di Pollo Pomodoro: “a salubrious stew”

Say: (Dee POLO po-mo-DOOR-oh)

 2014 will be a healthy year.

Living Longer with Lycopene

Studies have demonstrated higher Lycopene intake helps lower prostate cancer risk, significantly protects against breast cancer, animal research is also showing benefit to lung cancer. Higher levels of lycopene have also shown protection against heart attack.
Does slave have your attention yet?
Tomatoes are a great source of Lycopene!
Nutritionists note that heating the tomato actually makes the lycopene more absorbent.
So lets cook with some tomatoes! We want something that is not expensive, lot in fat, easy to fix, oh and it must taste good! NO PROBLEM!

Here is an easy, healthy take on Chicken Cacciatore for the Crock Pot.

Lots of good for you vegetables carry this dish from being just a great taste to being a weight loss specialty for your family.

 

Ingredients:

2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts or bone and skin them yourselves!

½ large onion, chopped

2 stalks of celery, cut

2 cans tomatoes diced

1 can condensed mushroom soup (low sodium)

1 can condensed celery soup (low sodium)

12 oz (low sodium) vegetable juice Like V8

16oz pkg frozen mixed vegetables

1 teaspoon of Basil

1 teaspoon Herbs de Provence

(slave happened to have a few green onions left so why not?)

Now since this takes 10 hours in the Crock Pot, that means it has to start by 8AM if slave wants a 6PM dinner. While slave is usually sending its first report in by 7AM, it does not really trust itself with that big sharp Chefs knife before the first cup of coffee.

So the chopping goes on the night before and it gets bagged until morning.

Directions:

If you haven't used your pot for awhile, wipe it out first with a damp paper towel!

Spray the crock pot with cooking spray

Set the Crock Pot to High to warm.

Sprinkle the chicken breasts with kosher salt and a very light touch of pepper. Brown the outsides of the chicken breasts (About 4 to 5 minutes per side), in a large skillet over medium high heat. Cut the chicken into 2-3 inch pieces.

Pour the tomatoes into the crock pot and sprinkle with herbs and basil. Then add the onions and celery. Distribute the big chunks of chicken and spoon the condensed soups and vegetable juice over the top.

This should be everything except the mixed vegetables, take them from the freezer and place in refrigerator to thaw.

Cover the pot and turn down the setting to low.

Let it set and cook for at least 8 ½ hours before adding the mixed vegetables for an additional hour and a half. (total 10 hours) If you put them in sooner they would have cooked down into mush!

Note: Yes Slave knows that your crock pot is full! Don't worry! Just let all that goodness blend the flavors together.

When you serve this “full meal in a bowl”, you can go light on salad and just a nice whole wheat roll or sweet pumpernickel loaf to accompany.

IMPORTANT to NOTE: Keep your food safe! The best rule to go by is you have 2 hours for the food to go from being cooked to going into the refrigerator. Do NOT leave it in the crock pot. Transfer all of it into large serving bowls, before you sit down to eat, this will help it cool.. Never put food in the refrigerator that is too hot to hold on you hand! And then always pit it on the top shelf.

Now in this case, after dinner we are going to divide this into quart sized freezer bags. That way you will have plenty of healthy meals handy. Yes you will make a mess. However take steps to minimize the clean up.

 

Slave got 3 quart sized bags full. Again do not put them in the refrigerator until you can carry them in your bare hand. Later after they have been in the cool for an hour or two, take a couple and put in the freezer.

You can always make the left-overs stretch by adding a cup more of the vegetable juice when you reheat!

It is a joy to have the privilege to serve my Master Indy

socialslave

To satisfy and restore.

To nourish, support and maintain.

To gratify, spoil, comfort and please,

to nurture, assist, and sustain

…..I cook!

A Casual Cassoulet

The menu term "cassoulet" can mean any hearty bean-based casserole.
It is pronounced (KA – sue-- lay) Today we will do a modern Crock Pot take on the original! This one uses less fat but retains the classic great taste and the elements that gave us both the Crock Pot and the casserole!

A Cassoulet is a rich, slow-cooked casserole that takes days to make. It originated in the south of France. The basic parts are white beans, poultry, and sausages. We can do this!

The dish is named after its traditional cooking vessel, the cassole, a deep, round, earthenware pot with slanting sides. This is where we get the word Casserole. It is also strangely like a modern crock pot so that is what we are going to use.

