Never Buy Store Made Again

Summer is coming and what better side dish than cole slaw.  Unfortunately, store bought cole slaw is 230 calories for a 1/2 cup serving with 10 mg of cholesterol per serving.  Until recently it made sense to buy store made cole slaw because home made was really a chore.  Now with the advent of bagged salads, making your own home made cole slaw is a breeze.   To make the cole slaw, empty 1 bag of cole slaw (about 6 cups) into a large bowl.

In a small bowl, mix together 1/2 cup of Helmann's light mayonnaise (140 calories), 2 packets Splenda, 3 TB lemon juice.  At this point you can get creative -- add a tsp of Dijon Mustard or a tsp of White Horse Radish for a little zing -- and whisk all the ingredients together. 

Pour the mayonnaise mixture over the cole slaw, mix well and enjoy.

This recipe makes about 10 servings with 50 calories per serving vs the 230 calories in the store bought version!

A True 30 Minute Meal

First of all I need to apologize to all my fans for not updating this blog sooner.  Passover came and went and there were really no new and exciting recipes to write about.  Now that things have calmed down I am ready to share one of my favorite true 30 minute easy, low-calorie meals.  One problem that I have with the TV cooking shows is that I can never complete even one of dishes in 30 minutes, much less an entire meal.  Sometimes I don't even have all the ingredients. However, this dish  can be made with what I consider staples.  I usually keep several varieties of Chicken Sausage (I get the lowest calorie per serving I can find) in my freezer along with different frozen vegetables that I have bought on sale.  You will also need one onion, a clove of garlic and left over wine (I used white) or beer.  The original recipe for Sausage, Potato and Green Bean Stew called for 2 Italian style sausages and 2 small red potatoes per person, one onion, 1 package of whole green beans, 1tsp dried thyme and 1/2 cup water.  For my dish I used 2 Chicken Sausages (any style) per person.  I browned the sausages on my non-stick pan, minced the garlic, cut the onion into eighths and added those to the pan.  I let everything brown for a few minutes.  I placed frozen spinach (you can use any frozen green vegetable) on top.  If you have potatoes wash and cut them into quarters and place them on top of the spinach.  In a measuring cup mix together 1/2 cup of white wine, 1/2 cup of water, 1/2 tsp thyme and 1/2 tsp cumin.  Pour  this mixture into the pot, cover, bring to a boil and then simmer for 20 minutes.  Calorie wise the Chicken Sausage has about 90 calories for a 2.4 ounce link, and three ounces of red potato has about 60 calories, so if you have two sausages and one potato it is less than 250 calories per serving. The cumin and white wine gives the dish a wonderfully smoky flavorful taste that the original recipe was missing.

Simply Brisket

I have been looking at the Passover recipes on various blogs and the brisket recipes are really complicated.  Here is my version of Passover Brisket which has 5 ingredients.  It is better made the day before the Seder and allowed to steep in the cooking juices overnight.  Also doing this makes it easier to skim off the excess fat.

When you buy the brisket get pieces that are not much bigger than 2 1/2 pounds each.  I have found that using 5 or 6 pound briskets produces tough results.  For this Passover I have purchased 2 2 3/4 pound briskets.  Use a shallow roasting pan that is only large enough to hold the meat.  Line the roasting pan with aluminum foil.  Wash and pat the meat dry and put into the pan.  In a small bowl, for each brisket,  mix together 1 entire package of onion soup mix 1 tablespoon mustard powder, 1 teaspoon garlic powder and 2 tablespoons of olive oil (gotta keep this as healthy as possible) so that it forms a thick paste.  Spread the paste over the first brisket, prepare a second batch the same way and spread it over the second brisket.  Tightly cover the briskets with a second piece of aluminum foil. If you have prepared this a day or two before the Seder put the pan into the refrigerator overnight.  For this year I am hosting the second night.  I will prepare the meat mixture on Sunday night, refrigerate and cook the brisket on Monday.  I'm not sure if the onion soup mixture acts as a marinade, but I have found that the brisket is tastier when I do it this way.  When you are ready to cook the brisket, place it in a 325 degree oven for 2 1/2 to three hours.  Let the brisket cool before slicing. Skim the excess fat off the sauce and serve.  Enjoy!

