A FRIDGE FULL OF FOOD...

Portable Feast for a Crowd: Thanksgiving Turkey (or Chicken) & Dressing in the Slow Cooker

 I've made turkey and dressing in the crockpot before but this time I hit the jackpot for texture, taste, and convenience to feed a crowd.  This recipe got rave reviews at work and easily fed twenty people with enough leftover for a couple of servings for Gene and I later.  I served it with turkey gravy on the side and the my work-mates brought all the fixings:  mashed potates, corn casserole, pumpkin pies, and appetizers.

I'll also make it again, not onThanksgiving, using rotisserie chicken or pork loin as the meat, maybe other dressing/stuffing flavors, but definitely keeping the sauteed veggies, fruit, and nuts.  The recipe can easily be halved or maybe even thirded if you use the "about a" method:  For example:  "about" 1 1/2 cups of diced meat, "about" 1 Tbsp butter and "about" 1 Tbsp olive oil...etc.)

American Classics: Julia Child's Deluxe Chicken or Turkey Salad

 

Nobody's perfect. We all have the opportunity to learn and grow our skills in everything in life.  Gene has admitted a couple of times over the years that my chicken salad is, well, a little boring.  He likes the way I make potato salad, devilled eggs, and tuna salad, but says my chicken salad is "just okay".  Not that he's a jerk. He's my most enthusiastic supporter and eater, and over 25 years my cooking has put 20 lbs on his once too-skinny frame, so I take no offense.  He loves my cooking but I took this as an opportunity to improve my skills.

I added a rotisserie chicken to his grocery list this weekend while I was working, just for this purpose, and decided to go back to the basics and re-learn how to make a good, basic, no frills, chicken salad.  Who better than Julia Child to teach me? 

After reading over a dozen recipes that were either similar to my way or added more frills (pineapple, grapes, nuts, pasta, etc) than I wanted for a classic dish, I hit upon Julia Child's "Deluxe Chicken or Turkey Salad from her book The Way to Cook.  The ingredients are basic but the preparation is not.  Julia uses a two-step method with a ten minute recess that does, indeed, produce a classic, no frills, but delicious and flavorful chicken salad perfect for the classic all-American "Iron Kids" sandwich.  With Julia's method, she tosses the chopped meat with olive oil, herbs, and seasonings, and lets those ingredients get comfy with each other before coming back and binding it together with the mayo.  The two step method makes a world of difference in how the final dish's flavor resonates. The chicken and herb flavors take the lead and happen to be bound together with mayo rather than mayo flavor dominating.  Adding the fruit, nuts, etc, would also work well with this recipe but for those like my hubs who like it on the "classic" side, this is the recipe and method we'll be using, and he agrees. (Personally, I love the walnuts in it--I love the crunch!)

In four days, August 15th will be the 100th anniversary of Julia Child's birth. We are all better cooks for her enthusiasm and her career. Thank You, Julia!

Weight Watchers Easy Turkey Lasagna

Photo from http://weightwatchers.com   

 While we were in St. Louis two weekends ago, my friend Dianne cooked for us a couple of times which is such a treat to me.  Like most of us, I love to cook and I especially love to cook for people as a way to show my love for them but I also like the reciprocal.  I appreciate that Dianne spent some her time cooking for us and taking such care to make sure everything was diet-friendly and wholesome.  Sunday morning she made an egg and sausage casserole that was yummy and on Friday night she made this Easy Turkey Lasagna from a Weight Watchers Five Ingredient cookbook that was very tasty and welcoming, without killing our diets. Thanks Dianne!

Ina Garten's Turkey Meatloaf

Went over to Auntie Miranda's the other night, and in "exchange" for Gene hooking up her new Wii, she served this beautiful dinner of Ina Garten's Turkey Meatloaf, Loaded mashed potatoes, Green beans with slivered almonds, whole grained rolls, and an elegant salad of romaine, strawberries, feta, pecans, and vinaigrette.  It was as delicious as it was beautiful! Thanks so much Auntie. I think we got the better end of the deal!

I also loved how beautifully the purple dishes set off the food. Isn't that gorgeous?

For the meatloaf recipe, click below:

Dr's Kitchen Monday: Copycat Olive Garden Toscana Soup: Red Potato, Turkey Sausage, and Kale

I don't know about you but work is a diet killer for me. For one, I work at a hospital so there's a cafeteria.  Now, I always thought in a hospital the cafeteria would have healthy food, right? Ohhh, so wrong.  There's still all those burgers and fries and pie, oh my.  Not to mention a wonderful deli with fabulous cake masquerading as muffins pretending to be healthy breakfast choices but are really just sugar held together by bleached flour.  Then, there's the fact that I just got switched from the day shift with it's 2pm arsenic hour, you know the hour when your body slumps and all you want is a Coke and a candy bar to get you through, to the evening shift, which is when you go home at 11pm and mysteriously your car drives through Taco Bell every night no matter how many names you call it.

Well I have a plan and that plan got placed into action last night in the form of a brown paper bag:

This worked out pretty well all the way around. First, with the Sausage, Potato, and Kale soup, I didn't even have to go to the cafeteria. I had all my bases covered, even the ones at home. Let's start there. One of my concerns about going to evenings was that Gene wouldn't eat right. He tends to eat the bulk of his meals in the afternoon and evening so if I'm gone I'm afraid he'll eat fast food or junk food so I'm determined to still cook and keep good food for him in the house. He has a history of heart disease and I've worked very hard over the last few years to rid our house of transfats and keep him on a heart-healthy diet. I don't want my work schedule to ruin that so I'm going to let that help motivate me. I can keep both of us on our diets at the same time by leaving him at home with a crockpot or something to warm up and by me packing food to work.

Second, I had snacks for later in the evening to beat the Taco Bell run. I'm always hungry when I get off work, no matter what time that is. It's simply a fact and I need to deal with it.  And third, I love soda but I know I can't have it. That's where the Crystal Lite comes in. I don't mind drinking water most of the time,  but there are times when I really want something with flavor so I don't mind buying the bottled water to put Crystal Lite in to have that soda feeling in my hand.  This little brown bagged beauty worked great for me last night. I felt satieted, had lots of energy, didn't feel deprived which is very important, and I didn't feel the urge to hit a drive-thru on the way home from work.  With a little extra planning before work, I think this is going to work well for us.

This soup is an excellent choice for us too. It has the feeling of heft for Gene but is light enough to be diet for me.  I told Gene "It's meat and potatoes, your favorite. Eat it."  He said "It has green stuff in it."  I said "It's good for you. Eat it."  He said "I can pick around it."  I said, "What are you, four?"  He said, "If I wanna be."  Puh-lease.  I came home and a big portion of the pot was gone. Don't know if he picked around the kale or not but he obviously liked it.  I never told him that the "sausage" was low-fat turkey sausage and that the "cream" was fat free half and half. He didn't need to know that.

Also, with the addition of kale, and I'm hoping Gene DID eat it with all it's yummy antioxidants packed in, the Sausage, Red Potato, and Kale soup is my addition to Cate of Sweetnick's ARF Tuesdays Blogging Event where she hosts all kinds Antioxidant Rich Foods good for the body.   Just one more observation on kale:  Isn't it sad that in America, the healthiest green on the salad bar is the one we tuck in between the bowls to decorate with?  That's so.....us.

Click below for the recipe and nutrition counts.