The Magic of Low-Cal Italian Dressing

Today's Menu features low calorie Italian dressing. I'll assume that you are not into making your own yet. We can get to that later....... It also uses some of your ingredients from the parmesan crusted cod recipe from last time, so you don't waste food or money.
Get the kids, as this will be fun!

SHOPPING LIST
1 head Iceburg Lettuce
1 cucumber
1 small box, a pint of grape or cherry tomatoes
1 small bag, plain roasted almond slices, 4 ounces
1 small bottle low calorie Italian salad dressing
1 whole chicken cut up into pieces (you can buy it pre-cut)
1 box gallon zip closure style plastic bags
3 medium sized russet potatoes (any potatoe really that will fit in the palm of your hand)
1 non-stick cooking spray

Preperation
Wash the hands of all participants!!
Pre-heat your oven to 375* F
Wash potatoes in cold water rubbing the outside with a wet paper towel to get the dirt off. Children can do this job, or you can. The adult, or child over age 12 , then places the washed potatoes on a cutting board. (Place a dish towel under the cutting board to prevent it from sliding when you will cut anything on the surface of the cutting board.) The potatoes will naturally rest on their flatest side. Cut each potatoe in half length wise. Place the halves, cut side down and then cut each half again once length wise, then 3 times width wise. You now have potatoes wedges all about the same size. This uniformity helps them to cook at the same amount of time. Have a child or you, place the potatoe cubes in a 2 quart mixing bowl. Same person or different child if you have multiples, Add 1/2 cup of the creamy ranch dressing from last recipe in with the potatoes. Add 1/4 cup of grated parmesan cheese also. Then stir the potatoes around inside the bowl to coat them with the cheesy dressing.  Over your kitchen sink, you or a child spray a cookie sheet with a non stick cooking spray or cover a cookie sheet with aluminum foil and also spray it. ( I love making clean up easy, yet am mindful of creating too big a carbon footprint)  Place the coated potatoes on the cookie sheet, so each potatoe is seperated from another to cook evenly. Set aside for now to let the flavors get into the potatoes.

Remove chicken pieces, 2 breasts, 2 wings, 2 legs, 2 thighs and rinse in cold water. Shake off excess water or pat dry with paper toweling. Place chicken inside a gallon plastic zip lock type bag. Add 1 cup of low calorie Italian dressing to the chicken parts inside of the plastic bag. Close the plastic bag securely and gently move and massage the chicken around inside the bag to coat each piece evenly with dressing. Using a fork or tongs, remove each chicken piece from the plastic bag and place on a tray that has at least a 1/2 inch side on it, or a Pyrex 9X 12 X 2 baking dish that you have sprayed with a non stick oven spray. Throw the plastic bag with the dressing away and wash your hands thoroughly with hot soapy water.
Place your chicken in the oven at 375*F for 15 minutes. Set a timer!! Then when the timer goes off, reduce the oven temperature to 350*F  and put the potatoes in the oven on the rack above your chicken and bake both items for another 30 minutes. You will know the chicken is finished when the internal temperature is 170*F or when you stick a fork in the fattest part of the chicken breast and pull it out, the juice that runs from the chicken is clear and not cloudy or bloody.

While the chicken and potatoes are cooking...........

