Lighten Up! Sweet Potato Casserole
21 Nov 2011 3 Comments
in Side Dish, Sweet Potato, Thanksgiving Tags: cooking light recipe, praline topping, sweet potato
Are you hosting Thanksgiving? I am, for the first time in many years. I refuse to stress over this, who needs more stress? I will clean (just a little), make a mess in the kitchen (a lot), and do my best to get the kids involved in the hoopla of preparation so that their memories of Thanksgiving are more than just the 20 minutes we spend at the table. I will also make sure I get plenty of physical activity, the best de-stresser I know. I may even run my first-ever 5K that morning.
“Are you crazy??” It’ll be fine! I am only responsible for part of the meal, thanks to contributions from both my mom and sister. Plus, my husband actually knows his way around a kitchen, so I’ve got back-up. That’s important, just in case I, you know, trip during the race and cause a Domino-like avalanche of bodies, much like the time I was learning to ski up at the Camden Snow Bowl and hadn’t yet mastered STOP…
Thanksgiving, to many, is synonymous with over-indulgence. And worse, it usually kicks off a month-long food-fest where you are bombarded at all angles with treats, sweets, and excuse after excuse to move less and eat more. That is a recipe for disaster if you are working hard to keep healthy habits. My dietitian friend, Kerri, has some great tips here, which I am definitely going to keep in mind as we approach National Gobble Day. In the meantime, consider another way to keep things on the healthy side: lighten up recipes where you can without sacrificing a bit of flavor! Here I share my favorite Thanksgiving side dish, sweet potato casserole. I have made this for several holidays and it is always a pleaser — a little sweet, a lot delicious, and packed with Vitamin A. Give it a try!
Photo by Cooking Light
Sweet Potato Casserole
adapted from Cooking Light Five Star Recipes
Serves 8
2 egg whites, lightly beaten
3 cups mashed cooked sweet potato
1/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/3 cup nonfat milk
2 T. light margarine, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons chilled butter
1/3 cup chopped pecans
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
1) Combine first 7 ingredients in a bowl, and mix well by hand. Spoon mixture into an 8-inch square baking dish coated with cooking spray.
2) Combine 1/2 cup brown sugar and flour in a bowl, and cut in the 2 tablespoons chilled butter with a pastry blender or 2 knives until mixture is crumbly. Stir in pecans, and sprinkle entire mixture over sweet potato mixture.
3) Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.
Butternut Squash and Sausage Bake
25 Oct 2011 5 Comments
in One-dish meal Tags: alfresco chicken sausage, butternut squash, Cabot cheddar, chicken sausage, spinach, sweet potato
Butternut Squash and Sausage Bake
Butternut squash. Chicken sausage. Spinach. Cheddar. A quartet of ingredients destined for greatness. As I’ve mentioned before, I am very fond of meals where everything I want is all in one dish. All I need to do is add a slice of whole grain bread, and I’ve got a simple, healthy, and satisfying meal. So, I was very excited to make Meg’s recipe combining these three ingredients. It looked so tasty, and I just knew I would love the combo of flavors. I only paused a moment, knowing there would be some sounds of dissent from the kids — I just can’t sell them on butternut squash (yet). In the end I thought, “Tough crunkies!” Sometimes you have to press on even when your typically-adoring fans are booing you off the stage.
This dish was even better than I imagined. The mellow sweet flavor of the butternut combined with the savory cheese and sausage was so delicious! My mum and I both loved it, and I even won over the hubby, who claims to like neither squash nor spinach.
As expected, the kids weren’t really open to trying it. Butternut squash is, in their eyes, Public Enemy #1. I actually made two versions of this dish to placate them a bit – the second one using sweet potatoes and green beans in place of squash and spinach. It worked out okay. They picked through it and ate the sausage and some of the veggies and filled up on bread and milk. They left the table satisfied and there were no tears. That is huge considering the potential for a mutiny I had created. Onto Public Enemy #2 — cauliflower!
Butternut Squash and Sausage Bake
adapted from Meg’s Food Reality*
Serves 8-10
*Note: Meg’s original version is gluten-free. This recipe version is not. Also, despite the fact that I halved the recipe for my own purposes, this is for a full 9×13 recipe.