Miriam's Fluffy Matzo Balls

Passover is coming and there are probably as many versions of matzo balls as there are Seders.  I will share the one that I have been making for years because it results in really fluffy matzo balls.  I start with the basic Manischewitz matzo ball recipe that I cut off an orange Manischewitz Matzo Meal box many, many years ago. I am linking to this recipe so that you can see how food preparation has changed in the last twenty years.  The original recipe calls for 2 tablespoons of melted fat.  Now in Jewish terminology, that means liquid chicken fat, better  known as schmaltz.  Schmaltz is the most flavorful fat there is, but it is a definite no-no.  Instead of schmaltz, I use olive oil, not as exciting but better for you.  To get the matzo balls fluffy, substitute three tablespoons of plain seltzer (yes plain seltzer) for the water or chicken stock.  While you are waiting for the water to boil, place the matzo meal mixture into the freezer, not the refrigerator, to chill (I never bother to cover the mixing bowl) for about fifteen minutes.  When the water has come to a boil, take the mixture out of the freezer.  There may be some ice crystals on the side, but just incorporate them into the one inch balls you are forming from the mixture.  I am not sure if the freezing makes the matzo balls extra fluffy but I have always done this.  

To cook the matzo balls, fill a two or three-quart pot with 1 1/2 quarts of slightly salted water (if desired) and bring to a brisk boil.  Reduce flame and into the slightly boiling water, drop balls approximately 1 inch in diameter formed from the mixture. Cover pot and cook 30 to 40 minutes.  

Have soup at room temperature or warmer and remove matzo balls from water and place in soup pot.

When ready to serve, allow soup to simmer for about 5 minutes.

You, my readers, will have to tell me what you think after you make your own matzo balls.

In case you are wondering about the calorie count, this recipe makes about eight matzo balls with approximately 150 calories per serving of  2 matzo balls.

Manischewitz Matzo Balls Recipe by Western Foods

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons melted fat or oil - use olive oil instead
• 2 large eggs, slightly beaten
• 1/2 cup Manischewitz® Matzo Meal
• 2 tablespoons soup stock or water - substitute 3 tablespoons of plain seltzer
• 1 teaspoon salt, if desired    

                    

                                                                                                                      

How Low Can You Go - Limbo Low Limbo High

Sometimes when I am working on these recipes I feel that I am dancing the Limbo.  For example, I read Clean Eating Magazine which has very interesting recipes, but they are not always low in calories.  My daughter recently made Moroccan Chickpea Salad from the March 2011 issue of Clean Eating Magazine which has 254 calories in a 1 cup serving.  Well I don't know about you but a 1 cup serving would not even begin to fill me up, so I decided to see "How Low I Can Go" revamping this one.

As you look over the ingredients, you will notice that I am chopping the vegetables. Chopping softer vegetables like these is an easy job if you own an onion chopper like the one below.  It not only chops onions, it does a great job on garlic, cucumbers, radishes and baby carrots.  Just don't use it on tomatoes or lettuce. 

Ingredients for about 3 large servings:
Salad
2- 3 green leaf lettuce leaves chopped
1/2 cup baby carrots chopped
3 green onions, thinly sliced
3 radishes chopped
1 kirby cucumber chopped
2 handfuls grape tomatoes
1/2 cup canned chick peas
Sprinkling of fat free feta cheese
For the Dressing mix together the following
1 1/2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp cumin
1/8 tsp lite salt
1/8 tsp fresh ground black pepper
pinch cayenne pepper

Assemble the salad ingredients in a large bowl and pour the dressing over.

