Healthy Chicken Noodle Soup

 When we get in the mood for some healthy but tasty soup or when we are feeling a little out of sorts, this is the cure. I've been making it for years and it never fails. I like mine with Rheams frozen noodles, and then it is more of a chicken and noodles dish. But everyone likes it when we get a some craft egg noodles.  I fix ours in the crock pot, first searing the chicken. It tastes just as tasty if you use your favorite dutch oven.

Healthy Chicken Noodle Soup

1 lb boneless skinless breasts

2 medium carrots - peeled and diced

1 medium onion - diced

2 stalks celery - coarsely chopped

2 tsp salt

2 tsp dried parsley

1/2 tsp marjoram

1/4 tsp basil

1/4 tsp poultry seasoning

1/4 tsp pepper

1 bay leaf

6 cups chicken broth

2 1/2 cup egg noodles (I use Amish Kitchen Kulski noodles)

2 cups of water

Directions:

In a large heavy pan on high heat, sear the chicken breasts, about 3 minutes per side. Remove the breasts and set aside. Lower the heat to medium, and combine the carrots, onion, abnd celery in the pan. Cook until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the salt, parsely, marjoram, poultry seasoning, basil, and pepper.  Stir and  cook an additional 2 minutes.

Transfer the veggies and chicken to the slow cooker. Add the chicken broth and bay leaves. Cook on low for 6 to 8 hours. 

Remove the chicken and bay leaves. Add the water and the noodles.  Shred or dice the chicken and return to the slow cooker. Cook on high for 20 minutes. Add salt and pepper as needed. Enjoy!

Serves 10

Chicken Pot Pie (NOT)

Today was a snow day. Yesterday was a snow day as well. The Blizzard of Oz struck Overland Park, KS, leaving 10+” of snow behind. Everyone stayed home yesterday, sitting in front of the fire, watching movies, eating popcorn. You know the drill.

I was really looking for a “fill the belly on a cold day” comfort food dinner. Chicken pot pie came to mind. The problem - I was the only one that DIDN’T have a snow day. I still had to work. AND this house is on a health kick, with everyone watching the girlish figures, so to speak (I’m watching Peg’s girlish figure, and I likey). So time and health being against me, I took a few shortcuts. And it worked out just fine, thank you very much! Next time I’ll prep this in small casserole dishes and but the biscuit mix on top. Last night it was not so much Chicken Pot Pie, as much as it was Chicken on a Biscuit. Either way, it was a perfect way to end a cold winter day.

Chicken Pot Pie (Lite)

(Serves 6)

1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts

½ cup diced carrots

½ cup baby peas

½ cup chopped celery

½ cup diced shallots (or yellow onions)

1 cup chicken stock

½ cup water

1/4 teaspoon poultry seasoning

1/4 teaspoon savory

Salt and Pepper (to taste)
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 can Campbell’s Healthy Request Cream of Chicken Soup

1 can Campbell’s Healthy Request Cream of Mushroom Soup
1/3 cup skim mik (or sub heavy cream for non-lite version)

Biscuits

2 cups Heart Healthy Bisquick mix

2/3 cup skim milk

In slow cooker combine in order – chicken stock, shallots, carrots, celery, chicken breasts, peas, water, salt, pepper, poultry seasoning, and savory. Cook on low setting for 5 to 6 hours, or high setting for 2 to 3 hours. When chicken is tender and easily pulls apart, remove from the crock pot. Add the flour, milk and soups to the slow cooker and stir well. Shred the chicken and stir back in to the slow cooker, and cook for additional 20 minutes.

Combine the Bisquick with the milk and mix well.

From here there are several options. You can spoon out the biscuits into four equal drop biscuits on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 450F for 9 minutes. Spoon the chicken mix on top and serve.

OR….

Pour the chicken mix into a shallow casserole. Roll out the biscuit mix to 1/4” to 1/2" thick and place on top of the casserole. Bake at 425F until golden brown, or about 20 minutes.

