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Archive for March, 2011

What’s in Your Chicken?

March 9th 2011 Posted at Food for Thought, From the Kitchen, Tips and Tricks
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Salt is a preservative and a seasoning. I also use chicken broth in many recipes as well.  That doesn’t mean I want my chicken pumped full of salt or broth, especially without me knowing it. There was an enlightening article in Cooking Light January/February 2011 about chicken being injected with salt water or chicken broth increasing the sodium to 330+ mg per 4 oz chicken breast. I made a bee line to my package of chicken breast that I bought from SAMS and it said each one had 370 mg/breast. The other mouth drop to this article was the packaging can still say “Natural or All Natural”. Again, very MISLEADING if you ask me.  Be an informed consumer and know what you are buying! If I want that much salt, let me put it in!

 

Parmesan Chicken with (Optional) Creamy Sage Sauce

  • 1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
  • 1/4 cup panko crumbs
  • 1/4 cup plain bread crumbs
  • 1 teaspoon dried parsley
  • 1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon season salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon pepper
  • 1/2 tablespoon minced garlic
  • 1/4 cup liquid butter (recipe: mix together 2 tablespoons room temp butter & 2 tablespoons canola oil)

(mix together the first 6 ingredients – cheese through pepper. Toss with garlic then add half of  liquid butter and toss well until mixed well. Bread mixture should be moist but crumbly. Add remaining liquid butter if desire.)

Pre-heat oven to 350F. Spray baking pan with cooking spray then place thawed  chicken breast in sprayed pan. Place parmesan bread mixture piled on 4 chicken breast.  Bake for 25 to 35 minutes or until chicken reaches 165F.

Creamy Sage Sauce

  • 1/2 cup white sauce (such as bechemel)
  • 2 tablespoons no salt chicken broth
  • 2 tablespoons water
  • 2 tablespoons white wine
  • 2 tablespoons liquid butter (optional & see recipe above)
  • 1/2 teaspoon rubbed sage or 1 teaspoon fresh chopped sage
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Mix all ingredients together in a small sauce pan. Bring to a slow simmer at medium heat. Stir occasionally and heat until bubbly. Serve warm on the side with parmesan chicken.

Apple-a-Day

March 5th 2011 Posted at From the Kitchen, Tips and Tricks
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Is it true what they say about an apple-a-day? Well I don’t know but when it comes to cooking, eating and baking, there is a difference. I came across this handy quick reference for apples on the Cooking Light site. It actually was in one of their magazine issues. So whether you want to make a pie, some apple butter (which I did and it was very good), dip in caramel,  make sauce, bake in the oven with cinnamon, butter and brown sugar OR picking out an apple tree to plant….know your apples.

 

http://www.cookinglight.com/food/in-season/apple-types-recipes-00412000068665/page13.html

 

 

 

Try this really good apple butter recipe. I only made half the recipe and used granny smith apples so it would be a little tart and not real sweet.

A mixture of apple varieties, rather than just one type, will produce apple butter with rich, complex flavor in this slow cooker recipe. Good choices include Esopus Spitzenburg, Granny Smith, Jonathan, Northern Spy, Rome, Stayman, Winesap, and York. Enjoy the apple butter over toast or English muffins, or serve it with pork chops or chicken.

 

Yield: 4 cups (serving size: 1/4 cup)

Overnight Apple Butter

Ingredients

  • 1  cup  packed brown sugar
  • 1/2  cup  honey
  • 1/4  cup  apple cider
  • 1  tablespoon  ground cinnamon
  • 1/4  teaspoon  ground cloves
  • 1/8  teaspoon  ground mace
  • 10  medium apples, peeled, cored, and cut into large chunks (about 2 1/2 pounds)

Preparation

Combine all ingredients in a 5-quart electric slow cooker. Cover and cook on low 10 hours or until apples are very tender.

Place a large fine-mesh sieve over a bowl; spoon one-third of apple mixture into sieve. Press mixture through sieve using the back of a spoon or ladle. Discard pulp. Repeat procedure with remaining apple mixture. Return apple mixture to slow cooker. Cook, uncovered, on high 1 1/2 hours or until mixture is thick, stirring occasionally. Spoon into a bowl; cover and chill up to a week.

Stovetop variation: Combine all ingredients in a Dutch oven. Cover and cook over medium-low heat 1 hour or until apples are very tender, stirring occasionally. Strain through a sieve as recipe instructs in Step 2. Return mixture to pan. Cook, uncovered, over medium-low heat 15 minutes or until thick, stirring frequently.

Nutritional Information

Calories: 132 (0.0% from fat)
Fat: 0.0g (sat 0.0g,mono 0.0g,poly 0.0g)
Protein: 0.1g
Carbohydrate: 35.3g
Fiber: 3.1g
Cholesterol: 0.0mg
Iron: 0.7mg
Sodium: 6mg
Calcium: 18mg
Domenica Marchetti, Cooking Light, OCTOBER 2004

 

 

 

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