 Heart-Healthy Eating: Recipes from the Healthy Southwest Table
If you enjoyed "Tofu Southwest Style: Recipes from The Healthy Southwest Table," in the March/April issue of Today’s Diet & Nutrition, you'll love these additional recipes from Janet Taylor's wonderful cookbook published by Rio Nuevo.
Spicy Yam Soup
Serves 8
This bountiful, rich-tasting soup could stand on its own as a main entrée. Enjoyably tart and salty, pickled plum paste is a necessary ingredient that transforms the taste of tofu into a yogurt- or sour cream-like flavor. It is a traditional Japanese food used not only for flavoring but also as a tonic and is believed to rid the body of toxins. Look for it in the Asian food section of grocery stores.
3 large garnet yams
3 cups organic nonfat milk
1 cup organic firm tofu, drained
3 tablespoons organic nonfat, non-instant dry milk
1 jalapeño pepper, diced
Extra-virgin olive oil, sprayed from oil pump
1 large onion, diced
6 cloves garlic, pressed through garlic press
1 teaspoon thyme
1 cup diced celery
1 cup (or more) water or nonfat organic chicken broth
2 tablespoons sherry
2 cups cauliflower florets, broken into bite-size pieces
10 Swiss chard leaves, torn into inch-wide strips
1 cup organic soy milk
1 teaspoon ground pepper
½ cup basil leaves, torn into tiny pieces
1 teaspoon umeboshi pickled plum paste
2 tablespoons organic tamari soy sauce (low-sodium)
Garnish
½ cup chopped fresh tomatoes
½ cup minced poblano peppers, or Anaheim or New Mexico green chiles, roasted
1 large red bell pepper, sliced and cut in half
½ cup thinly sliced green onions
¼ cup chopped cilantro
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. With a sharp knife, prick the yams in several places so they will bake evenly and won't explode. Bake on a cookie sheet for about 40 minutes or until soft. Remove the yams, peel, and cut into quarters.
In the work bowl of a food processor, process yams with 1 cup milk, the tofu, dry milk, and jalapeño pepper until creamy-smooth; set aside.
Lightly spray a heavy soup pot with olive oil; sauté the onion, garlic, thyme, and celery over medium heat for 3-4 minutes. Add water or broth, sherry, and cauliflower; bring to a boil. Turn heat to low. Add chard leaves and cook until the chard is slightly limp.
When the chard is cooked, use a spatula to scrape the yam purée from the food processor into the soup pot, along with the remainder of the milk, the soy milk, and the ground pepper; stir until well blended. Stirring frequently, heat until the soup is piping hot.
Remove from burner and mix in basil, pickled plum paste, and soy sauce. Pickled plum paste is salty, so taste before adding the soy sauce. Serve in individual soup bowls and accent with garnishes.
Calories per serving: 135
Total fat: 2g
Saturated fat: 0g
Calories from fat: 19
Protein: 10g
Carbohydrates: 21g
Dietary fiber: 3g
Sugars: 5g
Chicken Barley Soup
Serves 6
It may be tempting to throw everything in the soup pot at once, but then the barley and vegetables would soak up the fat, and most of the healthy substances would be cooked out of the vegetables. Instead, poach a chicken the day before making chicken soup, so the broth can be defatted and included in the recipe. This doesn't take any more work, just planning. The vegetables have more texture in this soup than in traditional chicken soup. Years ago, my friend Dolores Rivas Bahti taught me a technique that preserves nutrients in cooked vegetables. Instead of adding quick-cooking vegetables to soup, place them in individual bowls and pour the soup over the vegetables. That's what is suggested in this recipe. The squash will be firmer and the spinach will still have some life. See below for the Poached Chicken and Chicken Broth recipes for the defatted chicken broth and poached chicken needed for this recipe.
8 cups defatted chicken broth or fat-free packaged broth
½ cup unhulled barley
2 celery ribs, coarsely sliced
2 carrots, coarsely sliced
1 large onion, coarsely sliced
1 cup chopped tomatoes
5 leaves kale, cut into 1-inch strips, or 1 bag (6 ounces) spinach
2 cups poached chicken
1 pound firm organic tofu, drained and broken up, or 1 can of pinto beans, drained
1 crookneck squash, sliced
½ cup minced basil or cilantro leaves
1 Hass avocado, sliced and chopped
2-3 Key limes, halved
In a heavy soup pot, pour in the chicken broth, then add barley and celery to the broth. Bring to a boil, turn the heat to low, and simmer for 30 minutes. Add carrots and simmer for another 5 minutes. Add onion, tomatoes, kale (if you replace this with spinach, don't add it now), chicken, and tofu or pinto beans. Simmer on low for 5 minutes. Remove from heat.
Place squash and spinach (if using spinach) in individual soup bowls. Ladle hot soup over the vegetables and sprinkle with basil or cilantro. Top with avocados and squeeze lime juice over avocados.
Calories per serving: 323
Total fat: 11g
Saturated fat: 2g
Calories from fat: 96
Protein: 27g
Carbohydrates: 33g
Dietary fiber: 8g
Sugars: 6g
Poached Chicken
Makes 11 Cups
Poached chicken can be used in soups, tacos, enchiladas, barbecue, chile relleno stuffing, and much more. The broth from the chicken can be used immediately or stored in the freezer for up to 6 months.
1 organic chicken, cut into pieces, or 3 pounds organic chicken breasts with bone
14 cups water
1 celery rib with leaves, cut in thirds
1 medium onion, cut in quarters
1 tablespoon parsley leaves
1 tablespoon sage
1 bay leaf, broken
½ teaspoon salt
Place all ingredients in a heavy soup pot over high heat. Bring to a boil and then turn heat to low and simmer until chicken is done and will easily come off the bones--about 1 hour. With a slotted spoon, scoop the chicken from broth. Remove the meat from the bones and refrigerate for later use.
To have chicken broth with a wonderfully rich flavor, toss the bones back into the broth and simmer, covered, on low for about 2 more hours. Allow the broth to cool. Strain broth and refrigerate until fat hardens on top of the broth. Defat the chicken broth by removing and discarding the hardened fat.
Broth
Calories per serving: 38
Total fat: 1g
Saturated fat: 0g
Calories from fat: 13
Protein: 5g
Carbohydrates: 3g
Dietary fiber: 0g
Sugars: 0g
Chicken
Calories per serving: 172
Total fat: 4g
Saturated fat: 1g
Calories from fat: 32
Protein: 32g
Carbohydrates: 0g
Dietary fiber: 0g
Sugars: 0g
Recipes reprinted with permission from The Healthy Southwest Table, by Janet E. Taylor (www.rionuevo.com)
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