New Year's Pears

First credit where credit is due: I found this recipe posted by an online friend, who wanted to share his daughter's recipe. Thank you!

Second, I've not done much in the way of desserts, and this seemed like a good place to start.

Third, I altered the recipe proportions in one essential ingredient, sugar, which I wished to keep low. But this alters the outcome, as we'll see later.

Delicious!

Ingredients:

4 Large pears, peeled, cored and cut into large pieces
1 Bottle (750ml) of red wine
1 Tsp. grated orange peel
1/2 Cup orange juice
1 Tsp. Cardamom
1 Cinnamon stick (about 3 inches long)
1 Scoop vanilla ice cream
1 Cup sugar

As with most cooking, the larger part lies in preparing the ingredients. I found it easier to peel the pears by using a diagonal motion with the potato peeler. Don't worry about peeling near the stem or the bottom, you'll be cutting off those parts anyway (or you should).

About the sugar, the idea is to obtain a syrup in the end. For that you need 2 1/4 cups, as one cup won't do it. Still, I do watch my sugar intake, and the single cup I used made the dessert sweet enough. But in the end I get a thin, sweet sauce rather than syrup. Choose accordingly.


First mix everything but he pears in a deep saucepan, or a pot, and bring it to a slow, gentle boil (you may want to let the ice cream scoop sit a while before adding it; of course it doesn't matter if it melts). Add the pears and let them cook through, say for about 25 to 45 minutes. Remove the pears to a serving dish when they're done, and keep simmering the mix until it's reduced enough (or until it's syrupy if you go with more sugar).

I tried them right off the stove, and found them delicious and perfect for a cold night. If you serve them cold, you can add a small scoop of vanilla ice cream and drizzle some syrup on top. This dish has a strong, spicy, flavor.

One last thing, the cardamom is key in this recipe. It's a bit expensive (I paid about $8 for a small jar with 65 gr., or about two ounces I think), but well worth it. In contrast, any cheap, dry red wine will do nicely.

Potato Soup, second draft

I really thought I had it, but upon eating a bowl of it I had to demote it to second draft <sigh>. I think I know now (sure) how to improve it. I'll try again a few weeks from now.

In the meantime:

Ingredients:

5-6 large potatoes, peeled and diced
1 Tbsp. olive oil or vegetable oil
4-6 mushrooms, thinly sliced
4-6 strips turkey bacon, cut in small pieces
1/2 onion, sliced or chopped
1 clove of garlic, minced
2 liters chicken broth
1/2 cup dry wine
1 cup skim milk
1/2 teaspoon fine herbs
1/2 teaspoontarragon
1 teaspoon corn starch dissolved in 1/4 cup of water.

In a soup pot heat the olive oil then add the bacon. Fry until it's about halfway crispy. Add the onion, garlic and mushrooms. Saute until the mushrooms begin to brown. Add the potatoes and saute, while tossing them about, for a couple of minutes. Reduce the flame to half and add the wine. Toss everything around for a minute or two, making sure it all gets exposed to the wine.

Lower the flame to low and add the chicken broth. You know what comes next, right? Bring to a sow boil.

When the soup boils, add the fine herbs and tarragon. Stir well. The potatoes will take long to cook, say about an hour. Keep checking on them. When they're nearly done, add the milk and corn starch dissolved in water. Stir well. When the potatoes are tender, you're done.

I do like it, but it's not quite right. Not to me. So I'm thinking to either skip the wine or the corn starch next time.

Chilorio and Ginger srambled eggs

I've been experimenting with breakfast cooking (beyond microwave oatmeal) these past few weeks. I lack the time during the week, when fifteen minutes more sleep trump a nice breakfast, but on weekends I do cook breakfast. So:

Chilorio is a dish popular in the north of Mexico, made up of shredded pork with chiles and spices. Lately a lighter kind, made with turkey, has been hitting supermarket shelves. Here's a photo of an opened can:

The small can holds 170 gr., or about half a pound. For my breakfast I use about one third of it. The rest can be refrigerated (not int he can, never refrigerate food in cans; use a small tupperware instead) for a few days. Here's the recipe for about 3 to 4 people:

Ingredients:

1 170 gr. can of Chilorio (your choice turkey or pork)
3 whole eggs
6 egg whites (give or take, I buy a half liter jar of egg whites rather than separate my own)
1/2 teaspoon minced fresh ginger
2 Tbsp. olive oil (or any other vegetable oil)
1/2 onion, chopped
3 mushrooms, roughly chopped

You can tell it's just-made because it's still steaming

In a bowl whisk the eggs and egg whites. Next heat the oil in a skillet. Add the, ginger, onion and mushrooms, and saute for 3-5 minutes, or until the mushrooms begin to brown. Add the chilorio. At first you want to keep it separate from the other ingredients and let it cook a minute. Then mix it up with the onion and mushrooms.

When the onions are slightly browned, add the whisked egg mixture. Be careful, as whites cook a lot faster than whole eggs. The mix will tend to make thin films in the sides of the skillet, so scrape them off and mix well with the rest. Cook until the egg mix is done and serve hot.

I hesitated to add more spices, as the ginger has a rather subtle flavor. But I think some pepper and a dash of Worcestershire or Tabasco would add a nice touch.

And now in my list of things to try is to cook my own chilorio. I'm thinking of doing a chicken version...

Nearly right potato soup

I made potato soup last night. It didn't come out quite right, but I'm posting the recipe I used and I'll point out the mistake I made. I don't quite know how to fix it yet.

6-8 potatoes, peeled and diced
1/2 onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic,minced
2-4 strips of pork bacon, cut in 1 inch pieces
4-6 strips of turkey bacon, cut in 1 inch pieces
3 mushrooms, sliced
Ground black pepper to taste

2 liters chicken broth
1/2 cup white wine
1/3 stick margarine
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup ow-fat milk
3 teaspoons freshly chopped cilantro
1 teaspoon dried tarragon

Set the bacon to fry in a soup pot. Before it gets crispy, add the onion, garlic and mushrooms. Saute until the onions begin to turn translucent. Add the potatoes and black pepper and toss them around. Saute for two minutes or so. Add the chicken broth and wine, stir well. Reduce the heat to minimum and let it come to a slow boil. Simmer until the potatoes begin to get tender.

When the potatoes are nearly done, melt the margarine in a separate saucepan. Whisk in the flour. Here's where I erred, by using too much flour (about half a cup). Add the milk and keep whisking. Add the cilantro and tarragon. Make sure you get a smooth, creamy mixture. I got lumps, and those things won't dissolve in the soup.

