Tag Archives: Heart Smart

Chicken and Sweet Potato Curry

29 Nov

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This is modified slightly from a very old recipe from the Detroit Free Press, created by the Heart Smart people at Henry Ford Health System, which I finally pulled out of my manila folder of recipes I’m waiting to try. The cinnamon, sherry and raisins combine with the Indian spices to create a more complex flavor. I bet this would work well with leftover Thanksgiving turkey too. Instead of the chicken, add 12 to 16 oz. of cooked, cubed turkey meat at the same time you add the sweet potato cubes.

Ingredients:

3 cups hot cooked brown rice
1 Tbs. canola oil
2 tsp. curry powder
1 Tbs. turmeric
½ tsp. cumin
2 cups vertically sliced onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 lb. skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into strips
2 cups peeled and cubed sweet potato
1½ cups chicken broth
½ cup dry sherry
½ cup golden raisins
½ tsp. ground cinnamon
½ tsp. ground ginger
1½ Tbs. cornstarch
2½ Tbs. cold water
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Prepare rice according to package directions.

In a large saucepan or Dutch oven, heat the oil over medium high heat. Add the curry powder, turmeric and cumin and heat for 30 seconds, stirring continuously.

Add the garlic and onion and continue to cook 3 to 5 minutes. Add the chicken and cook until it is no longer pink.

Add the sweet potato, broth, sherry, raising, cinnamon and ginger and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and cook about 20 minutes until sweet potato is tender.

In a small bowl combine the cornstarch and water and stir until smool. Add the mixture to the saucepan and cook 1 minute until the sauce thickens. Remove from heat, add salt and pepper to taste and serve over hot rice.

Serves 6

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Almond and Mushroom Chicken

5 Aug

almond chickenHere’s a recipe that’s been in my collection forever — the newspaper clipping is yellowed — but I never made it until last week. It originally came from the Detroit Free Press as part of their Heart Smart collection in conjunction with Henry Ford Health System. Another way I know it’s old is it says it was “tested in the Free Press Tower Kitchen,” and the Freep has been gone from their tower office building for many years. The dish low-cal, low-fat and low-sodium. I modified the original just a bit, because cooking it as long as the recipe suggested resulted in slightly dry chicken.

It’s easier if you buy dry toasted slivered almonds, which are available at Trader Joe and other stores. If you have raw slivered almonds, toast them in a 325-degree oven for about 10 minutes; after five minutes, shake the pan every minute or so and check to make sure the nuts aren’t getting too brown. They should be slightly brown and fragrant.

This is good served with rice, which helps sop up the extra juices.

Ingredients:

6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Black pepper to taste
Paprika to taste
1/4 cup slivered almonds, toasted
1 Tbs. vegetable oil
1/2 cup chopped onion
4 oz. fresh mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
1 Tbs. lemon juice
1/4 cup sherry
Parsley for garnish

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Place the chicken breasts in a 9 x 13-inch baking dish and sprinkle with black pepper and paprika.

Heat the oil in a large skillet and saute the onion and mushrooms for 3 minutes.

Add the lemon juice, sherry and almonds and stir well.Spoon the mixture over the chicken pieces.

Cover with foil and bake for 45 minutes to an hour, depending on the thickness of the chicken breasts.

Garnish with chopped parsley, if desired, and serve.

Serves 6

Chicken Piccante with Artichokes

4 Jun

Chicken Piccante With ArtichokesYou’ll be seeing a lot of recipes from me using boneless, skinless chicken breast this summer. There are three reasons for this. First of all, chicken breasts are the basis for many quick, easy summer meals. Many of them call for grilling or broiling the chicken breasts, which is a nice way to cook when it’s hot. (Today’s recipe uses poached chicken which is finished in the oven — but for only 15 minutes.)

Secondly, those who have been following my blog since the beginning know that a big reason I started it was to get my humongous collection of recipe clippings in order, and I’m discovering a lot of chicken breast recipes that I clipped but never made. I’ll be trying them out over the summer and sharing the results.

Finally, and I blush to admit this, every time I go to Costco I seem unable to leave without a package of Empire frozen skinless, boneless chicken breasts. Consequently, I have three such packages in my freezer — and need to use them up!

This recipe came from a newspaper, and I’m guessing it was the Detroit Free Press because there’s a little heart next to the title and they used to print recipes from Henry Ford Hospital’s Heart Smart program. It has only 236 calories and 2 grams of fat per serving, so it’s a great  recipe for weight watchers as well as cholesterol watchers – yet it’s tasty and elegant enough to serve for company.

Ingredients:

2 cups chicken broth
6 skinless boneless chicken breasts (approx. 4 oz. each), washed and patted dry
1 whole lemon,  cut into 8 wedges and seeded
¼ cup scallions, chopped
30 baby mushroom caps, cleaned (if you have larger mushrooms, halve or quarter them)
6 canned artichoke hearts in water, drained
3 cloves garlic, minced
Pinch white pepper
3 Tbs. cornstarch
½ cup dry white wine
3 cups rice or noodles, cooked

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Bring the chicken broth to a boil in a large skillet. Add the chicken breasts, reduce heat to a simmer and cover; poach the chicken breasts for 10 minutes.

Remove the chicken to a 9 x 13-inch baking dish. Squeeze the lemon juice into the broth and place the wedges in the broth. Add the scallions, mushrooms, artichokes, garlic and white pepper and simmer for 5 minutes.

Mix the cornstarch and the wine in a small bowl, stirring until it is smooth. Add to the broth a little at a time, stirring until thick and smooth. Remove lemon and discard. Pour the sauce and vegetable mixture over the chicken breasts and heat in the oven for 15 minutes. Serve over rice or noodles.

Serves 6