                              

Calories per serving about 125 based on the following calorie count:   
1/2 cup chick peas 100
1 1/2 tbsp oil 150 calories
4oz grape tomatoes 30
4 oz baby carrots 40
1 oz fat free feta cheese 60

Eat Your Greens

We have been all told to "Eat Our Greens", but frankly eating them is ugh.  Finding a good recipe is difficult.  My son, the Vegetarian, loves Swiss Chard.  He told me he sautees the Swiss Chard in garlic and oil and then drizzles some lemon juice on it.  I followed his directions and well frankly - yuk!  I did not like it.  Then, I found this recipe in the March 19 Wall Street Journal and decided to give eating exotic greens another try.  But there were some obstacles, I did not have Wild Halibut,  I could not find Sorrel in the stores and I don't like steamed fish.  But that did not stop me from trying to make a healthy adaptation of this recipe.  My recipe serves 2, and since I like alot of sauce on my foods, I did not halve the sauce recipe.

I started with 2 six-ounce Haddock fillets.  I soaked the fish in an egg white bath.  Meanwhile, I poured 1/3 cup of cornmeal (I prefer yellow) into a plastic bag with a few shakes of Lemon Pepper seasoning and dredged the fish fillets in the cornmeal.  I heated up my skillet and sprayed it with Pam cooking spray.   I added the 2 fillets to the hot pan and then drizzled 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil into the pan and let it run under the fillets to give them a bit of a crunch.  I turned once and then added the second 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil to the pan following the same procedure.  This way I sauteed the fish without using alot of oil.  I turned the oven on to 350 degrees and while the fillets were cooking lined a small aluminum baking dish with foil and sprayed it.  I transferred the fillets to the baking dish and placed them in the oven while I prepared the sauce.

For the sauce I decided to be brave and bought about 3/4 pound of Swiss Chard.  I cleaned it and cut it into 3/4-inch strips.  Since I have started this blog, I have been treating myself to some new cooking utensils.  So I pulled out my brand new Calphalon  21/2 quart saute pan (Bed Bath and Beyond had a $39.95 special - plus I used my 20% off coupon).  I sprayed the pan with Pam spray and about 10 sprays of I Can't Believe It's Not Butter Spray for the buttery flavor.  I added the garlic, thyme (dried of course) and Swiss Chard, let it cook until the garlic was translucent.  Next I added the wine and covered the pan and let it simmer for a few minutes.  After that I added 1/2 cup of bottled clam juice (available in Shop-Rite and other local supermarkets) and let the it cook for another 4-5 minutes.  At this point I turned off the oven so that the fish would not over cook.  Instead of 1/2 cup of heavy cream (100 calories and  40 mg of cholesterol per serving), I used 1/2 cup of Fat Free Half and Half (20 calories 0 mg of cholesterol per serving) to turn the sauce into a something that my cardiologist would approve of.  I followed the remaining directions substituting I Can't Believe It's Not Butter for the remaining 1 1/2 tablespoon of butter.  If you would rather use butter, then Land O' Lakes Light Whipped Butter has only 45 calories per tablespoon vs the 100 calories in every tablespoon of butter.  Whatever you decide to do, this recipe is a definite keeper and changed my mind about "Eating my Greens".

Matt Dillon's Steamed Wild Halibut With Sorrel Sauce | Slow Food Fast - WSJ.com

An Apple a Day

An apple a day keeps the doctor away is a very old saying and now we are finding out that it may be true.  There was a very interesting article in the March 6th edition of The Sunday New York Times Magazine.  It is called "Death Takes a Rain Check". It is about an 87 year old billionaire's quest to live until he is 125.  David Murdock, a self made billionaire, "saw the light" about twenty five years ago when his wife was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 1983.  While he was seeking treatments that might save her life he started to research what the  impact of diet/food choices might have in surviving debilitating illnesses.  In the years since his wife's death, Murdock has set up a research facility and one of the projects is to study the extent to which quercetin, found in the skins of apples, can have an anti-inflammatory effect on the body.

 http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/06/magazine/06murdock-t.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&hp

Here is a very  easy way to get your apple a day and use up all the fruit you have in your refrigerator that is past it's prime.

Into a large 6 quart pot add:
4 apples cored and cut into eighths (use any apple you prefer)
2  ripe pears cored and cut into eighths
1-2 cups of raisins
2 TB honey
8 cups of water (enough water to cover the fruit)
You can also add any other fruit that you choose such as red grapes or strawberries.
Cover, bring to a boil and simmer for 45 minutes to an hour.  Once it has cooled transfer to storage containers and refrigerate. 