Add the mix to the soup and stir. Let it boil a second time, simmer a bit. Serve.

As I said, mine didn't come out quite right due to the lumpy flour/margarine/milk mixture. I think using half as much flour, 1/4 cup, should fix it, but I really need to try it. If/when it works, I'll post it again with pictures.

On a break

I've been hearing a great deal about the Modern Paleo Diet lately. there is a lot of controversy around it, but some claims by its proponents are highly intriguing. Chief among them a reduction of inflammation, particularly later in life. This is huge, as inflammation causes a lot of problems. Arthritis is the most obvious, but it also plays a role in things like cardiovascular (heart) disease.

The big problem is this diet does away with grains and legumes. That means wheat, barley, lentils, beans and rice are out. A quick look at my recipes would show why that is a big issue for me. There's also the turnoff that many Paleo sites stress very simple dishes. Again, you know I like rather complicated recipes. And then there's the whole low-carb, high-protein stuff to consider, especially since Paleo advocates favor animal proteins over vegetable ones (naturally, as legumes are out).

I decided to experiment a bit anyway. But I won't be posting any recipes while I try out Paleo or Paleo-like dishes, and while I research the whole thing further. The recipes I post here must meet all my standards for taste and quality, but also of nutritional value.Since my focus so far has been low-fat, I need to know more about Paleo before I change focus.

I may post updates periodically. But don't count on it. Whatever else happens, I should resume posting next month.

Mushroom Barley Soup

Third time's the charm, it seems.

 

The secret is to use sherry and a little flour.

Ingredients:

500 gr. mushrooms, sliced
1/2 cup barley
1/4 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon fine herbs
2 Tbsp. olive oil
2 teaspoons all purpose flour
2 liters water
3 chicken bullion cubes, low-fat, low-sodium
1/4 cup sherry
2 bay leaves
Worcestershire sauce to taste
Ground black pepper to taste

Directions:

In a soup pot heat the olive oil, next add the mushrooms and saute for about three minutes. Add the barley (raw), garlic and onion, keep cooking until the mushroom begin to brown, or about 5 minutes. Add the flour and stir well. Keep cooking until the mushrooms are a nice golden brown, or around two minutes more. Reduce the heat to medium and add the sherry. Stir well and cook for about a minute. Reduce heat to low and add the water. Bring to a slow boil. When the water's hot, add the bay leaves and fine herbs. When it begins to bubble, add the bullion cubes.

Let the soup simmer until the barley's tender. Taste from time to time and add pepper and Worcestershire as needed.

Juicy Meatloaf

I should start with a warning: unlike almost everything else I've posted here, this recipe is not low fat.

I cooked it mostly as a challenge. I've had little experience with beef and I wanted more. Moreover, meatloaf is not common in Mexico, making it a bit exotic (it is a matter of perspective). I was pleased with the result.

I do apologize for the poor quality of the picture. I was already storing it before I thought to take a photo.

I'll post the glaze/sauce first, then the rest. Here we go:

220 gr. tomato puree or tomato sauce
1/4 Cup Ketchup
4-5 Tbsp. mustard
4 Tbsp. Balsamic vinegar
4 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 Cup beef broth (or even chicken broth or hot water)
1/2 teaspoon ground or powdered ginger
1.5 Tbsp. Paprika


Mix the ingredients in a big enough bowl and whisk them well. The result should be rather thick, but fluid. Save 3/4 cup of it to mix in with the meatloaf.

Now the meatloaf:

3/4 Cup glaze you saved from the first step
1 Kg. ground beef, preferably lean
1/3 onion finely chopped
2 Cloves garlic finely minced
2 eggs, beaten
1/3 cup cilantro, chopped (optional; it tends to wilt a bit)
1 Cup wheat bran or breadcrumbs (by this I mean a coarse powder, like that used for milanesas)

First get a really big mixing bowl, next put the ground beef in it and break it up. Add the beaten eggs and mix them with the beef. Add the onion, garlic and cilantro, and again mix well with the beef.

The next step is important. Add the 3/4 cup of glaze you saved, but don't add it all at once. Add about 1/4, mix well with the beef, then another fourth and mix again, and so on until you've added all. I was advised to do this by someone who does make meatloaf often. The idea is for the beef to gradually absorb the glaze. I don't know if this is so or not, but the results were good.

Next add the wheat bran or breadcrumbs and, again, mix well.

We're done mixing now... Anyway, shape the mixture in a loaf or use a baking mold for bread (grease it first). If you shape it without a mold, as I did, just grease an oven safe baking dish or a roaster and place the loaf in it. Pour the glaze over the meatloaf. Use as much glaze as needed, but don't feel you must use it all. It's ok if some spills over onto the baking dish.

Put it int he oven at 180 C (around 350 F) for one hour. Periodically you'll want to baste it with the beef juices that will come out, and if desired add more glaze. You should also check from 45 minutes onward how things proceed. You want the center to be brown rather than pink in the end, that's when you're done.

I ate it by itself, which was ok, but it would go well with mashed potatoes, or oven roasted potatoes, and perhaps even with sauteed mushrooms.

Enjoy.

Upcoming

I really should stop cooking so late...

I made meatloaf, my first (yay!), following my usual method of finding a recipe online and adapting it to my taste (and my fridge and my pantry, too). It came out rather well, very moist and tasty, with a nice glaze. I'll post the recipe as soon as possible.

Bye for now.

Enchiladas Rojas (Red Enchiladas)

Traditionally enchiladas are either green or red, depending on whether you use red or green tomatoes to make the sauce. In fact, table salsa usually is also green or red for the same reason.

Again I made these with cottage cheese as a filling, but you can use anything else you want. Shredded chicken and pork carnitas are popular, and tasty, fillings.

Fresh from the oven!

As with the past enchilada recipe, I'll post the salsa apart from the rest:

Salsa
Ingredients:

4-5 red tomatoes
1/2 onion, quartered
2 cloves garlic, quartered
Cilantro to taste (about 3-5 branches, stems and all)
2-4 Serrano chilies, or other small green chilies.
2 Tablespoons white vinegar
1/2 Teaspoon cumin
1/4 cup water.

Blanch the tomatoes and peel them, or peel by your preferred method. I tried roasting them this time, at first, but I had trouble doing so. Next quarter them and put them in the blender, removing the core and seeds first. Add the other ingredients to the blender and liquefy the whole thing. You may want to do this in two batches unless you have a big blender. BTW this is the time to taste the salsa and see whether it's too hot or no hot enough, and to adjust the ingredients accordingly.

