Moo Goo Gai Pan

The Chinese title explains this dish: Moo goo means "button mushroom", gai means "chicken" and pan means "slices". I got this recipe from an online friend named Bootsie. It has become a favorite especially when the peas are on in the garden...which is now. YAY!

The key to this recipe is not overcooking so pay attention to the times.

4 boneless, skinless breast halves

2 T. water

2 T. rice wine vinegar

2 T. soy sauce

2 t. cornstarch

2 T. cooking oil

3 cloves garlic, minced

8 ounces small whole mushrooms or large mushrooms halved

3 cups Chinese cabbage or regular cabbage, cut into 1-inch pieces

1 6 oz package frozen pea pods, thawed or fresh

Cut the chicken into thin, bite-size pieces. (which is easier to do if partially frozen).

In a small bowl combine water, vinegar, soy sauce and cornstarch. Set aside.

Heat a wok or large skillet over high heat. Add cooking oil (add more oil as necessary during stir-frying.) Stir-fry garlic in hot oil over high heat for 3o seconds.

Add mushrooms and stir-fry for 2 minutes. Remove from wok.

Add cabbage and pea pods and stir-fry for 1 minute more. Remove from wok.

Add chicken to the wok and stir-fry for 2-3 minutes or till done. Push meat from center of wok and pour sauce in to the center. Cook and stir until the sauce is thickened and bubbly.

Stir in vegetables. Cook and stir for 2 minutes more. Serve with hot cooked rice.

Serves 4

Suzanne's "Died and Gone To Heaven" Greek Salad

2 Fresco seedless cucumbers sliced (remove peel if desired)

(or 3 cucumbers, halved, seeds removed and sliced)

3/4 cup crumbled, feta cheese

1 can whole olives

3 cups grape tomatoes

(or Roma tomatoes diced)

1/3 cup julienne sun-dried tomatoes

2/3 cup chopped red onion

Kraft Sun Dried Tomato Vinaigrette-to taste

Chopped Fresh Basil-to taste

Add all the ingredients to a salad bowl and gently toss. Cover bowl and chill in refrigerator until ready to serve.

Baja Fish Tacos

We preferred these on the flour tortillas but the corn tortillas made such a pretty picture!

Ingredients

1 lime, juiced

1 lb. fresh red snapper fillets, cut into 3X1 inch strips (I used mahi mahi)

1/4 cup flour

2 T yellow cornmeal

1 T chili powder

1 1/2 t. crushed dried oregano leaves

1 t. cumin powder

1/2 t. salt

Canola oil for frying

8 (7" size) corn or flour tortillas, wrapped in foil and kept warm in a 250 degree oven

2 cups green cabbage, shredded (I used coleslaw mix)

Quartered limes

Salsa

Sliced avocado

Preparation

Toss the fish pieces in the fresh lime juice and marinate for ten minutes. Meanwhile combine the flour, cornmeal, chili powder, oregano, cumin and salt in a large, shallow bowl.

Heat the canola oil to a depth of 1/2 inch in a large heavy skillet over medium-high heat until a small amount of flour sizzles when flicked into the pan. Dredge the fish in the flour mixture and fry in batches until golden brown. Drain on paper towels and keep warm in oven until ready to serve.

Serve in tortillas topped with cabbage and drizzled with Chipotle Cream. Pass limes, salsa and avocado at the table.

***Chipotle Cream***

1/2 cup reduced fat sour cream

2 chipotle chilies in adobo, minced (I removed as many seeds as I could)

1/2 lime juiced

1 dash sugar

salt to taste

Stir all ingredients together in a bowl and add salt to taste. Let stand at least 10 minutes to let flavors blend. May be made up to a day ahead. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

The Chipotle cream is what makes this recipe!

Mango Salsa

Juice from 1 lime

5-8 medium-large tomatoes, diced

1 juicy ripe mango, diced

1/3 cup red onion, chopped

12-16 cilantro leaves, chopped

1 jalapeno pepper, chopped

3/4 t. salt

Mix salsa ingredients together and serve.

Spiced Slow Cooker Pork

I've been looking for a lower sugar version of pork to use in our "Cafe Rio" style salad and this recipe is perfect! I know the photo isn't really appetizing. There's a reason that "food photographers" cheat and don't take photos of real food.

Ingredients

1 cup thick barbecue sauce

1 medium onion, thinly sliced

2 cans (4.5oz) diced green chilies

3 T. chili powder

1 t. ground cumin

1 t. dried oregano

1/4 t. ground cinnamon

1 boneless pork shoulder roast, 2 1/2 to 3 pounds, trimmed

1/2 cup chopped cilantro

Preparation

Combine sauce ingredients in a bowl. Place pork in crockpot; pour sauce mixture over the pork, lifting pork slightly so sauce will flow under the roast. Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours, or until pork is very tender. Remove pork to a cutting board and chop or shred with forks. If sauce is very liquid, cook down on stove until desired thickness and flavor is reached. Pour sauce into a serving bowl or leave in slow cooker; stir in cilantro and the shredded pork. Serve with flour tortillas or split sandwich buns.