Ingredients

3 15 ounce cans white beans, rinsed and drained
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs, trimmed of fat and cut into thirds
1 large onion, chopped
6 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1 teaspoon Herbes de Provence Take the plunge and buy a bottle. You will be amazed at what this combination adds!
½ cup white wine balsamic vinegar
1 reduced-sodium chicken broth

½ cup water
½ lbs low-fat turkey kielbasa, sliced into 1/2-inch pieces pre-cooked
2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley

¾ cup fresh whole-wheat breadcrumbs

Directions

Heat the oil in a 12 inch skillet over medium heat. Add chicken in a single layer and cook until out side is browned, turning once, 2 to 3 minutes per side. Transfer to a plate. 

Remember when dealing with fresh garlic: hit the clove with the side of a broad knife, that will make peeling the skin off very easy. Then make a cut long ways to see if there is any green line inside, if so, pop that out with the point of the knife, it will make what you are cooking very bitter. You might think that 6 cloves of garlic are a lot but since this is cooking in the crock pot over a long time, the taste will mellow into a fantastic blend.

Drain the beans well!

 

Add onion to the skillet and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 3 minutes then add the garlic for another 2 minutes. Garlic cooks faster. After a total of about 5 minutes cooking. Add herbs and continue stirring, until fragrant, about 30 seconds.

Pour in vinegar, increase heat to high and cook, stirring with a wooden spoon to scrape up any browned bits,(the fond), until it has reduced by about half, 1 to 2 minutes.

This step is called de-glazing. You might have heard this before, well this is where it comes from! It is traditional to deglaze the pot from the previous cassoulet in order to give a base for the next one. This has led to tall tales of a single original cassoulet being extended for years or even decades.

Spray your crock pot with cooking spray. Add broth, water, kielbasa, the drained beans, and chicken; Then pour contents of pan over the top. Cover and cook on low for 5 – 6 hours.

 

For a fancy topping:

Put ¾ cup fresh whole-wheat breadcrumbs and parsley in a no stick pan and heat over medium high heat until it turns golden and crisp and the parsley is fragrant. Serve in a small dish to the side for guests to sprinkle a spoonful over their portions.

You might want to go over the top with some bread that you just finish baking at home!

Definitely chill a bottle of a nice Pinot Noir (one of Master's favorites). Then prepare for some Ooh – La – La!

Slave enjoys treating Master Indy with something like this!

socialslave

To satisfy and restore.

To nourish, support and maintain.

To gratify, spoil, comfort and please,

to nurture, assist, and sustain

…..I cook!

TIP:

 

Stunning Shrimp with warm coleslaw or Tuna Croquettes As You Please!

Well it wont be long until Super Bowl time and Master may want to have guests over. Lets hope the “Polar Vortex” has vanished by then!

Here are a couple of recipes you and your family might just fall in love with for the new year! Both can be presented as entrees or as appetizers.

Shrimp with Warm Coleslaw for low carb delight

Low Fat, low calorie, low carbs, yet is still delicious! As Well As: fast and easy to cook and to clean up afterwords! What more do you want for this year?

Ingredients

• 16 fresh jumbo shrimp in shells
• 8 slices thick-cut bacon, halved use turkey bacon for less fat
• 1½ pounds coleslaw mix Suggested to use the one with broccoli (about 11 cups)
• ¼ cup white wine balsamic vinegar
• ¼ cup finely chopped fresh chives
• 1 red and or yellow pepper diced small

Directions

Peel and de-vein shrimp. Rinse shrimp; pat dry. Set aside.

In large skillet cook bacon over medium heat until crisp. Transfer bacon to paper towels; reserve drippings. Return 2 tablespoons drippings to skillet.

Add shrimp to hot drippings; cook & stir over medium heat 4 to 5 minutes or until shrimp are opaque. Remove from skillet; keep warm.

Add coleslaw mix to hot skillet (add 1 to 2 tablespoons additional bacon drippings if necessary; discard remaining drippings). Cook and stir over medium heat 6 minutes or until mixture is wilted and just tender. Stir in vinegar, pepper, and chives. Season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

As an entree: Crumble cooked bacon and add it to coleslaw mix. Divide mixture among 4 plates and top each with 4 shrimp. Serve with roasted asparagus.

OR

As an Appetizer: divide onto 7 inch plates and top each with a piece of shrimp.

