Chicken and Vegetable stir fry and Cooking Twice: Am I really going to cook separate meals for me and the kids?

You know, just last week someone asked me if I tested my recipes before I published them.  This came as a shock to me, as I assumed that everyone KNEW that all my recipes are not just tested in my kitchen, but are in regular use in my kitchen!

 

So I am stating this for the record: every recipe I publish on my blog is a real recipe I use on a regular basis!

I've chosen this week to publish my Chicken and Vegetable stir fry because it is a great everyday meal, but can be made for Shabbat and for company!

Yochi's Chicken and Vegetable stir fry

Yochi’s Chicken and Vegetable Stir Fry

Ingredients:

·        Chicken quarters:  You need between an eighth to a quarter of the chicken per portion per person.

I and my whole family love chicken thighs and legs, so when I mention “chicken quarters” I mean the thigh-leg part of the chicken.  Usually I consider one chicken quarter as a one-portion meal size, however, as this is once again another recipe with a higher ratio of vegetables to chicken, I consider an eighth of a chicken to be a one-portion size. 

Try the dish yourself to determine if you need an eighth or a quarter of a chicken for your one-portion size and then multiply by the number of persons you will serve at the meal.

·        Large wok

·        Vegetable options: 1-2 squash, 1-2 zucchini, 3-4 carrots, half a head of broccoli, half a head of cauliflower, 2-3 onions, garlic, 2-3 red peppers, mushrooms*, 3-4 green onions, 1-2 stalks of celery

* A note about using mushrooms:  I've discussed mushrooms in previous articles.  Make sure to add them near the end of the cooking process as they tend to soak up all the liquid like a sponge. You can as many mushrooms as you like.

·        water

·        PAM

·        Basic spices:

o   garlic powder

o   freshly ground pepper

o   paprika

o   chopped fresh parsley

·        Ingredients for sauce:

o   1-2 tablespoons of each of sweet chili sauce and Dijon mustard (I love the Dijon with the whole mustard seeds)

o   1-2 tablespoons of soy sauce optional (if you want a saltier dish)

o   water

How to work:

·        Prepare all the ingredients before you begin to cook, as this dish cooks rather quickly in a wok.

·        Prepare the chicken: Remove the skin and the fat from each chicken quarter.  Chop the quarter up into three or four pieces, depending on the size of the chicken quarter. If the leg is large, chop it in half; if it is on the small side keep it whole.  The thigh can be cut along the bone socket to get two separate pieces and then the larger of these two pieces can be chopped in half again.

·        Select any or all of the vegetable options I listed above.

·        Slice all the vegetables into chunky pieces a little smaller and narrower than the smallest chicken piece.

·        Spray the wok with PAM and turn up the heat under the wok.

·        Add the chicken pieces to the wok. Make sure you do not crowd the wok with too many pieces of chicken, or they will not cook evenly.

If you have too many chicken pieces cook in batches and then return all the chicken to the wok before you add the vegetables.

·        Stir and turn the chicken frequently, using a wooden spoon, to avoid burning the pieces.  You can add another shpritz or two of PAM during the cooking process.

·        Once the chicken is golden brown, start to add the vegetables to the wok in the order they cook; harder vegetables that take longer to cook should be added first and then the softer vegetables.

·         Add handfuls/ladle spoonfuls of vegetables at a time. Mix well and then add another handful/ladle spoonful.   

·        As the vegetables cook they turn a deeper shade of their natural color, this is the time to begin to add your spices.  Stir continuously. 

·        Please note that the natural fat from the chicken (even though you removed the chicken skin and attached fat, there is still fat in the meat) will also add some juices to the wok.  

·        In a separate bowl mix just one to two tablespoons of the following: sweet chili sauce and Dijon mustard.  You can add soy sauce for a saltier flavor.

·        Blend well and then add in water, a few teaspoons at a time, until you get a smooth consistency.

·        Pour over the vegetable and chicken mixture and cook through, stirring frequently.

·        Once the chicken is completely cooked (the meat will be white not pink) through the dish is ready to serve.

Be'teyavon!

Cooking Twice: Am I really going to cook separate meals for me and the kids?

I gotta tell you that I swore that I would never, ever, never, no way, cook a meal for Sid and myself and another separate meal for my kids.  I actually kept this promise throughout the years the kids were living at home, simply because we never dieted!

I have to be honest, had Sid and I gone on a WW diet while the kids were living at home, I am not sure if I would have cooked separate meals.  But today I can tell you that I DO cook separate meals when the kids visit for Shabbat or Chag. 

