Our feature recipe for March is Fiesta Skillet Dinner. Fixing up the recipe was easy while following the simple directions. The recipe calls for 2 cups of cooked chicken. I decided to cook boneless, skinless chicken breasts, but you can use packaged, precooked chicken or precooked canned chicken.

While cooking the chicken, make sure the raw chicken reaches an internal temperature of at least 165°F. Poke a meat thermometer in the middle of the chicken to test for doneness. Overall, the recipe took about 30 minutes to cook from start to finish. Cooking the boneless skinless chicken breasts took the longest amount of time. To save time with cooking, I suggest cutting the raw chicken into cubes before cooking.

This dish is relatively inexpensive. The cost per serving is only $1.26 and 1 ½ cups is one serving.

This dish is loaded with flavor from the creamy cheddar cheese to the mild spice from the tomatoes and chili powder! My fiancé was very pleased with the robust flavor and dished up a second helping! Pair the dish with crunchy, raw vegetables such as carrots and slices of green pepper. Add a fruit for sweetness like a vanilla banana pudding parfait! If you are looking for a simple way to curb your taco or burrito craving, try the Fiesta Skillet Dinner today!

Guest Blogger,

Allyson Woltman , Iowa State University Dietetic Intern

Fiesta Skillet Dinner

This quick soup is made from garbanzo beans, which are also called chickpeas.  All my adult life I have avoided garbanzo beans because I thought they were too starchy but now I like them.  Maybe adult tastes change just like kids. Like all legumes these beans are high in protein and fiber and low in fat.

There are two features of this recipe that make it a winner.  First, it uses only one pan, and second, it calls for ingredients I keep in stock, except for the zucchini.

Since I don’t want to struggle with the winter weather and fortunate enough to have power, I think I will make some for lunch.  Instead of the zucchini I think I will add some frozen peas.

Quick Garbanzo Bean Soup

Serves: 8 | Serving Size: 1¼ cups | Per Serving: $.51

Ingredients:

• ½ onion (about ½ cup)
• 3 garlic cloves or ½ teaspoon garlic powder
• 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
• 1 can (14.5 ounce) low sodium vegetable or chicken broth
• 1 can (14.5 ounce) diced tomatoes
• 2½ cups water
• 1 can (15.5 ounce) low sodium garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
• ¾ cup sliced carrots (about 12-15 baby carrots)
• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup whole-wheat pasta (rotini, shells, etc.)
• 1 small zucchini, sliced (about 1-2 cups sliced)

Directions:

1. Wash, peel, and chop onion. Peel and mince garlic cloves.
2. Heat oil in a large saucepan. Add onion and garlic, and cook over medium low heat for 5 minutes.
3. Add broth, tomatoes, and water to saucepan. Stir in garbanzo beans, carrots, and seasonings.
4. Cook on medium high heat about 5 minutes.
5. Stir in pasta and zucchini. Reduce heat to medium low.
6. Simmer about 10 minutes or until the pasta is tender.
7. Serve immediately or refrigerate.

Our featured recipe this month, Sweet and Sour Rice Dinner, could be doubled or tripled for make ahead meals. The recipe includes ingredients for a tasty sweet and sour sauce but you could also use a bottled version if you prefer. The dish goes together smoothly if you measure and prepare all ingredients ahead of time.

If you have already cooked chicken to use just cook the sauce ingredients (step 6) and stir in the chicken and veggies. Cook for about 5 minutes to heat and serve over rice.

All you need to make this a full meal is some fruit and a glass of milk.

Sweet and Sour Rice Dinner

Serving Size:  2/3 cup rice, 1¼ cup topping

Servings:  5

Ingredients

• 16 ounces chicken (skinless, boneless)
• 1 bag (16-ounce) frozen stir-fry veggies
• ¼ cup prepared sweet and sour sauce
• OR make your own mixture
• ¼ cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 2 tablespoons vinegar
• ¼ cup water
• 1½ tablespoon reduced sodium soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon ketchup
• 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
• 2 cups instant uncooked brown rice
• 1 can (8-ounce) pineapple chunks with juice

Directions

1. Cut chicken into ¾ inch pieces. Wash your hands thoroughly.
2. Remove stir-fry veggies from freezer to thaw.
3. Optional: Make sweet and sour sauce. Mix the sugar and cornstarch in a small bowl. Stir in water, soy sauce, vinegar, and ketchup. Set aside.
4. Heat oil in skillet over medium heat. When oil is hot, add chicken and cook until done. Remove chicken to a bowl and set aside. Set frying pan aside.
5. Heat water for rice to boiling. Add rice. Let rice cook according to the package directions.
6. Return skillet (used to cook chicken) to the stove. Add sauce ingredients from above. Cook over medium high heat. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly OR add the prepared sweet and sour sauce.
7. Stir in the pineapple (undrained), vegetables, and chicken. Reduce heat to medium-low. Cook about 5 minutes.
8. Serve chicken and veggie mixture on top of the rice.

Our featured recipe this month starts with a package of macaroni and cheese.   Add in cooked beef, pork or chicken (beans for a vegetarian meal) plus some vegetables and you have a filling meal that takes 10 minutes to make and costs just $0.82 per serving.  This meal will be simpler if the next time you cook meat and vegetables, you prepare extra.  Then all you have to do is cook the macaroni and stir everything together.

