Crock Pot Chicken Paprikash

The Deb knows she's been AWOL for a while, but it's been a real emergency, kids! She's gotten all your cards, letters and emails, begging for more, so she's back, don't you worry. Sometimes, when maintaining an active lifestyle and good eating habits, it's important to go with what you know, and this, sadly for you (loyal readers), means that the Deb just goes on auto-pilot. She makes all her tried-and-trued dishes with some repetition, in order to stay the course. There hasn't been anything good and new to share with ya'll, no matter how much she loves you! But now she's back with a new chicken recipe that you're gonna love -- it's so easy and so creamy delicious.

Crock Pot Chicken Paprikash

You'll need:

cooking spray (go ahead and spray your crock pot)
2 C. mushrooms, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
1 small garlic clove, minced
1 small jar pimentos, chopped, drained
1 T. paprika
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 C. chicken broth
1 lb. chicken tenders, uncooked, in long strips
1 T. flour
1/2 C. Fat free sour cream

Coat a skillet with your cooking spray and heat over medium. Add mushrooms, onion, garlic and pimentos (this drives my poor husband crazy because it smells so good and yet dinner isn't for another 6 hours! If this happens to you, do what I do and make him a nice omlette for lunch using a few of the ingrediants); saute 5 minutes. Stir in spices and cook another minute. Spoon all this into a crock pot and add the broth. Add in the chicken and cover, cooking for 5 -- 6 hours on LOW.

Just before supper time, make yourself a nice loaf of bread and while that's cooking, stir together the flour and sour cream -- this will keep the cream from curdling when heated. Trust me: few things are as actively disgusting as curdled sour cream. Stir this into your chicken mixture, cover and cook another 10 minutes, perfect for while your bread is cooking.

Spoon yourself a big helping of 1 1/2 C. (makes about 4 servings) and it's only 215 calories (4 WW points), loaded with flavor and goodness. Sop up the extra creaminess with your bread!

Easy Bread Spread

This is one of my very favorite Dainty tricks: I buy a nice loaf of "Take and Bake" bread (get the whole wheat kind for extra fiber!) from the bakery of my grocery story (the beloved Harris Teeter) and dress it up for company. This spread I created the other night is delicious and easy. You can make huge batches of it and refrigerate it -- as I used to do with the full-fattening version I once made. It's only 1 point on WW, and around 100 calories (estimated). Plus the whole Wheat bread, that makes an easy and delicious 3 points for 1/4 a slender loaf!

Bread Spread

Preheat your broiler to 500.

You'll need:

1 baked baguette, whole wheat, preferably
1/2 lemon: the zest and juice
1 -- 2 oz Feta cheese (you can use flavored or regular, depending on what flavor medley you want with the main dish)
1 triangle of "Laughing Cow" lite cheese -- any flavor!
1 -- 2 T. minced garlic (to taste)
freshly chopped basil, parsley or chives -- about 1 -- 2 T. each, or whatever you may be in the mood for.
1/4 C. fat-free butter spray (Parkay or I Can't Believe It's Not Butter, or you can substitute margarine of any brand, so long as it's softened before you toss it in the food processor)

This is a recipe full of variables, which you can use to your advantage. If you want to make a garlic bread, then use more garlic, and season it with chopped chives and parsley, plus use the garlic flavored Laughing Cow cheese. If you want a lighter, herbier taste, go with plain cheese, chopped basil and then add a little salt and pepper. Be creative! If I'm serving a heavy, flavorful dish, I go with a plainer bread, whereas if I'm serving a more bland pasta dish, I serve the garlic flavor.

First slice your baguette down its full-length so you've got two long, even halves of the loaf. Then gently score each half into 8 equal portions (so you can easily cut it into pieces later, and also to allow the spread to melt into these cracks). Now toss your lemon zest, juice, and cheese into the food processor and let them get good and blended. Finally blend in the butter substitute (or margarine) and get the spread nice and combined (using your spatula to smoosh down unruly ingredients if necessary in the blending process). Take the spread and divide it, spreading each half evenly over your baguette halves. Then broil the bread 5 inches from the heat, about 5 minutes or until golden and bubbly.

This is so good, my husband always goes back for seconds, and he's not even a bread freak like I am!

Tis the Season

Because your Deb has been considerably more busy this year than last, Deb has realized that she has not accomplished as much baking as she'd like for the Holiday season. So the Deb has made an executive decision -- if you're going to bring baked goods to the office, it's acceptable to use boxed items. SO LONG AS you also add in your own ingrediants and put some genuine love and care into the presentation. No flopping the cookies down on the communal snack table on a paper plate. It's untidy.

That being said, I realized that there are several "Quick Bread" options in the grocery store, and I've been using these to create Holiday Breads for my faculty lounge and for my husband's office. Here are some ideas for quick and delicious ways to look like a gourmet to your friends at work!

Holiday Bread

Preheat oven according to box's instructions.

1 box Cranberry Quick Bread (or similar -- I've been using Pillsbury because they've been on sale)
2 T. honey
1/4 C. dried cranberries
1/4 C. chocolate chips
1/2 C. chopped nuts (walnuts or pecans work best)
2 eggs, oil and water (again, follow the directions on the back for this part)

Combine all ingrediants and bake (usually around 35 -- 45 minutes). When bread is cooled, combine 4 TBS. of powdered sugar with 2 T. lemon juice. Whisk into a glaze and drizzle over finished bread. This is like a fruitcake except moist and edible.

Tonight I'm making a banana bread with real mashed bananas stirred in, topped with pecans and caramel frosting. I'll let you know how it turns out!