"Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner!"

A line from my husband's favorite movie, "21." And that's what we had last night, a chicken dinner. And it was, indeed, a winner! All my local grocery stores have had Foster Farms whole chickens on sale lately. A couple of days ago I was shopping and decided on a whim to pick up yet another whole chicken. Foster Farms is a California brand and all their fresh chicken products are free of the saline solution found in other brands. So when their chicken parts are on sale, I usually grab up several packages at a time.

Roasting a whole chicken is one of the easiest and tastiest meals for anyone watching their sodium intake. The chicken really does not need any salt if it is seasoned correctly. So many flavor combinations are possible: lemon with oregano or rosemary or thyme; tarragon with chopped shallots and artichoke hearts; Cajun or Creole; barbecue rub and/or sauce; poultry seasoning; South-of-the-Border chili powder; garlic... Basically, if you can dream it up, you can probably season a roast chicken with it. Of course, it goes without saying, that the seasoning blends should be salt free and any sauces should be extremely low in sodium content.

One of my favorite blends for whole roasted chicken is Penzy's Mural of Flavor. It's a mild all-purpose seasoning that's simply wonderful with chicken and pork. (It reminds me of my former favorite table salt, Vege Sal. I liked using it because it wasn't just straight salt. Even before the low sodium days I disliked the taste of a blanket of salt on my food. As a result, I rarely ever salted my food at the table. Whenever I felt something needed an extra punch at the table, I'd use Vege Sal.)

Preparing the 4-1/2 pound chicken was easy. I cut off the big globs of fat, removed the innards, and wiped it down (inside & out) with paper towels. Then I sprinkled and rubbed Mural of Flavor all over it. I placed the seasoned bird on a rack in a baking pan just a little bit larger than the chicken, and I put it uncovered in the refrigerator to completely dry out. I also placed two crumpled up paper towels in the cavity to absorb any excess moisture. About 45 minutes before roasting, I took the chicken out of the fridge to lose the chill. I also removed the paper towels from the cavity and seasoned it with some Mural of Flavor. I pre-heated the oven to 450 degrees and roasted the chicken breast side down for about 45 minutes. Then I flopped it over and continued roasting it for about another 20 minutes. I didn't use a thermometer, just wiggled the legs, took it out and let it rest.

While the chicken was resting, I made a quick side dish of Lower Sodium Stove Top Stuffing. When prepared according to package directions, it has about 250 mg. sodium per 1/2 cup serving. Whenever I make it, I always add some vegetables to cut the sodium content even more. This time I added about 3/4 cup each of chopped celery and onions that I sauteed in 2 tbsp. of unsalted butter. I also used Minor's low sodium chicken broth base for the liquid.

And there you have it. Chicken and stuffing served with a small salad. There are enough leftovers for tonight's dinner and chicken salad sandwiches for tomorrow's lunch. "Winner, winner, chicken dinner!"

Baking Marathon, Part 1

Fall has finally arrived in my neck of the woods and I’ve gotten busy baking. I really like to spend a couple of days in a baking marathon and then freeze everything. I especially enjoy having a variety of breakfast items in the freezer. That way my husband can help himself when he gets up in the morning (usually a couple of hours earlier than me). Then, we I finally drag myself out of bed, I can easily fix myself something too.

One of my favorite breakfast treats remains oatmeal scones. They’re not too sweet and chock full of old fashioned rolled oats. I’ve discovered another recipe that I really like. It’s from Quaker, the oatmeal folks. One thing I really like is that the scones are short & buttery not cake-like. Also, because the quantity of flour & oatmeal is less than my other recipe, the scones aren’t as huge or as filling.

The recipe can be found on the Quaker Oats site here. I’ve made some changes, though. First of all I used brown sugar because I like the flavor. I also used unsalted butter and the sodium free baking powder, Featherweight. Of course, I omitted the salt. The first time I made this recipe, I felt the scones were a bit too short and, therefore, very crumbly. So I’ve lessened the butter down to 7 tablespoons. I also use 1/4 cup of white whole wheat flour. Lately I’ve been including dried sour cherries. And, finally, I don’t sprinkle on any cinnamon/sugar topping, but I do brush the scones with cream before baking.

When my son & his family visited a few weeks ago I decided to give blueberry muffins a try. I found a “guaranteed" blueberry muffin recipe on the King Arthur Flour site. I followed the recipe exactly using the sodium free baking powder and yogurt. I didn’t sprinkle the muffins with sugar nor did I use any salt. I’ve explained before that my experiences using a sodium free baking soda product were not satisfactory, so I use the regular store-bought stuff. These turned out really well and were a big hit with my granddaughters.

Then I tried out an oatmeal muffin recipe that had been posted on the Harvest Forum. You can probably guess that I’m a sucker for oatmeal in baked goods, so I was sure I’d enjoy these muffins. I used brown sugar, plain yogurt, sodium-free baking powder and omitted the salt. I decided to make these with butterscotch chips (I added just a half cup because I figured the butterscotch chips would be really sweet). They came out perfectly. The oatmeal muffin part is not overly sweet. I think it’s a good basic recipe that could be adapted to include all kinds of add-ins.

And to finish off my quick bread baking marathon, I made the Cook’s Illustrated recipe for drop biscuits. I discovered this recipe a while ago and have been making it ever since. It’s easy because it doesn’t require patting out dough and the flavor is really good. I used the sodium free baking powder and Knudsen brand buttermilk because it's the lowest I’ve found in sodium. I also omitted the salt.