Ingredients
3 1/2 pounds butternut squash, peeled and cut into thin slices (about 6 cups)
1 Tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil
2 large yellow onions, peeled and chopped (about 3 cups)
1 cup low-fat buttermilk OR 1 cup of low-fat milk with 1 tsp of apple vinegar
2 medium eggs, beaten
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon of black pepper
2 cups coarsely grated cheddar cheese(I used Cabot 50% light cheddar)
1 package of chicken sausage, cut into small slices (I used Alfresco garlic and herb chicken sausage)
2 cups of frozen spinach or 2 cups fresh torn spinach
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
1) Cook squash in boiling water for 6 minutes. Drain it and set aside.
2) Place 1 tbsp of olive oil into a pan set on medium to low heat. Add the onions and cook until translucent. Then, add the chicken sausage and spinach. Cook on medium heat for 3 minutes.
3) Place in a bowl the warm squash, sausage mixture, buttermilk, eggs, bread crumbs, salt, pepper, and 1 1/2 cups cheese. Mix with a spatula until the ingredients are well combined.
4) Spread the mixture evenly in the baking dish. Bake for 45 minutes. Remove from the oven and sprinkle with the remaining 1/2 cup of cheese.
5) Bake 15 minutes more. Remove from the oven and serve immediately.
Sweet Potato and Sausage Bake
Alternate Version: If interested in sweet potato version, simply swap equal amounts of sweet potato and string beans for the squash and spinach, prepared in the same way.
Chicken Stew with Dumplings
24 Jun 2011 5 Comments
in Chicken, Crock Pot, One-dish meal Tags: Chicken stew, dumplings, sweet potato
I searched for a long time for a stew recipe that featured my favorite fowl. I wanted something creamy, herbalicious, and filling – essentially the chicken version of my favorite beef stew recipe. But, all I found were recipes that relied heavily on Campbell’s soups as the base (everything starts to taste the same after a while) or included tomatoes (which my kids prefer to eat in disguise, as in spaghetti sauce). It was tougher than I thought to find what I wanted!
Finally, I came across a promising recipe somewhere on the Web. Thanks to my spectacular filing techniques, the original printout is lost, so I apologize that I can not give proper credit here. I have since adapted it, and successfully tested it on my family for approval (eight thumbs up).
If you need a second reference, this is also a hit at a friend’s house. She came by one day to pick up her boys as this was simmering in the crockpot. As she entered the house, she said, “What is that incredible smell?” I sent her the recipe and she has made it at least twice. She was even kind enough to photograph it for me. I gotta get me some cool bowls like that!
I’d say this recipe is a good bet for even your pickiest eater. My own quirky and stubborn five-year-old, a girl who hasn’t willingly eaten a cooked vegetable in three years, ate the peas, carrots AND sweet potato last night completely on her own – no cajoling or pleading necessary. Maybe it has nothing to do with this recipe, perhaps we slipped into some alternate reality, but whatever it was I was pretty psyched and am taking all the credit. Just try to stop me 
The dumplings make it special, but you can eaily skip that part and save yourself from waiting the 45 minutes they take to cook. Just serve with crusty bread to sop up the leftovers in the bowl.
Chicken Stew with Dumplings
Serves 6
4 c chicken broth
2 c. sliced carrots
1 c. chopped onion
1 lg green pepper, chopped
1/2 c. sliced celery
1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into 1-in pieces
1 lg sweet potato, peeled and cut into chunks
1 c. frozen peas
1 tsp dried basil
¾ tsp dried rosemary (or sage)
¼ tsp dried tarragon (or thyme)
¾ tsp. salt
¼ tsp black pepper
2/3 c. flour and 1 c. chicken broth – whisked together
¼ c. whipping cream or half-n-half
1) In crockpot, put first 13 ingredients (chicken broth through black pepper) Cook on low for 6-7 hours.
2) Add flour mixture, stir and cook 30 minutes more.
3) Add whipping cream, stir and cover until heated through again (about 10 minutes)
4) While you wait, mix together dumpling dough:
Combine 1 c. flour, 2 t. baking powder, and 1/2 t. salt;
Separately, combine 1 beaten egg, 2 T. oil, and 1/4 c. lowfat milk
Mix wet ingredients into dry, stirring with a fork must until moistened
5) Drop dough by large spoonfuls onto hot stew (about 6 dumplings). COVER for another 45 minutes. Dumpling are done when toothpick inserted comes out clean.
Enjoy!