Yields about 12 servings at 100 to 150 calories per serving (depending on how many raisins you add).

There's Gold in ThemThar Hills

Not sure how many of you saw this article in last Sunday's NY Times, but apparently the 21st Century  "Gold Rush" is in Blogs.  Heather Armstrong, the "Queen of the Mommy Bloggers", makes $30,000 to $50,000 a month on her blog and highly successful bloggers can gross $1 million according to the article.

That is really good money, but considering that I sometimes have problems navigating the NY Times Web site I don't think I will be one of the the high rollers in blogs.  Even though I am internet savvy,  I must admit I do get tangled up in web searches.

For example, I clicked on the article because I wanted to see the reader comments.  It took three tries before I found them.  Now I ask you, is it me or is the NY Times web site poorly designed?  Why are the comments on a separate web page, not right after the article?  Also, if I want to include a web link in this blog, I can't just copy and paste it into my blog.  I must first put the link into a Facebook private group I created and then copy and paste the link from Facebook to this blog.  Convoluted right?

Anyway, not to digress, after I read the article, I decided to go to my blog (which I admit is not as flashy as other blogs especially not as glitzy as http://dooce.com/about) and register for Google Ads to see how much money I can make.  Well since last week, I had 8 hits and made $0 dollars!  Great start. So my dear readers, enjoy the article and if you can figure out how to make $ from blogs, please feel free to add your comments on my blog.


http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/27/magazine/27armstrong-t.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=mommy+blog&st=cse

http://community.nytimes.com/comments/parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/23/queens-of-the-mom-blog-kingdom/?scp=2&sq=mommy+blog&st=cse

The Best Meatballs Ever

Last week was the last "Cooking With Dexter" column in the NY Times.  The recipe was for Spaghetti and Meatballs.  I decided to see if  I could take the challenge to make a lower calorie/lower fat version that still tasted good.  Well, not only did I succeed, but these were the best tasting meatballs I have ever made!  And better yet, the lower fat version cuts about 200 calories per serving. 

Here is what I did to make the meatballs.  In a bowl, I combined the fat free half and half, bread crumbs and egg white.  I added about a TB of dried onion flakes, a TB of dried parsley and a TB of dried basil and 1TB of Parmesan cheese.  I added the dried spices because the mixture of bread crumbs, egg white and fat free half and half looked watery, so I wanted to thicken it up before I worked in the ground beef.  I also added the same spices as the original recipe as follows - 1 tsp dried oregano, dash crushed red pepper flakes, 1/4 tsp black pepper and 1/2 tsp lite salt.  After I kneaded in the beef, I sprayed my skillet with Pam and added in the small meatballs and started to fry them.  I added 1 TB of oil as needed.  After the meatballs were browned, I put them on an aluminum foil lined roasting pan that I also sprayed with Pam and put them into a 350 degree oven to bake while I cooked two ounces of whole wheat spaghetti per person.  I put about 1/2 jar of my favorite Mariana sauce in a small pot to heat.  I had about 1/4 cup of left over wine in the frig so I added that to the sauce. When I added my pasta to the boiling water, I transferred the meatballs to the hot Marinara sauce.  After the spaghetti was drained, I topped it with the meatball Mariana sauce. 

Mangi! Enjoy the great taste without the additional calories or fat!