Let's make a "tossed salad"! Lettuce, pop the knob off the bottom by banging it on your kitchen countertop, then pulling it out. Have a child tear the lettuce into small pieces, about as long as their thumb, and place in a colander. Run under cold water to clean lettuce. ( you can mix in fresh spinach, fresh basil leaves, or bib, romaine or endive lettuce if you want) I am sticking with iceburg because most kids will at least try it. You can also buy bagged lettuce yet it is pricey and takes a job away from a child.  Wash lettuce either type you choose, then  shake the colander over your kitchen sink to remove water.  Place lettuce inside the gallon zip lock plastic bag.
Cucumber, wash exterior in cold water. If you have a plastic fork, have a child run the plastic fork down the 
length of the exterior of the cucumber to make lines, every so gently. They hold the cucmber in one hand at the top and only stripe the middle part and down, then flip the cucumber around and stripe the top part. Repeat. If the child is 7 or older, they can use a non plastic fork. Roll the cucumber and repeat until the exterior is striped. Then if the child is old enough and has been taught how to use a sharp knife, have the cucumber cut into thin slices like silver dollar thickness. If not, you as the adult, slice the cucumbers. Remember that nothing has to be perfect, it is art in action and fun to share time together. Place cucumber slices into the plastic bag with the lettuce.
Have a child count the number of cherry or grape tomatoes you decide as a family to have in your salad today. You or your child (children) wash those tomoatoes in cold water and then add them also to the plastic bag filled with lettuce.
Open the bag of almonds and place 1/2 of the almonds, about 2 ounces into the plastic bag with salad ingredients.
Open your ranch dressing left over from last week that you stored in your refrigerator and slowly pour 4 tablespoons of salad dressing, one spoonful at a time into a tablespoon and then dump the level tablespoon into the plastic salad bag mixture. I want you to do this measuring because it might be late at night one day and your child needs exactly one tablespoon of medicine, so you practice now on inexpensive salad dressing so you can be ready! 
Tightly close the zip lock type plastic bag. Make certain it is zipped close. Place this inside a second zip type bag, zip the second one closed and then pass the bag back and forth between you and your child or children. Pass it to each other a few time like a gentle football or underhand baseball. You have a "tossed" salad, plus you have all participated in making a meal memory. Unzip the outer bag and save it. Unlock the salad contained bag and plate it into bowls when it is meal time. This can hold in a refrigerator for 2 hours prior to eating. Do not keep over night. throw out any leftovers. 
Who is going to set the table? Are we going to use utensils or pretend we are noble Knights of the Roundtable and eat with our hands tonight and we only need napkins? If we are civilized tonight, then the napkin, salad fork and dinner fork are placd on the left hand side of the dinner plate and the knife and teaspoon( if you want to have one) are placed on the right hand side. Flatware/ eating utensils are never handled by the eating end. Hold the flatware by the handle and place it on the table. I share this because maybe one day your child will need to get a job as a waiter or have to bus tables. Knowing this sanitary way to handle utensils now, helps.

Children wash up for dinner as the parent removes the hot food from the oven and plates the potatoes and chicken and the children bring the bowls of salad over to the table.

Leftover chicken can be refrigerated and eaten cold within 24 hours. After that it has to be cooked/heated to 165*F if eaten. Microwave covered with a paper towel for 3 minutes on high usually does the trick. Potatoes can be heated the same way. A good rule of thumb is not to hold leftovers in your refrigerator more than 3 days.

CONGRATULATIONS! You have prepared meal number two!
This is what you learned......
1. Meal  making can be a team sport and a tossed salad can get fussy children eating veggies
2. Low Cal Italian dressing can be a marinade! In fact, you can repeat the process for boneless center cut pork chops. Follow the same method and timing and final internal temperature will be 160*F.
3. Use leftovers, like parmesan cheese and Ranch dressing to save money. It just takes a plan. The potatoe recipe process can also be repeated on fresh clean green beans, or washed brocollini. Coat the green beans or brocollini with the cheese and dressing, add 1/8 cup of water or chicken broth and bake covered for 15 minutes at 350*F.
4. Washing hands after touching chicken is critical to keeping healthy. Also, never re-use a marinade unless it has been boiled. Personally, I NEVER re-use a marinade.
5. Using a non-stick cooking spray reduces clean up time. 
6. Setting a table or having a Knights of the Roundtable Feast can be fun.
7. Securing a cutting board with a towel is a safety measure

BONUS: Low Cal Italian Dressing can marinate a london broil, tri-tip or flat iron cut steak! Place the steak in a zip lock type bag with 1 cup of dressing and refrigerate at least 1 hour and no longer than 24 hours. Remove steak and throw away marinade. Heat BBQ grill on high for 10 minutes. Place steak on grill for 6 minutes each side for a one inch thick cut of beef, turning steak over only once to retain moisture. Remove from BBQ and allow to rest on a cutting board for 5 minutes. Slice on a diagonal and serve! If you wish your steak to be cooked more than mid-rare, then place on the grill for a longer time. Closing the grill retains heat and helps food achieve more "done-ness" in the same amount of time.

I wish you and your loved ones a great meal. I'll have more next week. Until then, keep being the best person you can be. Your children deserve the best!

Day One- I have my kids, now how do we eat?

People all over this world fall out of love. Relationsihps end and often children are involved. Parents who once depended upon each other, now have to cope managing alone. As a Chef, I often heard stressed single parents saying," I do not know how to cook". "I do not know how to shop!" "How do I cook this?" How do I get my kids to eat?" "Do you have any really simple recipes I can make for my kids?"

A good friend Janet suggested that I set up  this blog to offer a safe haven for single parents and their kids. A place to get recipes,  to get cooking tips, to get shopping tips and to get these newly designed families cooking together, eating together and moving in a positive direction. I promise to update this site every week with a new recipe and to reply to any cooking questions you have.

