Switching gears to healthier foods

Welcome back from Passover cooking! I loved having the family, growing rapidly, and extended family and friends for our second seder. This year we were 23. I will say it was a lot of work, but so worth it. I think the cooking was the easiest part. I made the soup and meatballs ahead of time and froze them. The container I poured the soup into was so large that when it came time to defrosting, there was no room for the matzah balls. I also made them a few days before the seder and spooned them into a rectangular tin (I didn’t freeze them). I actually had to heat them up in the oven because the pot would have overflowed.. always a funny story to retell… This year, all I forgot to serve was the steamed spinach..but I suspect, there were few who really missed this side dish.

Anyway, leaving the memory of heavy kugels and rich foods aside, here are a few recipes from “Festival of Lite-Kosher Cookbook” by Gail Ashkanazi-Hankin.

Chicken and Pine Nut Salad

Cooking spray
1 green pepper, cut into strips
1 red pepper, cut into strips
1 cup sugar snap peas or green beans
1/2 cup steamed julienne carrots
1 pound skinless chicken breast, cooked and cut into strips or cubes
2-4 tablespoons chopped cilantro
2 1/2 tablespoons toasted pine nuts
juice of 2 limes
1/4 cup dry red wine or sherry
4 cups salad greens

In a skillet coated with cooking spray, sautÃ© the green and red pepper and sugar snap peas over medium heat for 2-3 minutes or until tender crisp. Add the steamed carrots and cooked chicken. Remove from heat. (The mixture can be refrigerated overnight.)

Add the cilantro and toasted pine nuts and toss briefly to mix. Add the lime juice and wine and toss to coat. Serve over salad greens.

Lemon Waldorf Salad

3 cups mixed red and green apples, peeled, diced
1 cup halved red seedless grapes
2 stalks celery, sliced
1 cup finely grated red cabbage
1/4 cup raisins
1 tablespoons toasted sliced almonds
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger or 1/4 teaspoon dry ginger
1 cup nonfat lemon yogurt

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl, stirring in the yogurt at the end. Refrigerate, covered, for about one hour before serving.

Variations:

Omit 1 cup of apple and add 1 cup seasonal fruit such as cantaloupe, mango, or watermelon.

Add 2 tablespoons lemon juice and teaspoons honey to nonfat plain yogurt.