Chicken Divan

Chicken Divan

Instructions:

·         Simmer chicken until cooked through

·         For each 9x13 pan:

o   Cut up 1.5lbs of cooked chicken, place in pan  (Note: it takes more than 1.5lbs raw chicken to make 1.5lbs cooked!  We learned this the hard way!!)

o   Add frozen broccoli

o   Mix together 2 cans cream of chicken soup, 2 teaspoons curry powder, 2 tablespoons lemon juice, and one cup mayo – pour over chicken and broccoli

o   Mix together 1.5 cups shredded cheese and ½ cup bread crumbs – sprinkle on top of pan.

·         Wrap pan securely with plastic wrap and top with foil.

Instructions for Cooking:

Thaw casserole.  Bake at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes. 

Breakfast Burritos ~ The Low Sodium Way

One wouldn't think that it was very difficult to eliminate the majority of sodium from a diet, but I'm here to tell you that it's harder than it sounds!  My biggest difficulty has been bready things ... you just can't find them on the shelves without high levels of sodium.  That's no bueno for this girl!  I've been a bit slack what with Christmas and New Years and the kids being on holidays.  But now that those are all but finished, I'm getting back on track.  I'm going to be revamping our favorite recipes into Low Sodium versions.  Tonight's breakfast burritos were a perfect start!  I loved having a big win!  And though there was no bacon involved, the homemade 'sausage' was a very tasty and quite acceptable substitute. 

I used a few kitchen gadgets to accomplish this but you could totally make these without those gadgets ... it just might take you a bit longer than it took me.  There are lots of components, none of them complicated ... and no real measurements, it depends on how many you are cooking for ... you'll work it out !

Potatoes:  Spiralize potatoes.  (You could also chop or chip or whatever!) Shallow fry in hot olive oil til crispy.  Set aside.

Breakfast "Sausage":  To 500g pork mince add 1&1/2 tsp pepper, 1 tsp crushed sage (I would have used fresh if I had it), 2 tsp fresh thyme, 1 tsp fresh rosemary (chopped), 1 TBLS brown sugar, 1/2 tsp nutmeg, 1/2 tsp cayenne, 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes.  Mix.  You could make these into patties but I just tipped the meat as it was into the hot pan that I had just cooked the potatoes in.

Eggs: Scrambled. Do these at the end so that they are hot when you serve

Tomato Salsa: For this one I diced two tomatoes, 1/4 of a red onion (finely diced), 1 clove of freshly minced garlic, 2 handfuls of fresh coriander,  pepper and the juice of one lime. Mix.

Flour Tortillas: I made the dough in the Thermomix but you could mix it by hand.  370g flour, 180ml lukewarm water, 40g olive oil, 1 tsp sodium free baking powder.  Add to TM bowl, blitz speed 5 for 10 seconds.  Knead setting for 2 minutes.  Tip dough out, roll into big ball then divide into 8 equal portions.  Roll with rolling pin.  Fry in hot, dry (no oil) flying pan for 1-2 minutes or until it bubbles, then flip.  The second side never takes as long.  AND the first tortilla never works!  Note to self: make a small one to be 'first one' that goes in the trash!

Top the tortillas with whatever combo of the above ingredients you want ... we add Avocado and Sour Cream too. Fold it up and eat it ! So good !!

Easy Baked Custard

If you like creamy, custardy desserts - this is a MUST try.

My mom used to make this pretty frequently when I was a child, but I haven't made it in years.  An excessive amount of eggs sent me hunting for things to make using lots of eggs without having to make a run to the grocery story.  Thus, I rediscovered this gem.

If my aunt hadn't needed her other hand to take the picture, I think this would have gotten two thumbs up!

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F

Cream together:
- 2 tablespoons soften butter
- pinch of salt
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Add 6 eggs, one at a time, blending well after each egg.

Slowly and briefly stir in:
-2 cups plus 2 tablespoons milk
-1 teaspoon vanilla

I just added all of the milk and vanilla to my two cup wet measuring cup, turned my mixer down to one notch above stir, slowly poured the milk mixture in, and turned the mixer off as soon as I'd finished pouring.

Place one large pan, a couple medium/small pans, or individual custard cups into bigger baking pans (I used my 9x13 pans) and fill with custard mixture.  Add an inch or two of hot water to bigger baking pans.

Bake at 400 for 10 minutes.  Reduce temperature to 325 degrees F (without opening oven) and bake until knife comes out clean - approximately 45 minutes.  I've never tried the individual custard cups, so don't know if that would take less time.

I like to eat it chilled.

La Dee Da Chicken

I was eating the leftovers of this for lunch the other day and explaining to my friend Roxie how to make it and she says "that's a bit la dee da ....".  I thought that is exactly what it is!  La Dee Da Chicken! This is so delicious.  And pretty easy.  I saw this recipe on pinterest, of course.  When the time came to make it, some of the standard pantry ingredients I thought I had on hand, I actually didn't.  So, I improvised a little bit.  Here's what I did. 

2 cups panko crumbs

2 cups pretzels, processed in the food processor to make crumbs (this was a WHOLE bag!)

1/2 cup flour

1/4 cup olive oil 

1/4 cup grapeseed oil

1/4 cup dijon mustard 

1/4 cup wholegrain seed mustard

1/3 cup spiced orange honey (plain honey would be fine too)

1/4 cup water

3 tablespoons red wine vinegar

salt and  pepper

3 chicken breasts, skinned and boned

 

Preheat the oven to 200C/400F.  Line a roasting pan with baking paper.

In the food processor, pulse the oils, mustards, honey, water and vinegar until smooth. Season with salt and pepper.  Adjust flavour to taste.

Pound the chicken breasts out to an even thickness using a mallet, I do this is a ziplock so I'm not pounding chicken juice all over everywhere!  Sprinkle both sides with salt and pepper. 

For the next bit, you'll need three big 'containers' (bowl, dish ... ).  I found that my rectangular tupperware worked best. 

To the first container add half the flour.

To the second container add half the dressing.  Down use all of it because the remaining is going to be your dip for this delicious chicken.

To the third, add the panko and pretzel crumbs.  Mix them together.

Dredge each piece of chicken in flour, then in dressing, then into the crumb mixture.  I pushed the crumbs on a bit to make sure there were plenty and they stuck real well.   Place in roasting pan.


Bake for 15-30 minutes or until cooked through.  Mine took closer to 30 ...


Serve with remaining dressing.

We also served with roasted cauliflower and broccoli.