Pour the salsa into a deep saucepan or pot and turn the heat on low. Let it come to a boil slowly, stirring from time to time. Let it boil for a few minutes, stirring occasionally. Then remove from heat and set aside.


Enchiladas
Ingredients:

The salsa from the previous step
200 gr. Cottage cheese (or more)
70 gr. grated white cheese suitable for melting
2 Tablespoons reduced-fat sour cream (optional; personally I don't like it in my enchiladas)
Fresh, wide, corn tortillas, as many as necessary
Chopped onion to taste

First the tortillas handle better when hot. My preferred method is to heat them on a comal on the stove. A comal is a flat, round piece of thin metal that holds 3 or four tortillas. If you don't have one, you can use a wide skillet, or even put them in the microwave for thirty seconds wrapped in a clean kitchen cloth.

So, heat the tortillas a few at a time. Carefully, as they're hot, spoon some cottage each on one and fold it in on itself. Place it on an oven safe baking dish with the fold side down. If it opens as soon as you let go, you have the wrong kind of tortilla. Repeat as many times as necessary. In the photo above there are about 8 enchiladas.

Next pour salsa generously on top, making sure to cover all the enchiladas. Try not to use it all, as a reserve may come in handy later. Sprinkle the grated cheese evenly on top and, if you want, the sour cream as well.

Place in an oven pre-heated to 300 degrees F (you may want to pre-heat the oven before you get started) for thirty minutes. Remove from the oven, let it cool and serve.

For serving, put freshly chopped onion on the table to sprinkle on top. Also perhaps additional salsa, as you should have some left over. If you reheat them in the microwave, BTW, they tend to dry out. When I reheat them I pour some salsa on them before putting them in the microwave, so they'll be moist when done.

I also like to serve them with Mexican rice.

Bonus recipe:

For making red chilaquiles, simply use the same sauce recipe and pour it over tortilla chips. Fried chips keep better, but baked chips do well for a fresh serving. Top with chopped onion. Some people like adding grated fresh cheese and sour cream as well.

Good news, Bad news

The good news is I tried new recipes today. The bad news is I'm beat and won't be posting them til later in the week.

I made mushroom soup, which was not as good as I'd hoped but better than my earlier attempts. I also made red enchiladas. which as you might guess differ little from green enchiladas.

Kathy's Italian Chicken

This is the one that wore me out today. It's a brand new, 100% original recipe. t began with some 1/2 kilo of ground chicken breast I had in the freezer...

Anyway, it's a bit involved and takes a long time, but it's worth it.

Fresh from the oven

It even rates two photos:

Served with Garlic oven-roasted potatoes

The dish consists in flat chicken croquettes covered in tomato sauce. But it's a bit involved as it takes multiple steps. I'll post the ingredients in parts to make this easier, or so I hope.

1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup wheat bran (or regular breadcrumbs)
2 Tbsp. paprika
1/2 Tbsp. ground black pepper
1 Tbsp. thyme
1 Tbsp. Fine herbs, crushed
1 Tbsp. oregano, crushed
1 Tbsp. garlic powder.

Mix all these ingredients in a bowl and set aside for the moment.

1/2 kilo (1+ lbs.) ground chicken breast
1 whole egg, beaten
1/3 cup green bell pepper, diced very small
1/3 cup jicama, diced very small
2-4 twigs of cilantro, chopped (without stems)
Oil for frying as needed

In a bowl mix the chicken, bell pepper, jicama, cilantro and egg. You'll have to use your hands, sorry! I used disposable plastic gloves (stolen from a supply at the office), but you can get disposable latex gloves if you don't like handling raw ground chicken. Mix well so there's an even mix of vegetables in the chicken.

Now, form small, flat croquettes and roll/dredge them in the mixture you set aside before. Then fry them in s skillet with a little oil of your choice until both sides are golden brown and/or the chicken has cooked through (that's why I want them nice and flat). Set aside.

It's likely you'll be doing them in batches of two or three, as I wound up doing, adding a bit of oil to the skillet. If so, you'd best turn the heat down to minimum, or nearly so, in order to keep the croquettes and the oil from burning. Skillets can get very hot after a while on high flame.

By the way, the mixture of flour and wheat bran above may be too much for 500 gr. of chicken. So if you can't think of another use for it, better adjust the quantities downwards.

Now we make the sauce. This is the easiest part.

1 bottle 680 gr. (about 1lb 8 oz) your choice Spaghetti sauce
1/4 small onion finely chopped
1 small clove of garlic finely minced (if you don't like too much garlic, omit this ingredient)
4-6 mushrooms thinly sliced
1/2 Tbsp. oregano
2 1/2 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce (optional)
1 teaspoon olive oil
Grated Parmesan cheese to taste

In a saucepan heat the olive oil and add the garlic and onion. When the onions begin to turn translucent, add the mushrooms. Cook on medium heat until the mushrooms are golden all over. Reduce the heat to low and add the sauce. Stir well, add the oregano and Worcestershire sauce. Bring to a slow boil. When it begins to bubble, remove from the flame.

Now get a baking dish and place the croquettes previously set aside on he bottom. Ladle sauce to cover them and sprinkle Parmesan cheese to taste on top of each one. According to the size of your dish, you may need a second layer of croquettes, again ladling sauce and sprinkling more cheese. In the top photo there are two such layers.

Place in an oven pre-heated to 300-350 F (I had to experiment on mine) until the sauce bubbles and the cheese melts. Let it cool and serve.

Whew! This is by far the most complicated dish I ever thought up. And I omitted "stretching" the chicken by adding textured soy to the mix. I didn't simply because I judged I had enough chicken. It was a great dish to cook, too.

One more thing, as the fur mix for coating the croquettes already contains garlic, using more garlic in the sauce may be too much. I love garlic, so for me it was fine. but you can omit either one without affecting the outcome too much.

Enjoy!

Garlic oven-roasted potatoes

It's not easy to make nice, tasty low-fat potatoes.

Potatoes are low in fat, but the ways to making them tasty are usually not. This one's no exception, but I think it goes towards the lower range of fat content. So:

I'll post the recipe for the chicken in the photo later (that one takes some doing).

Ingredients:

4 large potatoes, diced into small cubes
1/4 cup olive oil
3 large garlic cloves, mashed with a garlic press (I tried grating them, but the pres worked better)
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon fine herbs, crushed.
A few fresh parsley leaves, cut small

Place the olive oil and mashed garlic in a large bowl. add the pepper, fine herbs and parsley. Stir well and let it sit for an hour at least at room temperature. This is to infuse the oil with the spices.

