Jello Parfait

When it's hot out, and you need a cool low-cal summer treat, or just a fun side dish/dessert for dinner when your 3 year old needs a project, make these -- they never disappoint:
For these I used sugar-free peach jello and sliced strawberries, with a dollop of light whipped cream. of course you can be creative with all kinds of flavors and fruit -- but I just forget sometimes that jello exists -- so I thought I'd remind everyone else too.

flax

I made this Pineapple Almost Heaven Cake (which is truly almost Heaven) -- actually Ryan made the cake part because I wasn't feeling well but as he gathered ingredients, found we were short an egg. So I tried the flax substitute -- which I've been wanting to try for a while now but have just been too lazy? Well, you put 1 T ground flaxseed in a small bowl -- whisk in 3 T water and let sit for a minute. This equals an egg in things like cakes, muffins, cookies etc. Worked great! Granted, there was so much goodness on top of the cake I doubt anyone would've noticed if we subbed sand in for the egg, but for all purposes -- I will do this again. Maybe even if I've still got eggs in the fridge. Gotta try to improve that health, you know.

Steamed Chicken

Maybe this is a common concept to a lot of people -- but it never has been for me so I thought I'd share. This is the problem -- lots of recipes call for cooked, shredded chicken, and as far as I know -- you boil it to get it cooked. I actually really don't like boiled chicken -- I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong, but it's always on the rubbery side and sort of stinky to me. If I've thought ahead -- my prefered method would be to slow-cook chicken breasts in the crock pot to have nice juicy tender chicken for my recipes. But I hardly ever think that ahead: so this is the solution: I've been steaming it in my veggie steamer -- and as long as you get it out in time, it's nice and juicy still, and easier to work with -- AND I LIKE IT!

I'm sure it would also work in one of these types: in fact a friend from Ohio is the one who planted the idea in my head and she always used this on all chicken she ever ate.

Chicken in a biscuit?

So for dinner tonight I was going to make Chicken Rolls (I've heard them called puffs or pillows too) and got everything ready only to look in the fridge and find out I was out of what has always been considered a staple in my mom's house: cream cheese. So I guess by default -- these turned out to be somewhat lower-fat than the normal recipe. But they were still tasty -- I'd make 'em again! Ingredients:
1 refrigerated tube of biscuits
some green onions
2 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
a spoonful of fat free sour cream - like 1/3 c?
1/3 can low-fat cream of chicken soup
sprinkle of craisens

Flatten out the biscuits with your hands and press into muffin tins -- then fill with chicken mixture (which is everything but the biscuits). Bake according to instructions on biscuits and you can choose to (or not to) top them with the rest of the cream of chicken -- heated through and thinned with milk to desired consistency.

(I had originally planned to make the normal stuffed balls but was having trouble with the type of biscuit I had -- so to make it easier and to include more filling -- I used the muffin method. It's all about improvising.)

Chicken Bean Dip

This is a stand-by that I make whenever I don't have a lot of time, haven't thought of anything, need food quick, you get the picture. But it's tasty too, and versatile! I got it out of a Taste of Home a long time ago but just have it in my head so it may not be exact.

small onion, chopped

1 can refried beans

1 cup (or so) salsa

1 can chicken breast (or cook and shred your own if you got the time...)

some shredded cheese

So, I think the recipe just called for the onions raw, but here's how I do it: saute them for just a minute and then add everything else to heat through. Dip tortilla chips, serve it in burritos, over a salad or rice -- it's very flavorful and depending on the kind of beans and amount of cheese you use -- can be fairly low-fat. I've even nixed the cheese altogether before and it's still good.