Chicken Salad

Start to Finish: 45 minutes

Ingredients:
2 large eggs
1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon chili powder, or to taste
1/4 teaspoon sweet paprika
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon olive oil
3/4 cup reduced-fat mayonnaise
2 stalks celery, finely chopped (about 3/4 cup)
1/2 cup cauliflower puree
1/2 cup nonfat plain yogurt
1/2 cup green grapes, coarsely chopped

Directions:
1) Place the eggs in a small saucepan and add cold water to cover. Cover, set the saucepan over high heat, and bring to a boil, then remove from the heat and let stand, still covered, for exactly 15 minutes. Run the eggs under cold water to cool, then peel them. Separate the yolks from the whites. Chop the whites and discard the yolks (or refrigerate for another use).
2) Sprinkle the chicken with salt, chili powder, paprika, and garlic powder. Coat a large nonstick skillet with cooking spray and set it over medium high heat. When the skillet is hot, add the oil and then the chicken. For cutlets, cook 4 to 5 minutes per side until lightly browned and no longer pink in the center. For chicken breast, cook 5 minutes per side, reduce the heat to low, cover, and cook for 9 to 10 minutes longer. Let the chicken cool completely before cutting it into bite sized pieces.
3) In a large bowl, stir together the chicken, mayonnaise, celery, cauliflower puree, yogurt, grapes, and chopped egg whites. Serve warm or chilled.

Servings: 4

Notes: This is delicious! Creamy and had a great flavor. The yogurt added a lot of flavor. Also, it made a lot more than the 4 servings the book said it would make. Great leftovers as well.

Variations: We added lettuce to the sandwich and that was great. Also, we used Hoagie rolls, but the nutrition facts are based on whole wheat bread.

Estimated Price: $7.00

Cookbook: Deceptively Delicious
Nutrition Facts per serving: 339 cal., 15 g total fat (3 g sat. fat), 26 mg chol., 1311 mg sodium, 39 g carbo., 7 g fiber, 21 g pro. Daily Values: 6% vit. A, 2% vit. C, 17% calcium, 7% iron

Oven Barbeque Beef Sandwich

Start to Finish: 2 Hours 10 minutes

Ingredients:
1 can (10-3/4 ounce) condensed cream of chicken or mushroom soup
1-1/4 cups bottled barbecue sauce
1 beef roast, such as boneless chuck (4-6 lb)
1 envelope (1 oz) dry onion soup mix
Onion buns or kaiser rolls, toasted

Directions:
1) In a roasting pan pour soup and barbecue sauce over roast. Sprinkle dry soup mix over roast. Bake, covered, in a 350 degree F oven about 2 hours or until tender enough to slice. (For shredded meat cook about 3 hours or until very tender).
2) Drain off fat and remove any bones from roast. Slice or shred the meat and serve on buns. Spoon sauce over meat.

Servings: 6-8

Notes: This was good and creamy. We've had this same barbecue beef sandwich with just beef and a bottle of barbecue sauce. This one had a more creamy texture and was quite good. Be careful to get the fat off the beef though; fat doesn't taste good.

Variations: I've become a fan of the crock pot. I just threw the ingredients in a crock pot on high for about four hours, shredded the meat, and it was good to go.

Estimated Price: $12.00

Cookbook: Better Homes and Gardens 500-Five Ingredient Recipes
Nutrition Facts per serving: 887 cal., 53 g total fat (20 g sat. fat), 179 mg chol., 1,446 mg sodium, 42 g. carbo., 2 g fiber, 56 g pro. Daily Values: 14% vit. A, 6% vit. C, 10% calcium, 45% iron

Middle Eastern Pitas

Start to Finish: 10 minutes

Ingredients:
4 pita bread rounds, halved crosswise
12 ounces thinly sliced deli roast beef
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1/2 cup chopped cucumber

Directions:
Place roast beef in pitas. In a small bowl stir together yogurt and cucumber, spoon over roast beef in pitas.

Servings: 4

Notes: This is really tasty on a hot day. A good variation on sandwiches. The plain yogurt and cucumber together with the roast beef is delicious. Make sure you eat the pitas fast or freeze them if you are not planning on making this meal for over two days, as the pitas go bad quickly!

Variations: This recipe in the book actually calls for 7 or 8 ounces of roasted garlic flavored hummus, but we're not big fans of hummus, even though I like garbanzo beans. So, if you want to make your own or buy hummus you can add it to the pitas, but we do it without.

Estimated Price: $10 (quadrupled recipe)

Cookbook: Better Homes and Gardens 500-Five Ingredient Recipes
Nutrition Facts per serving: 380 cal., 10 g total fat (3 g sat. fat), 82 mg chol., 427 mg sodium, 39 g carbo., 1 g fiber, 34 g pro. Daily Values: 2% vit. A, 12% vit. C, 3% calcium, 21% iron

Saucy Meatball Sandwich

Start to Finish: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

1-1/4 pounds frozen cooked Italian style meatballs (18)

1 jar pasta sauce (26-28 pounds)

1/2 cup coarsely chopped onion (1 medium)

6 hoagie buns, split and toasted

1 cup shredded Italian-style cheese blend (4 ounces)

Directions:

In a large saucepan combine the frozen meatballs, pasta sauce, and onion. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, covered, for 10 minutes or until meatballs are heated through, stirring occasionally. Spoon hot meatball mixture into split buns. Spoon any remaining sauce over meatballs. Sprinkle with cheese.

Servings: 6

Notes: This was so good. Great dinner on a somewhat chilly spring day.

Variations: I made the meatballs from scratch and we did not actually toast the hoagie buns.

Estimated Price: $15 (unless you have ingredients to make the meatballs from scratch, then $8.00)

Cookbook: Better Homes and Gardens 500- Five Ingredient Recipes

Nutrition Facts per serving: 802 cal., 36 g total fat (14 g sat. fat), 74 mg chol., 2,293 mg sodium, 88 g carbo., 9 g fiber, 32 g pro. Daily Values: 8% vit. A, 9% vit. C, 27% calcium, 36% iron

Honey-Chicken Sandwiches

Start to Finish: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons honey

2 teaspoons snipped fresh thyme or 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme, crushed

1 small red onion, halved and thinly sliced (1/3 cup)

12 ounces thinly sliced cooked chicken, halved crosswise

4 purchased croissants, halved horizontally and toasted

Directions:

1. In a medium skillet combine honey, thyme, and red onion. Cook and stir over medium-low heat until warm (do not boil). Stir in chicken; heat through. Serve in croissants.

Servings: 4

Notes: The honey made this a sweet sandwhich, which tasted delicious. The onions were not overpowering and the chicken was very tender. Yummy!

Variations: I broiled and shredded chicken instead of using thinly sliced chicken. Also, I do not like red onions so I used yellow onions. Also, I actually am not fond of the texture of onions, but can handle chopped onions so I chopped the yellow onions instead of thinly slicing them.

Estimated Price: $5.00*

*If you make your own croissants, which I did. Otherwise, a 4 pack of croissants will cost you $3.49, unless you get them on a day old shelf at the bakery. So, then the cost would be around $8.50.

Cookbook: Better Homes and Gardens 500- Five Ingredient Recipes

Nutrition Facts per serving: 445 cal., 18 g total fat (8 g sat. fat), 118 mg chol., 498 mg sodium, 40 g carbo., 2 g fiber, 29 g pro. Daily Values: 7% vit. A, 2% vit. C, 4% calcium, 13% iron