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/20/magazine/20Food-t-000.html?_r=1

Serves 6                                      Serves 2

Original Recipe Lower Fat Recipe 2 cups bread crumbs 800 1/3 cup unsalted seasoned bread crumbs 110 3 oz heavy cream 293 3 oz fat free half and half  50 3 slices bacon 138 no bacon 8 oz ground chuck 568 10 oz lean ground beef 380 8 oz ground veal 328 egg white 0 8 oz ground pork 600 1TB Parmesan cheese 20 4 tb oils  400 1 tb oil 100 calories per serving  521 330

A Special Valentine's Day treat

For Valentine’s Day I wanted to cook and write about this wonderful recipe for Oysters. As you know Oysters are a natural aphrodisiac and if you did not know that Oysters are a natural aphrodisiac-well you do know now.  It is called “Oyster-Oyster Stew” and it was published in the NY Times on January 7, 1997.  I have made it many times, my old low-fat way with skim milk and I wanted to try it with fat-free half and half.  It also uses Pernod or Ricard , a  licorice flavored liqueur.   Well Cupid is not on my side.  First of all the Pernod and Ricard are both really expensive.  I was told that I can substitute an Anisette liqueur, if I intend to use the liqueur only for cooking, which is sweeter and lower in alcohol than other anise-flavored liqueurs and has the flavor of black licorice.  But I also can’t find oysters.  I do remember buying them, already shucked, in the fish department of my local supermarket, but they do not have them….so I will continue my hunt for the 2 main ingredients and will update this blog once I have all the ingredients.  Meanwhile if you have any suggestions on where I can get shucked oysters, please let me know.

Oyster-Oyster Stew - Recipes - The New York Times

An update on why we can't find Oysters

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/12/opinion/12sat4.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=oysters&st=cse

Hot Soup for a Cold Winter's Day

Well it is about time that the Government agrees with me.  On Monday, the Dietary Guidelines were published.  Basically we are to eat less and cut our sodium intake.  Much easier said than done.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/01/business/01food.html?_r=1&hp

I tried to apply the Government’s new dietary guidelines to a recipe that I saw Rachael Ray make last week, Curry Beef Noodle Bowls.  When I went on-line to print out the recipe there were 12 reviews, mostly favorable with some suggestions for replacing the beef with chicken or Tofu marinated in basil and fish sauce then grilled on a Panini grill.  I didn’t have Tofu but I did have left over rotisserie chicken.  Normally I make my Lazy Woman’s Chicken Soup with left over rotisserie chicken, but I decided to try this instead and am I glad I did.  It was fantastic. But there were problems with the recipe.  First of all Fish Sauce has between 1,000 and 1,300 milligrams of  sodium in a tablespoon, an entire day’s sodium in just one dish.  Secondly, one pound of pasta to serve 4 is way too much pasta.  And, last but not least, two cups of chicken stock makes for a dry curry.  Also, skip the shallots fried in ½ cup of oil, for crunchiness use bean sprouts instead.   

Thai it You'll Like It Hot Curry Beef Noodle Bowls

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rachael-ray/thai-it-youll-like-it-hot-curry-beef-noodle-bowls-green-melon-with-lime-and-lemon-sorbet-recipe/index.html

So, here is how I changed the dish.  First of all, I did not use fried, crispy shallots.  I wanted to use crispy bean sprouts, but due to the terrible weather we have been having in New York, I was unable to find any, so I skipped them. Instead of a pound of pasta, I used about 5 ounces cooked rather soft.  My head spun around on my neck in the supermarket when I saw the amount of sodium in 1 tablespoon of Fish Sauce.  But not to worry, I went to my local gourmet shop and there I found KAME Fish Sauce, which has only 380 mg of sodium in a tablespoon.   If you don't want to use Fish Sauce, use House of Tsang Soy Sauce instead.  I also found Patak's Curry Paste.  I bought the mild curry paste and used only 2 tablespoons.  The dish was really hot enough, so taste it before you add three tablespoons of the Curry Paste.  

 

I followed the recipe, using only 1 TB of oil for sauteing the garlic, mushrooms and red pepper.  I substituted a  small Jalapeno pepper for the red hot chile pepper.  I removed the seeds from the Jalapeno pepper and did not cut it up so that I could remove it before serving.  I removed the skin and deboned the left over chicken, cut the chicken up into small bite size pieces and added it to the vegetable mixture to heat up.   When I added the low sodium chicken stock, I realized that 2 cups was not enough so I used 4 cups instead.  Once everything was cooked, I drained the pasta and put it directly into the soup broth and let it cook for another two minutes so that the pasta picked up the flavors of the broth and added the juice of one lime.  This was a delicious, fairly low sodium way to use up left over chicken.  

