Chicken Pot Pie

We had company last night so I was scrounging through my cupboards to put together a decent meal that I would not be ashamed of. Granted it was the missionaries coming and they would have been happy with chili dogs, but I just couldn't do that! So, we had homemade chicken pot pie. It was really easy to make and everyone seemed to enjoy it.

Chicken Pot Pie

* 16 oz package frozen vegetables (I had a carrot, corn, green pea and green bean mix but you can use whatever you like)
* 1 tablespoon butter
* 1 small onion, finely minced
* 1 clove garlic, minced
* 1/2 cup celery, thinly sliced
* 1/2 cup flour
* 3 cups chicken or turkey broth (beef if you want a beef pie)
* 1 cup skim milk
* 1 teaspoon thyme
* 5 to 6 cups cooked and cubed chicken or turkey (you could also do a nice stew beef)
* 1 can jumbo biscuits

1. Cook chicken and set aside to cool for cutting while you make the gravy. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2. Melt butter in a medium size frying pan (one with high sides is preferable since you will be adding a lot of liquid. I think you could also do this in a sauce pan easier, I kept sloshing out onto the cook top.) Add onion, garlic and celery and saute for about 2 minutes or until the garlic is soft. Add flour and then gradually stir in chicken broth and milk. Add thyme and cook until thick, stirring constantly.

3. Spray a casserole dish with spray. I dumped the frozen vegetables in and then poured the gravy on top. I then cut my chicken and added it before gently stirring to mix it all up. You may want to add some salt and pepper, I did.

4. Finally, place the biscuits on top and bake for 20 minutes until biscuits are brown. (I did this and it came out beautifully, however, when we went to eat it the biscuits were really doughy on the bottom. I would suggest that you either precook the biscuits and add to the top before serving, or cook for 10 minutes and then flip the biscuits over so they will be cooked all the way through. This time I flipped them and put them back in the oven as a whole dish, but next time I'm going to cook them separately.)

A nice yummy salad to go with it.

Servings: 12-14, 252 calories, 8 g fat, 280 mg sodium. (does not include salad with dried cranberries and croutons) My variation on the Set for Life recipe on page 169.

Sweet and Sour Chicken and Chocolate Delight

I guess we should just know that Thursdays are not going to happen for a while. That is my craziest day of the week. Anyway, I have two yummy recipes to share with you today, but first--a Fit Friday report.

I managed to go for my long run today. It isn't very long yet, only five miles, but I struggled. To be honest, I've been struggling all month with getting out to go run. I want to, but I don't want to if you know what I mean. It is so easy to find an excuse to not go. I have regularly talked myself out of one scheduled run each week. I know that if I would just get my mental game on everything will get easier. My only consolation right now is that when I am out there running and thinking "man I don't want to be doing this!" I tell myself to shut up and keep going. So far I have finished my goals when I actually leave the house. It is a start anyway. I did manage to log in 7 running miles and 4 walking miles this week.

Ok, most of my family really likes this meal and you can use left over chicken to make it. This was the first time I made this dessert, but it is a pretty standard dessert at church pot lucks.

Sweet and Sour Chicken

* 1 green pepper, diced
* 3 green onions, thinly sliced (I just chopped up a normal yellow onion this time)
* 1 (8-oz) can unsweetened pineapple tidbits, drained--save juice
* 1 cup chicken broth
* 1-2 tablespoons soy sauce
* 3 tablespoons vinegar
* 3-4 tablespoons brown sugar
* pinch salt
* 2 tablespoons cornstarch
* 1/4 cup cold water
* 2 cups cooked and cubed chicken
* 3 cups cooked brown rice

Saute green pepper, onion, and pineapple tidbits in nonstick frying pan for 3-5 minutes. Add broth, pineapple juice, soy sauce, vinegar, and brown sugar. Stir cornstarch into cold water and add it to the pan. Cook and stir gently until thickened. Add chicken, and heat through. Serve over rice.

Yield: 6 servings, 296 calories, 4 g fat, 660mg sodium, Set for Life page 166.

Chocolate Delight

* 1/2 cup butter
*1 cup self-rising flour
* 1/2 cup finely chopped pecans
* 1 pkg (8 oz) cream cheese, softened
* 1 cup sifted powdered sugar
* 1 container (16 oz) whipped dessert topping
* 1 pkg (4-serving size) Vanilla flavor instant pudding
* 1 pkg (4-serving size) Chocolate flavor instant pudding
* 3 cups milk
* chopped pecans (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a med bowl cut butter into flour until crumbly. Stir in 1/2 cup pecan if you want and then pat the mixture into the bottom of a 13x11 pan. Cook for 15 minutes or until edges begin to brown. Cool completely.

