Posted by Jennifer Tyler Lee on March 09, 2013 0 Comments
The easiest homemade chicken soup ever!
My littlest one was home
sick this week. When those rosy red cheeks and tired eyes show up, chicken soup
is first on the menu. It used to be that I would reach for a can of chicken
soup from the pantry, but we’ve come so far in our 52 New Foods journey that
when I grabbed that little red can this week I just couldn’t do a heat and eat.
“I need to make it from scratch.” I resolved. My husband, the sweetheart that
he is, headed out to the market at the crack of dawn with a simple list –
carrots, celery, and an onion. I had some leftover Italian chicken in the
fridge from dinner the previous night.
The beautiful thing about
this recipe is that it is so darn easy to make and it results in a delicious,
wholesome soup full of healthy ingredients. My son asked, “Why does chicken
soup help to make me feel better when I am sick?” This question is one I’ve
asked myself many times over. “I’m not sure,” I replied, “why do you think it
helps?” His little hands wrapped around the bowl, sipping slowly he pondered
this question and then responded, “Maybe the vegetables chase the bugs away.” I
smiled a big smile and hugged him tight, “You know, I think you may be right.
I’m glad that you’re feeling better.”
What we Liked: This easy Italian style homemade chicken soup isn’t just for chasing
cold bugs away. It’s the perfect busy weeknight meal. Make our easy Italian
chicken and save a few pieces as leftovers. Then use that tasty chicken to make
this soup the next day. Serve it up with a gooey grilled cheese sandwich for a
quick dinner, or pack it in the kids’ lunchboxes with a few whole grain
crackers for crumbling.
Italian Style Homemade Chicken Soup
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 15 minutes
Yield: Makes 6 to 8 servings
Crunch a Color points: 10 protein, 10 healthy grains, 10 green or orange
For a printable version of this recipe click here.
Ingredients:
4 cups organic chicken
broth
2 cups cooked Italian chicken
2 cups cooked pasta (I like to use rotini)
1 cup water
3 celery stalks
2 carrots
½ onion
1 clove garlic
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 bay leaf
A few sprigs of fresh thyme
Salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
1. Chop the onion,
carrots and celery into ¼” to ½” size pieces.
2. Heat a stockpot over
medium, then add the olive oil, garlic and onions. Simmer gently until the
onions are translucent, about 3 minutes. Add the carrots and celery and simmer
2 to 3 minutes more.
3. Add the chicken broth,
water and the bay leaf. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 8
minutes.
4. While the broth is
simmering, chop the chicken into bite size pieces. Add to the pot with the
cooked pasta and heat 2 minutes more.
5. Season to taste with
salt and pepper. Serve warm with a few sprigs of fresh thyme.
*
Do you have a favorite homemade chicken soup recipe? Share your ideas!
Craving more easy recipes to try? Catch up on
last week’s new food: Mini Asparagus Frittata aka Savory Muffins
About the author: Jennifer
Tyler Lee is a mom of two children and the creator of Crunch a Color® --
award-winning nutrition
games that make healthy eating fun. Like most parents, she struggled
to get her kids to eat healthy, balanced meals, so she decided to make it into
a healthy
eating game and she’s giving back to support non-profit kids’
nutrition programs. Winner of the Dr. Toy and Parent Tested, Parent Approved
awards, Crunch a Color® has been featured by Jamie Oliver’s Food
Revolution, Rachael Ray's Yum-O!, Laurie David’s Family Dinner, Kiwi Magazine, Dr. Greene, and Yum
Food & Fun For Kids, among many others, as a simple, fun and playful way to
get kids to eat healthy and try new foods. Jennifer’s passion is making
mealtime fun and healthy for busy families. Her easy recipes, quick tips,
and new food adventures are regularly featured at Pottery
Barn Kids, Jamie
Oliver’s Food Revolution, The
Huffington Post, and on her weekly recipe blog at crunchacolor.com.
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Posted by Jennifer Lee on May 08, 2012 2 Comments
Plan a "build your own dinner" night with healthy
chicken lettuce wraps, featuring fresh mint from the garden.
As much as I love my greens,
I am certainly not a green thumb! So when it comes to our garden I always
pick easy to grow, hearty plants that can tolerate a beginner like me. Mint is
one of my best friends in this regard. Early this spring, we planted a small
pot of mint and within a few weeks it was brimming over the pot, literally
crawling it’s way into our kitchen. We decided to make it a feature in our new
food of the week: Healthy Chicken Lettuce Wraps.
