustard sauce or other sauce if desired.

Ok - now for my notes :-) First I did a lot more chicken than this recipe called for. I did about 3 or 4 pounds and since I was making it for several 3 year olds and younger I cut it up into chunks rather than strips. I used the Corn Chex and ended up using the whole box.
I baked mine for double the time it says here as well. After 8 minutes they were still pretty pink in the middle - 16 minutes was good and they were still very moist. I did not have time to let them cool on the baking sheets as I was short on time so they were not as crispy as they could have been. I reheated the leftovers in the oven for dinner and they were nice and crispy. Everyone who tried them today thought they were great.

Energy Bars

I know it has been forever since I have posted to this blog so not sure anyone will check but I am going to post some new recipes anyway :-) I finally figured out how to link this blog to my Doubly Blessed blog so now they are on the same dashboard maybe I will remember to post here more often.

I have been looking for some healthy snacks that I can make for our family. I really am trying to change the way I cook and the way we eat. Overall we do eat quite healthy but there is certainly room for improvement and both Troy and I need to loose weight. We both have a history of diabetes in our families so we need to really start doing things differently. My sister who blogs at Comfort Cooking is making some huge changes and has blogged some about it. Right now she is my inspiration but I am having a hard time changing some things. My hubby says I need to concentrate in one area and not try and change everything at once and I know this is true - so where do I start?

My kids don't eat sweets for the most part. I do very little cookie baking and they have a piece of candy on special occasions, maybe! They snack on raisins, bananas, peanut butter pretzels, goldfish crackers, yogurt and other semi-healthier things. I know some of these things leave some to be desired as well. My image of being a mother was always baking things for the kids and having the cookie jar filled etc even though I was not raised this way. I am having to change my thinking and realize I am not a bad mother because I do not feed them cookies and candy or let them drink juice. My kids drink water all day long and don't know the difference. Sometimes when we go out if a drink comes with their meal they get a special treat of apple juice.

Anyway, this post was supposed to be a recipe for energy bars. I found this in a cookbook my sister gave me "The Food You Crave" by Ellie Krieger. I made a few adjustments to the recipe but they turned out pretty good.

Here is the recipe at it is written and then I will tell you about the changes I made.

1 cup quick cooking oats
1/2 cup shelled unsalted raw sunflower seeds
1/2 cup toasted wheat germ
1/4 cup whole grain pastry flour or whole wheat flour
1/2 cup dried apricots
1/2 cup raw almonds
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup pitted dried dates
1/2 cup nonfat dry milk
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/3 cup pure maple syrup
2 large eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat 9x13 pan with cooking spray.
Place all ingredients, except the maple syrup and eggs, in a food processor and pulse until everything is finely chopped. Add the syrup and eggs and pulse until the mixture is well combined. It will resemble a coarse paste.
Transfer to the baking pan and spread evenly to cover the bottom. Bake until lightly browned, about 20 minutes. Allow to cool for 15 minutes, then cut into 24 bars. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for about 3 days or wrap individually and freeze up to 3 months.

Ok - so my changes. I left out the sunflower seeds because hubby is alergic. The other thing I changed was the maple syrup. It was not in my budget this week and as I was looking at it in the store I saw beside it some Agave nectar. I remembered that I had some at home and so decided to try and substitute it. It seemed to work just fine. If you have not used Agave nectar before you can read about it at this link. I think it tastes like honey but a little thinner. It has a lower glycemic index that regular sugar and it does not cause the sugar spike that regular sugar does. You can use it in baking but use a little less than is called for because it is sweeter.

Garbanzo Beans

The Garbanzo bean, also called a chick pea, is gaining popularity. I have always liked them but used to think they were only for salads. A couple years ago I found a great low fat Hummus recipe in my WW cookbook and started making it. Even my hubby, who is not a garbanzo lover, likes my hummus. I began to explore other uses and found some interesting recipes.
Tonight I was the cook at one of our International Cooking Nights we have through our church. I decided to share some of the recipes that I have found using this great "bean".
In doing some research for the class I found that this is one of the healthiest "beans". It is high in fiber, high in iron, can help lower cholesterol, low on the glycemic index, and one of the highest protein plant foods. It has many other great features as well.
So here are the three recipes I shared tonight. They all got rave reviews.

Roasted Garbanzo Beans

2 15 oz. cans garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed well
1 Tbsp. chili seasoning
2 Tbsp. olive oil
sea salt or kosher salt to taste

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Toss chick peas with chili seasoning and olive oil. Spread out in a single layer on a nonstick jelly roll pan. Place on the center rack of the oven and roast 40-50 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes or so.
The chickpeas are done when they are browned and taste crispy. If they're still soft in the center, continue roasting in 5-minute increments until done. Sprinkle with sea salt and serve immediately. Roasted garbanzo beans do not keep well, even in an air-tight container.