Next add the diced potatoes (you may peel them or not, your choice) tot he bowl and toss until they are all covered with oil and spices. Place on a baking dish, preferably a large one so the potatoes are on a single layer. Put it in the oven preheated to 350-400 F (my oven is set to Celsius and I set it to 200 C) and bake for 45 to 60 minutes, or until the potatoes are cooked. be careful not to burn them, which is easy to do at such high temperatures.

And be very careful with the oven! Ok. I admit I'm a bit phobic about ovens. I tend to be extra careful when using them.

Re: Cabbage Soup

As I was saying, I updated the recipe for cabbage soup. This version tastes more like cabbage with chicken broth than chicken broth with cabbage.

And I took a photo:

I used green cabbage rather than red, because the red tends to dye the other ingredients. Not to mention the broth turns purple. But you can use red cabbage if you like it better. 

1/3 of a head of green cabbage chopped or 1 small red cabbage
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 onion, chopped
4-5 mushrooms, sliced
1/2 cup green bell pepper, diced
1.5 carrots (I cut it into sticks, but go any way you like)
About 1/4 of a medium sized jicama (in sticks, too, or see about the carrot)
3/4 cup soybean sprouts
2.25 liters of water
2 cubes chicken bullion low-fat, low-sodium
1 teaspoon olive oil 1/2 teaspoon powdered ginger
Ground black pepper to taste
1 teaspoon Oregano
1 teaspoon fine herbs
Worcestershire sauce

Preparation

Saute the garlic and onions with the olive oil in a soup pot until the onion turns translucent. Then add the bell pepper and mushrooms and cook for two minutes. Add the carrot and jicama and cook for another two minutes. Add the cabbage and soybean sprouts. Cook for about 10 minutes, don't let the veggies get too soft. While this is going on, add pepper to taste.

Lower the heat to medium and add the water. Add Worcestershire sauce, ginger and fine herbs. Stir.

When it warms up, add the chicken bullion cubes and stir until they dissolve (if possible, crumble them first). Reduce the heat to minimum and bring to a slow boil. When the soup begins to bubble let it simmer for 5 to 10 minutes and then remove from heat.

I do like the stronger cabbage flavor.

Updates later today

I have been cooking for a few hours and am too tired to post the recipes. But I should have something later today, or tomorrow at the latest. I updated the recipe for cabbage soup, and succeeded in making garlic oven-roasted potatoes, and a new, original chicken recipe.

Coffee Yogurt Gelatin

I can't claim I was successful, but it was far from a failure. I did make a reasonably good coffee and yogurt gelatin yesterday. I had some for dessert today and it was pretty good. Look:

I do like the little individual serving cups

I used instant coffee.

I'm not a coffee purist. I do drink instant every morning with breakfast. But at such times I care only for the caffeine and convenience, not the flavor. At any other time I have fresh-brewed.

The problem is that the brewed coffee does not mix with yogurt. I mean if you let the mixture seat for any amount of time, it will separate. The coffee goes tot he top and the yogurt to the bottom. So what I did was get drinking yogurt, like this:

And the instant did dissolve in it....

Oh well. Here's the recipe:

2 Bottles drinking yogurt (225 gr. each) low-fat
1/2-1/3 Cup of skim milk (I mean fill it halfway between the 1/2 and 1/3 mark)
2-3 Teaspoons instant coffee
1/2 Teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)
1 Packet flavorless gelatin (7 gr.)

The yogurt is sweetened with Splenda, so I didn't add any extra sweetener

The drinking yogurt is a very thick fluid, but it flows reasonably well. Still, you'll have to hold the bottle upside down over the pot and shake it to get most of it out.

So, in a small pot pour both bottle of yogurt. Add the coffee, milk and vanilla extract and stir until it assumes a coffee and cream color. You will see some bits of undissolved coffee. This is normal. Turn on the heat on medium. Stir from time to time, and you should see the rest of the coffee dissolve. When it begins to bubble around the edges, add the gelatin.

Now, there are at least two kinds of flavorless gelatin. One you just add to the mix, but it requires you to boil what you're making,. The other you moisten with some of the mix in a container and then heat it (according to the directions). This second type dissolves and mixes well at lower temperatures, and it's the kind I used.

Stir the gelatin in well and then turn the flame off. Pour into individual cups or a mold, let it cool to room temperature, and then place in the fridge until it sets.

I used more liquid than you should for 7 gr. of gelatin. That was on purpose, in order to get a creamier, semi-solid texture. If pressed, I'd describe it like a very thick mousse. That, at least, came out exactlya s I intended.

So I'll be looking for ways to incorporate brewed coffee. That means finding an emulsifier, I guess. Any ideas are welcome.

Chicken with White Wine Sauce

Given my recent success making onion soup, I looked up other recipes using wine of some sort. Between reading and my own ideas, I came up with this:

Now, I made some mistakes with the preparation. Take note: make sure you have all the equipment you'll need! I could have sworn I had a mallet to flatten meats with, but I couldn't find it. So I wound up with rather thick chicken breasts. I wasn't going to pound them flat, I'm not making milanesas after all, but I did want to thin them so they'd cook better. Oh well.

First you prepare and cook the chicken:


Four thin boneless, skinless chicken breasts, not pounded flat.
1/4 Cup flour (I used whole wheat flour)
2 Tbsp. paprika
2 Tbsp. garlic powder
1 Tbsp. ground black pepper
1 Tbsp. oregano, crushed
1 Tbsp. thyme, crushed

1 Tbsp. olive oil

2 thick onion slices, separated into rings

In a large bowl, mix the flour and spices well. Dredge the chicken in the mix so it's evenly covered on both sides, shake off any excess. In a deep sauce pan heat the olive oil on a medium flame and cook the chicken along with the onions. Times vary, but cook each side of the chicken until it's golden brown. You don't want to overcook it, as it will dry out. You also don't want to leave the center raw or half-cooked. Therefore use reasonably thin pieces (as noted I didn't do).

When it's done, set the chicken aside and leave the onions in the pan.

Next:

2 Cups mushroom, sliced
2 Cups half-cooked (boiled) potatoes, thinly sliced but not potato chip thin.
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 Teaspoon butter or margarine
1 Cup chicken broth
3/4 Cup white wine (I used a Riesling from Baja California)

In the same pan, still with the onions, add olive oil and margarine (or butter), and cook the mushrooms and potatoes. Again, times vary. You want the mushrooms to release their juices and turn brown around the edges only. When they're done, add the wine.