Feature Recipe: Healthy Chicken Lettuce Wraps from
The Family Dinner
The Family Dinner has become
one of my go-to books for easy, family friendly recipes. I can always rely on
the fantastic Laurie David to come through with dinner suggestions that my
whole family will love. Her recipe for healthy chicken lettuce wraps is no
exception. We simplified the recipe a bit to work with what we already had in
the pantry. Here’s how we made them:
Healthy Chicken Lettuce Wraps
Prep time: 15
minutes
Makes 4 to 6 servings
Ingredients for
the chicken filling:
1 lb ground
chicken
¼ cup chicken
stock
¼ cup chopped mint
leaves
1 clove garlic,
finely chopped
1 slice fresh ginger,
finely chopped
Juice from 1
lime
2 tsp brown
sugar
2 Tbsp Asian
fish sauce
1 Tbsp
vegetable oil
Ingredients for
the wraps:
1 lettuce head
1 cucumber, cut
into long thin strips
1 large carrot,
peeled and shredded
A handful of
mint leaves
1 lime, sliced
into wedges
Directions:
1)
Heat a wok, then
add the vegetable oil, garlic and ginger. Sauté for 1 to 2 minutes.
2)
Add chicken
stock, then the chicken, breaking it up into small pieces until browned.
3)
Add the fish
sauce and mix well. Sauté a few minutes longer.
4)
Transfer the
cooked chicken to a large bowl. Add the remaining ingredients for the chicken
filling and mix well.
5)
Serve the
fixings in individual bowls and let each person build their own wrap. Include a
side of spicy green beans for an extra boost of color.
Crunch a Color Kids Vote: It’s a wrap!
What we liked: It’s flexible and fun! We started out with the Thai version of Laurie’s
dish. With a simple tweak of the ingredients, swapping salsa for the fish sauce
and including black beans in the mix, we created another version of this easy
dish that was perfect for our Mexican fiesta night.
What is your favorite easy weeknight dish? Do tell!
Next up: Artichokes
Despite their prickly
appearance, artichokes were a winner at our table. Next week, we’ll feature an
easy recipe that will make artichokes a welcome guest at your family dinner too!
Craving more new recipes to try? Catch up on last
week’s recipe: Pineapple Smoothie.
About the author: Jennifer Tyler Lee is a mom
of two children and the creator of Crunch a Color™ -- the
award-winning game that makes healthy eating fun. Like most parents, she
struggled to get her kids to eat healthy, balanced meals, so she decided to
make it into a healthy eating game and she’s
giving back to support non-profit children’s nutrition programs including Jamie
Oliver’s Food Revolution and FoodCorps. Watch her picky eaters tell the story of how they turned into healthy eaters playing the game.
Follow @crunchacolor on Facebook and Twitter to tune into Crunch a Color's healthy eating adventure
and Jennifer’s tips and kid-friendly, easy recipes.
Read More
Posted by Jennifer Lee on April 16, 2012 0 Comments
Need an easy recipe for busy weeknights? Here’s how
to make Italian chicken that's deliciously simple and tasty. Less than 15 minutes
to fabulous!
There’s no doubt that
Chicken Parmesan will please most crowds, including the crowd at my house. But
it’s a bear to make on weeknights and a healthier version without the
breadcrumbs and cheese would certainly be a welcome addition to our stable of
recipes. Here’s how to make Italian chicken that’s so simple, easy, and tasty it
is sure to become a regular on your weeknight menu!
Feature Recipe: Easy Italian Chicken from The Family
Chef
My kids love roast chicken
(and Chicken Parmesan, of course!) but tend to be hesitant to try chicken any
other way. Same goes for lots of other foods. So at our house, I award bonus
points for trying a food my kids already like, prepared in a new way. This
keeps me out of the recipe rut and makes it fun for my kids to try familiar foods
prepared in an unfamiliar way. When Amy The Family Chef showed me how to make
Italian chicken, I jumped at the chance to give it a try. Not only is it a new
twist on an old favorite, it is a simple recipe my kids can make in less time
than it takes to order a pizza!
How to Make Italian Chicken (the Easy Way!)
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 10 min
Ready in: 20 min
Ingredients:
1 lb organic
boneless chicken breast
1 cup
mushrooms, chopped
½ tsp garlic
powder
½ tsp thyme
½ tsp salt
2 Tbsp olive
oil
¼ cup white
wine
2 Tbsp butter
Directions:
1)
Wash and trim
the chicken. Cut the breasts in half lengthwise to create thin slices. Dry
completely.
