I'm Popeye the Sailor Man... I eats my spinach

My youngest son (we'll call him S. Vincent) loves to eat his lunch out at school by Thurs, he's had enough. I swear pizza is flowing through his veins. Anyway he always talks about Popeye' I'm thinking when did we ever see Popeye eat shrimp or chicken it was spinach. So here's my inspiration for POPEYE's healthy menu. Fat chance. I've never eaten at |Popeye's and I probably will never, since I have such issues with eating fast food chicken, but bom appetit.

Red Pepper Chicken with Spinach and Pine Nuts

This my adaptation of a recipe from Guiliano Bugiallis crunchy and colourful “Calamari in Zimino, squid with spinach, (I don’t do squid, but I love spinach) the recipe also calls for the use of olive oil, well if you watch Dr. Oz you know that when you heat olive oil it becomes a trans fat, not to mention that I don’t care for the smell of hot olive oil. I use my olive oil to dip the bread, I’m not suppose to be eating and to toss the salad.

4 boneless/skinless chicken breast, cut into strips

Mix together the following and marinade the chicken

½ c. white wine

2 tbs. paprika

½ tsp salt

½ tsp pepper

¼ -1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes

1 ½ lbs. spinach cooked and squeezed out.

In a wide skillet or wok, heat oil, add chicken and marinade and stir fry 3 minutes. Remove and keep warm.

3tbsp. oil

2 small onions, chopped

2 carrots*, chopped

1 red pepper chopped

½ c. pine nuts

1 tbsp. fresh lemon juice*

Sauté onions, carrots and red pepper for 2 min. add chicken and spinach, and pine nuts, stir fry for 3-4 min. to blend.

*I didn’t care for the carrots in this so I replaced them with ½ lb. chopped mushrooms, these need to sauté a little longer, so delay adding the red pepper, pine nuts and spinach until they are cooked to desired doness. When this has all been combined squeeze out the lemon on top (did you know you get more vitamin bang for your buck when you add a citrus to the spinach, more iron absorption, I think)

Serve with buttered noodles and parmesan cheese. Or creamy risotto. Yummy.

See no fried chicken or shrimp in a basket.

Orange Glazed Chicken Wings

ORANGE GLAZED CHICKEN WINGS
15 chicken wings
1 egg, beaten
20 crushed Breton crackers
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup orange juice
1/3 cup seafood sauce
1 tsp salt
Dip wings in eggs, then crumbs. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.
Combine remaining ingredients until sugar dissolves. Baste chicken.
Bake 25 - 30 minutes longer, turning occasionally.
For a dip, blend 1 cup sour cream, 1 tbsp orange rind, and 1 tbsp honey or sugar.
Vitamin C on the wing.
* I found I needed more than the 20 crushed crackers, and I have done this recipe with Chicken breasts or drumbsticks. I also browned the wings in a frying pan with a little oil, and then reduced the baking time to just the 25 min. with the glaze.

Chicken, chicken and more chicken

My son loves chicken,...and mashed potatoes. But, I'm so sick of cooking it the same boring way, I thought I would expand my horizons. Tuesdays, I visit my mother and I'm usually pretty exhausted, but I still get home and cook supper. STUPID eh! Anyway last night I made this Kraft Kitchen recipe. I was so tired I forgot the cheese, but it was very good anyway.
Cheesy BBQ Chicken Sandwiches
Prep time:
10 min
Total Time:
25 min
Makes:
4
What You Need
1 onion, thinly sliced, separated into rings
4 small boneless skinless chicken breasts (1 lb./450 g)
1/4 cup KRAFT Original BarBQ Sauce
3/4 cup shredded CRACKER BARREL Cheddar Cheese Light - Made with 2% Milk
4 whole wheat sandwich rolls (6 inch), partially split
Make It

HEAT large nonstick skillet sprayed with cooking spray on medium-high heat. Add onions; cover. Cook 2 min.; stir onions, then push to edge of skillet. Add chicken; cook 4 min. Turn chicken over; top with barbecue sauce. Cook, covered, on medium-low 6 min. or until chicken is cooked through (165ºF). Stir onions.

SPRINKLE chicken with cheese; cook, covered, 1 min. or until cheese is melted.

FILL rolls with chicken and onions.

Piano Hinge book

In our monthly book binding group we will be doing a Piano Hinged book! It's very cool. I thought it reminded me of the Orient, so I've decided to capture my favourite Chinese food recipes. My sister Donna took a Chinese food cooking class and these are our favourites as well as, some of the ones I've developed over the years, what with pregnancy cravings and all. They will be in no particular order until they get put into the book. It's a small book, not too much room required on the book shelf.

Sweet-and sour chicken with cucumbers and cantaloupe

4 skinless,boneless chicken breasts cut into bite size pieces
1 ½ tbsp. Soy sauce
1 tbsp. dry sherry
1 tbsp. cornstarch
2 tbsp. veg. oil
1 peeled cucumber, cut into bite-size cubes
¼ to ½ cantaloupe, seeded, peeled, and cut into bite size pieces
1 sweet red pepper, cubed
1 ounces blanched, whole almonds


Sauce
3 tbsp. brown sugar
3 tbsp. vinegar
½ c. pineapple juice*
1 tsp. soy sauce
1 tbsp. cornstarch in 2 tbsp. cold water

Marinate chicken cubes in the combined soy sauce, dry sherry, and cornstarch while remaining ingredients are being prepared. Heat oil in the wok., stir-fry chicken mixture for 3-4 min. Add the cucumber, cantaloupe, and red pepper. Combine the ingredients for the sweet and sour sauce and add these to wok. Stir gently and heat until the sauce boils and the cucumber and melon are heated through. Serve at once garnished with almonds.

*I’ve successfully substituted apple, or orange juice for the pineapple juice in the sauce. I don't always have pineapple juice hanging around, but most of the other ingredients are not too far out.

The ten pound challenge

Since I've taken on the ten pound challenge, with no promises, I feel like I need to share the recipes that I will be making, not all of them low cal. Here's a favorite of mine from the " Our Favorite Recipes" printed and compiled by the West Lincoln Memorial Hospital in Grimbsby Ontario. My friend Janice is a health care provider at this hospital and I received this cookbook from her as a gift. I have used it to death. I figure I can adjust the portion for myself without cheating my family of a tasty dish. It's a big recipe, but I make as many chicken pieces as I like and adjust the cheese slice to each piece, or to my diet, and then just use the can of soup and one box of stuffing mix. If you make it bigger do the same adjustment, more soup if necessary and another box of stuffing mix. A good potluck dish.

Janet's Chicken

6 boneless, skinless chicken 1 can (10oz.) cream of chicken soup
6 slices cheese (Swiss, mozzarella or cheddar) 1 box Stove Top stuffing mix


Preheat oven to 350F. Arrange chicken in pan. Place a slice of cheese on each piece. Spread undiluted soup over cheese and chicken. Prepare stuffing mix according to package. You may need to add 1/4c. extra water so stuffing is moist. Top casserole with stuffing. Bake uncovered for 1 hr. Chicken should be white without any trace of pink when pierced. *I cut the chicken into 1 inch cubes, this reduces the cooking time to about 45 min. and then I don't have to eat the whole breast. (just reducing some calories) Serve with a large green salad. I've also used mushroom soup, broccoli or asparagus soup in place of the cream of chicken. You can use the sodium reduced one successfully as well and as low a calorie cheese as you can find works too. Enjoy