ThriftyFun Recipes - July 26, 2007

Thank you Babbie, Robin and LRP for today's recipes. We also have some recipes shared by the The American Institute for Cancer Research.

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Today's Recipes:

• Vegetable Dishes Brighten Summer Menus
• The Ultimate Egg Salad Sandwich
• Citrus BBQ Chicken
• Sub Sandwiches
• Curried Chutney Spread
• Zucchini Tea Crisps
• Nana's Chicken Pie

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Vegetable Dishes Brighten Summer Menus
By The American Institute for Cancer Research

No matter what the season, you can never have too many healthy, easy-to-prepare vegetable dishes. In summer, when local gardens and farmers' markets have produce aplenty, you can establish a broad repertoire of recipes drawing from the many fruits and vegetables in season. August's fare is particularly delicious and abundant. This is the time of year when, left to its own devices, zucchini can become large as a baseball bat. If you grow zucchini in your garden, you'll need a variety of recipes to use up the supply.

Zucchini and bell peppers are particularly versatile. Both are low in calories and have flavors that blend well with everything. Select small zucchini, which tends to be younger and more tender than the bigger ones. It can be prepared in many different ways: sauteed, steamed, grilled, or stuffed and baked. Its blandness makes it a perfect foil for other flavors, and its sturdy texture makes it a good base for a soup or a stew. In this recipe, the zucchini is sauteed for a mere 2 to 3 minutes, to maintain both flavor and innate crispness.

Bell peppers, available in most grocery stores in what we tend to think of as the standard green, are also available now in yellow, red, orange and even purple. In fact, most sweet peppers start life as green and change colors as they mature. Red is the sweetest of the bells and is actually a fully ripened green pepper with a milder flavor. Sweet peppers are an excellent source of vitamins A and C as well as the mineral potassium. The peppers add color and crispness to this recipe, which ends up being a beautiful medley of red, orange, green and yellow. It brightens any plate, whether you choose to serve it with other vegetables or a small portion of poultry or fish. Keep in mind that the New American Plate model, advocated by the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR), features scaling back the proportion of meat to one-third of the plate or less, so you can have room for a whole grain mixture and another vegetable dish to fill out your meal.

Fresh corn kernels, lightly sauteed, add to the interesting texture of the dish, topped off with toasted almonds. Nuts contain healthy mono- and polyunsaturated fats, vitamin E, protein, magnesium, potassium and dietary fiber. The trick is to use them in moderation because they are high in calories. The good news is that a mere two tablespoons of lightly toasted almonds add just the right amount of satisfying crunch to the overall dish.

Marinated Peppers and Zucchini with Almonds

Ingredients

• 1 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil, divided
• 1/2 red bell pepper, seeded and thinly sliced
• 1/2 orange bell pepper, seeded and thinly sliced
• 1 small zucchini, cut in half, then thinly sliced horizontally
• 1/2 cup fresh corn kernels, cut from the cob, or 1/2 cup frozen corn kernels, thawed
• 1 1/2 tsp. apple cider vinegar
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 2 Tbsp. lightly toasted sliced almonds

Directions

In a separate small bowl, whisk together remaining oil, vinegar, salt and pepper. Pour over vegetables and gently toss. Serve garnished with almonds.

Makes 4 servings.

Per serving: 80 calories, 5 g. total fat (<1 g. saturated fat), 8 g. carbohydrate, 2 g. protein, less than 2 g. dietary fiber, 8 mg. sodium.

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The Ultimate Egg Salad Sandwich
By Dana Jacobi

When you write about food, even good friends hesitate to ask you over for a meal. Inviting me to stay for a summer weekend is even more fraught, no matter how much I assure them I'm content to munch on burgers or canned tuna with carrot sticks in exchange for the chance to soak up the sun by their pool. To show my gratitude, I make it a point to give my hosts a break and prepare at least one meal a day. As a way of ensuring I get plenty of time pool-side, I have perfected the art of making dishes that impress while requiring minimal time and effort. Some are deliberately creative, like pork strips stir-fried with sliced plums, ginger and hoisin sauce. I might follow this with a dessert of pears, quartered and warmed in honey with a dab of butter, then seasoned with black pepper and served with a dollop of vanilla Greek yogurt. But sometimes I simply try to provide a new twist to an old favorite.

Egg salad is particularly easy to vary in appealing ways. If the weekend brings a cool or cloudy day, I make a hearty version by adding chopped mushrooms and onions, sauteed until well-browned. In between slices of whole-wheat toast, it goes especially well with a warming bowl of leek or onion soup. For an elegant lunch, I spoon ordinary mayonnaise-dressed egg salad into whole romaine lettuce leaves, line up red pepper rings and a couple of cold shrimp along the top of these filled boats, and toss the whole thing with bottled Italian salad dressing.