 

By my calculations,  I saved about 1,000 mg of sodium per serving by doing a little leg work and shopping around for a lower sodium fish sauce.  I also saved about 200 calories per serving by cutting down on the pasta and I can't even calculate how much I saved by not frying the shallots in 1/2 cup of oil.

Baked Apples with Caramel Sauce

I received a special request to publish a Weight Watchers recipe that I prepared several years ago for Baked Apples.  Now even though this is a Weight Watchers recipe I still modified it to make it a little lower in calories.  The original recipe which makes 4 servings follows:
Apples
24 dried apricot halves - chopped
4 teaspoons packed dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 small Granny Smith apples, cored

Caramel Sauce
1/2 cup evaporated fat-free milk
4 teaspoons packed dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon cornstarch
Pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Point value:  3  Calories: 180

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
In a small bowl, combine the apricots, brown sugar, and vanilla.
Pack into the apple cavities, then wrap each in foil.
Bake until soft, 40-45 minutes

2. Meanwhile to prepare the caramel sauce, in a small saucepan over medium heat, combine the 1/4 cup of the milk, brown sugar, cornstarch and salt stirring until smooth.  Then stirring in the remaining milk, bring just to a boil, stirring constantly.  Reduce the heat and cook 1 minute longer.  Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla.  Serve the apples, drizzled with the caramel sauce.

I substituted Splenda brown sugar blend for a savings of only 5 calories per serving.  

Oh well I can't win them all!

Grandma's Fried Chicken

When I was growing up, the menus were kind of limited...broiled chicken, broiled lamb chops, lots of soups and of course fried chicken.  Well imagine my surprise, when this past Sunday, the New York Times published my mother's fried chicken recipe in the Sunday magazine.  They credited the recipe to Brooklyn Bowl, but back then this is how my mother made fried chicken.  First she mixed salt, pepper, paprika and garlic powder into the matzo meal.  I don't remember her adding flour, onion powder or sugar.  Then she dipped the chicken pieces first into a scrambled egg (not just egg white) and then into the matzo meal mixture, and fried them in oil until all the pieces were crispy brown.
Yummy ... and fattening.

Saving calories on a simple dish like this can be challenging, because all the flavor comes from frying the chicken in three inches of oil.  First of all, let's use skinless, boneless chicken breasts cut up into small pieces to resemble fast-food chicken nuggets.  Use about six ounces of chicken breast per serving.  By using the skinless breast, you save 100 calories per six ounce serving.  After the chicken has been coated, spray the frying pan well with vegetable spray and add 1 tablespoon of canola oil for every two servings of chicken that is being fried.  Fry the chicken on both sides until it is lightly browned, then add another tablespoon of canola oil and fry on both sides again until the chicken is a golden brown.  Frying the chicken in the second tablespoon of canola oil gives the chicken extra crispness. This way the chicken tastes more like the fried chicken we all love but should not eat.

Transfer the chicken to a platter, sprinkle immediately with salt and pepper.  If you have made the Cajun seasoning from the recipe below, coat the pieces with the Cajun seasoning or sprinkle the Cajun seasoning onto the chicken. Serve with broccoli coleslaw and baked sweet potato fries for a great meal without the guilt.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/23/magazine/23Food-t-001.html?ref=magazine

SuperBowl Time

What else can we eat during the SuperBowl, but Chili.  In the past I have made 2 Alarm Chili  from a mix.  It is not bad,.  Actually it is quite dull!  Recently I modified Rachael Ray's Chunky Chicken and Chorizo Chili below and it was dee-lish (as Rachael would say)!

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rachael-ray/chunky-chicken-and-chorizo-chili-recipe/index.html

The original recipe which feeds 6 calls for 3/4 pound of chorizo, which has 1548 calories or 258 calories per serving and 2 pounds of ground chicken (almost 6 ounces per serving) which is about 285 calories per serving.

