Spinach & Walnut Chicken Roulades with Pan Gravy

Roulade... that sounds fancy doesn't it. I'm a little embarrassed to admit that I have never tried to roll anything inside meat before. It sounded delicious and it looked beautiful, but it seemed too intimidating.
I am now educated.
Had I known how easy this really was I would have been rolling meaty things long ago. It starts with violently beating an innocent piece of meat, and turns into something delicious... how can that be bad?! I know it sounds wrong, but I think this process will be my new mental coping mechanism for dealing with difficult people. Just imagine turning that mean spirited neighbor into a beautiful roulade. I feel better already!

This month I joined up with my friend and fellow blogger from Three and a Half Stones To Go to prove that holiday fare doesn't need to be filled with fat. Skinnygiving was a huge success!!


We limited our event to 4 dishes to prevent obnoxious amounts of leftovers. She created an amazing Brown Rice Stuffing with chicken sausage and apples and wow...it was so good. She also made a Crustless Fat Free Pumpkin Pie which I remade for a group tonight and they DEVOURED it. The bowl was literally scraped clean.

I tackled the green bean casserole and a dish to rival any turkey.
Spinach & Walnut Chicken Roulades with Pan Gravy
4 chicken breasts
1 package spinach
1 tbs garlic
1 tsp oil
Crumbled blue cheese
Walnuts
Toothpicks
1 cup chicken broth
1 tablespoon cornstarch
Place chicken in plastic wrap and use a rolling pin or saute pan to pound the chicken nice and flat. Season with salt and pepper and set aside.
In a saute pan add the oil and garlic, add spinach in handfuls and allow to wilt.
Then you start the fun assembly.
Divide your spinach into 4 segments. Each flattened breast gets one quarter of the spinach, some blue cheese and walnuts. This next part seemed intimidating before, but it's so simple. All you need to do is start rolling one end and secure with a toothpick.

Add the rolls to a heated pan (that you sprayed with olive oil) and allow them to get nice and golden on all sides. Cover and let cook an additional 5-10 minutes until the chicken is cooked thoroughly. Remove from pan and add the chicken broth. Bring to a boil and be sure to scrape the pan so your gravy will include all the delicious flavor left from the chicken.
In a cup whisk the cornstarch with cold water. Slowly add this mixture into the boiling stock. Whisk constantly until thick. Serve chicken topped with gravy.

The other dish I tackled that evening was a skinny green bean casserole. It was delicious and I promise to share it soon. For now I'll be dreaming of excuses to make these dishes again.

Have you made a roulade before?

Curried Butternut Bisque

I love this recipe because it is uses a lot of free exchanges. You can read more about it in my original post about butternut squash. In the meantime you must try this cold weather escape.

It's weird to look back and see how much I trouble I had with butternut squash, and compare it to how much I crave it now.

Curried Butternut Bisque
1 cup leftover roasted butternut squash
1 cup water
1 tsp chicken boullion powder
2 tbs shredded unsweetened coconut flake
3 tsp chopped ginger from the jar
1/2 tbs curry
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp olive oil
Combine leftover squash and water in a blender. I used the Magic Bullet and it was indeed magical. Blend until it resembles baby food and there are no visible chunks. Heat the ginger and coconut in olive oil in a small sauce pan for a few minutes. Pour in the squash blend. Add boullion, curry, cumin and stir until heated through.

Serve with 1 tbs fat free sour cream (free exchange) and enjoy.

What other ways do you enjoy butternut squash?

Latin Inspired Quinoa

What is Quinoa?
Well I just learned how to say it recently. It was rather embarrassing and the grocery store clerk looked at me as though I was speaking another language. For the record the correct way is ˈkiːnwɑ. I know this because she said it several times...and looked it up to make sure she wasn't a trickster.
Quinoa grains contain essential amino acids like lysine and good quantities of calcium, phosphorus, and iron. It's an ancient "grain" native to South America and was once called "the gold of the Incas," who recognized its value in increasing the stamina of their warriors. It has been shown to do many things including reduce migraines (due to it's high vitamin B content) and provide cardiovascular health. It's also gluten free!
Moral of the story is that it's good for you! Don't believe me read more here, here, and here.