Keep cooking until the wine is reduced by about half. Add the chicken broth, and keep cooking for a few minutes, letting the sauce thicken. The sauce may not thicken enough by itself, though this can differ according to taste. If you want a thicker sauce, take a tablespoon of the left over flour and spices mix, and dissolve it in 1/4 cup of hot water. Make sure to use hot water, as wheat flour tends not to dissolve in cold water. Add the mix to the sauce and stir.

Add the chicken you'd set aside. If you like, add also another teaspoon of margarine or butter. Let the whole thing cook for another three to five minutes and you're done.

This dish would go very well with mashed potatoes or white rice.

Early morning cooking

I've been cooking all morning. I must say it's a nice way to start the day, albeit a bit tiring...

I'll be posting my recipe for today later. For now, I made a slight change to my Stir Fried Red Cabbage with Soy Sauce. Basically follow the same recipe, only first fry some turkey bacon before doing everything else. Or regular bacon, if you prefer.

I'll also be trying my latest idea for coffee-yogurt gelatin. After the Steelers game, probably.

See you later!

Onion Soup

This had all the makings of  a disaster. Really. I looked at dozens of recipes and couldn't settle on one. I forgot to get beef broth. I had last minute ideas. Well, all things considered it turned out almost right. I'll tell you what I did, and what I should have done:

Mmmmm... soup!

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp. Olive oil
2 Large onions, cut into large pieces
1 Clove of garlic, minced
1 Bay leaf
8 Cups (2 liters) chicken broth (I use low-fat and low-sodium)
1/2 cup white wine
1/8 cup balsamic vinegar
1 Tbsp. Soy sauce (I use low-sodium)
Worcestershire sauce to taste

Heat the oil in a large pot. Add the onions and garlic. I cooked the onions until they were soft and somewhat translucent. this turned out well, but I think I should have cooked them until they were softer an almost transparent. In any case, you want to stir them constantly so they won't burn.

When they're close to done, add the wine, soy sauce and vinegar. For the sake of convenience, it would be best to combine them in a cup or bowl beforehand. Reduce the heat to medium and keep cooking and stirring for a few minutes, until the liquid is reduced to about half.

Add the chicken broth and the bay leaf. Reduce the heat to minimum and bring to a slow boil, stirring on occasion. When it boils, add the Worcestershire if you like. Let it simmer for a few minutes and remove from the heat.

I have it plain out of the pot, but there's no reason you can't add a slice of garlic bread and grated cheese on top. If the soup's not hot enough to melt the cheese, you can pop it in an oven for a minute or two, I suppose (I haven't tried it). Or just add some croutons.

Ongoing Projects part two: Sweet and Sour

After trying to make Sweet and Sour cabbage (First Draft, Second Draft), I've been looking for good recipes for sweet and sour sauce. So far I've had little success. Earlier today I attempted one, which is probably my worst failure to date. I did learn that Splenda does not work as well as sugar in this situation. The sauce came out too sweet and with an annoying after-taste.

It's getting so I'm considering just buying sweet and sour sauce from a nearby Chinese restaurant <sigh>...

I had another idea for a coffee yogurt gelatin. We'll see how it works this time.

So far that's it. I hope to have more next week.

Bean Soup

Sorry for the delay. My day job this week was far harsher then usual for this season.

I love beans in almost every kind of way, but I love bean soup best of all. So here's my recipe:

300 grs. of beans (I used a local purple variety called "Flor de Mayo," 250 gr. worth, and 50 gr. of white beans)
1/2 liter of chicken broth
440 gr. tomato puree
1/3 onion chopped
2 cloves of garlic chopped
Worcestershire sauce
Tabasco sauce
1/4 teaspoon cumin
1 tablespoon oregano
1/3 teaspoon turmeric
1/4 teaspoon fine herbs
3 turkey sausages sliced
1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil

First you cook the beans. You can use a pressure cooker. I considered it, but quite frankly I'm afraid of all tools that require high pressure (yes, this includes the espresso machine, but there's no other way to brew espresso) So first I soaked the beans for about 18 hours (at room temperature, covering the container with a paper towel), I poured about 1.5 liters of water in a pot, added a half teaspoon of olive oil, let the water boil, then added the beans and cooked them for about 2 hours on low fire. The beans aren't quite done, but they'll cook further when making the soup.

Next, cook the onions and garlic in a skillet along with 1 teaspoon olive oil. When they're done, add the sliced sausages and let them brown a bit. 

In the bean pot, add the chicken broth, tomato pure and spices, stir well and add the onions, garlic and sausage. Add a hefty dash of Worcestershire and Tabasco to taste. Bring to a slow boil, then let it simmer for about 40 minutes covered (be sure to use a pot lid with a hole or a valve on it).

You can skip the sausages if you want, or substitute some other kind of mean, such as bacon (any kind) or chicken. When serving, you can add more Worcestershire or Tabasco, or a little lime if you like.

New recipe tomorrow

I got sidetracked with some freelance work and I couldn't even come up with something to cook this week. But I'll post something tomorrow.

Ongoing Projects part one: Tortilla Pizza

I liked my citrus cabbage salad so much that I've been trying a few other ideas.

I thought about how to make pizza, or something like pizza, lower in fat. My first idea was to take a what-flour tortilla (commonly called just "flour tortillas") as a base, then add pizza sauce, a modest amount of reduced-fat cheese and whatever toppings I wanted.

It worked remarkably well. Look:

But on this first try I used too little cheese. Oh, the toppings are onions, diced turkey sausage and turkey bacon. The one on the left also has poblano chile strips.

I tried again the following week, using more cheese:

Doesn't it look good? Toppings are thinly sliced turkey sausage and turkey bacon.

The tortilla works well as a base. After placing it in the oven for 15 minutes at 350 F, it's nicely toasted and a bit stiff. You do have to hold it with both hands, though, or fold it over like a quesadilla. The tasate mix is just right.

Plus flour tortillas are commonly found in three sizes. The ones in the pictures are regular. There are smaller ones called "taqueras," which are for making tacos, and bigger ones for making flautas. This gives you a lot of flexibility for meals.

The reason this is still a work in progress, however, is that I'm determined to make my own pizza sauce. I've learned garlic powder works better than fresh, minced garlic, and that a little cheese melted in the sauce goes a long way. But I haven't gotten it quite right yet. Perhaps I will next weekend.

