Main Dishes

Back of the Fridge Chicken Soup

Ever have one of those days when you just want to clean everything out of your fridge but you can’t throw it away because it’s still ok to eat? I did that last week. I had a bunch of little containers with leftover veggies, leftover rotisserie chicken from the supermarket and a freezer full of turkey stock I made from the my Thanksgiving in July dinner. You can use whatever you have left in your fridge or freezer and it will be delicious! I had some frozen mushrooms also that I threw in. It was very tasty! We actually had it two nights in a row.

INGREDIENTS:

4 cups chicken or turkey broth or stock

1 8oz. package Tofu Shirataki Noodles, prepared according to package

4 cups mixed veggies of your choice (I used a mix of frozen chopped spinach, broccoli rabe w/chicken sausage, mushrooms, peas, green beans, onion and garlic), chopped into bite sized pieces

1-2 cups chopped leftover chicken, whatever you have is good

1 15-16oz. can cannellini beans drained and rinsed.

½ cup chopped parsley

2-3 tablespoons olive oil

DIRECTIONS:

1. Saute the chopped onion and garlic in the olive oil. When soft pour in broth and rest of the ingredients except for the beans, parsley and noodles.

2. Bring to a boil and then lower heat and simmer for about 15-20 minutes until everything is heated through.

3. Add the beans and noodles and continue to cook for another 5 minutes or so until the beans are heated through. Add the parsley and serve.

4. Serve with parmesan cheese if you like!

Makes 4-6 servings.

Smothered Chicken

I feel like today is a Monday! The job hunting takes up most of my mornings these days, leaving the rest of the day to do my endless list of “house” chores. Today I was supposed to clean up the office buried underneath the rubble. I started this finally at 6pm! And now I just remembered I forgot to post a blog recipe! So here I am, 7:23pm, starting my blog, and watching an episode of Roswell on Hulu.com (I love Hulu by the way!) I have an iMac and the screen is 21.5″ so watching a show and working is easy! So here goes.

Today’s recipe is another recipe from Dom DeLuise’s book “Eat This Too!” Normally when I see a recipe that has the word “smothered” in it I try and avoid it. Though this recipe is low-calorie and high in protein. It’s actually a very easy recipe to make and it won’t take up all your night cooking! Enjoy!

INGREDIENTS:

4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts

2 teaspoons olive oil

pepper to taste

4 garlic cloves, minced

1 onion, minced

¼ teaspoon paprika

2 tablespoons flour

1½ cups chicken broth

1 tablespoon soy sauce

18-20 mushrooms, sliced

4 cups cooked brown or white rice (I prefer jasmine brown rice)

2 teaspoons sesame seeds

DIRECTIONS:

1. Set chicken in deep broiling pan. Season with olive oil, pepper, garlic, onion and paprika.

2. Set broiler about 5 inches from heat. Broil chicken 3 minutes on one side, turn and broil one minute on the other side. Remove and set aside.

3. In a mixing bowl, stir flour into broth and soy sauce until flour dissolves. Add mushrooms. Pour the broth mixture into a saucepan and cook over medium heat while stirring constantly until sauce thickens.

4. Slice and arrange the chicken breasts on the rice and “smother” everything with the mushroom sauce. Sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Serves 4

Escarole and Beans

Such a delicious hearty peasant dish. Love it on a cold fall day or anytime for that matter. It’s a cross between a soup and a stew. You can even add some cooked ditalini macaroni to this if you want to stretch it. Any small pasta will do. If I wasn’t so lazy I’d run out to the store right now and buy some escarole and make this tonight. Maybe tomorrow night. This is such an easy dish to make and so good for you as well. Escarole is overlooked at times, people are afraid of it. It is actually part of the endive family but is less bitter. With the right spices and sauce it is just heavenly. Mangia!

INGREDIENTS:

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 small onion, chopped

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 head escarole, washed very well and cut into pieces

1 carrot, sliced

1 cup chicken broth

1 15-16oz. can cannellini beans

grated Parmesan cheese

DIRECTIONS:

1. Saute the garlic and onion in the olive oil in a saucepan until translucent. Add the escarole, carrot and broth, bring to a boil. Once it boils simmer for 20 minutes.

2. Add the beans but do not stir them in. Cook for another 5 minutes. Stir gently to mix, then serve with grated cheese and if you like, a nice hot loaf of crusty Italian bread.

