King Ranch Chicken

King Ranch Chicken is usually made with creamy canned soups and several cups of cheese.  This is a recipe I found in the "Eating Well" magazine, that I modified to reduce the amount of fat and sodium.   This version still brings all the spicy Tex-Mex flavor goodness we crave. Try experimenting with add additional fresh chopped vegetables like, spinach, squash, corn stripped from the cob, celery, and mushrooms.  Don't be surprised if you have everyone coming back for seconds.

Ingredients:

1 ½ cups reduced-sodium chicken broth

1 cup 2% or non-fat milk

½ cup all-purpose flour

½ cup non-fat plain yogurt or light cream cheese
1 14 ounce can of diced tomatoes
1 4 ounce can of diced green chilies, drained

(You could substitute the diced tomatoes and chilies above for Ro~tel diced tomatoes and chilies, but you'll need 1½ cans, since Ro~tel only comes in a 10 ounce size)

¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro, or parsley

1 ½ teaspoon chili powder, or more, according to taste

1 teaspoon dried oregano

½ teaspoon ground cumin

1/8 teaspoon salt

Freshly ground pepper, to taste

1 ½  teaspoons canola oil

1 large onion, chopped

1 red or green bell pepper, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 skinless chicken breasts, cooked and diced

10 corn tortillas, cut in quarters

1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F.

In a medium sauce pan, heat broth until simmering.  Add milk and flour to a small bowl and whisk until well blended. Gradually add the milk and flour to the broth and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, about 3 minutes, until thickened and smooth.  Remove the sauce from the heat and stir in the yogurt (or cream cheese), rotel tomatoes & chiles, cilantro (or parsley), chili powder, oregano and cumin.  Season with salt and pepper.

Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.  Add onion, bell pepper and garlic; cook, stirring occasionally, until tender-crisp, about 3 minutes.

Line the bottom of a shallow 3-quart baking dish with half the tortilla quarters. Top with half the chicken and half the onion mixture. Spoon half of the sauce evenly over the top. Repeat layers with remaining tortillas, chicken, onion mixture and sauce. Top with the Cheddar cheese, Bake until bubbly, and the cheese starts to brown, about to 30 to 40 minutes.

Serves 8

Tex Mex

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Hollandaise Sauce - à la Julie Child

Eggs Benedict!

This is an easy Hollandaise Sauce blender recipe from Julia Child. I modified it a bit for the ingredients available here in Costa Rica.

Ingredients:
3 egg yolks

1½ tablespoons Limón Criollo juice (or less, to taste.) This is the small creole lime found everywhere in Costa Rica. It resembles the Key Limes of Florida.

1 stick of very hot, melted butter

Salt and Cayenne pepper to taste

Directions:
Blend the egg yolks with the limón criollo juice. Drizzle in the hot butter with blender running. The hot butter cooks the yolks and produces a very fine, thick sauce. If you have one, I recommend you use an immersion blender in a mason jar, so that the sauce doesn't cool too fast in the large blender jar. Add salt and cayenne pepper to taste.

Very simple, quick, and absolutely Delicious!!

Thank you Julia!!!

Sauce

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Homemade Chocolate Banana Ice Cream

This is a quick and easy, no-cook recipe.  It's a great way to use up all your overripe bananas.  Whenever we have overripe bananas, I peel and freeze them on cookie sheet.  Once they are frozen I store them in an airtight plastic bag until needed.

Ingredients:
5 large bananas, or 10 small
1 can sweetened condensed milk (395 grams or 14 ounces)
1/4 cup whole milk (60 milliliter or 2 ounces)
3/4 cup cocoa powder (180 milliliter or 6 ounces)
1/2 cup chopped nuts, walnuts or pecans (optional)

Directions:
Peel and slice bananas in a large bowl.  Mash the bananas into a puree. Stir in the milks and mix well.  Gradually add the cocoa powder until well blended.  Transfer the mixture to ice cream maker bowl and freeze according to manufacturer instructions.  If you are adding nuts, you should add them when the ice cream is soft set so they can be evenly distributed.

Yield:  About a quart

MakeItAgain

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