Minestrone

I have never made minestrone before so I thought that I'd give it a shot.  I have to say that this recipe turned out well.  It tasted different than most of the minestrone soups that I've eaten in restaurants, but I attribute that to the lack of salt.  Unfortunately, I have never eaten authentic homemade minestrone.  So If any of my Italian friends would like to make me some, I'd be happy to oblige.

I altered a recipe that I found in one of my many cookbooks and tried it.  This is the result.  Give it a try and leave a comment to let me know what you think.

I love garlic, so I probably added more garlic powder than what is called for in the recipe.

MINESTRONE

Ingredients:
2 cups low sodium chicken broth
1 can (14 oz) low sodium Italian diced tomatoes
1 cup chopped onion
1 can (8 oz) low sodium tomato sauce
1/2 cup chopped carrot
1/2 cup sliced celery
1 teaspoon dried basil
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon Auntie Jean's Low Sodium Italian Dressing Blend*
1-1/4 cups water
1 can (15 oz) low sodium white kidney beans or great northern beans
1 cup fresh or frozen green beans
1/2 cup small pasta (I used broken spaghetti)

Preparation:
In a large saucepan, Mix first 10 ingredients and bring to boil.  Reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes.  Stir in beans and pasta and bring to boil.  Reduce heat.  Cover and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes.  Serve in bowls and top with grated Parmesan cheese if desired.

*Please email me at: auntiejeans@yahoo.com if you'd like to order some Auntie Jean's Low Sodium Italian Dressing Blend.

Low Sodium Chili

Doing this low sodium diet can be such a challenge especially when dining out.  Most often, I will simply order a green salad with vinaigrette dressing.  That's usually the safest route.  I get really excited if the restaurant offers the option of a fruit side dish.  Sometimes I will add grilled chicken breast to the salad and hope that it's not too salty.  Mostly, I just compensate by balancing the daily sodium intake.  That means I eat almost no sodium before I dine out so that I can eat the foods with the extra salt.

I like chili but I will almost never order it from a restaurant because I have no idea how much sodium is in it.  I do make it at home fairly often because it's so easy to make and saves well.  I found a recipe I like and I altered it to keep the sodium low.  It's also low fat if you use lean meat.

This recipe is not too spicy because I don't like hot chili.  Add more spices if you do, but this is a good basic chili recipe.

LOW SODIUM CHILI:

Ingredients:
1 pound ground meat
1 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped green pepper
2 cloves minced garlic
1 can (14 oz) low sodium diced tomatoes
1 can (15 oz) low sodium red kidney beans
1 can (8 oz) low sodium tomato sauce
2 tablespoons chili powder
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Preparation:
In large saucepan, cook meat, onions, and pepper and drain.  Stir in tomatoes, beans, tomato sauce, and spices.  Bring to boil and reduce heat.  Cover and simmer 20 minutes.  Makes 5 cups.

Turkey Meatloaf

Quite frankly, I don't care too much for turkey meat.  To me the flavor isn't that rich, so when I do eat turkey, I tend to add lots of seasonings.  I especially enjoy the flavors in taco seasoning, so I add it to my turkey meatloaf.  I find that it adds just the right amount of flavor to enhance the turkey.

I also add some shredded cheese to the meatloaf since the turkey has less fat, you can add some cheese.  I try to find low fat, low sodium cheese.  It's hard to find, but I'll use the regular stuff if that's all I have.  I prefer to use the Taco flavored cheese or Mexican blend of cheese.

You can serve the meatloaf with salsa instead of ketchup if you'd like more Mexican flair with your meal.  I didn't have any in the house this time so that'll be for next time.

TURKEY MEATLOAF

Ingredients:
1 pound ground turkey
1 beaten egg
1/4 cup oats
1/4 cup skim milk
1/4 cup finely chopped or minced onion
1 tablespoon salt free ketchup
1 teaspoon Auntie Jean's Low Sodium Taco Blend*
1/4 cup low fat, low sodium shredded cheese

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a large bowl, combine all ingredients using hands until well blended.  Place mixture in loaf pan and top with ketchup or salsa if desired.  Bake for 45 to 50 minutes.

*If you'd like to order some Auntie Jean's Low Sodium Taco Blend, please email me at: auntiejeans@yahoo.com

Chicken Vesuvio

According to Wikipedia, Chicken Vesuvio originated in Chicago.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken_Vesuvio  This version of Chicken Vesuvio is slightly different from theirs.  The original version has chicken on the bone.  I prefer using boneless, skinless chicken breasts because they are much easier to eat.  I hate taking a bite of chicken only to find an annoying little bone in the middle of it.  Gross!

I think this recipe is every bit as good as restaurant versions of Chicken Vesuvio.  Try it and compare for yourself.  Let me know what you think.

This recipe calls for new potatoes.  I never use them, instead I use regular ole Idaho potatoes and chop them up a little smaller.

CHICKEN VESUVIO

Ingredients:
6 medium new potatoes, quartered
 4 chicken breasts
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup lemon juice
1 teaspoon dried rosemary
2 teaspoons minced garlic
black pepper to taste

Preparation:
Place potatoes and chicken in baking dish.  In small bowl, combine olive oil, lemon juice, rosemary, and garlic.  Drizzle oil mixture over the chicken and potatoes. 

Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Bake covered for 60 minutes.  Transfer chicken and potatoes to platter and pour pan juices over top.

Spicy Mexicali Chicken

There are a million and one ways to prepare chicken (or at least it seems that way to me.)  I have always loved fried chicken, but since that's no longer on my diet, I like to bake coated/ breaded chicken.  It reminds me of fried chicken but I don't feel guilty (or ill) for eating breaded chicken.

I find that with the right seasonings, I actually prefer the boneless, skinless coated chicken breast to fried chicken.