Sopa de Fideos Seca

This week's home cooking recipe is very similar to last week's Sopa de Pasta except this is a "dry" soup, meaning there's no appreciable broth in it. It also uses a specific type of pasta called "fideo," similar to angel-hair pasta.

 Ingredients:

200 gr. Fideos
2 Cups chicken broth
350 gr. Can of diced red tomato (or two red tomatoes peeled and seeded)
1/2 cup tomato puree or tomato paste
1/3 Onion, quartered
1.5 Cloves of garlic, quartered
Cilantro to taste
1 Dried morita chile, or the chile of your choice (optional)

Put the tomato, onion, garlic, cilantro, tomato puree and chile in the blender and liquefy well. In a pot set two cups of chicken broth and the salsa from the blender on high heat. When the mix begins to boil, add the fideos and reduce the heat to medium-low. Stir well. Keep cooking while stirring occasionally until the liquid is consumed.

The result should be a very red, soft, gloppy pasta.traditionally it is served with some crumbled or grated cheese, chopped onion and sour cream.


Although I used a non-stick coated pot, the fideos tended to stick to the hot bottom. It's important to keep stirring so none of the pasta will burn. Also place a lid half on the pot, as the thick tomato, broth and pasta mix tends to splatter a bit while it boils.


Enjoy!

Sopa de Pasta

This is a rather simple dish commonly served in Mexican homes and small restaurants.

The pasta can barely be made out!

Essentially this is chicken broth with tomato and small pasta shapes. The typical recipe calls for frying the pasta a golden brown. But this being a low-fat cooking blog, I didn't do that. It works as well with un-fried pasta, so long as you don't over-cook it. So first you want to almost-cook the pasta in plain water.

Ingredients:

2 liters chicken broth
200 gr. small pasta shapes,a bit under-cooked
350 gr. peeled, seeded, diced  red tomato (or about one medium red tomato, peeled and seeded)
1/3 Onion, quartered
1 clove garlic, quartered
A pinch of fine herbs
1 Bay leaf

Under-cook and drain the pasta and set aside. In a blender place the tomato, onion and garlic. Liquefy the lot and set aside. In a large pot heat the chicken broth slowly, seasoning with fine herbs and a bay leaf (if you've seasoned it when you made it, you can skip this step), and the liquefied tomato from the blender. Stir well.


When the soup begins to bubble, add the pasta and stir. Let it boil, turn off the heat, let it cool a bit and serve.

Traditionally it's seasoned individually with lime to taste. I favor a whole small lime, or half a large one. Other people prefer less. You can also add chopped onion, cilantro or serrano chilies if you like.

Coffe and Yogurt Verdict

At some local Japanese restaurants there's a desert consisting of coffee gelatin and vanilla ice cream. As a coffee aficionada, I was intrigued by the idea of coffee gelatin deserts. I've tried over the years a few odd mixtures to get the right one, but mostly I've produced interesting failures.

The last one consisted of mixing plain, non-fat yogurt with coffee. They don't mix well at all, so when you let the mix set the coffee tends to separate. You're left with a layer of rather bitter coffee on top, and a too-sweet mix of yogurt with a very subtle coffee taste on the bottom.

On the other hand, a few weeks ago at the office I took the spoon I'd just used to stir my coffee and used it to eat a little cottage cheese. The flavor blend was rather nice. So I thought they'd go well together as a gelatin.

Well, more or less. I took one cup of double-strong coffee (that's two measuring scoops of ground coffee brewed with one cup of hot water), and a cup of cottage cheese and low-fat milk (the milk pretty much just filled in the empty spaces left by the lumpy cheese in the cup), and liquefied them in the blender. Pour in a saucepan, add flavorless gelatin, bring to a slow boil stirring on occasion. The result was pleasing as far as flavor, but wrong in texture. I think I need either more coffee or more cheese to get the creamier texture I want. We'll see.

My very first recipe was one cup of double strong coffee plus one cup of low-fat evaporated milk and gelatin. It works as well as the cottage cheese-coffee combo above.

So I'm still looking.

Chicken Milanesas with Chipotle Sauce

A little explanation is in order. A milanesa, before cooking, is any kind of meat steak that has been pounded flat. But cooked, it refers mostly to a thin veal steak covered in bread crumbs and fried in oil. In Spanish this kind of preparation is called "empanizado," which roughly translates as "breaded," if that's even a word. Anyway, a milanesa can also be made with flattened chicken breast, which is what I did.

I should mention by "bread crumbs" I mean a variety of options. The most common is simple "pan molido," which is ground up white bread toast. But there are others, like ground corn flakes, ground bran flakes and even, my favorite, ground wheat bran.

While I came up with this recipe by myself, I don't claim it as my own. Why not? because I'm trying to replicate and adapt someone else's recipe, someone I know and whom I miss very much.

This recipe is a bit more complex than my usual preparations. You have to cook the milanesas, make the salsa, then combine them and bake the result. But it's worth it.

Chipote chilies come either dried or canned. The canned version is "en adobo," meaning it's pickled in a thick, red juice. BTW there's no such thing as a fresh or natural chipotle. Chipotles are actually smoked jalapeños

Fresh out of the oven!

Ingredients:

4 Boneless flattened chicken breasts
2 Egg whites
About 2 Cups of bread crumbs (see above for details)
2.5 Teaspoons vegetable oil of your choice, preferably one without much flavor like canola or soy.
3 Red tomatoes
3-5 chipotle chilies and some juice from the can (if you're using smoked chipotles, take note they'll be much bigger)
1/2 onion, quartered
2 cloves garlic, quartered
Cilantro to taste (about 3-5 branches, stems and all)
2 Tablespoons white vinegar
1/2 Teaspoon cumin
1 tablespoon oregano (optional)
1/4 cup water.
40 gr. grated white cheese suitable for melting
2 Tablespoons reduced-fat sour cream (optional)

To make the milanesas:

Take a large, preferably rectangular, serving plate and cover with bread crumbs. Put the egg whites in a bowl. Soak the chicken breasts individually in the egg whites and put it on the bread crumbs, turning it over to cover both sides. If needed, pour additional bread crumbs on top.

In a skillet or frying pan pour one (1) teaspoon of oil, and put it on high heat. When it's hot, cook the chicken breasts. Due to the size, you may have to cook them one by one. You should cook each until you see the top under the crumbs turning white, then flip it over to brown the other side. After cooking two, add another teaspoon of oil if needed, and cook the other two.

