Chicken With Artichokes and Olives

Had to take a week off here, people visiting, not enough time to sit around and play on the internet.

Last week, I made some great stuff. Unfortunately, I was kind of lax in taking pictures, but I'll post the recipes anyway. The first dinner that I made in the week not only smelled amazing, but it was delicious, and really easy to make. I got it from Diabetic Connect. The original recipe calls for it to be made in a slow cooker. I kind of forgot to start it early enough to cook it in one, so I just used my dutch oven. I have been using this for a conversion: Slow Cooker to Dutch Oven Conversion. It's worked pretty well so far. Watch your heat, though. It can burn stuff pretty easily (as I have learned by trial and error). The result is very similar, just takes less time.

Try it out, and as usual, let me know what you think!

Chicken with Artichokes and Olives

Ingredients:

2 cups sliced, fresh mushrooms.
14 1/2-oz can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 cup dry white wine or reduced sodium chicken broth
1 2 1/4 oz can sliced pitted ripe olives or 1/4 cup capers, drained (I used Spanish olives with pimentos. Very yummy)
2 to 3 tsp curry powder
1 tsp dried thyme, crushed (I didn't realize we were out of Thyme, so I used a spice call Ajwain. It was really tasty - apparently, an Indian spice, so it fit right in with the curry)
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 8 or 9 oz package of frozen artichoke hearts (they didn't have frozen where I shop - so I got a can or two without the marinade)
2 1/2# skinless, boneless chicken breast halves and/or thighs
3 TB cornstarch
3 TB cold water

Directions:

In a 4 -5 quart slow cooker (or dutch oven), combine mushrooms, undrained tomatoes, chicken broth, onion, wine, olives, curry powder, thyme, salt and pepper.

Add artichokes.

Place chicken on top; spoon some of the tomato mixture over the chicken.

Cover and cook on low heat setting for 7 to 8 hours or on high heat for 3 1/2 to 4 hours. (In the dutch oven, I cooked at 325 for 1 hour)

Using a slotted spoon, transfer chicken and artichokes to a serving bowl.

Cover chicken and artichokes with foil to keep warm.

If using a low heat setting, turn to high heat setting. In a small bowl, combine cornstarch and water. Stir into mixture in cooker. Cover and cook about 15 minutes more until thickened (I did this on the stove. Check on the time when you do it. I burned mine a little, even on medium heat.)

Spoon tomato mixture over chicken and artichokes.

Per Serving (8 servings):
Calories: 229, Fat: 4 g, Chol: 82 mg, Sod: 396 mg, Carb: 10 g, Pro: 35 g

Tuscan Ravioli Stew

I got some new cookbooks right after the New Year started, and I spent 3 days going through them and marking what I would like to try. Then, I handed them off to the husband and told him to pick three-five meals he wanted to try and I would pick up the stuff for them when I went shopping. So he did. And all was well.

The first book we deicded to try (and remembered to take pictures of) is Our Best Diabetic Living Recipes. I picked this one up for several reasons: One, I have loved the recipes I've tried out of the magazine so much so far; Two, the other book I wanted was not available; and Three, the pictures were pretty. I made a very good decision. The first recipe we tried was this stew/soup. Now, I've never cooked or even eaten Broccoli Rabe (which I have also seen spelled raab), so I was a little unsure how it was going to taste or even how to cut it up. But this was by far, one of the best soup/stews that I have ever eaten, and it was easy to make. Another thing that we think helped, was freshly grated Asiago cheese. Instead of buying that prepackaged stuff, we went to New Seasons and got a big hunk of it and grated it ourselves. And then we started using it on everything. See what you think.

Totally worth every penny and the time and effort

Tuscan Ravioli Stew
makes 4 servings

Ingredients:
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 large leek, thinly sliced (about 1/2 cup)
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 14 1/2 oz. no-salt added stewed tomatoes, undrained*
1 14 oz. can beef broth**
3/4 cup water
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
5 cups coarsely chopped broccoli rabe or Swiss chard (about 6 oz)
1 9 oz. package refrigerated chicken or cheese filled ravioli***
1 Tablespoon snipped fresh rosemary or 1 teaspoon dried rosemary, crushed
Fresh rosemary sprigs (optional)****
1/4 cup finely shredded Asiago Cheese

1. In a large saucepan, heat oil over medium heat. Add leek and garlic; cook about 3 minutes or until tender, stirring occasionally. Stir in undrained tomatoes, beef broth, the water, and if desired, crushed red pepper; bring to boiling.

 

2. Stir in broccoli Rabe, ravioli and rosemary. return to boiling; reduce heat. Cover and simmer for 7 to 8 minutes or until broccoli rabe and ravioli are tender. Ladle into shallow bowls. If desired, garnish with rosemary sprigs. Top individual servings with Asiago cheese.