Serves 8

Recipe by Diana Rattray

Zucchini Fries

Olive oil cooking spray

1 t. Italian seasoning

1 1/2 T. all purpose flour

3/4 t. salt

3/4 cup dried bread crumbs (Italian seasoned crumbs are good too)

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese (optional)

2 medium zucchini, about 7-inch each, cut into 4 chunks, then each chunk halved

2 large egg whites whipped until frothy (almost soft peaks)

Preheat oven to 425F. Coat baking sheet with cooking spray in a small bowl, mix together Italian seasoning, flour, cheese and salt. Place bread crumbs in another small bowl.

Dredge a zucchini fry in flour mixture and then dip into egg whites, dredge in bread crumbs. Place coated zucchini on prepared baking sheet and repeat with remaining ingredients. Liberally coat with cooking spray.

Roast turning once, until desired crispness, about 12 minutes. Yields about 8 fries per serving.

Notes: Use this technique with any summer squash or eggplant. It also works great with thick-cut onion rings or even green tomatoes. For extra crispy fries, increase the oven temperature to 500F and knock 2 minutes off the cooking time.

Grilled Cheese

Recipe and photo from Tyler Florence and the Food Network

Adapted by Suzanne

8 slices country-style bread, sliced 1/2 inch thick (I always choose a good quality whole grain)

4 slices cheddar cheese

12 slices bacon, cooked

1 green apple, thinly sliced

Heat griddle or large skillet over medium-low heat or use a panini press. I use my George Foreman grill.

Assemble 4 sandwiches with a generous slic eof cheese, 3 pieces of bacon, and apple slices.

Cook until cheese is slightly melted and bread is browned.

May add dijon mustard to the sandwich if you like.

Chicken Soup

4 Chicken Breasts

Chicken Broth

Place chicken breasts in a pot with enough chicken broth to cover the breasts. Bring to a simmer and simmer gently for 6 minutes. Turn heat off, cover and let sit for 15 minutes then shred or cube the chicken.

In a saute pan over medium, heat 2 T. olive oil

add:

1 onion

1 clove garlic

saute for 1-2 minutes

Add

2 stalks celery

4 carrots

1 t. salt (I omitted because of the chicken broth)

1/4 t. pepper

3T. parsley

Cook until softened and add to the chicken and chicken broth.

Stir in 1-2 T. fresh pesto and serve.

This is so good! My son who doesn't like pesto and is not a soup fan, LOVED it. He keeps asking me to make it again.

Reagan's Special - The Ab's Diet Burger

Recipe from Reagan Leadbetter on Good Thing's Utah

1 lb. leanest ground beef

1 cup fresh spinach

2 T lowfat Mexican blend shredded cheese

1/2 cup chopped onions

1/2 cup whole oats

1 egg

Steak Seasoning to taste

Salt and pepper to taste

Soy sauce

Fry onion with a little soy sauce, chop spinach. Mix together all ingredients - shape burger patties and grill.

Suzanne's special touches:

Serve on a thin bun with sun dried tomatoes, spinach and some blue cheese dressing. I prefer this recipe without the charring that grilling can add, so broiling is my preference.

Chicken Burritos

When you haven't been grocery shopping with a menu in a very long time (like me). You make things you might not consider otherwise. This is one of those "otherwise" recipes. All healthy ingredients (which was my first priority), very easy to make (my other first priority) and in spite of the non-traditional ingredients surprisingly good!

I'll make these again.

Here's what the filling looked like before rolling them up. Kind of pretty huh?

I'm not a huge fan of whole wheat tortillas but I found a La Flor whole wheat uncooked tortilla at Macey's that is pretty good.

And here is what mine looked like while I was eating it.

These were very filling. You could totally fatten these up with cheese and sour cream or a number of other traditional burrito ingredients but not me...not today. I'm trying to behave in the cholesterol, fat, whole food category and recipes like this make it easy.

Ingredients

1 medium green pepper, chopped (I used a mixture of red and green)

1 medium zucchini, chopped

12 oz. chicken breast, cooked, skinless, cubed

1 cup frozen corn kernels, thawed or fresh

1/2 small onion, minced

1/2 cup fat free sour cream

1/2 t. cumin

1/2 t. chili powder

4 T green sauce (optional but so good)

6 flour tortillas

2 cups salsa

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 F

In a nonstick pan, lightly saute pepper and onion until slightly cooked, about 3 to 4 minutes.