Put them on a paper kitchen towel over a large serving plate so the excess oil will be absorbed. In regular cooking, milanesas are nearly deep fried. But this is a low-fat cooking blog, after all. You can press them with paper towels, too, to drain more oil. The cut them into bite-sized pieces or strips.

To make the salsa:

Peel and seed the tomatoes and toss them in the blender with the onion, garlic, cilantro, cumin, oregano, vinegar water and chipotles. Liquefy the mixture. as always, this is the time to taste and adjust for spiciness.

Get one onion slice, tending toward thick, and saute it with 1/2 a teaspoon of oil in a saucepan until it's as flexible as cooked spaghetti, or you can do it on the skillet where you made the milanesas. Quarter the bigger rings and leave the smaller ones whole. Either way, pour the salsa from the blender in saucepan. Turn the heat on to low and let the salsa come to a slow boil. Once it boils, let it simmer for a few minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat.

Now, in an oven-safe baking dish lay out a layer of mialnesas in bits and cover them with a layer of salsa. then sprinkle a little cheese and sour cream. Add a second layer of milanesas and, you guessed it, top it off with more salsa. Again sprinkle cheese and sour cream on top.

Put the dish in an oven preheated to 330 F for 30 minutes. All the cheese should melt. Let it cool and serve.

I suggest serving it along with Mexican rice, or any other sort of subtly-flavored rice you like.

Enjoy

Mexican Rice

Mexican rice is simply rice with tomato. Some people add peas and carrots to it, some put in a serrano chile for spice. I make mine with only tomato and garlic. Maybe because that's what I had growing up.

Ingredients:

2 Cups of Rice
About 3 Cups of water
2 Red tomatoes, peeled, seeded and cored
1 clove of garlic, quartered

First peel, seed and core the tomatoes and put them in the blender with some water and, if you like, half the garlic. Liquefy the whole thing. Measure carefully how much liquid you've produced. Rice is simple, but tricky to make. You want 5 cups of fluid for two cups of rice. So add enough water to complete five cups. Most blenders have measures on the sides. if not, use a measuring cup.

Once you have the five cups of liquid, pour them in a pot and bring them to a boil. When the mixture boils, reduce heat to minimum and add the rice and garlic (either the whole clove or half). Let it cook uncovered until the liquid is consumed, then fluff with a fork and serve.

As I said, rice is tricky, especially boiled rather than fried rice. If you use too little liquid, the rice winds up hard. if you use too much, it winds up with the texture of paste. Boiled rice will clump, no way to help that. but you don't want it too turn to mush when you try to un-clump it. So be careful with measurements.

Also make sure all the liquid is consumed. Some of the rice on the bottom may burn. If it does, just scrape it off and throw it away.

Cottage Cheese Enchiladas

Finally :)

The point is to get fresh, wide tortillas. Otherwise making low-fat enchiladas is just too difficult. You see, most people will fry the tortillas. In low-fat cooking that's obviously a no-no. But plain tortillas tend to crumble when folded, especially if they're a day or two old.

I think it's best to give the recipe for the salsa separately, so:

Salsa
Ingredients:

14-18 green tomatoes without the husk
1/2 onion, quartered
2 cloves garlic, quartered
Cilantro to taste (about 3-5 branches, stems and all)
4 Serrano chilies, or other small green chilies.
2 Tablespoons white vinegar
1/2 Teaspoon cumin
1/4 cup water.

Boil the tomatoes until they begin to change color, then place them in a bowl of ice water. Next quarter them and put them in the blender, removing the core first. Add the other ingredients tot he blender and liquefy the whole thing. You may want to do this in two batches unless you have a big blender. BTW this is the time to taste the salsa and see whether it's too hot or no hot enough, and to adjust the ingredients accordingly.

Pour the salsa into a deep saucepan or pot and turn the heat on low. Let it come to a boil slowly, stirring from time to time. Let it boil for a few minutes, stirring occasionally. Then remove from heat and set aside.

Enchiladas
Ingredients:

The salsa from the previous step
200 gr. Cottage cheese (or more)
70 gr. grated white cheese suitable for melting
2 Tablespoons reduced-fat sour cream (optional; personally I don't like it in my enchiladas)
Fresh, wide, corn tortillas, as many as necessary
Chopped onion to taste

First the tortillas handle better when hot. My preferred method is to heat them on a comal on the stove. A comal is a flat, round piece of thin metal that holds 3 or four tortillas. If you don't have one, you can use a wide skillet, or even put them in the microwave for thirty seconds wrapped in a clean kitchen cloth.

So, heat the tortillas a few at a time. Carefully, as they're hot, spoon some cottage each on one and fold it in on itself. Place it on an oven safe glass baking dish with the fold side down. If it opens as soon as you let go, you have the wrong kind of tortilla. Repeat as many times as necessary. In the photo above there are about 8 enchiladas.

Next pour salsa generously on top, making sure to cover all the enchiladas. Try not to use it all, as a reserve may come in handy later. Sprinkle the grated cheese evenly on top and, if you want, the sour cream as well.

Place in an oven pre-heated to 300 degrees F (you may want to pre-heat the oven before you get started) for thirty minutes. Remove from the oven, let it cool and serve.

For serving, put freshly chopped onion on the table to sprinkle on top. Also perhaps additional salsa, as you should have some left over. If you reheat them in the microwave, BTW, they tend to dry out. When I reheat them I pour some salsa on them before putting them in the microwave, so they'll be moist when done.

I also like to serve them with Mexican rice. The recipe for that will be along shortly.

Kathy's Lentil and Barley Casserole

I'm not really sure if this qualifies as a casserole, but I like the sound of it.

Again, this is an original recipe. Mostly I took what i found in the fridge, plus lentils. I like how it came out.

Ingredients:

1 Cup lentils
4 Tablespoons Barley
1 Cup of rice cooked to taste (the cup refers to pre-cooked measurement)
1 Clove of garlic, minced
1/2 Onion, chopped
1 Green Bell pepper, diced
4 Strips of turkey bacon, sliced
4 Turkey sausages, sliced
1 Cup soybean sprouts
1/4 Green cabbage, chopped
1/3 Teaspoon ground cummin
1 Teaspoon oregano, crushed
A pinch of fine herbs, crushed
1 Teaspoon vegetable oil (any kind)
1.5 Liters of water

Preparation:

Heat the oil in a pot and add the bacon. Cook for two or three minutes, then add the onion and garlic. Cook until the onion begins to turn translucent. Add the rest of the vegetables and the sausages, and cook until the cabbage begins to soften.