============================
Tuna Croquettes 

 

Ingredients

2(5oz cans) chunk lite tuna or albacore tuna, drained well and shredded by hand 3 green onions, chopped fine
1 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon Mayonnaise

2 large eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
½ teaspoon kosher salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
¾ cup bread crumbs, divided Panko are the best but slave only had Italian on hand so that was used.
oil for frying
Directions

Drain the tuna well between several sheets of paper towels!
Place the tuna, onions, mustard, mayo, eggs, lemon juice, salt, pepper and ¼ cup of the bread crumbs into a medium mixing bowl and stir to combine. Divide the mixture into 4 rounds and set aside on a parchment lined half sheet pan. 

Allow to rest for 15 to 20 minutes. This is an important step!

Place the remaining bread crumbs into a pie plate. One at a time, roll each round in the panko to coat on all sides. 

 

Flatten slightly back on the parchment and put in refrigerator for half an hour.

Heat enough olive oil to cover the bottom of a 12-inch saute pan over medium heat until shimmering. Add the croquettes and cook 2 to 3 minutes on each side or until golden brown. Remove to a cooling rack set over a half sheet pan lined with paper towels. Allow to cool for 2 to 3 minutes before serving.

If you do not have bread crumbs, you can use crushed crackers ( if using saltines omit the salt!)

This is also good with canned chicken or salmon, just be sure and drain them, well!

use as an appetizer with this tasty dip:

1 spoonful mayonnaise

1 spoonful brown spicy mustard

a few squirts of honey. Don't forget the toothpicks!

For that matter use it as stuffing for mushrooms. Just be sure to cook so it holds together!

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Makes four patties. At 2 per serving was $2 each even adding a salad came to $2.50 each, can't beat that!

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Now salmon patties are traditionally served with creamed peas, so lets do something slightly different with this.

Microwave bag of plain, no sauce peas. Add in a mixture of Mascarpone cheese and plain non fat Greek style yogurt, just a touch of onion, if thinning needed, use no-fat ½ & ½!

===========================

slave hopes that your family enjoys these as well as slave's.

Happily serving Master Indy

socialslave

To satisfy and restore.

To nourish, support and maintain.

To gratify, spoil, comfort and please,

to nurture, assist, and sustain

…..I cook!

 

You May Crown This Chicken Salad Queen!

Socialslave's take on the Classic Coronation Chicken Salad Recipe served vol au vents!

slave's adaptation of the much loved and famous recipe created by Constance Spry for the Queen's Coronation lunch in 1953. Adjustments made for obvious reasons.

Ingredients:

1 can 12.5oz cooked chicken Well drained
2 Cups any sweet melon, diced very small slave used honeydew

1 celery stalk, trimmed and diced
1 tablespoons home-made mayonnaise

5.3 oz Non fat Greek Style Yogurt Pineapple flavored

½ C chopped pecans
Fresh basil or mint
Dash of paprika

2 sheets of puff pastry or 3 tubes of croissant dough non-perforated

1 egg for wash.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Vol au Vents”: Pronounced “Vuuu – ah – Vahn”. The French just have a way of pronouncing their words as if they had just burned the roof of their mouths. No matter how this translates, what it means in cooking is that a food is served in puff pastry bowls. Very pretty!

Most of the larger supermarkets sell puff pastry sheets, however slave finds you can get comparable results using those crescent rolls in the cardboard tubes. Getting the kind that is not perforated is preferred but not necessary.

The chiefs make it sound so easy:

“Roll out the dough. Using a 4 inch biscuit cutter cut out 12 disks. Then using a 2 inch biscuit cutter, cut out the center of 8 of these.”

Hello, slave has never seen a 4 inch biscuit cutter. That large and it is no longer a biscuit, it is a cow patty! So if you learn nothing else from these blogs, learn how to improvise! Slave found a 5 inch funnel and a small can of corn that was about 2 ½ inches across. Well this threw all the planning about how many you could get out of 3 rolls of pastry! Again slave improvised.

Directions:

To make the vol au vents:

Pre heat oven to 375 F degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Lay out sheets of wax paper on the counter and lightly dust with flour.

Unroll a sheet of dough on each. Cut out 9 large disks by pressing straight down (don't twist it) slave got 3 per sheet. Peel away the dough and save to another sheet of paper.

Using a spatula, set 4 of them evenly spaced onto the parchment lined baking sheet.

