Putting Together a Healthy Potluck Lunch

One of the pitfalls of trying to eat healthy is to put together a healthy lunch. This is especially difficult in the world of potlucks ahead of us during the holidays.

Here are some suggestions.

Ask beforehand what's on the menu; even if you can't find out, you can bring a healthy main dish (or side dish that can serve as your main dish) to fill up on.

Take half a sandwich and fill up on the salad, fruit and/or a little soup, depending on what's available. You can have some of the cream soup in moderation, especially if, as happened today at our women's group, it's a creamy vegetable soup.

Limit everything you eat to a total of 1 to 1 1/2 C. of food. This will ensure you don't have the "stuffed turkey" feeling you might get at a potluck or Thanksgiving.

Don't hang out by the food; if possible, serve yourself and go sit away from the serving platters.

In other words, don't do everything I did today, such as getting an eggnog latte on the way and going back for another serving of chicken salad croissants. It is, however, an improvement upon my funeral luncheon forays in April. Taking half a bowl of the creamy soup, eating extra spinach salad and limiting the dessert portion were some of the better ideas I implemented.

Cookbook Review: Rachel Ray Express Lane Meals

As always, Rachael gives twists on staples such as hamburger, cheese and bacon in Rachael Ray Express Lane Meals.

Open Face Blue Moon Burgers sound wonderful, as does Cowboy Spaghetti, which is also rated five out of five stars on Food Network's website. I'll have to tweak it to include non-dairy cheese, but that shouldn't be too difficult. The Balsamic Chicken with White Beans and Wilted Spinach is one recipe I made. I highly recommend the chicken part. The wilted spinach is good, except that I added too much liquid and it turned into spinach soup (which was still good, but in a whole different way than I expected). If you use bottled minced garlic, make sure you use a bit less than the equivalent of four minced garlic cloves. It gets stronger as it sits in your frig!

I plan to make the Smoky Sweet Potato Chicken Stoup someday when it cools off a bit. I love the concept, although I'll have to buy chipotle peppers in adobo sauce just for this recipe.

Probably the absolute best part of this cookbook is at the beginning, where Rachel has a three to four-page section discussing her 70 "go-to" staples (and the quantities in which she keeps them). It's a very useful tool for new cooks unaccustomed to stocking a pantry/frig so it's not necessary to buy ingredients for every recipe you cook.

Knowing me, I probably won't need as much hot sauce as she does, but it's a guideline. 
If there's something you won't eat, don't buy it! (Personally for me, that would be anchovies, thanks to the job of my youth working in a pizza place.)

When life hands you a defrosted freezer, make soup

The recent meltdown of the kitchen refrigerator's freezer led to the urgent need to do something with all the vegetables that defrosted.

I tried my hand at a vegetable soup, containing:

-Pacific Natural Foods Organic Low Sodium Vegetable Broth (32 oz.)
-2 C. water
-one 28-oz can of chopped tomatoes
-1/2 package of Tinkyáda brown rice pasta shells (or similar whole wheat shells would work)
-1/2 package of peas and carrots
-1/2 package of peas
-8 oz. green beans
a whole package of California-style vegetables (carrots, broccoli, and cauliflower)
-a whole package of Oriental style vegetables (broccoli, mushrooms, carrots, red peppers and water chestnuts)
-Two kinds of Mrs. Dash: Original Blend and Tomato Basil Garlic (about a tsp. each or to taste)
-McCormick Perfect Pinch, Roasted Garlic and Bell Pepper flavor, approximately 1/4 tsp.

Start by boiling the broth/water mixture in a large soup pot or Dutch oven. When it comes to a boil, start to cook pasta per package directions. When it comes back up to a boil, put in vegetables and add the seasoning, stirring thoroughly. When cooked, if you wish, you may take about three cups of the pasta/vegetable mixture out to dress with your favorite pasta salad dressing. (I did this because I decided I wanted to add tomatoes to my vegetable soup.) Add tomatoes and simmer until warmed through.

I didn't calculate the number of servings, but it was made Sunday and we're still eating the soup. I've pretty much finished off the veggie pasta salad.