Southwestern Chicken Soup

1 cup chopped onion
3 garlic cloves, minced
6 cups fat free, less sodium chicken broth
¼ cup uncooked white rice
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 (16 ounce) can Great Northern beans, rinsed and drained
3 cups chopped skinless, boneless rotisserie chicken breast
½ cup coarsely chopped fresh cilantro
½ teaspoon black pepper
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup chopped seeded tomato
¾ cup diced peeled avocado (about 1 medium)
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
6 lime wedges


Heat a large sauté pan over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add onion and garlic; sauté for 3 minutes. Add broth, rice, cumin and beans; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer 15 minutes. Stir in chicken, cilantro, pepper and salt; simmer 5 minutes or until chicken is thoroughly heated.
Remove from heat; stir in tomato, avocado, and juice. Serve with lime wedges. Yield 6 servings

(Serving size; 1 2/3 cups soup and 1 lime wedge)

lemon raspberry bars

Here I go again with a lemon dessert, surprise, surprise. I absolutely died over these, the crust was pure heaven to me. Actually, the whole thing was heaven. I can't wait to have these again. Perfect spring/summer treat, I think they would even be good without the raspberries.


I found these at Two Peas and their Pod and as soon as I saw them I knew I had to try them.

For the crust:

1 1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs
6 tablespoons salted butter, melted
1/4 cup sugar
Zest of one lemon

For the filling:

2 large egg yolks
1-14 oz. can fat free sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon lemon zest
6 ounces fresh raspberries

Preheat the oven to 350F. Spray a 8 by 8 inch baking dish with cooking spray. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine the graham cracker crumbs, melted butter, sugar, and lemon zest. Stir until graham cracker crumbs are moist. Press crumbs into the prepared pan, pressing the crust mixture one inch up the side of the pan. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool to room temperature.

Once the crust is cool, combine the egg yolks and condensed milk until well mixed. Stir in the lemon juice and lemon zest. Stir until mixture begins to slightly thicken. Gently fold in the raspberries. Fold carefully so you don’t break the raspberries.

Pour the lemon raspberry filling evenly over the graham cracker crust. Bake for 15 minutes, or until just set.

Cool to room temperature, then chill for at least one hour before serving. Cut into bars and serve. Keep bars in the refrigerator-up to five days.

*Note-use fresh raspberries and make sure you gently fold the berries into the lemon filling or you will have pink bars.

one pot lemon chicken & rice

photo from google

this simple "good for you" recipe is great for tight schedules and also delicious left over after flavors have a chance to meld together.

ingredients:

1 lb bonelss skinless chicken breast, diced into 1" cubes
1 TB extra virgin olive oil
3 cloves fresh garlic, grated
1 medium red onion, diced
1 cup carrots, sliced very thin
15 oz. low sodium all natural chicken broth
1 TB cornstarch
juice of two lemons
zest of the same two lemons
1 1/2 cups brown minute rice (uncooked)
1 1/2 cups broccoli, chopped rough
1/2 cup flat leaf parsley, chopped rough
1/2 cup cream of mushroom soup
fresh ground salt and pepper to taste

directions:

in a large, deep skillet, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. add garlic, onion and carrots, saute for a few minutes.

season your chicken with salt and pepper

turn heat to medium and add chicken. stir often, rotating chicken so it browns on all sides.

meanwhile, combine chicken broth, corn starch, lemon juice, lemon zest and brown rice in a small bowl. also, salt this mixture.

once the chicken is cooked through, add your liquid mixture to the pan and turn heat back up to medium-high.

you want to bring the mixture to a boil. once it is boiling, add your parsley, broccoli and cream of mushroom soup. mix well and reduce to low.

cover and let simmer 10-15 minutes, until the liquid has been absorbed, the rice is tender and the dish is nice and creamy.

this recipe makes four servings.

my findings:
*make sure you use fresh broccoli, it just makes this dish better
*i had to add a cup or so of water after i added the broccoli so that it wasn't super thick.

Recipe found here
Sorry to Janetha in which I didn't give proper credit. Forgot!