 

*I used cut up stewed tomatoes, rather than whole stewed tomatoes

**Again, I used Better Than Bullion, it just has better flavor and you don't have to worry about waste

***We bought our fresh ravioli at New Seasons, but couldn't decide on a flavor, so we got Cheese, artichoke and olive; and chicken mushroom, I think. Both were fantastic. I highly suggest freshly made (like that day, if you can), it takes less time to cook, and the flavors are usually amazing.

****Fresh Rosemary tastes great. Problem is? I don't like sticks in my food. The dried spices are easy to grind down and still have that flavor, so that's what I do. But I don't need it as a garnish. All it is, is for looking anyway, so unless you're having the queen for dinner, I wouldn't worry about it.

 

How fabulous and tasty does this look to you?

Chicken Cordon Bleu

I am not a big fan of Swiss cheese. I only eat it in a few things - Reuben Sandwiches and this recipe. The husband seems to like it no matter what, but I just think it has the wrong taste for me. I am broadening my horizons with cheese, don't get me wrong, but as a girl raised on American cheese, this always tasted a little weird to me.

That said, I got this recipe from dLife. And it's really tasty. We use Black Forest Ham, and a fairly high quality (and sometimes, Guyere) Swiss. We have also finally been able to afford Foster Farms chicken, instead of the icky stuff (fatty, and veiny) that comes in a bulk bag. Things are starting to taste better! This is a fairly easy recipe to make, and we served it with lightly steamed broccoli. Fabulous dinner!

Chicken Cordon Bleu
(Makes 8 servings)

Ingredients
8 oz boneless skinless chicken breasts (4 small)
2 oz sliced, smoked ham , cut in half
2 oz Cheese, Swiss, reduced fat, thin slice, cut in half
1 eggs, beaten
2 tbsp white all purpose flour
1 cooking spray
1/3 cup fresh chopped onion*
2 1/2 oz Soup, cream of chicken, condensed, canned (1/4 can)

 
 1. Flatten each piece of chicken to about 1/4-inch thickness by placing the chicken breasts in between 2 sheets of heavy duty plastic wrap and then using a meat mallet or rolling pin to flatten them out.

2. Next, place one-half slice each of ham and cheese in the center of each chicken breast half. Roll up lengthwise, and then secure with wooden toothpicks.

 

3. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Dip each chicken roll in egg and then dredge in flour. Place the chicken rolls seam side down into a shallow casserole dish coated with cooking spray.

4. Bake for 20 minutes. While baking, combine the onion and soup, stirring well. After the first 20-minute baking period, pour the soup mixture over the chicken and then continue to bake for an additional 15 minutes, or until the chicken is done.

*If you prefer, mushrooms may be substituted for the onion in this recipe.

Yummy!

Turkey Salad Sandwich

Now that I was done with Christmas dinner, and I had taken apart the turkey and put it in a big Tupperware for later use. So then began the long process of figuring out which recipes sounded good enough and good enough for me to use. I settled on turkey salad sandwiches, turkey soup, turkey pasties, turkey and brown rice casserole, and turkey pot pie. Yeah, that's a lot of nights (and lunches) of turkey.

The first night after Christmas, I had to work, so I thought the turkey salad sandwiches would be the quickest and easiest to make and eat.I was right. This recipe is so good, that I have started making it to take in my lunches, with chicken instead of turkey (because really, who has time to make a turkey every week?) I got this recipe from Closet Cooking, which is an awesome cooking site with all kinds of experimental (but not always good for diabetics) ingredients that I never would have thought of using in my food. Plus, his blog writing is really fun, his story about he started cooking is interesting, too.

Also, when looking for bread to have with this sandwich, I came across this stuff by Orowheat, called Double Fiber bread. It's awesome. It's light, fluffy, soft, and has a good flavor. I can have two pieces for the carbs of one. So instead of having the requisite one piece of bread for my sandwich with 20 carbs, I can have 2. (this is with fiber included in the count). It works great for keeping this sandwich healthy, and it actually makes good toast (which is something I crave a lot of, but never have). I added a picture of the bag so you can find it too.

Turkey Salad Sandwich

Ingredients:
1 cup cooked turkey (shredded)
1/2 apple (cored and diced)
1 stalk celery (chopped)
1 green onion (chopped, or red)
1 tablespoon pecans (toasted and coarsely chopped)
1 tablespoon dried cranberries
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 splash lemon juice
2 leaves sage (chopped)
salt and pepper to taste
2 leaves lettuce
2 slices bread

Directions:
1. Mix everything but the lettuce and bread in a bowl.
2. Assemble sandwich.

 

Yummy sandwich

Great Bread

 

More yummy sandwich

 

And now... it looks at you and says..."EAT ME!"