Serves 4

Delicious Creole Gumbo

On May 4, 2009 the world became a lot less funny. Comedic genius and actor Dom DeLuise passed away at the age of 75. I don’t know of anyone who can’t name at least one favorite Dom  DeLuise movie. One of my faves is “Fatso”. The food in this movie was incredible and you got hungry just watching it. Especially the scene with the huge pot of sauce and meatballs. He dunks a little Italian bread into to taste it and it’s all down hill from there. Funny. He was one of my favorite actors and you always smiled when you watched him. Smiled or laughed hysterically.

Dom was not a skinny man by any means but over the years he realized he had to do something. I bought his first cookbook “Eat This…It’ll Make You Feel Better!” back in 1988. It was full of funny and wonderful stories of his family and friends. It was and still is an awesome cookbook. When I got married my father wouldn’t let me leave the house with the copy I had so I had to go and buy another one to take with me! The book is full of his mother’s Italian home cooking as well as recipes from his family and friends. It’s actually my “go to” Italian cookbook.  As the years went on and Dom got larger and larger he decided to start eating better and came out with a second book in 1997. Another hit. This one is called “Eat This Too!”. It’s a low-fat cookbook of all his favorites along with more pics and stories of his family and friends. I will never part with either cookbook. All of the recipes are delicious.

Dom & Julia on Good Morning America in 1984

Today’s recipe is from “Eat This Too!” Gumbo can be very fattening but his version is loaded with vegetables and a seafood. Serve it over brown rice instead of the usual white rice.  Don’t be afraid of the long list of ingredients either. It’s not too scary, really! It will take longer to cut up and prep all of the veggies (where’s that private sous chef when you need one?) than to cook so be brave! You won’t be disappointed!

INGREDIENTS:

2 pounds shrimp/scallops, lobster, or other seafood, shelled, cleaned

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 onion, chopped

1 carrot, sliced

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 28-oz can tomatoes

1 6-oz can tomato paste

1 red pepper and 1 green pepper, coarsely chopped

½ teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon parsley

1 teaspoon paprika

10 mushrooms, sliced

2 bay leaves

1 teaspoon oregano

1 teaspoon thyme

½ teaspoon Tabasco sauce

12 fresh okra, sliced

2 zucchini, sliced

1 stalk celery, chopped

3 tablespoons flour mixed with ½ cup cold water

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a large pot sauté the onion and garlic in the olive oil, until golden brown. Add the remaining ingredients except the seafood.

2. Cook over medium-low heat until flavors intermingle, about 30 minutes. Add the shrimp/scallops or other seafood. Cook just a few minutes until seafood is just done. Serve while still tender.

Serves 8-12

Baked Eggplant Italiano

This is my  version of a healthier eggplant parmigiana dish. Yes it can be done! I did not use any breadcrumbs and I didn’t fry the eggplant. That is where most of the fat and calories come from. Don’t get me wrong, I love the old-fashioned breaded and fried version of this dish but I just can’t have the extra fat and calories anymore. Plus it takes forever to fry it all! Next in line with the fat is the cheese used. I used a shredded, reduced fat 4 cheese Italian mix. It has reduced fat mozzarella, smoked provolone, Asiago and Romano cheese. It’s made with 2% milk so it has 33% less fat and 10% fewer calories than the full fat version. I broiled the slices of eggplant on a cookie sheet under the broiler and only sprayed them with olive oil cooking spray. The dish came out great. It is very filling even without all the extra bread crumbs! I really enjoy eggplant and this time I remembered to make it pretty soon after I bought it. I have a tendency to buy it and forget it’s in the refrigerator for days. Then when I go to use it, it’s all brown and spotty inside. Yuck! So this time I bought it and cooked it the next day! Remember when buying an eggplant the top crown should be green and not brown. Brown is bad, means it’s been there a while and not fresh. By the way, the leftovers are just as good as the first time too! (I started to cut the eggplant before I remembered to take a picture)

INGREDIENTS:

1 large eggplant

olive oil cooking spray

marinara or your choice of pasta sauce

Parmesan cheese, grated

garlic powder

2 cups reduced fat shredded Italian cheese of choice (Sargento’s 4 Italian Cheese is great)


DIRECTIONS:

1. Peel eggplant. Slice it lengthwise or if you prefer, round. For this recipe I sliced it lengthwise.

2. Set your oven to broil and place the rack about 4 inches under the broiler. Spray 1-2 cookie sheets with the cooking spray.