I really only wanted to feed two so I used one half pound ground turkey at 160 calories per serving and one spicy chicken sausage (about 90 calories per serving), and I saved almost 300 calories.  I followed the rest of the recipe, which included one can of red beans, a bottle of beer and one half of a 28 ounce can of diced tomatoes.  I also used Pam Spray with about a teaspoon of olive oil (saved another 50 calories per serving) for the browning.  I used one tablespoon of chili powder and 3/4 tablespoon of ground cumin.  Because I have to watch my sodium intake, I did not add any salt since the chicken sausage already has 480 mg of sodium. With these substitutions, you will have an awesome SuperBowl Chili that won't tip the scale the next day.

Lower Calorie/Lower Sodium Vichyssoise

I know, you are thinking that I am over the top by making Vichyssosie in the Winter since it is cold Leek and Potato Soup and should be eaten in the Summer. But ever since I decided to create a blog on Lower Calorie/Lower Sodium versions of wonderful recipes, I have had an urge to make this because it brings back fond memories of my days chairing the Gourmet Group of the Pleasantville Newcomers Club where I was introduced to "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" and fell in love with Julia Child's recipes.

Of course, I did not bother to read page 37 of Julia Child's book before I went shopping. Here she explains that 3 cups of potatoes/leeks is about 1 pound of potatoes/leeks. By the time I realized that I did not know how much I needed, I had already started cooking, so the calorie/sodium counts are based on the ingredients that I used. The wonderful thing about cooking soup is that you really can't mess it up. As long as you use a proportion of liquid to solid that you like, the soup will be fine. Although it is delicious hot, I think I did not use enough leeks, but you, my readers, must let me know what you think.

Basically you slice the vegetables, and simmer them in a large pot in the broth and salt for about an hour. Once the vegetables are tender, puree the vegetables in a food processor. Return to the pot and add the Fat Free Half and Half. If you are Kosher or Vegetarian, you can use Vegetable broth instead of Chicken broth. I ate it hot, but you can chill it and eat it cold. Next week we will be getting ready for the SuperBowl with our modified version of Rachael Ray's Chunky Chicken and Chorizo Chili. In the meantime, "Bon Appetit" as Julia would say.

Just as an update - I just had it cold and it is better cold than hot, but either way it is delicious.

Calorie count Vichyssoise		makes 4 quarts
Regular recipe		Calories
Potatoes	3 Pounds	1,048
Leeks	1 Pound	277
Chicken Broth	2 Quarts	120
Whipping Cream	1 Cup	789
		2,234
Per Serving 8 large servings		279

Low Calorie Alternative Calories Potatoes 1 1/2 Pounds 524 Turnips 1 1/2 Pounds 191 Leeks 1 Pound 277 Chicken Broth 2 Quarts Low Sodium 120 Fat Free Half and Half 1 Cup 158 1270 Per Serving 8 large servings 159

Low Calorie/Low Sodium Chicken Adobo

I wanted to write an entire blog on why I am interested in blogging about lower calorie/lower sodium versions of wonderful recipes. I was going to reference the popularity of the recent movie “Julia and Julie” along with the popularity of Television chefs like Emeril Lagasse, Rachael Ray, Bobby Flay etc.

However, when I saw this FaceBook Post about a Chicken Adobo recipe on the NYTimes web page ( http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/09/magazine/09Food-t-000.html?_r=3&src=ISMR_HP_LO_MST_FB ), I decided to jump in and try to make a lower calorie/lower sodium version that will taste good. So I will save the “why” blog for another day. Basically, the unskinned version of the recipe is half the calories and about 68% lower in sodium than the original.

Whichever version you decide to use my friends you must try this recipe. It is cooking right now and my house smells delicious!

Calorie Count for Chicken Adobo

Calories - 4 Servings		source CalorieKing.com
1 Cutup Chicken		with skin	w/o skin
2 Thighs		396	164
2 Breasts		388	248
2 Wings		218	74
2 DrumSticks		236	148
1 Cup Coconut Milk		355	148
per serving		398	196
Sodium		Kikkoman	House of Tsang
1/4 Cup Soy Sauce		7,255	2,350
per serving		1,814	587