Meat and Veggie Mac

Ingredients

• 1 7 1/4 ounce package macaroni & cheese mix
• 1 16-ounce package frozen mixed vegetables
• 1 1/2 cups chopped cooked beef, pork, or chicken
• 1/4 cup nonfat milk
• 1/8 teaspoon garlic or onion powder

Instructions

1. Cook macaroni in large saucepan as directed on package. After about 5 minutes, add the frozen vegetables and continue cooking until macaroni is tenderand vegetables are cooked; drain.
2. Return macaroni and vegetables to the pan. Add the meat.
3. Stir the cheese sauce mix, milk, and garlic or onion powder together. Stir into macaroni mixture. (Omit the butter/margarine recommended on the package).
4. Cook over low heat for 1 to 2 minutes or until heated through, stirring occasionally.

   

Stacia Sanny and our nutrition staff in Polk County used the menu below to serve 50 people at a get acquainted activity.  We wanted to recruit families and show volunteers at the First Assembly of God Church in Des Moines about EFNEP (Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program).

The recipes are on the SpendSmart EatSmart recipe page except for the Garden Salad.  You could substitute carrot/celery sticks for that.  The recipes are easy to multiply to match your group size.

• 3 Can Chili.  Cans of beans, corn and tomatoes with chili powder.  Reduce the sodium by using frozen corn if you like. To go really inexpensive, cook dry beans instead of using canned.
• Splendid Fruit Salad.  For 50 people you would probably use 25-30 fruits.
• Garden Salad (lettuce mix out of a bag, chopped tomatoes and carrots, dressing)
• Pumpkin Apple Cake.   Two cakes will do it.  Sprinkle with powdered sugar if you want. 

Here’s what Stacia reported after the event.
We received wonderful comments. They loved the cake . . . and couldn’t believe that it was considered a healthy snack. We multiplied the recipes about 13 times (chili and fruit salad). We actually had leftovers. The chili was so easy — and the fact that you could see vegetables in it already made it different than normal chili. The recipe uses corn besides the usual tomatoes and meat.

We had a number of people ask for the recipes so they could make them at home!

- pointers from Peggy

It’s hard – balancing all the demands and still creating something important – family meal time.  Here are some ideas to cut down your time in the kitchen, and avoid costly trips through the drive up.

Make a plan. When you plan your meals and your grocery list ahead, you’ll ensure peace of mind that you have everything you need plus save time by avoiding extra trips to the store.

Keep meals simple. My rule of thumb is one thing from each food group: protein, milk, bread, vegetables and fruit.  This could include items as easy as cut up fruit, raw vegetables, whole wheat bread, and a glass of milk to go along with your protein.

Cook once, eat twice.

• A roast cooked on the weekend can provide many options for additional meals: mix with vegetables, potatoes and/or rice for a casserole, make beef and noodles, beef sandwiches, or fried rice with beef.
• Ground beef cooked ahead can turn up as sloppy Joes, a pizza topping, in chili, or to “beef up” spaghetti sauce.
• Cooked chicken is great in quesadillas, chicken noodle or rice soup, stir fry with vegetables and rice, on top of salads, or spiced up on nachos.
• Extra pasta has endless possibilities and with jarred sauces, you can have almost a gourmet meal in minutes. Add your extra chicken or beef and you have nearly all the makings of a soup or a casserole for another day.

And on that other day, you can enjoy time preparing fruit, getting drinks and laughing with your kids while the soup warms or casserole bakes.

Nebraska Extension has a web site called Cook It Quick.  You’ll find lots of ideas, plus a monthly newsletter you can sign up for.

pointers from Peggy

• Money spent on candy and costumes. According to the Wall Street Journal about $66.28 per person or $5.9 billion (up a billion from last year).
• Kids being encouraged to take candy from strangers.
• Tubs of candy around before, during, and after the holiday.

It’s not that I don’t like to party or have fun, but what I remember of Halloween was digging through my parents’ closets or going to Goodwill looking for items to make a costume. Sometimes my mom and I worked together to make my costume, and it was fun working with her. Instead of trick or treating, my family attended a neighborhood party. We worked together to make special Halloween treats to take to the party, and some years we helped decorate for it. At the party we would run around outdoors playing hide and seek or scavenger hunt. We would carve pumpkins, paint faces, dunk for apples, have a scarf tied over our eyes and stick our hands into bowls of eyes, brains, etc. I don’t remember all the details, but I do remember my parents and siblings all having fun together.

If you are interested in some great party activity and food ideas, Clemson Extension has a new publication, Healthy Halloween Parties and Meals for Children.

-pointers from Peggy

The new site’s content is focused in three areas: Plan, Shop and Eat. To encompass this new approach, the site tagline is now: “3 Easy Steps to Healthy Meals.”

The web site is designed to appeal to families who want to eat healthy on a budget. Please use the question/comment button to let us know what you think.

-pointers from Peggy

Eating is another routine that changes during the summer. Kids often get up later since they don’t have to go to school, they may skip breakfast, and just snack all day instead of eating meals.   

Sitting down to plan lunch meals with your kids is a good idea. This way the menu includes foods they like and can make themselves. As for snacks, consider preparing two snack boxes—one for the refrigerator and one for the cupboard. Parents or adults choose what goes in the box and children choose what they would like to eat from the box. The University of Missouri Extension has a handout called Pack a snack box with healthy ideas for getting started. 

Remember, you are in charge of buying food. If you only buy healthy foods, that’s what the kids will have to eat.

Next week, recipes for kids…

-pointers from Peggy

The book is interesting, but some of the choices they give fall in the category of the lesser of two evils for me. If the book encourages parents to investigate their children’s fast food favorites, that’s a good thing. And soon, thanks to the health care reform bill, that will be easier. Starting in 2011, restaurants with more than 20 franchises will have to post calorie counts for all regular menu items.

I still say that eating fast food should be a ‘once in a while’ treat. You can feed your kids healthier, cheaper meals at home.

-pointers from Peggy