The Nifty Foodie

After a pretty full day, I wanted to make the hubs and I something easy and enjoyable. I’ve seen this recipe from Campbell’s for quite some time and was hoping that it would be a great recipe. I will say it had some really great flavor, but this recipe had some issues that I will take note of for next time.

First off, some of the rice ended up extra soft and some was still crunchy. I’ll have to be sure to stir occassionally while it’s in the oven to ensure that the rice is evenly cooked for next time.

Also, the recipe states that it needs to be covered the whole time it’s in the oven. However, after 50 minutes, it was still very watery. I had to keep it in the oven uncovered for a while after to let it evaporate, but it was still slightly watery even after that. Next time, I’ll uncover it when it’s halfway done to make sure it evaporates enough to make a thicker sauce for the chicken and rice.

I ended up omitting the vegetables called for in the recipe, since the hubs isn’t a fan of mixed vegetables. So, as you can see, dinner was pretty carb-y with the addition of some yummy garlic bread!

Cheesy Chicken & Rice Casserole
Source: Campbell’s Kitchen

Ingredients

• 1 can (10 3/4 ounces) Cream of Chicken Soup
• 1 1/3 cups water
• 3/4 cup uncooked regular long-grain white rice
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 2 cup frozen mixed vegetables (we omitted this)
• 4 skinless, boneless chicken breast half  (about 1 pound)
• 1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

Directions

1. Heat the oven to 375°F.  Stir the soup, water, rice, onion powder, black pepper and vegetables in a 2-quart shallow baking dish.
2. Top with the chicken. Cover the baking dish.
3. Bake for 50 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through and the rice is tender. Top with the cheese. Let the casserole stand for 10 minutes. Stir the rice before serving.

The Skinny – per serving, serves 4

Calories 408.4
Fat 10 g
Fiber 0.7g

I’ve always been curious about the taste of capers. I’ve never had them, but this recipe for Chicken Scallopini really caught my eye. My husband and I usually stick to the same old recipes, but I thought this would be a nice change from the usual.

I ended up putting the heat way too high on the skillet, partially burning the coating on the chicken without cooking it all the way through. So, I had to put the breasts in the oven for 10-15 minutes afterwards. I’m still learning how to cook, so these mistakes do happen for me. Sadly, putting them in the oven killed the crunch that I think the dish was supposed to have from the bread crumb coating.

The flavor of the chicken and sauce, however, was very good. Turns out, I love capers and I can’t wait to use them again! I served these with Creamy Parmesan Orzo (a must try!) and green beans.

Chicken Scallopini
Source: Cooking Light

Ingredients:

• 4  (6-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
• 2  teaspoons  fresh lemon juice
• 1/4  teaspoon  salt
• 1/4  teaspoon  black pepper
• 1/3  cup  Italian-seasoned breadcrumbs
• Cooking spray
• 1/2  cup  fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
• 1/4  cup  dry white wine
• 4  teaspoons  capers
• 1  tablespoon  butter

Directions:

1. Place each chicken breast half between 2 sheets of heavy-duty plastic wrap; pound to 1/4-inch thickness using a meat mallet or rolling pin. Brush chicken with juice, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Dredge chicken in breadcrumbs.
2. Heat a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Add chicken to pan; cook 3 minutes on each side or until chicken is done. Remove from pan; keep warm.
3. Add broth and wine to pan, and cook 30 seconds, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Stir in capers and butter.

***
I thought it would be cute to call the nutritional information from now on, The Skinny. I’m sure it’s unoriginal, but I like it. I will also no longer calculate POINTS on here, since I’ve been reading that a few food bloggers are getting in trouble with Weight Watchers for calculating these. I am, however, including the information necessary for you to use online/paper POINTS calculators if need be.
***

The Skinny – Per serving, serves 4
Calories: 206
Fat: 4.6 g
Fiber: 0.6 g

The minute I saw this chicken on Smells Like Home, I starred it for a later date. Not only is it a Bobby Flay recipe, but it looked healthy too!

