An ARF/5-A-Day Tuesday recipe (sort of, I guess)

Stir-Fried Chicken with Chinese Cabbage
Food and Wine Magazine’s Quick From Scratch Chicken Cookbook Copyright1997, 2001, 2004

1 1/3 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 4) cut into 1-inch pieces I used tenders
1 tablespoon plus 4 teaspoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons dry sherry
¼ teaspoon cayenne
2 tablespoons cooking oil
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 tablespoon wine vinegar
½ head Chinese cabbage (about 1 pound), sliced
¾ cup drained sliced water chestnuts (from one 8-ounce can)
2 teaspoons tomato paste
¼ teaspoon dried red-pepper flakes
3 tablespoons water
3 tablespoons chopped cilantro or scallion tops I used scallion tops
1/8 teaspoon salt

1. In a medium bowl, combine the chicken with the 1 tablespoon soy sauce, 1 tablespoon sherry, and the cayenne. Let marinate for 10 minutes.
2. In a wok or large frying pan, heat 1 tablespoon of the oil over moderately high heat. Add the chicken and cook, stirring, until almost done, 1 to 2 minutes. Remove.
3. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon oil to the pan. Add the onion, garlic and coriander. Cook, stirring, until the onions are golden, about 4 minutes. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons sherry and the vinegar. Cook, stirring, one minute or longer.
4. Add the cabbage, water chestnuts. the remaining 4 teaspoons soy sauce, the tomato paste, red-pepper flakes, and water and cook, stirring, for 3 minutes longer. Add the chicken and any accumulated juices, the cilantro, and the salt and cook, stirring, until the chicken is just done, 1 to 2 minutes longer.

Serves 4

I wasn't well-prepared for Sweetnick's ARF/5-A-Day Tuesdays this week and I didn't have a recipe with any of the top ARFs on the menu. This was the best veggie recipe I have to offer although I admit it doesn't seem like a nutritional powerhouse, maybe since it lacks the more colorful members of the vegetable family. It does have onion, garlic, Chinese cabbage, water chestnuts, scallions and even 2 teaspoons of tomato paste (and apparently Lycopene is more bioavailable from tomato paste than from fresh tomatoes) so maybe it isn't such a weak offering afterall.

I thought this was really good. Filling but not heavy. What I love about the recipes in this cookbook series is that they're not time consuming but they do have a bit of complexity. I would never have thrown these ingredients together on my own.

I'm loving this cookbook series and I highly recommend these books. So far I have the Chicken, Pasta, Italian, One-Dish Meals and Herbs and Spices versions from this series. Googling around, I think there are still a few more out there that I can look forward to.

In other news, I used my new bread machine last night. No pics yet - it was a rushed trial run since I forgot to buy hubby rolls for his sandwiches this week. I had set a goal of using the machine at least 6 times this year and I can tell you already that won't be a problem!

Fresh peach pie in the middle of winter

Peach Crumble Tart
Better Homes and Gardens New Diabetic Cookbook Copyright 1999

1 recipe Lower-Fat Oil Pastry*
½ cup rolled oats
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
¼ cup packed brown sugar
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted
¼ cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
6 medium peaches (2 pounds), peeled, pitted, and thinly sliced (about 6 cups)
¼ buttermilk

1. Prepare Lower-Fat Oil Pastry*. On a lightly floured surface, flatten pastry. Roll into a 12-inch circle. Wrap pastry circle around the rolling pin; unroll pastry into a 10-inch tart pan with removable bottom. Ease pastry into pan, being careful not to stretch pastry. Press the pastry into fluted sides of tart pan and trim edges. Do not prick pastry.
2. For crumble topping, combine the oats, the 1/3 cup flour, the brown sugar, and the ½ teaspoon cinnamon. Stir in the butter or margarine. Set aside.
3. For filling, in a large bowl stir together the granulated sugar, the 2 tablespoons of flour, and the 1 teaspoon of cinnamon. Add the peaches and buttermilk. Gently toss until coated.
4. Spread the filling evenly into pastry shell. Top with crumble topping. Bake in 375 degree oven 45 to 50 minutes, or until center of filling is bubbly. (My peaches never made enough juice to get 'bubbly'.) If necessary, to prevent overbrowning, cover loosely with foil the last 10 minutes of baking. Serve warm or at room temperature.

*Lower-Fat Oil Pastry
In a medium bowl stir together 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour and ¼ teaspoon salt. Combine ¼ cup fat-free milk and 3 tablespoons cooking oil; add all at once to flour mixture. Stir with a fork until dough forms. If necessary, add 1 to 2 teaspoons additional milk. Shape the dough into a ball.


Makes 10 servings. Per serving: 210 calories, 7 g fat (2 g sat fat), 6 mg cholesterol, 87 mg sodium, 35 g carbs, 3 g fiber, 4 g protein (This is without the ice cream, of course!)