2. In a small mixing bowl, beat cream cheese and powdered sugar with an electric mixer on low speed until combined. Beat on med speed until fluffy. With a spoon, fold (means gently) in half of the whipped dessert topping. Spread over the cooled crust.

3. In a med bowl, whisk together both pudding mixes with the milk for about 2 minutes until thickened. Spread over the cream cheese layer. Cover and chill for 1 hour.

4. Spread the remaining dessert topping over the pudding mixture and sprinkle with chopped pecans if desired. Cover and chill for 2 more hours. Store in refrigerator. (I didn't have time so I beat the pudding a little longer and did step 4 with step 3 and then chilled for just 2 hours and it was ready.)

Serves 16 (Make it healthier by using sugar free and fat free ingredients)

Porcupine Meatballs

This is my oldest daughter's favorite meal. It is fairly easy to make and everyone but my pickiest eats it. The recipe suggests serving it over baked potatoes, which we have actually never tried. We usually just have it over rice, but if you try it with potatoes let me know how it turns out. It sounds good, just heavier than I usually feel like eating. :)

Porcupine Meatballs

* 1 pound ground beef
* 1 cup cooked rice
* 2 tablespoons diced onion
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1 egg, beaten
* 4 cups tomato juice (I always use 2 cans of tomato soup with 2 cans of water instead)
* 2-4 tablespoons Worcestershire or soy sauce (I do 3 tablespoons Worcestershire)
* 1 teaspoon sugar (I do 2 tablespoons to make it more bar-b-quey flavored)
* salt and pepper to taste
* 6 baked potatoes, or more rice or pasta

1. Mix the first five ingredients, adding 1/4 cup of the tomato juice if mix seems dry (I've never had that problem). Shape into balls.
2. Mix tomato juice, Worcestershire sauce and sugar in a medium saucepan or skillet with high sides. Season to taste with the salt and pepper. Bring the mixture to a boil and add the meatballs. Simmer about 20 minutes until meat is tender. (I always want to turn them over to cook the tops and they fall apart, so resist the temptation!) Then serve over potatoes, rice or pasta.Yield: 6 servings, 338 calories, 10 g fat, 541 mg sodium. From Set for Life, page 192.

Mexi-Corn Zucchini

This recipe is easy and quick, but I will be honest and say that it received interesting reviews from the family. This was actually tried out on two families last night. None of the kids would touch it, even though it smells and taste just like taco soup. And, both husbands had to disguise it before eating. My husband put his in a flour tortilla. His comment was, "It tastes really good, it just looks scary." Well, there you have it!

This meal can be used as a Main dish or side dish, and you can use ground beef or ground turkey. I will post the recipe as it is in the book, but my friend and I added A LOT more seasonings (which should not change the nutrition info, just added a lot more flavor).

Mexi-Corn Zucchini

* 1/2 pound extra-lean ground beef (or turkey)
* 1 medium onion, chopped, or 1 tablespoon instant minced onion
* 1/2 green pepper, chopped
* 3 cups sliced zucchini, 1/2 inch thick (we used about 1 1/2 cups of shredded zucchini and yellow squash that Laura froze from her bountiful garden)
* 1 8-ounce can tomato sauce
* 2 to 3 fresh tomatoes, chopped (we used a jar of canned tomatoes and they were yummy too)
* 1 can whole-kernel corn, drained
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1 teaspoon chili powder

(After all of that, we added: more chili powder, garlic, cumin, red pepper flakes and then some taco seasoning. We just kept adding stuff until it tasted the way we wanted it too.)

1. Brown ground beef, onion, and green pepper. Drain well.

2. Add remaining ingredients. Cover and simmer 15 minutes or until zucchini is tender.

Hawaiian Haystacks

My kids love this meal because they get to build their own haystack with just the items they like. I love it because it is so easy, quick and versatile. The only thing you have to cook is the chicken, rice and the "gravy". Everything else comes straight out of the can or fridge. If you have left over chicken from some other meal, this will only take the 20 minutes for the rice because you can prepare everything else while the rice is cooking. Even if you need to cook the chicken, you can have everything cooking at the same time and do it in about 20 minutes.

Hawaiian Haystacks

* 4 cups seasoned chicken broth
* 1/4 cup cornstarch
* 2 to 3 cups cooked and cubed chicken or turkey
* 4 cups hot cooked brown (or white) rice (brown being a healthier choice)
* chopped tomatoes
* 1 10-ounce package frozen petite peas, thawed (but not cooked)
* celery, finely diced
* 1 green pepper, chopped
* 1 to 2 green onions, sliced
* 1 8-ounce can unsweetened crushed pineapple or pineapple tidbits
* 1/2 cup slivered almonds or sunflower seeds
* 1/2 cup shredded coconut (optional)
* 1/2 cup sliced water chestnuts
* 1-2 cups Chinese noodles (optional)
* 1 cup finely grated cheddar cheese
* (I have also added sliced bamboo, baby corn, snow peas. You can use whatever you have on hand, or whatever looks good to you in the grocery store.)