3. Place eggplant in a single layer onto cookie sheets. Spray tops of eggplant with cooking spray and sprinkle with garlic powder. Broil eggplant 4-5 minutes on each side. When you flip the eggplant spray again with cooking spray. Keep an eye on the slices as they can easily burn. They should be lightly browned on the edges and soft. Do this until all eggplant is broiled. After eggplant is done, move the rack to the middle and set your oven to 350º.

4. In a square Pyrex or other oven proof baking dish put a thin layer of sauce on the bottom of the dish. Lay eggplant slices on bottom slightly overlapping till you have one layer. It should take about 3 large slices. Next add sauce to top of eggplant and spread a thin layer over it. Sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese and about ¼ cup of the shredded cheese. Place another layer of eggplant, again overlapping slightly. I placed this layer in the other direction to give it more stability. Again apply sauce and cheeses. Continue until you have no eggplant left. Finish with shredded cheese on top.

5. Place the dish into the 350º oven and bake until sauce is bubbling and the cheese is all melted. About 15-20 minutes should do it. Remove from oven and let sit 5-10 minutes to let the sauce set up. It’s ok if it’s a little runny. Cut and serve!

This dish is great with a nice salad on the side or even a small dish of pasta.

Serves 2-4

Chicken Penne a la Vodka (minus the vodka)

Yes, Penne a la vodka with no vodka. I was inspired by chef Rocco DiSpirito with this recipe. It was his originally and I made it my own. He didn’t have chicken in his recipe. He uses whole-wheat pasta and I used my favorite Tofu Shirataki Noodles. Usually this recipe is loaded with heavy cream and vodka, making it very high in calories. This tasted just as good and you will never miss the vodka or cream. Honest! It is much lower in fat and since I have added chicken to mine it’s got more protein. I also added a little more marinara sauce than the recipe calls for so mine is a little more red than normal. Also I used 16 ounces (2 packages) of the Shirataki Noodles, next time I will use only 8 ounces (1 package) Mangia!

INGREDIENTS:

1 pound boneless chicken breast cut into 1-2″ strips or pieces

2-3 tablespoons olive oil

2-3 cloves garlic, chopped

12 ounces whole-wheat penne pasta (or 1 package Tofu Shirataki Noodles)

2½ cups low-fat, sugar-free marinara sauce (or your favorite light sauce)

¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes

7.1 ounce container 2% fat Greek-style yogurt (or any container close to that amount)

1 cup chopped fresh basil

salt and pepper to taste

6 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a large saucepan sauté the garlic in the oil. When the garlic is lightly browned add the chicken and cook till browned. Remove chicken from pan and set aside.

2. If using whole wheat pasta  bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook according to package directions, about 9 minutes. If you are using the Shirataki Noodles follow package directions.

3. Meanwhile, in a large, nonstick sauté pan over medium heat, combine the marinara sauce and red pepper flakes and bring to a simmer. Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes or until it is reduced and slightly thickened.

4. Remove the marinara from the heat. In a small bowl, stir about ½ cup of the marinara into the Greek yogurt until it is smooth, to temper it, then whisk the yogurt mixture back into the marinara in the sauté pan.

5. Drain the pasta and add it to the pan, tossing to coat. (or add the Shirataki noodles) Add the chicken and toss to mix. Add the basil and season with salt and pepper, if necessary. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

Serves 6

Thanksgiving Shepherd’s Pie

Since we had Thanksgiving in July in my house last weekend we now have lots of delicious leftovers. I was trying to think of something great to make with them and came up with this recipe. It is actually leftovers from the turkey dinner and leftovers from a few days before. I had a few containers of leftover vegetables. Stir fry mix with corn, snow peas, beans, water chestnuts, carrots and some green beans. I also had some broccoli and cauliflower from our dinner at Carrabba’s the night before. What I came up with was a Thanksgiving type Shepherd’s Pie! It was so good. It didn’t get rid of all the turkey or gravy leftovers but it was a start! You can use any kind of vegetables you have leftover. You will have a new family favorite!

INGREDIENTS:

Leftover cut up turkey (about 2 cups or so)

Leftover cut up vegetables (about 2 cups)

1 cup leftover turkey gravy

Leftover mashed potatoes

3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese


DIRECTIONS:

1. Put all the vegetables in a large bowl. Cut up any really large pieces. Add the turkey to bowl. Add the gravy and mix thoroughly.

2. Put all the vegetables into a 2 quart casserole. (Or one that is big enough or small enough to hold them all). Spread the mashed potatoes over the top of the turkey/vegetable mix, like you are frosting a cake.