While shopping this weekend, I came across some surprisingly good peaches for this time of year. I would have liked to have made a peaches-and-cream pie or something equally decadent but my expanding waistline told me to look for something a little lighter. Even though this cookbook burned me with the strata recipe last time (partially my fault), I gave it another chance.

While I doubt this crust would win any blue ribbons at the county fair, it was passable. It did it's job of holding in the peaches. It was easy to work with. (I think - I don't remember the last time I made my own crust - I usually use the one in the red box - so I don't have much to compare it to but I had no problems rolling this out.) I don't think you could really expect a lower-fat pastry to be as good as a full-fat one since fat is what makes pastry tastes so good, after all.

Overall, this was a good pie, something I would make again. Maybe it wasn't as rich as a full-fat pie with more sugar but it didn't leave you with the guilt that a richer dessert would. It had just enough fat and sugar to make it work.

Oh, and BTW, I used my tart pan for this. That means that my Culinary New Year's Resolution #2 has been satisfied.

In case you missed these the first time

Sometimes I do repeat a recipe. Last night I made Hot Muffulettas again. This time I used whole wheat kaiser rolls. Hubby ate three of them so that tells you something.

Well, I made my first cookbook purchase of the year yesterday. I couldn't resist the urge any longer and I headed to Ollie's Bargain outlet. I picked up a copy of 500 Low-Carb Recipes ($4.99) that I have checked out of the library right now. I also picked up 500 More Low-Carb Recipes ($4.99), Food and Wine Magazine's Quick From Scratch Italian Cookbook ($3.99), Food and Wine Magazine's Quick From Scratch Herbs and Spices Cookbook ($3.99) and Favorite Brand Names 100 Ways to Cook Hamburger ($4.99). So it's still only January and I've spent about 1/4 of my cookbook budget for the year. Oh well.

Power breakfast

Mushroom Scramble
500 Low-Carb Recipes Copyright 2002

1 to 2 teaspoons butter
1 tablespoon minced onion
¼ cup sliced mushrooms
3 eggs, beaten (I only use 2 eggs)

1. Melt butter in a heavy skillet over medium heat, and sauté the onion and mushrooms for 4 to 5 minutes, or until the mushrooms are tender.
2. Add the eggs and scramble until set, and serve.

1 serving, 3 grams carbs, trace fiber, 17 grams protein

Not much of a recipe, huh? I sometimes concentrate so much on our dinner menu that I neglect to buy foods for breakfast and lunch. I was coming up empty while looking for my usual breakfast foods one morning and I had some eggs and some extra mushrooms, and as always, onion, so I made this. It was a Monday morning and I'm usually tired on Mondays (after staying up to watch Grey's Anatomy) but I wasn't as tired that day. Nor was I about to chew my own arm off well before lunchtime, as usual. I ended up having a lower-carb lunch that day too and I didn't spend the afternoon feeling exhausted, which is quite a difference.

I'm never going to go very low-carb but this was a bit of motivation to start going lower-carb. I just can't pile on the fat - due to our family histories, that's a risk I'm not willing to take no matter how hard any low-carb believer tries to tell me the fat won't hurt me if I avoid the carbs. Instead I have to look for low-carb, not very high fat recipes. There are more of those types of recipes than I would have expected in this cookbook, a library selection.

I have to rely on my own knowledge of nutrition to figure out which recipes in this book are high in fat and which ones aren't, since they only give you info on carbs and protein, which is probably all that low-carbers need to know. But since many diabetics also like to watch carbs, it would be nice for low-carb cookbooks to include full nutrtional information, just for the heck of it. But that would probably be pretty scary for some low-carb recipes!

Unattractive but tasty

Balsamic Chicken
Cooking and Canning With Mamma D’Amato
Copyright 1997

¼ cup flour
salt and pepper
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, halved, totaling about 2 lbs I used tenders
4 tablespoons olive or vegetable oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon oregano
6 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

Season flour with salt and pepper and dredge chicken breasts in seasoned flour. Heat oil in a large heavy skillet and brown on both sides over medium heat. Add minced garlic, oregano, and vinegar, then cover and cook over low heat until chicken is tender, about 15 minutes. (I cooked this just about through before adding the vinegar which was a good thing because the vinegar reduced quickly and the chicken started getting very dark and sticky almost immediately.)

Serves 4 to 6

This was a very tasty dish. The chicken was really tender and as Mama D'Amato said in the book, the vinegar gave this a 'piquant taste similar to wine'. Unfortunately, the appearance of the chicken wasn't that great - it was very dark and sticky and not very photogenic at all. I probably wouldn't serve this to company but I would make it again for ourselves. It was so fast and simple to prepare. I've had to shop around for an affordable balsamic vinegar that I liked to cook with - some just aren't very good, I've found. I actually buy a not-too-expensive store brand, but they package it in a fancy bottle just like the more expensive vinegars.

This really is a great cookbook. It's a simple book lacking pictures of the food and including only brief comments with the recipes but you really feel as if you're standing in her kitchen cooking with Mama D'Amato. I bet it was very hard for her to sit down and write out these recipes because I'm guessing she doesn't use recipes to cook.