Enjoy and Happy New Year!

Hot Chicken Salad

The name of this recipe made me think - Oh, gross! Hot lettuce! But no. I had to read it a couple of times before I realized - ooooh, like chicken salad sandwiches! Yum! And yum, it was. It's simple. It's tasty. And I think you can just about add anything that floats your boat, that you would normally like in your regular chicken salad. Have fun with different veggies, add raisins, or apples. The original recipe is from Diabetic Living Magazine again, and it asks for yellow sweet pepper - I don't like peppers. I just don't. I don't like the way they taste at all. So, I omitted them from this recipe.

I hope you like it.

Hot Chicken Salad
3 cups cubed cooked chicken (about 1 pound)
1 cup sliced celery
1 cup chopped yellow sweet pepper
3/4 cup shredded reduced fat cheddar cheese (3 oz)
1 10.75 oz. can reduced-fat and reduced-sodium condensed cream of chicken soup
1 6 oz. carton plain low fat yogurt (I could not find low fat plain, only nonfat, and it worked just fine)
1/4 c slilced green onions
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 cup crushed cornflakes
1/4 cup sliced almonds

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. In a large bowl, stir together chicken, celery, sweet pepper, cheese, soup, yogurt, green onions, lemon juice, and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper. Transfer to 2 qt. rectangular baking dish.

2. In a small bowl, stir together cornflakes and almonds. Sprinkle evely over chicken mixture.

3. Bake uncovered about 30 minutes or until heated through. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

I have no notes on this, except to read the recipe through first and make sure you have enough time to cook the chicken. I didn't realize that I had to do this and it took me a little longer to make dinner than I had originally anticipated. It was totally worth it, but I wish hadn't had to wait so long for it.

Oh, I also apologize for the lack of pictures. We have been pretty hungry when dinner comes out of the oven lately, and have forgotten to take pictures. I will try to get on that as soon as I can!

And another thing... I notice a few people looking at this, do any of you have any suggestions to make the page better, and types of recipes, stats, food types that you would like to see on here? Links? Anything? I am open to suggestions. I haven't done this type of blog before, so any help is welcome!

Thanks!

Chicken Pot Pie

Sorry for the lack of posts, my husband and I have been really sick. Luckily, no H1N1, but just sick weirdness.

So, we have made a couple of wonderful dishes in the last week, but unfortunately, I did not take any pictures. And just for a warning, I am a terrible photographer. Some things turn out well, some things don't. Alright we got that out of the way, let's move on, shall we?

I had a craving one day for chicken pot pie, and just figured it was going to be too high in carbs or too hard to make. This recipe proves to be neither. I got it from dLife, of course. And I made a couple of tweaks to fit what I like to eat. The original recipe called for bell peppers and I do not like bell peppers except on my pizza. It also called for green beans, but I forgot to pick some up. So, instead, I used some mushrooms. I like the taste much better.

Without further ado, here is the recipe from dLife modified to my liking and a few notes added a long the way to help you out.

Ingredients:
1 lb. Skinless boneless chicken breasts
1 tsp poultry seasoning
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
2 tsp margarine
1 large onion, choped
3 med celery stalks, chopped
1 cup carrots, sliced
8 oz. sliced mushrooms
12 oz. poultry gravy, low sodium, prepared (such as Heinz)
1/2 cup fat free sour cream
2 tbsp white all-purpose flour
2 frozen 9" pie crusts (if you freeze them, be sure to leave 60-90 minutes for defrosting. If you refrigerate them, leave about 12-15 minutes)

Directions:
1 Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
2 Season the chicken with the poultry seasoning, salt and pepper.
3 In a large deep skillet or saucepan over medium heat, melt 1 teaspoon of the margarine.
4 Add the chicken and cook just until slightly pink in the center.
5 Remove to a cutting board. When cool, chop into bite size pieces.
6 Melt the remaining 1 teaspoon margarine in the same skillet or saucepan. Add the onion, celery, mushrooms, and carrots.
7 Cook until the vegetables are tender, about 5 minutes. Stir in the chopped chicken.
8 In a medium bowl, mix together the gravy, sour cream and flour.
9 Stir into the chicken mixture in the skillet or saucepan.
10 Scrape the filling into the prepared pie crust.
11 Carefully fit the top crust over the filling. Cut 3 to 5 slits in the top crust for ventilation.
12 Place the pie plate on a cookie sheet covered in foil (this tends to leak all over the inside of the oven)
12 Bake until the filling is bubbly and the crust is golden brown, 25 to 30 minutes.
13 Let sit for 5 minutes before serving.

This was the first one that I made

I made this one tonight - my husband's eyes were bigger than his stomach.

This is great the first night, but even better the next couple of days. Enjoy!