Now the other 8 disks will be cut into rings by using a cutter that is half the size of the larger. Just cut the centers out. Again push straight down, don't twist. Twisting will not allow the pastry t rise like it should.

 

Now with a pastry brush lightly dampen just the top edges of the 4 disks. Place a ring on each. Then brush just the top of those rings and stack the second layer of rings. If you have enough, slave did not, so it had to improvise! Roll scraps of dough and use that to take the place of rings! With any kind of dough, you have a built in glue. All you have to do is add a touch of water!

 

With a fork prick the just the center of each disk. Then using a slightly beaten egg, brush only the tops of each ring. If you get it on the sides the pastry wont puff like it should.

Bake according to pkg directions and allow to cool completely before filling. Slave found that its oven took a bit longer than it does just doing rolls.

PLEASE NOTE: The big food craze last year was “Cronuts”. That was just a three layer high stack of rings like you just made only instead of baking you deep fried them and washed each with a sugar glaze.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Chicken Queen Salad:

Mix the mayonnaise and yogurt with the celery and pecans. Add minced basil or mint and continue to blend.

 

In a medium sized bowl break apart the chicken into small chunks and carefully stir in the diced melon.

Pour yogurt mixture over the chicken to fold in lightly. Chill in refrigerator for at least 20 minutes before serving. Spoon the salad into the vol au vents, slightly overfilling each.

Garnish as you choose, perhaps with a touch of red, like a fresh strawberry sliced almost through and fanned. Or how about a couple of grape tomatoes if you have them.

Slave hopes you and your family enjoys this touch of gourmet brunch dish.

Proud to serve my Master Indy

socialslave

To satisfy and restore.

To nourish, support and maintain.

To gratify, spoil, comfort and please,

to nurture, assist, and sustain

…..I cook!

Make Ahead Macho Managing Brunch Casserole

Yes its football time! 

Master might want to invite guests over to watch the game. Or maybe just have friends over for a warm brunch. Here is you go to make-ahead for this occasion.

Ingredients
2 cups shredded potatoes (for hash browns)
1 pound fresh bulk pork sausage (favorite flavor)
10 ounces grated sharp Cheddar. Low fat 1 green pepper diced finely

2 stalks celery diced finely

¼ cup minced onion

2 cups non fat half-and-half
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1 teaspoon salt 6 large eggs, lightly beaten

black pepper to taste

Directions

Spray a 9 by 13 casserole dish with cooking spray.

The potatoes can be store bought “ready to fry” hash browns or just 2 Lg. sized red or white potatoes that you have peeled and grated yourself.

If you chose to grate them yourself, be sure to drain them well between paper towels because they are loaded with liquid! And be careful with the grater, if you are lucky enough to have a machine that does this, use it!

Spread the potatoes to make a layer on bottom of pan.

In a medium skillet, brown the sausage over medium high heat until fully cooked and no longer pink. Master likes the taste of onion so it puts just a bit into the pan with the sausage. This is the time to adjust to the “Hotness” that Your Master enjoys! You want to add any hot sauce or peppers to let them cook into the sausage.

This is important to precook the sausage. Remove the sausage with a slotted spoon to a bowl lined with 2 -3 sheets of paper towels to drain the fat. That more fat you can drain off now, the less you will be drinking tomorrow! Remember press the paper towel against the food, just like when you try to get a liquid out of the carpet – press and it gets absorbed.

Now toss in the diced celery and green pepper. Spread this over potatoes and top with the cheese.

Then mix together: half-and-half, dry mustard, salt and eggs. Pour this mixture over the cheese.

Cover the casserole with aluminum foil and refrigerate for 8 hours or overnight.

The next day, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Bake the covered casserole until set and slightly golden, about 50 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow the casserole to set for 15 minutes before serving. This step is also important so that the eggs are completely set. Besides the wonderful aroma will draw the guys into the kitchen from anywhere in the house!

Just set out with large spoon and let them serve themselves.

Fresh coffee, juice and a stack of toast makes this a great game day spread for your man and his guests!

Lighter version can be made by using:

Low fat sausage or low fat cubed ham with enough whole egg substitute to equal 6 eggs. This is rich enough to serve with dry toast without reservations.

Be warned, next time you may have to fix two of these!

It is a joy in this ones life to be serving my Master Indy

socialslave

To satisfy and restore.

To nourish, support and maintain.

To gratify, spoil, comfort and please,

to nurture, assist, and sustain

…..I cook!