Almond Crusted Chicken with Sauce

Today was one of those crazy days. You know the kind, the ones where you realize you need to put a meal on the table, and it is 5:00. Within the next 60 minutes, the questions will start. What’s for dinner? When are we eating? And always punctuated with the exclamation, Dad, I’m Hungry! It was one of THOSE days.

I had boneless, skinless chicken breasts mostly thawed out in the fridge. OK, that’s a start. I had a spice rack. That’s good. And I have a family demanding the dinners get mo’ healthy. Piece of cake, right? So tonight I was going to wing it. No recipe, no instructions. Just a semi-stocked pantry and fridge. But as I attacked the task at hand, I had ulterior motives. Whatever I tried on the chicken, I was eventually going to do with the tilapia in the freezer for lunch this weekend. I’m the only one in the house that will eat seafood, so this was a test.  I aced this exam. The kids asked me to make this one again. Cha-ching! The whole meal was less than 450 calories and 10 grams of fat. I love it when a plan comes to together.

Because I had no recipe, and as usual I didn’t write it down, I need to record this so I can have a tasty lunch this weekend. I’ll prep the tilapia the way I did the chicken, and the sauce will be something yet to be discovered.  Here you go…          

Almond Crusted Chicken with Sauce Something or Other

Serves 4

Almond Crusted Chicken

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts

¼ cup almonds (roasted and ground fine)

2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

2 tablespoons bread crumbs

1 tablespoon ground coriander

1 teaspoon paprika

1 teaspoon Thai basil (regular basil will also work)

¼ cup milk

1 egg white

4 cups cooked pasta

Preheat oven to 425. Prepare a baking sheet lined with foil.

Whisk the egg white until frothy and add the milk. Whisk until well blended.

In separate dish combine the almonds, bread crumbs, Parmesan, coriander, paprika and basil and mix well. Add some salt and pepper because that's what the TV chefs would do at this point.

Dip one side of the chicken breast in the egg mixture. Transfer to the dry ingredients so the same side is well coated. Place on the baking sheet with the coated side face up. Bake for 30 minutes.

Sauce

One can of Campbell’s Healthy Request Cream of Chicken Soup (98% fat free)

¼ cup white wine

¼ cup chicken stock

¼ cup milk
1 tablespoon lemon juice

¼ cup finely dice onions

¼ cup finely diced celery

Salt and pepper (to taste)

In a pan coated with cooking spray, cook the onions and celery over medium heat until soft. Add white wine, chicken stock, lemon juice, salt and pepper and cook uncovered for 5 minutes. Mix in the soup and cook for additional 10 minutes until well heated. Add milk, reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes.

Serve pasta and chicken with sauce. Enjoy!

Light Asian Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Ever looking to “healthy up” our lifestyle in a typical New Year’s fashion, I’ve been seeking creative ways to change up the menu. Here’s one I did this week that seemed to be a hit. It starts with Kraft Light Asian Toasted Sesame reduced fat salad dressing. I have used this as a marinade for grilled chicken before, and it seemed to go over well. The nice thing about this is that you can top it on rice, serve it as a lettuce wrap, or in my case, a little bit of both. Abbey had it with white rice, Peggy liked it with brown rice, and I had it with brown rice, and wrapped in lettuce. It’ll come back to the table again soon.

Asian Chicken and Rice Lettuce Wraps

Serves 4

1 lb boneless chicken breasts (finely diced)

4 tablespoons Kraft Light Asian Toasted Sesame reduced fat salad dressing

¼ cup finely diced onion

1 teaspoon minced garlic

½ cup finely diced water chestnuts

¼ cup slivered almonds

1 tablespoon olive oil (optional)

1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Salt and pepper (to taste)

Lettuce leaves (Butter or Boston Bibb)

4 cups prepared rice (optional)

Heat a wok, if available, or saute pan to medium high heat and coat with non-stick spray, or use optional olive oil. Cook onion for approximately 5 mins, or until it just starts to turn translucent. Mix in garlic and cook 2 more minutes.