The thing that really sets this recipe apart from other drop biscuit recipes is the technique for combining the buttermilk and the butter. “When you stir slightly cooled melted butter into cold buttermilk, the butter will clump. Although this might look like a mistake, it's one of the secrets to this recipe. The clumps of butter are similar to the small bits of cold butter in biscuits prepared according to the traditional method and help guarantee a light and fluffy interior.”

Cook’s offers three flavorful variations – Bacon & Black Pepper, Cheddar & Scallion, and Parmesan & Rosemary. I’ve made the plain and cheddar & scallion versions. This time around I made a Parmesan & black pepper variation using only 1/4 cup of grated Parm. The suggested quantities are listed below:

6 strips bacon , cut in half lengthwise and then crosswise into 1/4-inch pieces
1 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper

1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese (2 ounces)
1/4 cup thinly sliced scallions

3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese (1 1/2 ounces)
1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary

Best Drop Biscuits
Makes 12 Biscuits. Published November 1, 2007. From Cook's Illustrated.

If buttermilk isn't available, powdered buttermilk added according to package instructions or clabbered milk can be used instead. To make clabbered milk, mix 1 cup milk with 1 tablespoon lemon juice and let stand 10 minutes. A 1/4-cup (#16) portion scoop can be used to portion the batter. To refresh day-old biscuits, heat them in a 300-degree oven for 10 minutes.

Ingredients:

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (10 ounces)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon sugar
3/4 teaspoon table salt
1 cup buttermilk (cold)
8 tablespoons unsalted butter , melted and cooled slightly (about 5 minutes), plus 2 tablespoons melted butter for brushing biscuits

Instructions:

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 475 degrees. Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt in large bowl. Combine buttermilk and 8 tablespoons melted butter in medium bowl, stirring until butter forms small clumps.

Add buttermilk mixture to dry ingredients and stir with rubber spatula until just incorporated and batter pulls away from sides of bowl. Using greased 1/4-cup dry measure, scoop level amount of batter and drop onto parchment-lined rimmed baking sheet (biscuits should measure about 2 1/4 inches in diameter and 1 1/4 inches high). Repeat with remaining batter, spacing biscuits about 1 1/2 inches apart. Bake until tops are golden brown and crisp, 12 to 14 minutes.

Brush biscuit tops with remaining 2 tablespoons melted butter. Transfer to wire rack and let cool 5 minutes before serving.

Tale of Three Vegetables

A couple of days ago I went into cooking marathon mode. I made some cracked wheat bread, pizza dough, and three vegetable dishes: Eggplant Bake, Summer Squash Casserole, and Braised Sweet & Sour Red Cabbage. The eggplant and squash were purchased from my local farmers market and the red cabbage came from the local grocery store. I made the tomato sauce for the eggplant and pizza from my home-grown tomatoes & basil.

I washed, halved, and seeded a pile of tomatoes and set them to cooking over a medium-high heat. I didn’t bother peeling them. As they cooked, they released a lot of liquid, so I took the pot cover off to let the tomatoes cook down. Eventually they began to thicken, and, at that time, I added some extra virgin olive oil, about three large handfuls of coarsely chopped fresh basil, and four minced garlic cloves. I also tossed in a sprinkle of red pepper flakes. I used tongs to remove some of the skins. Once the mixture had cooked down and reduced, I used my hand held blender to break up any tomato clumps and puree the remaining skins. The resulting salt-free sauce is perfect for pasta, pizza, and eggplant.

The eggplants I picked were small and firm, so I just peeled them and grilled them on my George Foreman grill. Then I layered the grilled eggplant slices with my tomato sauce and some thin slices of fresh mozzarella cheese. Fresh mozzarella is much lower in sodium than the regular stuff. I usually buy Mozzarella Fresca brand; it has only 95 mg. sodium per 1 oz. serving. I ended up with two layers of eggplant and cheese. Then I topped everything off with some homemade breadcrumbs tossed with olive oil, minced garlic, and a tablespoon of Parmesan cheese.

I wanted to try a low sodium version of a squash casserole I’d seen on many web sites. It contains squash, cream of mushroom soup, cheese, and stuffing mix. I had noticed last week that my local grocery store was now carrying the truly low sodium version of Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom Soup. In the past, if I wanted to use canned cream of mushroom soup, I’d pick Campbell’s Healthy Request with 470 mg. per ½ cup serving. But the ready-to-serve Low Sodium Cream of Mushroom Soup has only 60 mg. for the entire 10.5 oz. can. Before I’d only been able to get it online. Be forewarned, though. Without all the excess salt, the soup is pretty bland. So I livened things up a bit by adding a squirt of Worcestershire sauce.

Most of the squash casserole recipes I looked at called for boiling the squash and onions together until the vegetables were tender. Then draining, mashing, and finally combining with the soup. I decided to just saute the cubed squash with onions in some unsalted butter. I added some sliced mushrooms I had on hand too. Once the vegetables were almost tender, I added the soup and let everything cook over a medium-low heat until the vegetables were completely cooked (but not mushy). I plopped the squash mixture into a casserole dish and topped it with three ounces of shredded cheese – a mixture of extra sharp cheddar and naturally low sodium Swiss. Instead of stuffing mix, I combined some more homemade breadcrumbs with melted butter and hefty pinches of thyme and savory and sprinkled the mixture over the casserole.

Finally, I followed the red cabbage recipe I wrote about in 2008. It was the perfect accompaniment to the other creamy and cheesy vegetable dishes. I baked the two casseroles while the cabbage was simmering on the stove top. The great thing about this vegetable trio is that it made a tasty vegetarian dinner and the leftovers have been great for quick, no-fuss lunches.