December 2015
Chicken Soup With Vegetables
Ingredients:
- 1 large roasting chicken
- 4 quarts water
- 4 stalks celery, sliced
- 2 large leeks, sliced
- 6 carrots, chopped
- 2 potatoes, cubed
- 4 cups parsnip, chopped
- 1 zucchini, sliced
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon chopped dill, fresh
- 6 tablespoons parsley, fresh
Instructions:
- Put the water and the chicken in a large pot and bring the water to a boil.
- Add the leeks, parsnips, celery, carrots, parsley, dill, and the salt and pepper.
- Cover and simmer for 2 1/2 hours.
- Remove the chicken.
- Strain broth to remove vegetables and set aside.
- Refrigerate the broth to solidify the fat.
- Cool chicken, remove the skin and bones.
- Cut the meat into bite-size chunks and refrigerate.
- Skim the fat from the broth.
- Bring the broth to a boil.
- Add chicken, zucchini and cooked vegetables to the soup.
- Simmer about 15 minutes.
Servings: 16 (1 cup)
Winter Salad
Salad:
- 1 1/2 heads romaine lettuce, chopped
- 2 apples, cubed
- 4 cups spinach
- 2 red bell peppers, cubed
- 1 container cherry tomatoes
- 6-8 tablespoons cranberries
- 4 cups carrots, grated
- 1/2 cup parsley, finely chopped
- 1 cup almonds, slivered
Dressing:
- 6 tablespoons honey
- 4 tablespoons Dijon mustard
- 1⁄2 cup vinegar
- 1 cup olive oil
Instructions:
- Combine all salad ingredients.
- Combine honey and mustard until smooth.
- Add vinegar to honey-mustard and blend well.
- Slowly add oil to step 3 while beating with a whisk.
- Pour dressing over salad.
- Add almonds and serve immediately.
Servings: 8
Chicken and Rice Casserole
Ingredients:
- 8 tablespoons butter, divided
- 6 tablespoons flour
- 2 teaspoons dried thyme
- 2 cups low-fat chicken broth
- 2 cups non-fat milk
- 4 cups diced chicken, skin removed
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 4 cups rice, cooked
- 1 1/2 cup frozen peas, thawed
- 2 tablespoons dry breadcrumbs
- 2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese, grated
Instructions:
- Pre-heat oven to 400 F.
- Grease a 1 1/2 quart shallow baking dish.
- Melt 5 tablespoons of butter in a saucepan over medium heat.
- Whisk in flour and thyme and cook for 1 minute.
- Gradually stir in broth and milk until thick and smooth.
- Stir in chicken. Add salt and pepper; set aside.
- Spread rice in prepared baking dish, sprinkle with the peas and then pour creamed chicken mixture over.
- Dot with remaining tablespoon of butter.
- Mix cheese and bread crumbs and sprinkle
- Bake until hot and bubbly, about 25 minutes.
Servings: 8
Sweet Potato Casserole
Ingredients:
- 4 cups sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
- 1/2 cup dark brown sugar, packed
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoons salt
- Pinch fresh nutmeg, grated
- Black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup pecans, chopped
- 1/3 cup flour
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 325 F.
- Boil sweet potatoes in a medium saucepan over medium heat until tender.
- Drain the water and mash potatoes until smooth.
- In a large bowl, combine sweet potatoes, eggs, white sugar, butter (half of it) salt, milk and vanilla extract. Mix until smooth.
- Pour mixture into a 9x13 inch baking dish.
- In medium bowl, mix the brown sugar and flour.
- Cut in the remaining butter until the mixture is coarse.
- Stir pecans into the brown sugar mixture.
- Sprinkle the mixture over the sweet potato mixture.
- Bake for 30 minutes. (Topping should be lightly brown)
Servings: 12
Low Fat Egg Nog
Ingredients:
- 4 cups nonfat milk
- 4 tablespoons lemon or orange zest
- 2 vanilla beans
- 4 large eggs plus 2 egg yolks
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
- Fresh nutmeg, grated
- 12 cinnamon sticks
- 3/4 cup sugar
INSTRUCTIONS:
- Combine 3 cups milk and the zest in a medium saucepan.
- Split the vanilla beans (lengthwise and scrape out the seeds) add the seeds and pod to the saucepan and simmer over medium heat.
- Whisk the eggs, egg yolks, sugar and cornstarch in a medium bowl until light yellow.
- Gradually pour the hot milk mixture into the egg mixture. Make sure you whisk constantly.
- Pour mixture back into the pan and place over medium heat.
- Stir constantly with a wooden spoon until the eggnog begins to thicken, (around 8 minutes).
- Remove from the heat.
- Immediately stir in the remaining 1 cup milk to stop the cooking.
- Transfer the eggnog to a large bowl and place over a larger bowl of ice to cool.
- Refrigerate until ready to serve.
- Remove the zest and vanilla pod.
- Garnish with nutmeg and serve with a cinnamon stick.
Servings: 12 (1/2 cup size)