1. Put the rice on to cook according to the package directions. Meanwhile, combine broth and cornstarch. Cook it until thick and clear, stirring occasionally.

2. While the "gravy" is cooking, place your toppings in bowls ready to serve. When the gravy is thick and clear, add the chicken.

3. Let your family build the haystack starting with rice on the bottom, then the chicken mixture, followed by whatever toppings you want. Below you can see that we only had half the topping choices last night. :) I like the mixture of the hot chicken with the cold peas and pineapple.

Cream of Broccoli/Cauliflower Soup

Sorry to totally rearrange the menu on you, but we had company for dinner last night and I thought this meal would be nice to serve. I really like this soup, but for some reason it turns out different every time I make it. Same recipe, different results each time. I prefer to use fresh broccoli, but sometimes I use the frozen bags for convenience. I also prefer to leave the veggies in pieces, but last night my daughter asked me to blend it up. She said she could eat broccoli if it wasn't in big pieces, so I did that for her. I guess it worked because she ate two bowls of it.

I also made bread bowls for this meal. My husband and I LOVE Panera Bread. My soup bowls didn't look as nice, they were huge shallow bowls, but they did taste good. I just realized as I was typing this that I need to use a different bread recipe than what I actually did last night. I used my wheat bread recipe, but I should have used the french bread recipe. I'll have to give that a try and then report on the differences.

This recipe comes from the Set for Life cookbook, pg 122. It makes 8 servings (I get more) at 94 calories, 1g fat, and 402mg sodium.

Cream of Broccoli Cauliflower Soup in Bread Bowls

*1/2 medium bunch of broccoli
*1/2 head cauliflower, chopped
*1 stalk celery, finely chopped
*1 large potato, diced
*1 small onion
*1 small carrot
*1 teaspoon salt
*1/4 cup cornstarch
*2 cups skim milk
*1/8 teaspoon white pepper
*1 teaspoon instant chicken bouillon
*1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1. In a large saucepan, combine broccoli and or cauliflower, celery and potato. Peel, then cut onion and carrot in quarters. Place in blender with 1/2 cup water and pulse until finely chopped before adding to vegetables in pan. Add salt and enough water to barely cover vegetables. Cook unitl tender, but not mushy.

2. Mix cornstarch and milk. Stir into undrained vegetables and add pepper, bouillon, and Worchestershire sauce. Cook, stirring constantly, until thick. Thin with more milk if desired.

3. Ok, here is where I deviate from the recipe. I add 1 can of condensed cheddar cheese soup to the pot for a little cheesey flavor.

For dessert we had fruit parfaits. These are so easy and so versatile! We kept it simple last night. I divided some frozen strawberries, thawed into the 6 bowls, topped with Yoplait french vanilla yogurt and then sprinkled granola cereal on top. You can use any mixture of fruit in any form--frozen, fresh, canned(drain), and any kind of yogurt.

Chicken Capri

I tried another new recipe on Monday night. I just haven't had a chance to post it yet. So, I'm getting to it today. I'm not 100% sure what I thought of the recipe. I liked it enough to try it again, but will probably play with it a little bit. The meal looked pretty and smelled good, but I didn't think it had enough flavor. I got this recipe from the South Beach Diet Cookbook, page 214. You can see in the photo that I made bread to go with it. French bread really is my favorite bread to make next to Cinnamon rolls.

Chicken Capri

• 1 cup reduced-fat ricotta cheese
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 cup crushed tomatoes
• 4 slices reduced-fat mozzarella cheese

1. In a blender or food processor, combine the ricotta with the oregano, salt and pepper. Process to blend.
2. Rub the chicken with the garlic powder (maybe this is where I missed out on flavor. I didn't have garlic powder--surprise! so I just chopped up some fresh garlic and added it to the skillet in the next step.) Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and cook for 12 minutes per side.
3. Place the chicken breasts, side by side, in a large baking dish and allow to cool.
4. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
5. Spoon 1/4 cup of the cheese mixture and 1/4 cup tomatoes onto each chicken breast. Top each with 1 slice mozzarella. Bake for 20 minutes, or until a thermometer inserted in the thickest portion of a breast registers 170 degrees F and the juices run clear.

340 calories, 15g fat, 44g protein, 6g carbs, 115mg cholesterol, 470mg sodium