The title for this recipe includes the word spicy.  I think it's a little on the spicy side, but not much.  If you like it spicier, add some cayenne to the breading mixture.  You can increase the amount of hot sauce as well.

SPICY MEXICALI CHICKEN

Ingredients:
4 chicken breasts
1/4 cup sour milk (if you don't have sour milk, simply add 1 teaspoon vinegar to 1/4 cup regular milk and mix quickly.  The milk will begin to curdle.)
1/4 teaspoon hot sauce
2/3 cup corn meal (I prefer white corn meal, but yellow is fine)
2 teaspoons Auntie Jean's Low Sodium Taco Blend*
2 tablespoons butter, melted
Salsa, if desired. Made with Auntie Jean's Low Sodium Salsa Blend*

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Grease baking dish.  In shallow dish, mix sour milk and hot sauce.  In another shallow dish, mix cornmeal and taco seasoning.  Dip chicken in milk and then coat in cornmeal.  Place chicken in baking dish and brush with 1 tablespoon melted butter.  Bake for 20 minutes.  Remove from oven and turn over chicken, carefully scraping the pan so the coating doesn't stick to the pan.  Then brush the other side of the chicken with 1 tablespoon of melted butter.  Return to the oven and bake 20 minutes longer.  Serve with salsa if desired.

I assure you that the end product if far more appetizing than it appears in this picture.  The coating didn't stick to the chicken as well as I would have liked, but it still tasted great. 

*Please email me at  auntiejeans@yahoo.com if you would like to order a bottle of Auntie Jean's Low Sodium Taco Blend or Auntie Jean's Low Sodium Salsa Blend.

Ground Beef and Potato Bake

I'm always looking for new ways to serve ground beef.  When I saw that this recipe includes potatoes, I figured that I'd give it a try since my family loves potatoes.  As I have mentioned before, I'm not a big fan of potatoes, but I eat them because they are rich in heart healthy potassium.

This recipe, like most of my recipes is easy to prepare.  It's not a very quick recipe because of the 60 minute baking time.  To save a little time, you could prepare the casserole dish and refrigerate overnight.  Then you could pour the soup over the top and bake it.

You can use the reduced sodium version of canned mushroom soup, but I find that it's extremely bland.  So I recommend either making your own from scratch (see my cream of mushroom soup recipe posted earlier) or you can enhance the flavor of the canned soup by adding a little black pepper, some low sodium beef broth packet, and/or some cayenne.

GROUND BEEF AND POTATO BAKE

Ingredients:
1 pound ground beef
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon Auntie Jean's Low Sodium Italian Dressing Blend*
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
3 medium potatoes, scrubbed and thinly sliced
1 can (10oz) low sodium cream of mushroom soup
5 oz skim milk

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Cook and drain beef.  In a casserole dish, layer beef, sliced onions, and sliced potatoes, sprinkling each layer with seasonings.  In a small bowl, mix soup and milk until smooth.  Pour over top of casserole dish. 

Bake for 50 to 60 minutes uncovered.

*Please email me at auntiejeans@yahoo.com if you would like to order some Auntie Jean's Low Sodium Italian Dressing Blend

Cream of Mushroom Soup

Winter is the best time for soup.  In Chicago, this winter has been especially mild so I haven't made as much soup as I normally do.  I often throw leftovers from dinner into a pot and add some bouillon and seasonings.  Then I have soup for lunch for the next couple of days.

I make cream soups for meals the first time around.  I guess I consider them "fancy" soups.  Cream soups don't freeze well, so I can't make a huge batch and save leftovers for later.

Cream soups are not the healthiest of things to eat, but using milk instead of cream makes delicious soup without all the fat.

I have tried the canned healthy versions of cream of mushroom soup and I think they taste awful.  This version is much better.

CREAM OF MUSHROOM SOUP

Ingredients:
1/4 cup chopped onion
2 tablespoons butter
3 cups sliced fresh mushrooms or 2 4-ounce cans of no salt sliced mushrooms
6 tablespoons all purpose flour
2 (14.5) ounce cans low sodium chicken broth
1 cup low fat milk
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon garlic powder
2 tablespoons vinegar

Preparation:
In large saucepan, saute onion in butter until tender.  Add mushrooms and saute until tender. 

Combine flour and broth until smooth; stir into the mushroom mixture. 

Bring to a boil; cook and stir 2 minutes or until thickened. 

Reduce heat.  Stir in the milk, pepper, and garlic powder.  Simmer uncovered for 15 minutes stirring often.  Add vinegar and heat through.

Chicken Pomodoro

I enjoy eating Chicken Pomodoro at restaurants, so I looked for a recipe that was easy enough for me to make.  I prefer not to let my lack of culinary skills impede my eating delicious food. 

This is a simple and quick recipe.  It's perfect if you've had a bad day and need to get out a little aggression because you pound the chicken breasts thin.

This recipe goes well with almost any side dishes: rice, pasta, potatoes, vegetables, salad, and fruit.  I love tomatoes, so I used more than what the recipe called for and had plenty leftover.  I just threw the extra into some soup.  No food goes to waste at my house.

CHICKEN POMODORO

Ingredients:
4 chicken breasts, pounded thin.
1/4 cup flour
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons oil
1/2 cup low sodium chicken broth
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 cup chopped tomatoes (fresh is best, but canned works too)
2 tablespoons cream or milk
 1/3 cup green onions, chopped

Preparation:
Place chicken breasts in plastic zip bag and pound thin using mallet. 

Put flour and pepper in plastic bag with chicken and shake until coated.

Saute chicken in oil until browned.  Add broth and lemon juice and cook 2 minutes.  Remove chicken and place on serving dish.  Add tomatoes and cream to broth & juice.  Heat through.  Pour sauce over chicken and garnish with green onions.