Let me tell you, the change in my cooking style did not go unnoticed by the kids and when one of the gang heard that I was cooking sans oil, chicken skin, margarine, sugar and the list just seems to go on; he became “slightly” hysterical contemplating the horrors of a world without my Shabbat meals of meat, potatoes, kugels, pastas and all the other heavy-on-points dishes.

 

The idea that L’el Seder would not have the piled-high-to-the-sky courses including gefilte fish, soup, meat, chicken and side dishes nearly did him in.  His hysteria went from bad to worse when he thought that on Shavuot he (and perhaps the rest of the family) would be bereft of our annual cholesterol fest.  For the innocent this means two full meals of five-cheese lasagna, two additional pasta dishes replete with cheeses and sauces, two cheesy soups, challah, Focaccia and an obscene cheese cake, oh and did I mention ice cream for dessert because cheese cake alone cannot be considered a “dessert”?

 

So on Pesach I cooked my traditional food menu and IN ADDITION, I cooked points-friendly options for Sid and I.  Everyone was happy and no one felt their lifestyle and may I say, their very existence was under threat.  Shavuot was already a different point in our journey, so while I cooked food that we could eat and the traditional heart-stopping menu.  I partook of many of the usual Shavuot foods, in smaller quantities, but I did eat.

The lesson here is simple: you can cook two different meal versions for Chag and Shabbat, when you need and want to.  You can also partake of the regular food if your per-portion eating habits have changed and you feel comfortable doing so.  And as always there is a third option (ah, don’t you just love “Door Number Three”?) You can also say: Today I want to eat this food and I want to enjoy it.   Tomorrow I will watch what I eat and go back to my regular eating habits. This is acceptable so long as “tomorrow” does not become a habit – if it works for you – go for it!

 

One last thing I learned from one of my third grade teachers (her name escapes me now), if you are going to cheat on your diet/enjoy yourself/allow yourself  then do it with high quality, deliciously, worthwhile food.  Don’t grab a points-heavy low quality food item (store-bought not-really-so-good pizza or cake or whatever) – go for the best – make it as creamy, delicious and sinful as you can find – ENJOY IT for crying out loud!!!

Surviving Weddings, Simchas and holidays and oh yes, cooking chicken breasts

There are many hints, tricks, views, theories, attitudes and philosophies behind losing weight and keeping it off.  Today I would like to discuss the philosophy of NEVER COMING TO A MEAL HUNGRY and by inference how to survive the food wars found at weddings, simchas and holidays.   I have to tell you that I used to believe in the unshakable truth that:

1)   You came to the table hungry (starving!) and that you ate until the serving plates could no longer be re-re-refilled and your own plate was shiny and clean (once again).

2)   And bizarrely, if you had no leftover food at the end of such a meal, it was a sign that you DID NOT MAKE ENOUGH FOOD to begin with.  The theory behind this bit of insanity was that you needed to make masses, mountains and canyons of food that would more than match the substantial appetites of the number of diners invited.  Therefore if food was leftover it meant that there was enough food (impossible!).  The idea that any dish was leftover because it did not taste good is simply not part of the Jewish psyche and therefore ridiculous.

Now I believe, understand, have put into practice and therefore have made it one of my everyday actions: I NEVER come to the table hungry.  Let me repeat that: I never come to the table hungry. This means that I always have three meals a day and usually two snack/very light meals. Heck, I never used to eat breakfast, so three meals a day is light years, eons away, from how I used to eat!

I make sure I have breakfast and lunch even on Fridays when Shabbat comes in early!  We sit down and eat a sandwich (light, whole wheat bread, good Dijon mustard, fresh spinach or lettuce, tomatoes and pickles (me, not Sid) and 100 grams of low fat, thinly sliced turkey pastrama *.  Insanely low in points and WHEN EATEN S-L-O-W-L-Y - very satisfying.  We make the time to prepare a light meal and then sit down at the kitchen table and eat it. 

We try never to come to any table starving.  The trick is in the portion sizes.  Don't come to the table hungry, but also don't come to the table full.  It's a balancing act.

Since we began our journey, we have added on light lunches before big meals on Erev Shabbat, before Purim Seuda, Erev Pessach (a stir fry of pastrama and vegetables and spices) and even a fruit and an energy bar when we were on the run.

If we are going away for Shabbat, we either eat before we leave or in the car.  We do not enter someone else's home famished.