Push onions to outer edge, and put chicken, red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper in the center. Cook until it just starts to brown. Mix in water chestnuts, slivered almonds, and salad dressing. Cook for additional 5 minutes, stirring frequently.

Serve on top of prepared rice, or with lettuce leaves. Or both!

Easy Italian Fare

This is one of those items that is on the menu at dozens of Italian Restaurants, but I don’t recall ever actually ordering it. For some reason I thought I’d try to make it for the family. That was a couple of years ago, and now it’s on table every couple of weeks. I’ve tweaked the recipe a bit, and it’s easy to make it into a healthy option as well. Here’s the standard fare version:

Simple Chicken Picatta

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (or use four chicken cutlets if desired)

2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

¼ cup flour

¼ cup bread crumbs (I use Panko)

Salt and pepper

1 egg white

¼ cup milk

4 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons butter

½ cup chicken stock

½ cup dry white wine

3 tablespoons lemon juice

Capers (as desired, approx. ¼ cup drained for full recipe)

Chopped fresh parsley

Shredded Parmesan cheese

Take the chicken breasts and cut them in half on the plane to get 4 cutlets. If they are more than ¼” thick, place them between two sheets of plastic wrap and pound them flat to achieve desired thickness. Rinse the breasts in water and set aside.

Whisk the egg white and add milk.

Combine and stir the flour, bread crumbs, salt, pepper, and grated Parmesan.

Heat olive oil in skillet over medium high heat. Coat the chicken in the egg wash, and then place in the flour mixture until well coated on each side.

Place 2 of chicken breasts in the pan, without crowding them, and cooking on each side until golden brown. Remove to a platter and cook the other two. Wrap the four cutlets and platter in foil and place in the oven to keep warm.

Add the chicken stock, white wine, and capers (if desired). Cook sauce until reduced to about ½. Add the butter and scrape up the browned chicken bits to complete the sauce.

Serve the chicken plated with pasta of choice. Top with sauce, shredded Parmesan, and chopped fresh parsley. For added flair, garnish with lemon slice.

Enjoy!

The (Anti-) Heart Attack Lunch

I probably should have said this sooner, but my ultimate chefly inspiration is my mom. I know that sounds kind of canned, but if you know her (or had the pleasure of eating her crown roast, lobster-stuffed beef tenderloin, or chocolate chip cookies) you know what I mean. For years she had a catering business, and while her smoked meats were off the hook, her cakes were the big hit. She made the cakes for my wedding. My groom’s cake was her most amazing chocolate cake, with about 862 pounds of shave fine chocolate on the top. Oh my….

But over Christmas she introduced us to a new favorite, and something much healthier. She calls it Heart Healthy Chicken Salad. Abbey calls it cat food. We all call it awesome. It’s a fairly popular and simple recipe. The nice thing about it is that you can take the basics – chicken, light mayo, salt and pepper - and then add your preference for crunchy – celery and almonds are below. You can easily substitute apple, peanuts, slaw mix, cashews, and to add a little sweetness, throw in some dried cranberries. The secret is the chicken. The canned chicken chunk breast sold at Sam’s is what my mom uses. I tried the canned chicken breast from the grocery. From now on I’m grilling and dicing it from scratch. Enough rambling, here it is….

Crunchy Chunky Chicken Salad

·         3 ½ cups finely chopped grilled chicken breast

·         1 cup finely chopped celery

·         1/3 cup slivered almonds

·         1/3 cup light mayo

·         Salt and pepper to taste

·         1 tablespoon lemon juice (optional)

Combine mayo, salt, pepper, and lemon juice, if desired. Stir in chicken, celery, and almonds.

It’s that simple.  Serve on bread, rolls, or roll it up in lettuce.

Healthy eating!