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