Hummus

1 15 oz can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed well
½ cup plain low fat yogurt
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
3 garlic cloves, crushed
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 tablespoon water
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon cumin
1/8 teaspoon fresh ground pepper

In a food processor or blender, puree all the ingredients until blended, but still a little chunky.
Serve with pita chips or vegetables.

I served this with homemade pita chips - just cut pita bread in 8ths and split it. Lay the bread in a single layer on a cookie sheet and toast in a 350 degree oven for 8-10 minutes. You can also put olive oil and other seasoning on the bread before toasting but I prefer mine plain.


Indian Cauliflower Curry Stew

I got this recipe from Good Housekeeping magazine. It is a great vegetarian dish but you could add meat (chicken or pork) if you just had to have meat with it. I added a little more curry than it called for and did the final cooking just until the cauliflower was done - the 15 to 20 minutes final cook time is a little to long in my opinion

1 tablespoon olive oil
3 medium carrots, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
1 tablespoon finely chopped peeled fresh ginger
1 tablespoon curry powder
salt
2 ½ cups vegetable broth
1 medium head cauliflower (2 lbs) cut into small florets (4 ½ cups)
2 15 oz cans Garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
½ cup loosely packed fresh cilantro leaves, chopped
¼ cup plain low fat yogurt plus additional for serving
1 ½ cups brown rice

In 6 quart Dutch oven, heat oil on medium-high until hot. Add carrots and onion, and cook 10-12 minutes or until vegetables are lightly browned and tender, stirring frequently.

Meanwhile, prepare rice as label directs; keep warm.

Stir ginger, curry, and ¾ teaspoon salt into carrot mixture; cook 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Add broth; cover and heat to boiling on high. Stir in cauliflower and garbanzo beans; cover and cook on medium 15 to 20 minutes longer, gently stirring every 5 minutes until cauliflower is tender.

To serve, stir chopped cilantro and ¼ cup yogurt into cauliflower stew. Spoon rice into serving bowls; top with stew. Serve cauliflower stew with additional yogurt to dollop on top if you like. Makes about 8 cups.

Spaghetti Carbonara

Here is a very simple recipe that makes a very yummy, fast dinner. Warning - it is not WW friendly or even healthy living friendly but oh so good for an occasional treat :-)

Here is the link to my sister's blog where she has it detailed.

Check out some other recipes while you are there - she has some great ones!

Hamburger Cornbread Casserole

This recipe is from my Healthy Cooking Magazine. We really like it. I did not have ranch style beans the second time I made it so just used white beans and added a few other things to it.

1 pound lean ground beef
1 small onion, chopped
1 can ranch-style beans
1 can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon worcestershire sauce
Topping
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cornmeal
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup fat free milk
1 tablespoon canola oil


1. In a large skillet, cook beef and onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain. Add the beans, tomatoes, chili powder, and Worcestershire sauce; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered for 5 minutes.
2. Transfer to an 11 in x 7 inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. For topping, in a small bowl, combine flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder and salt. Combine the egg, milk and oil; stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Spoon over filling; gently spread to cover top.
3. Bake uncovered, at 425 degrees for 14-18 minutes or until filling is bubbly and a toothpick inserted into topping comes out clean. Let stand for 5 minutes before cutting.

Potato Soup

Tonight was a cold, dark, rainy night - a soup night. I had a bag of potatoes left over from a dinner I made for someone last week so decided potato soup was in order. I looked at some recipes on line for inspiration and then made a very yummy potato soup that hit the spot.

1 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, crushed
2 teaspoons olive oil
4 cups chicken broth
1 can evaporated milk
5 russet potatoes, peeled and diced
Canadian bacon
1 teaspoon celery seed

This is what I did:
Heated olive oil in dutch oven. I added the chopped onion and crushed garlic and cooked them until the onion was translucent. Add the broth, milk and potatoes and celery seed and cook on medium to low heat. While this was cooking I cut up the Canadian bacon and added it to the soup. When the potatoes were done I mashed them a little right in the pan with my potato masher. I left some in chunks - just kind of mashed a few times to get a little thickness. It was very yummy!
One of my favorite tricks to cool things down for the kids is to add cottage cheese to things. I added a spoonful of cottage cheese to the kids bowls and it was perfect -
Another thing I do to cool things down is add frozen peas.