Now, let's get to this week's recipe.  I want to continue to talk about chicken, this time chicken breasts.

Yochi's Chicken Breast Salad

Yochi's Chicken Breast Salad

Hints and Tips:

·        This recipe includes salad dressing.  I never make salad dressings and I never add them to vegetable salads, let alone chicken salad recipes, but this dressing a MUST for this dish!

·        Soaking the chicken breasts in a marinate all night or a few hours before starting to prepare this dish is nice, but not required.  I want life to be easy, not make it any harder than it already is.

·        You must work with a wok or any wide deep frying pan to make sure the chicken comes out cooked, light and moist.

·        Always cook with wooden spoons.  These utensils do not have sharp edges and will not cut up or mush your food.

·        Working with raw meat/chicken and vegetables:  This is a very important: ALWAYS keep and cut raw meat separate from raw vegetables.  This means you should cut the raw meat and then place it in a bowl.  If you only have one cutting board, wash it (and your knife) very well in very hot water and soap before cutting the vegetables on it.

·        This is not a dish that can be warmed up and eaten the next day.  I do make enough for an additional meal, (usually the next day) but I serve it room-temperature.  Just take it out of the fridge an hour or so before you are ready to eat.  It will not be as tasty the next day.

·        I buy chicken breasts once or twice a month.  I have the butcher prepare the breasts as schnitzel (deboned, sliced and banged down) and then have the schnitzel packaged in bags of 2-serving portions each (about 150-250 grams for two slices of breast).  These servings are wrapped in plastic wrap, which I then put in individual plastic bags that can be easily taken out of the freezer and either defrosted in the fridge or in the micro.

·        When adding water to sauces - instead of oil – add only a tablespoon at a time, mix and then check the consistency.  It is very easy to end up with a watery, unappealing mess.  Work carefully and check the consistency.  You can always add more water. You cannot remove water!

Ingredients:

1.   Chicken breasts (about  ~250 grams is enough for between two and four portions depending on the amount of fresh vegetables used)

2.   Marinate for chicken before cooking (very optional): 1-2 tablespoons of soy sauce and some water

3.   Chicken sauce:

·        2 table spoons teriyaki sauce

·        2 table spoons sweet chili sauce

·        water

4.   Sliced onions and/or green onions (can be stir fried with the chicken and/or added to the salad)

5.   Spinach or lettuce (very fresh, firm leaves)

6.   Tomatoes (I always prefer cherry tomatoes; there is virtually no waste and I use all the less-than-perfect tomatoes for soups and sauces)

7.   Cucumbers (I never peel cucumber, unless I am making sushi)

8.   Optional salad items: orange slices, carrots

9.   For the salad dressing:

·        mayonnaise (any low fat version)

·        Dijon mustard

·        Balsamic vinegar

·        Spices: garlic powder, freshly ground pepper, paprika

·        Chopped fresh parsley (optional)

·        water

10.                PAM

How to work:

1.   Slice the defrosted chicken breasts into thin, pinky-sized slices.

2.   If you want to leave the slices in marinate for a few hours or overnight, simply mix the soy sauce and water and pour over the sliced chicken breasts.  I stopped doing this and the chicken is fine and I cut out preparation time. 

In any case, if you insist on the marinate stage: when you are ready to cook the chicken, take the chicken slices out of the marinate and put into the hot wok.  Do not save or reuse this marinate, throw it out immediately.

3.   Place the wok on the largest flame on your stove and turn up the heat.  Spray with a shpritz of PAM. 

4.   Add the chicken so that the slices cover the wok without over lapping or touching and allow each piece to be individually cooked. 

If you have too many slices and/or your pan is too small for all the slices, cook in batches.  Remove each batch to cook a fresh batch and then once all the chicken is cooked, return all the chicken to the pan.

5.   Continuously toss the chicken with a wooden spoon to nearly-brown on all sides.

6.   Once the chicken if fully cooked, you can add sliced onions/green onions to the wok and stir fry them along with the chicken. (You can also add sliced onions to the fresh salad.) The amount of onion is totally up to you.

How to slice an onion (I know everyone is born with this innate knowledge!):  Cut the ends off the onion and peel the outer, "dirty" skin.  Slice the onion in half from top to bottom.  Then continue to slice the onion – top to bottom – into consistently thinner slices.

7.   Next mix the chicken sauce in a separate bowl: 2 table spoons teriyaki sauce, 2 table spoons sweet chili sauce and enough water to make a loose sauce. Add only a few drops of water at a time until you get a loose medium brown sauce. 