Latin Inspired Quinoa
1 cup quinoa
2 cups chicken broth
3/4 cup chopped cilantro, fresh of course
1/2 cup chopped scallions
2 tablespoons lime juice
Salt to taste
Chopped tomatoes
Chopped green chiles
Chopped cucumber
Soak quinoa for 5 min (or longer if you forget about them) in the pan. (Soaking helps quinoa to cook evenly, and loosens up any residue of saponin, which can give a bitter taste.) Return to the pan, add broth and salt. Bring to simmer, cover and cook 20-25 minutes until all liquid is absorbed. Add cilantro, scallions and lime juice to the quinoa; mix and fluff with a fork. To serve, allow people to add their own tomatoes, chiles and cucumber. This would also be a great way to add in your leftover shredded carrots or chopped green peppers.

What's your favorite way to enjoy quinoa?

Fighting the War on Sugar

I have a major sweet tooth. Anyone around me can attest to that. The weird thing is that my daughter doesn't really like sweets. Perhaps it shouldn't be a surprise given the fact that I ate cake every day during the last 5 months of my pregnancy. The point here is that I LOVE cake... and sweets... and maybe I love them a little too much. It's the kinda love that has me dreaming about vacations together on an island in the sun. (Sorry family it's just me and the cake this time.)

So there are moments (a lot of moments) that I'm jealous of my daughter. I wish I didn't like sweets. There are many days when it feels like an addiction. In fact, research shows that sugar activates some of the same parts of the brain as heroin does. Heroin! So it's no wonder that when I get that hint of refined white sugar the gates open. Then I spend the next few days (sometimes weeks) trying to kill that craving.

We all get it I'm sure...maybe with different foods. Sometimes cravings are healthy and serve to tell us what our body needs. In the case of these sweets... well we just don't need them.

Here are a few tools that I found to help me get over the call of the sugar:

Infrared Sauna:
An Infrared Sauna uses infrared heaters to emit infrared radiant heat which is absorbed directly into the human body, unlike traditional saunas which heat the body indirectly via air or steam. Since saunas increase perspiration, they are able to liberate "toxins." For those of you in the Seattle/Tacoma area Eco Chic Salon & Spa is a great place to enjoy this type of sauna. When I was first diagnosed this really helped. I went about once a week for the first month and would encourage anyone I know to give it a try. It is by no means an instant fix, but it helped.

Sleep:
If I get plenty of sleep the cravings aren't as intense. However, I'm not good about getting enough sleep...not at all. On average I get about 6-7 hours. By no means is it reason to see a doctor, but I'm being honest in that I know it helps. Sometimes, something as simple as a quick nap can keep me from being waist deep in homemade marshmallows.

Vitamins:
This goes back to that whole "your body will tell you what it needs" philosophy. If I'm not getting enough potassium, my body should give me that you need a banana craving. Vitamin B has been particularly helpful, but I am also deficient on several B vitamins.  When I stay current on my vitamins (and I take a lot of them) cravings aren't deafening.

Healthy Snacks:
As a hypoglycemic it is important to eat every few hours. Skipping snacks causes blood sugar levels to dip which signals a craving that you need sugar. Each snack should contain a whole grain and a protein. This takes planning and it is important to keep emergency snacks on hand for when you might forget to pack something.

Recipe Makeovers:
Sometimes cravings are very specific. For example a few weeks ago I wanted pumpkin raisin cookies. I wanted them sooooo badly. Luckily I knew I could tweak it into a healthier version. Which I did, and it was exactly what I needed. If it's something you can't shake, and it has been around for days, try to reinvent it.

Water: 
This is my final line of defense. At this point I have the plate of cake in hand. It is nearly the point of defeat. However, if I can reach for a glass of water (or sometimes 2) I might be able to put it down and walk away. For me the odds are 50/50. That's not a great percent, but in all those cases where I still had the sweet, I ate much less of it. Give it a try sometime... it really does help.

Fighting the War on Sugar isn't easy
It's about finding what weapons work for you. It's about understanding your triggers and learning to avoid them. But more than anything it is about taking care of your body. You can read more about other options in fighting the war on sugar here.

What tools do you use to avoid sugar?