2)
In a small bowl,
mix together the garlic powder, thyme and salt.
3)
Sprinkle about ½
of the seasoning mixture onto the chicken (leave the remaining half for when
you turn the chicken in the pan).
4)
Heat a pan to
medium high heat. Once heated, add olive oil, then the chicken, seasoning side
down. Do not move the chicken in the pan.
5)
Add the
remaining seasoning mix to the chicken.
6)
Once the chicken
is browned and turning white on the sides, flip and cook the other side. Cook
another 3 to 5 minutes or until the chicken is firm when you press it, and
nicely browned.
7)
Remove the
chicken and set aside.
8)
Deglaze the pan with
¼ cup of white wine. Be sure to scrape up all of the tasty bits.
9)
Add mushrooms to
the wine mixture; simmer lightly for about 3 minutes.
10) Add butter to the sauce. Mix to melt completely.
Serve the
chicken with a side of fettuccine and garden fresh broccoli. Drizzle the
mushroom sauce over the chicken and pasta. Enjoy!
Crunch a Color Kids Vote: Fast and fabulous!
What we liked: This delicious recipe can be made start to finish in less than 15
minutes. A weeknight winner! Pair it with my easy, homemade tomato sauce and a
dash of Parmesan cheese, and you’ve got a healthier (and easier) version of
Chicken Parmesan. My favorite tip from Amy: “Put the chicken in the pan and
step away from the stove! Let the pan do the work.” Brilliant! Gives me enough
time to clean the dishes before serving up a fast and fabulous supper.
What is your favorite weeknight recipe? Dish it up!
Next up: Healthy Caesar Salad
Our Italian dinner party
wouldn’t be complete without Caesar salad! Tune in next week when we toss up a
fantastic recipe for Healthy Caesar Salad.
Craving more new recipes to try? Catch up on last
week’s recipe: Easy, homemade tomato sauce.
About the author: Jennifer Tyler Lee is a mom
of two children and the creator of Crunch a Color™ -- the
award-winning game that makes healthy eating fun. Like most parents, she
struggled to get her kids to eat healthy, balanced meals, so she decided to
make it into a healthy eating game and she’s
giving back to support non-profit children’s nutrition programs including Jamie
Oliver’s Food Revolution and FoodCorps. Watch her picky eaters tell the story of how they turned into healthy eaters playing the game.
Follow @crunchacolor on Facebook and Twitter to tune into Crunch a Color's healthy eating
adventure and Jennifer’s tips and kid-friendly, easy recipes.
Read More
Posted by Jennifer Lee on February 18, 2012 1 Comment
One and you’re done!
This tasty, easy one-pot Asian chicken recipe is a favorite anytime dish for my
family. Healthy eating made easy.
I love designer dinners, but I hate making them. Like most
parents, I am too busy between piano, soccer and homework to spend hours in the
kitchen primping and prepping a pretty meal. My solution: choose tasty, healthy
recipes that use five ingredients or less and can be easily prepared by a five
year old. Bonus if it’s a one-pot meal! Holding recipes to that high bar means
they make shopping and cooking a breeze for me, which translates into more time to spend
with my family.
Feature Recipe: One-Pot
Asian Chicken from A Family That Eats Together
One-pot recipes intrigue me. The simplicity makes me feel
less stressed around dinnertime. One-pot dinners allow me to easily whip up a
healthy meal and focus on quality time with my kids. Clay pot chicken is one of
my favorite meals in this category. The smell and taste of this simple meal brings back fond memories of enjoying this healthy dish with friends and
family when my daughter was first born. As a new mom, I relied heavily on
one-pot dinners! But I had parallel plan in mind this time. Clay pot chicken
features a staple vegetable of Asian cooking: Bok Choy. Its simple flavor would
seem to be a welcome addition to my picky eaters plate, but for some reason she
just wouldn’t try it. Maybe the crunchy, caramel sweetness of one-pot Asian
chicken would sway her?
Crunch a Color Kids
Vote: Bring on the bonus points!
What we liked:
Though this recipe involved more than five ingredients (it calls for closer to
10), the simplicity of making this dish in one-pot won me over. I simplified it
further by using pre-minced garlic and ginger (a time-saving trick that
eliminates one chopping step) and substituted grape seed oil for the peanut oil. The combination of healthy ingredients in this
recipe make for a deliciously chewy dish that had my kids asking for seconds -- bok
choy included!