8.   Pour the sauce over the chicken (and onions).  Cook the sauce until it thickens, but does not evaporate.  You must constantly stir the chicken or it will burn and/or dry out.  If the sauce gets too thick, add a bit more water.

9.   Once the chicken is cooked, take the wok off the flame and allow to cool.

10.                In a separate (large) bowl, slice the vegetables into thin, but large slices: fresh onions, spinach or lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers and optional salad items.

11.                Toss together.

12.                In a small bowl mix the salad dressing ingredients: mayonnaise, Dijon mustard, balsamic vinegar, spices and water. This should be a watery sauce.

13.                Next add the chicken (and onion) and its sauce to the salad bowl and mix gently.

14.                Pour the salad dressing over the entire dish and toss well.  Serve immediately!

* I  am calling it "pastrama" and not pastrami, because pastrami to me is a sliced meat - real meat, not made of chicken or turkey (what was it made of??), that was sliced hot and included in a deli sandwich of immense proportions (that no human mouth to could open wide enough to bite off a chunk). Pastrama is made of turkey meat and comes in a low fat, thinly sliced version.  Pastrami is New York and unhealthy.  Pastrama is Israeli and healthy!

Enjoy!  Do you have any questions? Any comments?  Write me or facebook me!  B'TeyAvon!

I am a cookbook junkie – so what recipe will I serve up this week?

In an effort to provide full disclosure, I must admit that I am a cookbook junkie.  I cannot pass a cookbook without picking it up, flipping through it and of course, buying it. The older the cookbook, the crazier the recipes, the better! 

My favorite haunt for buying cookbooks is my favorite second-hand book store in Tel Aviv: Halper's Books http://www.halpersbooks.com/.  It is here that I have bought a bizarre range of cookbooks from Chinese to Japanese to author-signed editions of Italian cookbooks to the Soparano cookbooks – (both The Soprano's Family Cookbook and Entertaining with the Sopranos and bought brand new, by the way), vintage cookbooks from the 1930s with black and white photos of good wives in frilly aprons and information on how to be a 'good hostess' and books with personalized inscriptions from mothers to daughters. 

I have been told that I have the largest collection of tref cookbooks found in a frum home in the entire Middle East - but of course that is another story.

My cookbook habit has gotten so bad that I have begun to buy cookbooks in languages I can barely read, just because I enjoy the pictures and can brag about my habit.  Case in point is a German-language Polish Jewish cookbook, Küche Der Polinschen Juden, replete with staged scenes of Jewish life with obviously gentile actors in fake beards published in Warsaw.

When Sid and I began our WW journey in November 2013, I began an additional journey through all my cookbooks and recipe files and recipe cards looking for points-friendly recipes and cooking methods that would lend themselves to our new lifestyle.  I found nothing satisfying: no endless supply of kosher recipes, no real cooking and meal preparation tips and hints and no interesting variety.

I quickly came to the realization that I needed to create my own library of recipes.  Each week I hope to answer that need with a new recipe and also tips and hints that have worked for us.

This week's tip: Perhaps one of the single most basic tenets of the WW way of eating is PORTION CONTROL and being aware of what we put into our mouths.

For us portion control began with measuring portions – yes I now measure tablespoon portions onto a plate, instead of ladle spoon portions.  Portion control has also given new meaning to that old saying: "chew your food".  As someone who loved to eat, I never realized how important chewing your food is.  I now enjoy what I eat – because I can actually TASTE it.  When I feel myself hurrying up, I set down my fork and take a sip or two or three of water and then begin again.

I know this also helps you know when you are full, but that was secondary for me.

For me it all began with chicken.  I always hear that just about everything on earth, from snake to ant, tastes "like chicken", so let's talk chicken. 

By the way, in our house "chicken" is the hind quarter thigh and pulka (for the innocent: chicken leg).  I do use chicken breasts but that's another blog article.  We brought up our kids on thighs and pulkas and all they could assume is that a live chicken had a head and six hind quarters. This is a BIG mistake!  If you are just starting your family make sure your kids get used to eating chicken breasts, especially if you like the thighs.  Believe me buying whole chickens is much cheaper!

I must admit to everyone that one of the HARDEST things for me to give up was the skin of the chicken thigh.  I love it.  I loved it and will probably always love it.  The first week I cooked WW-style, I cooked the chicken with the skin and then removed it before I ate it.  I am pretty sure I heard the angels in heaven cry. 