Add the water and reduce the heat to minimum. Add the lentils and barley and stir well. When the water begins to warm, add the spices and stir well. Let the water come to a boil, stirring occasionally. Keep boiling until most of the liquid is consumed or the lentils are tender. At this point add the cooked rice and stir well to mix everything together. let the whole thing sit on the flame for a bit longer, then let it cool and serve. You want as little iquid as possible, but if some remains that's not a problem.

Update Tomorrow

I've been cooking nonstop since 10 AM this morning, trying out a few new ideas. I'm beat. I'll post at least two new recipes tomorrow.

No recipes this week

Hi,

As I had enough food frozen from weeks past, I decided to clean out the freezer and not cook this week.

I did try to make a coffee gelatin desert, but it didn't come out quite right. It's edible, but that's not enough. I'll try again shortly and post the recipe if I succeed.

Kathy's Citrus Cabbage Salad

I tried something unusual and entirely original. At leas, I came up with the recipe all on my own. So I'm putting my name on it.

Ingredients:

Salad:
1/3-1/2 a Head of red cabbage, chopped
1 Teaspoon olive oil
2 Cloves of garlic, minced
1/3 Onion, sliced
2 Carrots, thinly sliced (you may want to use a slicer, like a Presto Salad Shooter)
1 1/2 cups soybean sprouts
Ground black pepper to taste
1/4 cup orange juice
1 Tablespoon balsamic vinegar
4-5 mushrooms, sliced

Dressing:
1 Teaspoon olive oil
1 Teaspoon sesame seed oil
1 Teaspoon honey
1 1/2 - 2 Teaspoons mustard (I used plain yellow mustard, but any mustard is good mustard)
1 Tablespoon balsamic vinegar

Ok, in a large, deep saucepan or a wok, heat the olive oil and roast the garlic in it for about a minute. Add the carrots and onions and cook for about two minutes more. Sprinkle some black pepper, stir well. Add the cabbage and soybean sprouts. Continue cooking for 2 minutes. In a cup mix the orange juice and 1 tablespoon of vinegar. Add it to the pan and stir well. Cook for about three minutes more, but don't let the vegetables get too soft. Remove from heat.

With a slotted spoon or a large serving fork, transfer the vegetables to a salad bowl, leaving in the pan most of the remaining o.j. vinegar mix. Add the raw, sliced mushrooms.

In a bowl mix the dressing ingredients and whisk well. You want a brownish, thick, homogenous mixture. When you get it, add the liquid left in the pan and whisk some more. Again, you want a homogenous mixture.

Pour the dressing on top of the vegetables and toss well.

I recommend letting it cool before serving. In fact I cooked this rather late yesterday, so I put it in the fridge overnight. I had it for lunch the next day and it was delicious at room temperature. I do like to let salads soak in dressing overnight, too.

Simple spaghetti recipe

I didn't feel like making anything complicated this weekend, so I got some spaghetti and Prego sauce. If that were all, I wouldn't post about it, but I tend to add some things to the store-bought red stuff.

Ingredients:

350 gr. Spaghetti cooked to taste
1 Jar Spaghetti sauce (about 650 gr. if memory serves)
1 Cup snow peas
1 Cup Soybean sprouts
1/3 Red onion, thinly sliced
1 Clove garlic, minced
1/2 green bell pepper, chopped
1 teaspoon olive oil
1/3 teaspoon fine herbs
1 Tablespoon oregano, crushed
Ground black pepper to taste
2 Turkey sausages, diced
A dash of Worcestershire sauce

I've found it best to prepare the pasta and sauce at the same time, because cooked pasta left in a colander tends to get sticky. It also helps to spray the cooked pasta with cold water after draining it.

So, in a deep saucepan, and I mean deep, or a pot, heat the olive oil. Saute the onion and garlic until the onion begins to turn flexible. Next add the bell pepper and keep cooking for two minutes. Add the soybean sprouts and snow peas, and sprinkle the black pepper. Cook for a few minutes longer until the vegetables are cooked to your taste.

Next reduce heat to minimum and add the jar of sauce and stir. Add the fine herbs, oregano, Worcestershire and sausages next, stir again. Bring the whole thing to a slow boil, and add the cooked Spaghetti (if it's done then). Stir/toss the pasta to mix it well with the sauce and veggies.

The added vegetables make the sauce really thick, so it's easier to ad the pasta to it rather than the sauce to the pasta. Also, commercial Spaghetti sauce already has oregano, so taste it beforehand and see if you want to add more.

I have been looking for recipes for tomato sauce to make my own, but I haven't had much success there. One time I attempted my own recipe with tomato puree and spices. The result were ok, but no better than store-bought sauce, so why bother?

On the plus side, my inability to find good recipes led me to develop my own recipe for Green Bell Pepper Fettuccine, which led to the recipe for Fettuccine with Poblano Chile Sauce.

Chicken and Lentil stew

I did take a break from the sweet and sour, and the tomato-based dishes. Instead I retook my budding love affair with lentils, which are both tasty and versatile, if not particularly colorful... In other words, this weeks' dish isn't much to look at, but it's tasty.

You may notice some similarities to my Dry Lentil Soup. I've been thinking about using lentils in a stew since then.

Ingredients:

1 Chicken breast without skin and bone, cut in bite-size pieces
1 Cup green lentils
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 Large green bell pepper
2/3 Red onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 Carrots, diced
2 Medium-sized potatoes, diced
1 Cup soybean sprouts
2 Cubes chicken bullion, low-fat, low-sodium
1/3 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon cumin
1/3 teaspoon fine herbs
1/3 teaspoon dried pesto
1.75 liters of water
3 1/2 Tablespoons corn starch dissolved in 1/4 cup of water

First let the lentils soak for a few hours. Next cook the chicken on a skillet with a little oil or cooking spray and set it aside.

In a pot heat the olive oil, saute the onion, garlic and bell pepper until the onions turn translucent, then add the potatoes and carrots, and sprinkle the black pepper. Saute for about 3 minutes. Add the water and reduce heat to medium. When the water warms up, add the lentils, spices and chicken bullion cubes. Stir well and reduce heat to minimum. When you see any bubbles, add the chicken. Stir again.

Let it cook for about an hour and fifteen minutes (your times may vary), or until both the potatoes and lentils are tender. Add the corn starch dissolve din water for a thicker consistency, stir well. You will then see larger bubbles forming. Remove from the flame, let it cool and serve.

I'm not entirely satisfied with the end result, but right now i can't think of any improvements.

See you next week!