Add the zucchini, chicken, corn, green sauce and saute for 1 - 2 minutes more. Do NOT overcook. Nobody likes mushy zucchini!

Add the cumin, chili powder and sour cream.

Divide mixture among 6 tortillas. Fold in sides and roll closed. Place opening-side down in a baking pan, cover burritos with salsa. Bake until tortillas begin to brown and filling warms through, 15 - 20 minutes.

Serves 6

8 points-4 of those are the tortilla

Slow Cooker Island BBQ Chicken

Got the photo and recipe at Perry's Plate (one of my favorite recipe blogs). It was Yum-O!!!

2 pounds chicken breasts (I used boneless/skinless)

salt and pepper to taste

1 whole medium onion, sliced thinly

1/4 cups raisins

1 bottle of fruity barbecue sauce (18-20 oz bottle, guava, mango or pineapple)

(I just used my favorite Jack Daniel's bbq sauce)

2 T. balsamic vinegar

6 Sandwich Buns

Place chicken breasts into slow cooker and sprinkle salt and pepper to both sides. Add sliced onion and raisins. Pour 3/4 of the bottle of barbecue sauce and balsamic vinegar over chicken and combine. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours.

When cooking is complete, remove the chicken from the crock pot, take 2 forks and gently pull apart. I used some of the juice (about half) from the crock pot and put it back into the chicken then discarded the rest. I then added some more bbq sauce (not much) until it was as saucy as I wanted.

Serve on a bun (I used a whole wheat thin bun) and top with coleslaw.

The tart in the coleslaw and the sweet in the chicken makes the perfect combination!

I doubled the chicken recipe ingredients except for the onion. And I just used bbq sauce to my discretion (not quite doubling).

Dutch Apple Pancakes

1 cup milk

3 large eggs

3/4 cup all purpose flour (we like whole wheat)

3 T sugar (divided)

2 T butter

2 medium green apples peeled and cut into 1/4" slices

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

powdered sugar for dusting

lemon wedges (optional)

Pre-heat oven to 375. In a medium bowl, mix together the milk, eggs, flour and 2 T. of sugar.

In a heavy oven proof skillet, melt butter. Add apple slices, cinnamon and the remaining 1 T. of sugar. Reduce the heat to medium and cook, stirring occasionally for 2-3 minutes, or until the apples are softened slightly. Remove pan from heat. Pour batter over the apples in the pan. Place the pan in the oven and bake for 30-35 minutes, until the pancake is lightly browned and puffy.

Dust with powdered sugar and serve with lemon wedges (if desired). A little maple syrup is okay too.

Serves 5

6 points

Balsamic Chicken With Mushrooms

Ingredients

2 tsp. olive oil (divided)

3 T. balsamic vinegar (divided)

2 t. Dijon mustard

1 clove garlic clove, crushed

4-4 oz. uncooked boneless, skinless chicken breasts

2 cups mushrooms, small, halved

1/3 cup canned chicken broth

1/4 t. dried thyme, crumbled

2 T. sun-dried tomatoes (optional)

1 T. capers (optional)

Instructions

In a non stick skillet, heat 1 teaspoon of oil.

In a medium bowl, mix 2 T. of vinegar, the mustard and garlic. Add chicken and turn to coat.

Transfer chicken and marinade skillet. Saute chicken until cooked through, about 3 minutes each side. Transfer chicken to a platter and keep warm.

Heat remaining teaspoon of oil in skillet. Saute mushrooms for 1 minute. Add broth, thyme and remaining tablespoon of vinegar. Cook stirring occasionally, until mushrooms are deep brown, about 2 minutes longer. Toss in capers and sun-dried tomatoes.

Serve chicken topped with mushrooms.

(4 points)

Cowboy Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 3/4 cups sugar

1 3/4 cups brown sugar

2 cups butter flavored shortening (do not substitute)

4 large eggs

1/2 t. water (if not using large eggs)

4 1/4 cups flour

1/2 t. baking powder

2 t. baking soda

2 t. salt

1 t. vanilla

2 1/2 cups oats

chocolate chips/butterscotch chips

Cream sugars, shortening, eggs and water. Sift dry ingredients and add to creamed mixture. Stir in oatmeal, vanilla, and chips. Scoop onto cookie sheet and bake 350 degrees for 10 minutes.

Makes a lot!

I have no idea where I got this recipe, I've had it for so long. It's the cookie that my kids grew up on and it's the cookie that we always come back to.

I like it best made with 1/2 bag of Guittard maxi milk chocolate chips, 1/2 bag of semi sweet chocolate chips, 1/2 bag of butterscotch chips (or not).