Mushroom Chicken

2 tbs butter
1 tbs olive oil
1 onion sliced
3 large chicken breast bone in skin on (3.5 lb)
4 tbs of flour
4 c. chicken broth
2 c. of quartered mushrooms
1 c. dry white wine
2 tbs marjoram
1 Turkish bay leaf
½ c Greek yogurt or sour cream

I could not have been more pleased with the way this came out. It was creamy and earthy and wonderful (if I do say so myself!) I, have a love affair with Greek yogurt. It allows me to have all the yummy goodness of sour cream with ¼ of the fat and calories. My husband, who I can’t get to eat anything that is adjacent to light and healthy loves it and told me I could stop buying sour cream. For those of you that hate mushrooms (and I know you odd things are out there) you could omit them and substitute peppers or potatoes. I used bone in/skin on chicken. I think keeping the skin on made this a very rich and wonderful dish, but I think you could easily (and I did) take the skin off the chicken and eat the meat without it, I just recommend cooking with it.

Add butter and olive oil to stock pot or Dutch-oven and melt butter.
Add the onion and sauté over medium heat for about 10 minutes.
Salt and pepper chicken (I also used a little onion salt) and lay on bottom of pot.
Sprinkle with 4 tbs of flour then add 4 cup of chicken broth and bring to a boil.
Once boiling reduce to simmer and simmer for 20 minutes. Add 1 cup of dry white wine, mushrooms, bay leaf and 2 tablespoons of marjoram and simmer for 40 minutes.
Take about ½-1 cup of hot liquid and add to your yogurt or sour cream, stir, and then put the mixture back into the pot. Doing this keeps the milk from curdling.
Heat for 5 more minutes and serve.

For those of you doing weight watchers this would be about 9 points per breast the best I can tell (they don’t give you a raw, bone in skin on choice??) . I served this with mashed potatoes that I put skim milk and about 3 tbs of greek yogurt in and it was great and about 1.5 per ½ c. serving.

Greek Yogurt and Potato Salad

Okay, I must admit I am behind the 8 ball with this. I have been hearing people rave about it for a long while now. I finally took the plunge and got some… Greek yogurt. Honestly, I don’t know what makes it so different. I understand that is it strained, but I have stained regular yogurt before for recipes, and it did not have the same effect at all. Greek yogurt is dense and creamy, to me it has the consistency of a soft ice cream in your mouth without the cold. It tastes like a mix between sour cream and cream fraiche.The first time I had it I put some bananas and a touch of honey in. Oh my gosh, it was sooo good. Yesterday I used it to make potato salad. I was trying to pair the calories down but not loose the flavor. I was trying to see if 2% Greek yogurt would do it for me. I used one container of the 2% Greek yogurt, 3 tbs mayo (just in case…) and 4 tbs Dijon mustard. I thought it was fabulous. It was creamy like a sour cream based potato salad. The key was… what would my Dad think? My Dad isn’t a fan of healthy cooking, unless a dish is just naturally healthy. He would rather take the eat less/enjoy more approach than cut flavor. So I wanted to see if he could detect the impostor. One thing I love (and at moments dread) is my fathers complete inability to hold his tongue. If he doesn’t like it, you WILL know. Generally in the form of, “What the hell did you do to that dish!?” Gee Dad, tell me how you really feel. I am happy to report nothing was said… which from Dad is good.
So here is what I did:

8 medium potatoes cubed and boiled until just, tender
2 stalks of celery
½ bunch of chives (more or less to taste)
1 7oz container of 2% Greek yogurt
3 tbs mayo ( I think you could more than safely omit this, but maybe substitute 1 tsp lemon a pinch of lemon zest)
4 TBS good quality Dijon mustard (like this)
2tbs vinegar
Pinch of of sugar
Salt/pepper
3 chicken bullion cubes

Chop celery and put in a large bowl with vinegar and pinch of sugar. Add potatoes to pot and cover with water.  I heavily season my water because…well it will season the potatoes which I think produces a much better potato salad. Go crazy. Put herbs, bay leaves, whatever. I also put bullion in the water. Boil potatoes (putting them in cold water will allow them to cook more evenly) Once the potatoes are ready, drain immediately put in the bowl and toss. Then let sit for about 10-15 minutes and let it cool off. Add chives. In bowl mix, yogurt, mustard and mayo. Toss on salad. Season to taste. Let cool.
Potatoes ,as do most starches, will keep absorbing the dressing. So you may want to either hold about a ¼ in reserve until right before you serve or, another trick is to put a tablespoon of milk in and toss to moisten it up.
Clearly you can add more things to the potato salad. You may like sweet relish or eggs in there. Go for it. Also other, non traditional seasoning could be great like curry (my favorite) or thyme or rosemary.