But my most memorable egg salad variation is this open-faced sandwich. I got the idea from a lunch at a restaurant in Copenhagen that serves 230 kinds of open-faced sandwiches. This one features egg salad full of crunchy, colorful vegetables and olives, heaped over baby spinach leaves on top of a square of whole-grain pumpernickel or black bread.

Egg and Vegetable Salad Sandwich

Ingredients

• 4 extra large eggs
• 1/3 cup grated carrot
• 1/3 cup finely chopped celery
• 2 Tbsp. chopped chives
• 3 Tbsp. finely chopped pitted Sicilian-style green olives
• 1 Tbsp. finely chopped shallots
• 1 Tbsp. plain yogurt
• 1 Tbsp. reduced-fat mayonnaise
• 1 tsp. Dijon-style mustard
• 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 4 slices thinly sliced square black or pumpernickel bread
• 2 cups fresh baby spinach
• 12 cherry or grape tomatoes, for garnish

Directions

Place 3 of the hard-cooked eggs in a mixing bowl. Halve the fourth, discard the yolk, and add the white to the bowl. Chop the eggs. Add the carrots, celery, chives, olives, shallots, yogurt, mayonnaise, mustard, and pepper and mix with a fork until well combined.

To serve, place a slice of the bread on each of 4 plates. Cover each with one-fourth of the spinach. Mound one-fourth of the egg salad on top of the spinach. Add 3 tomatoes to each plate and serve immediately.

Makes 1 1/2 cups, (4 servings).

Per serving: 112 calories, 4 g. total fat (1 g. saturated fat), 13 g. carbohydrate, 6 g. protein, 2 g. dietary fiber, 300 mg. sodium.

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Citrus BBQ Chicken

Ingredients

• 5 boneless chicken breast
• 1/2 cup BBQ sauce
• 1 tsp. orange peel
• 1/2 tsp. ginger
• 1 can pineapple rings (20 oz)

Directions

Mix BBQ sauce, peel and ginger. Grill or broil chicken brushing with 1/2 the mix (about 8 minutes, turn over do the same. Also when turned chicken over, also grill rings with light sauce on them.

By LRP from LWL, MA

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Sub Sandwiches

Ingredients

• 1 loaf French bread (1lb)
• 1/4 lb. thinly sliced fully cooked ham
• 1/4 lb. thinly sliced bologna
• 1/4 lb. thinly sliced hard salami
• 4 romaine lettuce leaves
• 6 slices Swiss cheese
• 6 slices Colby cheese
• 1 medium tomato, sliced

Directions

With a sharp knife, loaf in half lengthwise. On the bottom half, layer the ham, bologna, salami, romaine, cheese and tomato slices. Replace top. Secure with toothpicks if necessary. Cut into slices.

By Robin from Washington, IA

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Curried Chutney Spread

Ingredients

• 1 package cream cheese, softened (8 oz.)
• 2/3 cup sour cream
• 1 cup mango chutney
• 1 1/2 tsp. curry powder
• 1 cup salted cashew halves
• assorted crackers

Directions

In a small mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese and sour cream until smooth; beat in chutney and curry until blended. Just before serving, stir in cashews. Serve with crackers. Refrigerate leftovers.

By Robin from Washington, IA

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Zucchini Tea Crisps

Tea Crisps

Ingredients

• 1 cup margarine or butter
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tsp. grated lime peel
• 2 tsp. lime juice
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
• 3/4 cup zucchini squash, peeled, grated and drained

Directions

Lime Glaze

Ingredients

• 1 cup sifted confectioners' sugar
• 2 Tbsp. lime juice
• 1/2 tsp grated lime peel

Directions

By Babbie from Lemon Grove, CA

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Nana's Chicken Pie

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup pearl onions
• 1/2 cup chopped carrots
• 1/4 cup chopped green pepper
• 1/2 cup frozen peas, thawed
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup flour
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 1/4 tsp. pepper
• 2 cups chopped cooked chicken
• 1 1/2 cup flour
• 2 1/4 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/3 cup shortening
• 1/2 cup milk

Directions

Cook pearl onions and carrots in boiling water to cover 5 minutes. Add green pepper; continue to cook 3 minutes. Remove from heat, and drain. Add peas; set aside. Saute' 1/2 cup chopped onion in oil in a large skillet until tender and lightly browned. Remove half of onions to a paper towel; set aside for use in biscuits. Add 1/4 cup flour to onion and oil in skillet, stirring until smooth. Cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Gradually add broth, and cook stirring constantly, until mixture is thickened and bubbly. Stir in pepper. Add vegetables and chicken; simmer 5 minutes, stirring often. Pour into a lightly greased 9 inch square baking dish; set aside.combine 1 1/2 cup flour, baking powder, and salt; cut in shortening with a pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add milk and reserved onion, stirring just until dry ingredients are moistened. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead 4-5 times. Roll dough to 1/4 inch thickness; cut with a 2 inch round cutter. Arrange biscuits on top of chicken mixture; bake at 450 degrees F for 10-12 minutes or until biscuits are lightly browned.

By Robin from Washington, IA

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