Next up: Chinese Broccoli (aka Gai Lan)
This month I had the pleasure of dining with the
reigning champion of Beef Noodle Soup. Flown in from Taiwan to share his
secrets, Chef Hou captured the appetites of noodle soup lovers ranging from amateur chefs to the honorable Narsai David of food-critic fame. Next week I’ll share my twist on this
delicious soup that’s sure to warm your soul and win you bonus points for
trying a new food: Chinese Broccoli!
Craving more new
recipes to try? Catch up on last week’s recipe: Slow cooker curry.
About the author: Jennifer Tyler Lee is a
mom of two children and the creator of Crunch a Color™ -- the
award-winning game that makes healthy eating fun. Like most parents, she
struggled to get her kids to eat healthy, balanced meals, so she decided to
make it into a healthy eating game and she’s giving back to support Jamie
Oliver’s Food Revolution, FoodCorps, and Alice Water’s Edible Schoolyard. Watch
her picky eaters tell the story of how they turned into healthy eaters playing the
game. Follow @crunchacolor and #52NewFoods to tune into Crunch a Color's healthy eating adventure
and Jennifer’s tips and kid-friendly, easy recipes.
Read More
Posted by Jennifer Lee on February 11, 2012 5 Comments
Winter days call for
cozy meals. Load up the healthy ingredients, relax
and get ready to enjoy a wholesome, easy dinner that will have your whole
family eating healthy -- Slow Cooker Curry from The Family Dinner.
The kids are comfortably settled in school, the holiday rush
is over, but life continues to feel frantic. Imagine yourself stumbling into
the front door after a long day, groceries and book bags overflowing from your
arms. What could me more satisfying than to be greeted by the wonderful aroma
of a healthy meal calling, “Dinner’s ready!”? Thank goodness for the slow
cooker! My new best friend – he stays home all day, carefully simmering and
flavoring our dinner so we can come home to a relaxed meal together as a
family. That’s the kind of easy, healthy eating I need.
Feature Recipe: Slow
Cooker Chicken Curry from The Family Dinner
The Family Dinner is a fantastic source of easy dinner ideas
that will get your whole family eating healthy. Adorned with beautiful pictures
of delicious and easy recipes, it was hard to pick just one to try! Then I
spotted it: Slow cooker curry. Paired with freshly prepared Naan and a side of
spicy green beans, chicken curry ranks in the top 10 of my favorite winter dishes.
Sadly, it’s been a solitary dish, as my two kids tend to shy away. Could The
Family Dinner provide the answer to my food dilemma: How to cook a curry my
whole family would love?
Crunch a Color Kids
Vote: Delish! (Mom’s side note: jaw dropping)
What we liked: I
really couldn’t believe that my picky eater liked this dish. When she bravely
tried a “taster”, then asked for a serving, and bellied up to the bar for
seconds I knew I had a winner on my hands. The flavor in this dish is mild,
making it easy for my kids to love. As for ease, this recipe knocks it out of
the ballpark. Prep was under 15 minutes and I came home to a delicious healthy
feast my whole family loved. I’m adding this family-friendly recipe to my list of favorites and making a special place on my shelf for this fantastic cookbook.
Next up: Bok Choy
When I arrived home from the hospital as a naïve new mom, my
very good friends showered me with meals. It was exactly what I needed, and I
continue to pass it forward. Each time I visit a new mom, I bring a helping
hand and a hot meal! The most memorable of all those wonderful meals was
clay-pot chicken. I hope you’ll tune in next week when we make A Family That
Eats Together’s Easy
Claypot Chicken. Will it get my kids to try Bok Choy? We'll see!
Craving more new
recipes to try? Catch up on last week’s recipe: Sunbutter bites.
About the author: Jennifer Tyler Lee is a
mom of two children and the creator of Crunch a Color™ -- the
award-winning game that makes healthy eating fun. Like most parents, she
struggled to get her kids to eat healthy, balanced meals, so she decided to
make it into a healthy eating game and she’s giving back to support Jamie
Oliver’s Food Revolution, FoodCorps, and Alice Water’s Edible Schoolyard. Watch
her picky eaters tell the story of how they turned into healthy eaters playing the
game. Follow @crunchacolor and #52NewFoods to tune into Crunch a Color's healthy eating adventure
and Jennifer’s tips and kid-friendly, easy recipes.
Read More