I have to say, this was the best chicken recipe I’ve ever made to date. It was so flavorful and the spice wasn’t too over-powering for me. It was also simple and basically like BBQ-ing on a grill. Since we were out of propane for our grill, I made this inside on the cast iron grill. I served it with Green Bean Casserole and some garlic bread. Perfection!

Chipotle-Honey Glazed Chicken
Source: Bobby Flay via Smells Like Home

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup honey
• 2 tbsp pureed canned chipotle chilies in adobo
• 1 1/2 tsp Dijon mustard
• 2 tbsp ancho chili powder
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tbsp canola oil
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp Spanish paprika
• 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, pounded to 1/2″ thickness
• 1 tsp sesame seeds
• 1 tsp chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 tsp chopped chives

Directions:

Heat your grill to high.

Whisk together the honey, chipotle puree, mustard, 1 tbsp ancho powder, 1/2 tsp salt, 1 tbsp oil in a small bowl. I just threw it all in the food processor to blend it well.

Stir together the remaining ancho powder with the coriander, cumin, and paprika in another medium bowl.  Add the chicken breasts, the remaining oil, and toss to coat.  Season with a little salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Place the chicken on the grill and grill for 3-4 minutes.  Flip the chicken and brush the pieces with the honey-chipotle sauce.  Cook for an additional 3-4 minutes.  Flip the chicken again and brush the other side with the sauce; cook for 1 more minute.    Flip once more and cook for another minute. Remove chicken from the grill and brush on more sauce as desired. Sprinkle with sesame seeds, cilantro, and chives before serving.

Now, if you are from New Orleans, you probably get the gist of what I’m saying…we like to end our words normally ending with an “o” with an “eaux” instead. Why? Because we are special…

Other weird things (at least that I know of) that we like to say….

Neutral ground = street median
If I’m going to a Mardi Gras parade, trying to find someone, you either stand on the neutral ground side or the shoulder side of the street.

Brake tag = inspection sticker
Every year, you get a sticker to check your brake lights, blinkers, etc. This, to people from the NOLA area, is a brake tag folks.

Sha = term for friend/child/whatever…people can call you sha (a pronounced like a in apple)
You’ll sometimes hear someone greet another person…whatcha doin’ der sha? Seriously..don’t judge us.

Geaux = Go
If you ever find yourself in the lucky 92,000 people who are able to squeeze into Tiger Stadium (LSU) on a Saturday night, we don’t scream “GO TIGERS!”, rather it’s “GEAUX TIGERS!” Pronounced just the same, but it feels special.

Now, don’t let our vocabulary deter you from trying a bowl of this amazingness. Gumbo (yes, I’ll be normal for the rest of this blog entry) isn’t too crazy. It’s basically a smokey stew of chicken/sausage or seafood on rice. If you want to be adventurous, you can add frog legs or alligator, but folks, I’ll keep this simple.

The base of most cajun dishes is a good, dark roux. I will admit, this being my first time, I was very intimidated of burning the roux. Burnt roux isn’t good in gumbo. So, after watching my favorite Food Network chef, Alton Brown, try to master gumbo, I decided to use some parts of his recipe to help me out.

His method? Oven baked roux….perfection, right? It worked out really really well for us. Oh yeah and my hubs gave a HUGE helping hand during this. There is a lot going on at once, and since I’m new to cooking, I don’t think I could have done it alone.

However, in the recipe, it only makes 5 qts. of gumbo.

I would like to say that in Louisiana, just making a 5 qt. pot of gumbo is not only shameful, it’s downright rude…hehe. When making gumbo, you invite people over and 5 qts. just won’t make the cajun appetite very happy at all. So, we doubled the recipe and made HEAVY changes to it.

I present to you – chicken, andouille, sausage and crab gumbo.

