Terre Pruitt's Blog

In the realm of health, wellness, fitness, and the like, or whatever inspires me.

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Posts Tagged ‘Recipe’

Chicken, Asparagus, Biscuits, and Cheese Sauce

Posted by terrepruitt on September 13, 2021

As a reminder my category “Recipe” is that because sometimes I don’t actually have amounts for the ingredients I use, I just basically have the idea for the dish. I was at a loss last night as to what to cook for dinner and for some reason I thought of biscuits and gravy. I don’t even eat biscuits and gravy. I had biscuits in the refrigerator so that is probably why I was thinking “biscuits”. Anyway, I threw together a dinner that turned out to be pretty tasty.

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Chicken, Asparagus, Biscuits, and Cheese Sauce

(Coconut) oil
Onion
Asparagus
2 cans of chicken
garlic salt
Worcestershire sauce

Cheese Sauce
2 tablespoons of butter
2 tablespoons of flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1 1/2 cup shredded (sharp cheddar) cheese

Biscuits (tube, container? What is it called)

 

Heat the oil in a pan large enough for all of your asparagus and chicken.  While the oil is heating, chop up the onions, then put in the pan.  While the onions are cooking, wash and chop up the asparagus. Put the chopped asparagus in with the onions, sprinkle with garlic salt and cook.

While that is cooking – in a different pot – melt the butter. Add the flour while stirring.

Bake the biscuits according to the instructions on the package.

Put the drained chicken in the pan with the onion and asparagus.  Sprinkle chicken with garlic salt and Worcestershire sauce. The chicken is cooked, it only needs to be heated, but cook the asparagus to your liking.

Back to the sauce . . . . add the milk, stirring all the while. (My recipe says all at once, but it doesn’t work if it is cold . . . so I do it a little at a time.) Once the milk is incorporated into the roux (butter and flour), add the cheese a little bit at a time.  Stirring and keeping it on the heat until it is all melted and mixed.

To assemble split the biscuits putting the bottom half on the plate, then pile on the chicken and asparagus mixture, then spooned on some cheese sauce, then top with the top half of the biscuit.

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It was good because I like all the ingredients. The biscuits are sooooo good. It is fun sometimes to cook easy things and enjoy simple flavors.

OH!  And the leftovers!  I put the bottom half of the biscuits in an oven proof dish, then pilled the chicken mixture on top, topped it with the cheese and put it in the oven (350°) for about 30 minutes,  I put the tops of the biscuits on foil and heated them for about 10 minutes.  Then put it on plates to serve.  Delicious!

There are so many things you could do with with.  What would YOU do?

Posted in "Recipes", Food | Tagged: , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Tahini Makes The Hummus

Posted by terrepruitt on June 14, 2012

dance exercise, Nia, Nia teacher, Nia class, Nia San JoseI recently tried my hand at making hummus.  I have made it a few times and I keep adjusting the recipe.  The first time it seemed a bit too bitter and sour so I decided the next time I would put in less tahini and lemon.  So I put in less tahini, lemon, and salt and I put in a lot of raw garlic.  Woooeeeee!  That made it kind of spicy and really strong.  Our refrigerator smelled of such strong garlic.  I was thinking that if I cooked the garlic before putting it in the hummus it would make it more mellow.  I was making it in a kitchen other than my own and I forgot my garlic press so I really felt I needed to cook the garlic before putting it in.  This third batch was the best so far.  In addition to the sauteed garlic I was able to use a food processor.  The food processor really made a big difference.  The time before when I used my blender there were many whole beans left.  The blender does not get the beans as well as the food processor.  But I do believe the key ingredient is the tahini.  Despite the fact that it really bitter it has the flavor that makes hummus taste like hummus to me.

dance exercise, Nia, Nia class, Nia teacher, San Jose NiaTahini is ground sesame seeds.  The jar states this tahini is made of roasted then ground sesame seeds.  I am not usually a fan of sesame seeds.  If given a choice I would not eat them, but I do believe they are an important ingredient in hummus.  As I said, I think tahini is the ingredient that gives the hummus that familiar-to-me flavor.dance exercise, Nia, Nia class, Nia Teacher, Nia San Jose

I also think the tahini is the main reason why hummus is a bit high in fat.  The beans themselves have fat, garbanzo beans have 2 grams of fat per half of a cup.  The tahini has 19 grams of fat per 2 tablespoons.  That is a lot of fat.  There is a lot of protein in both the beans and the tahini.  The beans have 7 grams per 1/2 cup and the tahini has 6 grams of protein per 2 tablespoons.  Hummus is a great source of protein.

There is hardly any sodium in the tahini which I think is a good thing because it allows for control of the sodium content in the hummus.  The first batch I made seemed very salty to me so I was able to adjust it with each successive batch.

The marketing on the jar of tahini states that it is a good source of iron and calcium, but it is only 4% of the recommended daily value.  Combined with the beans I think hummus is a good source of iron, but I don’t feel it is high in calcium.

I like to eat hummus as a dip.  I dip veggies in it.  I also like to eat it with pita bread or even corn chips.  I also like to use it as a mayonnaise replacement.  I put it on sandwiches instead of using mayo.  It helps to add a bit of protein and fiber to a sandwich.  Also having the hummus with the tahini in it really adds an additional layer of flavor to a sandwich.  I really think that the tahini is the key to a flavorful hummus.

Are you familiar with tahini?  Do you make your hummus with or without tahini? 

Posted in Food | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments »

Summer Salad “Recipe”

Posted by terrepruitt on May 26, 2009

Dance Exercise, Nia San Jose, Nia Campbell, San Jose Nia, Campbell Nia, San Jose Dance Workout, Campbell Dance WorkoutOh, with the Memorial Day weekend behind us we are thinking forward to more barbeques, right?  Especially since we had such spectacular weather in the San Jose Bay Area.  Well, I honestly don’t know where this recipe came from.  I will credit the person that I got it from about 10 years ago.  I worked with this woman named Diana and she brought this salad to a potluck.  I have been making it ever since.

Now, it is an exercise in imagination calling this a recipe, this really isn’t a recipe per se, because I don’t have amounts of ingredients.  You need to decide that for yourself.  I am just sharing the idea and giving you a ball park.

So basically you get some mangos peel then cube them.  Then you cube or slice a peeled cucumber.  Throw it all in a bowl, then you add lemon juice and salt.  So easy.  And so good.  But you have to decide how much mango you want or how much cucumber.  And the lemon and the salt again, all to taste.  What I usually do is I bring a lemon and salt to the event so that people can add more if they like.

I usually start out with three mangos to an English cucumber.  And I chop everything up in tiny little cubes because I like to get a bites of both mango and cucumber.   I am a firm believer in eating the edible skin of my fruits and vegetables, so I don’t always cleanly peel the cucumber, but without the cucumber skin you can taste the mangos better, I think.

Mangos contain the antioxidants C and A.  They also contain fiber.  Even peeled cucumbers have vitamins and minerals that most could benefit from.

This salad is one of those super easy, yet packs-a-tasteful-punch kind of summer salad that I bet you will have on all of your barbeque tables from now on.

“Recipe” for Mango and Cucumber salad

  • Peeled and cubed mangos and cucumbers, salt and lemon juice to taste.

Dance Exercise, Nia San Jose, Nia Campbell, San Jose Nia, Campbell Nia, San Jose Dance Workout, Campbell Dance Workout

Posted in "Recipes", Food | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments »