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Salsa shapes up to add spice to healthy diet
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Salsas are a wonderful way to add flavor to many types of food, and they are extremely versatile. A salsa is a spicy sauce made with fruits or vegetables. Traditional salsas are made from tomatoes, onions and chiles, but today salsas are made from a multitude of ingredients including fresh or dried chiles, common to exotic fruits and vegetables, usually some type of vinegar and/or citrus juice such as lemon, orange, lime or tomato, and various seasonings. They also are easy to prepare. Most salsas can be kept in the refrigerator for several days after preparation.
Salsas are generally low in fat and calories, unless they contain a significant amount of a high-calorie ingredient such as avocado, oil or chopped nuts. Our salsa is seasoned with jalapeno chile, cilantro, lime juice and rice vinegar. Dried or canned jalapenos chiles can be used if fresh ones are not available or if you're not wanting to use the fresh ones due to the recent salmonella scare involving fresh jalapenos.
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Salsas can be served many ways. They are often served as a dip for chips or vegetables. Salsas are great to top a baked potato, rice or cottage cheese. Poured over a brick of cream cheese and served with crackers or raw vegetable slices, they make a great appetizer. Salsas enhance an omelet or scrambled eggs. And they can be served as a sauce for grilled poultry, fish, seafood, pork or other lean meat, which is how we are going to use salsa in our lighter recipe.
Here is how we lightened the original recipe:
Replaced the cranberry sauce with a fruit salsa.
Replaced the French dressing with pineapple juice.
The modified recipe has 345 fewer calories and 24 fewer grams of fat per serving.
Original Glazed Chicken
Makes 4 servings
4 (4-ounce) skinned and boned chicken breasts
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 can (16 ounces) whole-berry cranberry sauce
1 cup spicy-sweet French dressing
Lighter Glazed Chicken
Makes 4 servings
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
1 jalapeno chile, seeded and finely chopped (2 tablespoons)
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1 cup diced fresh strawberries
½ cup diced yellow or red pepper
1 can (15¼ ounces) pineapple tidbits in their own juice, drained and juice reserved
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 (4-ounce) skinned and boned chicken breasts
Make salsa by combining cilantro, jalapeno, lime juice and rice vinegar in a small, nonmetallic bowl and mix well. Add strawberries, diced pepper and pineapple tidbits. Cover and refrigerate up to 6 hours or overnight to allow flavors to blend, if desired.
Spray a skillet with a nonstick cooking spray. Turn burner on medium heat. Add olive oil to skillet. When oil is hot, add chicken breasts and begin cooking. When the oil is absorbed, add about 2 tablespoons of water while chicken is cooking. This creates steam to continue cooking the chicken. Cook about 15 minutes longer adding a little more water as necessary. Chicken will begin to brown. Add reserved pineapple juice and continue cooking about 10 more minutes until the pineapple juice is absorbed and has formed a glaze on chicken. Turn burner down a little if necessary to prevent burning.
Check chicken breasts for doneness by slicing the thickest part. Be sure chicken is completely done with no pink remaining. Place each chicken breast on a plate and spoon ¼ of the fruit salsa over each, allowing some of the browned chicken to remain visible.
Cook's note: To protect hands from the jalapeno seeds, wear gloves when handling and wash hands, cuttingboard and knife immediately after preparing.
Recipe variation: Other fruits such as mango, papaya or peaches could be substituted for the strawberries.
Serving suggestions: Serve with a green vegetable such as steamed broccoli or a spinach salad and a complex carbohydrate such as mashed potatoes or rice.
Nutrition facts per serving: 230 calories, 5 g fat, 27 g protein, 19 g carbohydrates, 70 mg cholesterol, 54 mg sodium and 2 g dietary fiber.
Cost per serving: $1.81.
By Becky Varner
Source: The OklahomanAll rights reserved.