Chicken, Andouille, Sausage and Crab Gumbo
Inspired by: Alton Brown

Ingredients:

• 8 ounces vegetable oil
• 8 ounces all-purpose flour
• 2-3 lbs. of pre-boiled crabs, cleaned but meat still in shell (we split up the body and claws and just threw them in the pot)
• 1 gallon water
• 6 chicken bouillon cubes
• 1  diced onion
• 1 cup diced celery
• 1 cup diced green peppers
• 4 tablespoons minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2 teaspoons dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 3 bay leaves
• 1 pound andouille sausage
• 1 pound pork sausage
• 2 lbs. chicken boneless chicken breast
• 1 tablespoon file powder

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Place the vegetable oil and flour into a 5 to 6-quart cast iron Dutch oven and whisk together to combine. Place on the middle shelf of the oven, uncovered, and bake for 1 1/2 hours (or until dark brown/brick colored), whisking 2 to 3 times throughout the cooking process.
3. After the roux bakes for 30 minutes, cut up the chicken breasts into small chunks. Place the chicken in a pot (at least 12 qts.) with a gallon of water and the bouillon cubes. Bring to a boil and reduce heat a little to simmer for 1 hour.
4. Once the roux is done, carefully remove it from the oven and set over medium-high heat. Gently add the onions, celery, green peppers and garlic and cook, moving constantly for 7 to 8 minutes or until the onions begin to turn translucent. Add the salt, black pepper, thyme, basil, cayenne pepper, and bay leaves and stir to combine.  Place the mixture in the 12 qt. pot with the chicken, stirring to avoid clumps of roux in the gumbo. Add sausage and andouille. Decrease the heat to low, cover and cook for 25-35 minutes, until the sausage looks done and the chicken shreds easily. Turn off the heat, add the crabs to combine. Add the file powder while stirring constantly. Cover and allow to sit for 10-15 minutes prior to serving. Serve over rice.

I am always looking for ways to make my cooking/baking skinnier and tastier. I have been questioned a few times on my blog as to why I feature some recipes that aren’t so skinny, when in fact, my blog’s name is “Skinny Food by Amy”. I like to feature ALL recipes that I cook/bake. Some recipes are made for people who have no interest in lower fat foods, so I make the full fat/calorie versions. Also, I prefer to make some recipes verbatim at first, before experimenting and adapting. For example, the cake batter ice cream. This was my first ice cream and I wanted to ensure that it came out good! Now, after a couple of recipes,  I’m getting more and more comfortable with the ingredients involved in making ice cream, thus, now looking for skinnier versions.

Now, after explaining why everything isn’t so skinny, here is a skinnier recipe that actually ended in a FAIL. I don’t like to blog about fails, really, but I’m still learning how to cook/bake so I have to share when mistakes happen. The picture above looks really good, but after following the recipe verbatim, the pot pie came out bland. Really really bland.I should’ve adapted it, being from Louisiana and being used to spicy, spicier and spiciest! Ugh…

Next time I make this, if there even is a next time, there will be TONS of spices added! I will admit, however, the biscuit topping was delicious! Can’t mess up Bisquick!

Chicken Pot Pie
Source: Weight Watchers forum

Ingredients:

• 1 cup cut-up cooked chicken
• 1 bag (12 oz.) Green Giant® Valley Fresh Steamers frozen mixed vegetables, thawed
• 1 can (10-3/4 oz) condensed 98% fat-free cream of chicken soup
• 1/2 cup fat-free (skim) milk
• 1 cup Bisquick Heart Smart® mix
• 1/2 cup fat-free (skim) milk
• 1 egg

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 400°F. In ungreased 2-quart casserole, mix chicken, vegetables, soup and 1/2 cup milk. Microwave on High 4 minutes; stir.
2. In small bowl, stir Bisquick® mix, 1/2 cup milk and the egg with fork until blended. Pour over vegetable mixture.
3. Bake uncovered about 30 minutes or until golden brown.

Makes 6 servings.

Calories: 220, Fat: 6g, Fiber: 2g
POINTS*: 5