3. Sprinkle the cheddar cheese over the top and bake in a 350º oven until the cheese melts and the “pie” starts to bubble on the edges. Usually about 30 minutes.

Serves 2-4

Easy Chicken Stir-Fry

I am always looking for easy recipes to make for dinner. Something that doesn’t have a ton of ingredients and that I can make in under 30 minutes. This recipe is just that. Only 4 ingredients! One pan! Chicken and vegetable stir-fry, very simple. Making it even more simple is the fact that I used frozen veggies. It’s low-calorie and full of protein. All good things!

INGREDIENTS:

1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut into strips

4 cups frozen stir-fry vegetables (without sauce)

½ cup fat-free chicken broth

¼ cup light teriyaki sauce

salt and pepper to taste


DIRECTIONS:

1. Spray a large nonstick skillet cooking spray; heat. Add chicken; cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until browned on all sides.

2. Add the frozen vegetables and stir-fry until just tender, about 2-3 minutes.

3. Add  chicken broth, teriyaki sauce, salt and pepper. Stir-fry until chicken is cooked through and vegetables are tender-crisp, about 3 minutes.

Makes 4 servings

Per Serving: 179 calories, 3 grams fat, 3 grams fiber

Southwestern Five-Bean Soup

Even though the temperatures are pretty high right now it’s always a good time for soup. Soup can be lunch with sandwich or salad or a meal on its own. Either way it’s a good, hearty meal with lots of fiber and vitamins! This soup is great on its own but you can also add rice or small pasta to it. I love soup because it is usually very easy to make and I only need to use one pot for the most part! Less to clean up is a good thing! Using canned beans is a fast way to a hearty dinner or lunch. With all of us so busy these days it’s nice to have a shortcut to dinner.

For illustrative purposes only

INGREDIENTS:
1 can (15 oz.) black beans, drained

1 can (15 oz.) kidney beans, drained

1 can (15 oz.) chick peas (garbanzo beans), drained

1 can (15 oz.) red beans, drained

1 can (15 oz.) white beans, drained

1 can (14-15 oz.) chopped tomatoes (I like fire roasted)

1 can (14 oz.) chicken broth

3/4 cup chunky salsa

2 teaspoons cumin

1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1 teaspoon garlic powder


DIRECTIONS:

1. Puree the black beans in a blender or food processor.

2. In a large pot, stir together all the remaining beans, tomatoes, broth, salsa, cumin, red pepper flakes, and garlic.

3. Stir in the pureed black beans. Simmer for 10 minutes or until hot, stirring occasionally.

Makes 8 servings

Mediterranean Omelette

Last Sunday I started out making a Greek omelette then I added a few Italian ingredients and changed the name to Mediterranean Omelette. I used real eggs in this but you can, as always, use an egg substitute. Usually on the weekends I make egg salad for John but he likes it warm (yuck) and I like it cold. So this past weekend I decided to make a large omelette we could share. It was so good I wanted more. And I am not a breakfast person! Though the gyro omelettes we had in St. Augustine at Athena’s Greek Restaurant were incredible! Nothing like it anywhere! Ok I digress…This omelette was nice and easy and since we both liked all the ingredients I could make it in one pan and just split it.

INGREDIENTS:

4 large eggs

½ cup fat-free half and half

½ cup chopped frozen spinach, thawed and drained

1/3 cup red onion, chopped small

1/3 cup tomato, chopped small

1 clove garlic, chopped fine

1 teaspoon fresh basil chopped/torn

¼ teaspoon dried oregano

½ cup Light Feta Cheese (crumbled)

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon butter/butter substitute

DIRECTIONS:

1. Beat the eggs and half and half till light and fluffy. Set aside.

2. Heat a medium skillet  and add butter and olive oil. Melt on medium heat till a little bubbly.

3. Add the onion and sauté till soft. (A few minutes) Add garlic and sauté a few more minutes.

4. Add the spinach and stir well into the onion and garlic, till warm. (a few minutes)

5. Add the egg mixture. Add the tomato and stir well.

6. Cook the eggs, letting the liquid run to the edges, constantly pulling edges away till almost all liquid is dry. Add the basil and oregano and feta cheese.

7. Gently fold over half the omelette and press gently to seal. If you wish to flip it go ahead, but this is a large omelette and it may be hard to do.

8. Cut in half and serve!

Serves 2

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