By the second week I was removing the skin and fat from the chicken and have done so religiously ever since. (Now aren't I a good girl?)

To be fair I stopped pouring heavy sauces on chicken many years ago.  I believe in cooking chicken "au naturale"; just good virgin olive oil and fresh spices.  The problem was that I stopped using just a sprinkling of olive oil and added way, way, way too much oil! (Sin #1 the use of too much olive oil: now expunged.)

As I said, I now remove the skin and underlying fat from the chicken quarter before I cook it. 

Yochi's Chicken and Vegetables

Yochi's Chicken and Vegetables (the pasta is points-friendly and the recipe will be found in a future article)

How to cook chicken in the oven: 

Ingredients:

·        Roasting pan, large enough to comfortably hold the desired quantity of chicken and vegetables without stuffing the pan

·        Parchment paper to line the pan

·        Chicken thighs and legs (in quarters or eights)

·        PAM

·        Any spices that you fancy: such as freshly ground pepper, good quality paprika, garlic powder, a touch of ginger, as well as fresh parsley, basil and the like (I rarely add salt, koshered chicken has enough salt on its own)

·        Hearty root vegetables sliced thickly: butternut squash, carrots, pumpkin and in moderation: potatoes and sweet potatoes (I don't add them)

·        Soft vegetables (nearly any vegetable you fancy), including onions, mushrooms, garlic cloves, quartered cabbage, broccoli and more

How to work:

1.   When cooking chicken in the oven you must be very, very careful not to dry it out.  The best method to prevent dried out chicken is to spray the chicken with PAM (my new best friend) and add just a sprinkling of spices and WATCH your chicken.  The spices can be anything from fresh cracked pepper to good quality Hungarian paprika and freshly chopped parsley or basil. 

2.   A great way to improve the taste of chicken is to first line the roasting pan with vegetables and then place the raw chicken on top.  When working with this method, first place a sheet or two of parchment paper in your pan and then select hearty root vegetables that can be cut into "nice" chunks or thickly sliced and will cook roughly for the same length of time it takes the chicken to cook, without falling apart.  These vegetables include: butternut squash (more on this vegetable in later articles), carrots and thickly sliced pumpkin and the like.  I have given up potatoes and sweet potatoes (and I know there is no reason to, it is just better for ME), but they can be added in moderation as well. Spray everything with PAM and then you can sprinkle on any spices you wish.

3.   Bake in a preheated oven to 180°C for about  40-45 minutes.  Cooking time may vary according to oven, roasting pan material (glass or metal) and thickness of chicken. Begin checking the chicken after about 30 minutes.

4.   About half way through the cooking time (the chicken is just beginning to change from white to slightly golden) you can add the soft vegetables, such as onions, tomatoes, mushrooms, garlic cloves, quartered cabbage and more.  Place these vegetables all around the pan.  You can even place some carefully underneath the chicken.  You can also give another spritz of PAM and move the vegetables around a bit to make sure they all get their fair share of the chicken juices and spices.

Hints and Tips:

·        I strongly recommend that you do not add eggplant slices as these have a nasty habit of turning bitter during the baking process.  I will discuss the best way to work with eggplants in future articles. 

·        You notice that I did not talk about "covering the chicken" – I don't or rarely ever cover this kind of chicken during the cooking process.  The caveat is that so long as I am staying in the kitchen during the cooking process, I don't cover my chicken.

If I am throwing the chicken in the oven and going off to do more important jobs like saving the world; then I will cover the chicken from the onset and set the oven to shut off 5-10 minutes before the chicken will be done and allow the chicken to continue cooking in the hot oven. 

Obviously once the chicken is done, I do cover the chicken and refrigerate it.

·        I think that just about everyone knows how to tell when chicken is "done", but just to make sure: chicken is properly baked and cooked when a fork inserted into the thickest part of the thigh causes clear juices (not red or pink juices) to flow from the chicken.

·        Having said this, if you are going to be reheating your chicken on Shabbat (on a blech or a platta), I suggest you take your chicken immediately out of the oven once it is done.  Leaving the done chicken in a hot oven (even if it is shut off) will cause the chicken to start to dry out.

I want to tell you that cooking for our "new" lifestyle requires a bit more effort and requires a bit more time (when I started out it took A LOT more time) and requires more attention and thought, but it is WORTH EVERY MINUTE OF THE EXTRA TIME.