So, this weekend.... You got'em? Now feed'em!

 

One Happy Parmesan Cod

Serves 4 (To serve more add 1/2 pound more cod per person. For less, obviously reduce by 1/2 pound)

 

Ingredients

2 lbs. Cod Fillet, fresh or frozen. If frozen, thawed in a refrigerator 24 hours prior to cooking. Cut into 4 uniform sized portions.

2 cups buttermilk Ranch Salad dressing (low-cal will do if you want to reduce calories)

2 cups Italian Bread crumbs

1 cup grated parmesan cheese

1 tsp. lemon zest. (Rub the outside of a whole lemon against a cheese grater to remove small pieces of the lemon rind. This is called zest)

Preperation

Dry the cod fillets, by resting them on triple thickness of paper towel sheets at room temperature for 20 minutes

Add a pinch of salt & pepper to cod fillets while they rest

Pre-heat oven to 350*F

Mix the bread crumbs, lemon zest and parmesan cheese well in a 2 qt. mixing bowl 

Spray a cookie sheet with a non-stick cooking spray

Dredge the fillets in dressing using your right hand

Dredge the wet fillets into the parmesan bread crumb mixture with your left hand

Then place breaded cod fillets on the non-stick sprayed cookie sheet pan

Wash your hands (Smile)

Place the cookie sheet pan into the oven at 350* for 18 minutes or until the internal temperature is 165*F

(The exterior of the cod will be golden brown and the interior of the fillet will be solid white and moist)

Remove with a spatula and serve.

 

This is great with steamed fresh green beans. Place a 1/2 cup of water in a 2 qt. pot to boil at the same time you are drying the cod. Place 3 cups, washed and snapped grean beans in a colander that fits atop your 2 qt pot of boiling water. (3 cups are about three handfulls if you grab them loose at the market, like you were grabbing a bottle of water from a refrigerator)  Allow beans to sit on top of the boiling water and steam for 8 minutes, at the nine minute mark while your cod is baking. Remove beans and toss in 1 tablespoon of olive oil , a tsp of garlic powder and a tsp of lemon zest that you will have from the second side of the lemon you used for the cod breading. Squeeze a little lemon juice on the green beans before serving and salt & pepper to taste. If you purchase a bag of wild rice, or long grain rice, by Unlce Ben's or minute rice, they have a 90 second microwave type package. Follow package directions and just place in your microwave the same time you are removing the cod fish from the oven. By the time you plate the fish and the green beans, it will be time to plate the rice.

 

This recipe is great for family involvement. You as the parent do not have to be the authority of everything. Cooking is an art, so share the art with your child or children. A child can gain self respect and confidence by participating in the preperation of a meal. A child can measure and pour out the ranch dressing, or the bread crumbs. They can set the oven to pre-heat. They can be taught to set the oven timer and learn that following a recipe is important to the final product. A child can actually dredge the fillets, if there hands are cleaned before and after the process. A child can clean and snap the dry ends off of the green beans. They can measure the seasonings and add them to the beans. A child should not work the oven or stove top until the age of 10 and properly taught how to use them. A child should not work a cheese grater until age 12 and first taught how to use one. I can cover those concepts moving forward if you ask me to.

 

Please remember that mistakes will happen and children and parents might spill something or measure incorrectly. Be loving and patient with each other. Laugh it off, clean it up and enjoy the time you have and food you created. Just like each painting your child has given you, their food creations also are works of art. I had 4 wonderful children every weekend and now 12 years later they have grown and I relish those memories.

 

Things learned:

1. A new recipe that can be used for cod, bass, perch, bonita, salmon, tilapia or roughy. See you have 7 recipes for fish now! Plus green beans and rice!

2. Olive oil and Canola oil are best for your health.

3. Zest is the small pieces of rind from a citrus fruit.

4. The protein portion size of any meal, like the cod, should not be larger in size than the size of the palm of the hand of the person eating it. 

5. You are going to get through this transition and you and your kids are going to learn life skills as well as build memories.

6. Buying a food thermometer is a good idea and teaching your kids how to read it is a great idea.

7. Store un-used salad dressing in the refrigerator for no more than 3 weeks.

8. Store dry ingredients, such as bread crumbs in a dry place, like a cabinet.

9. Always wash hands and all cooking surfaces adn utensils before and after cooking to prevent bacteria growth.

10. Left overs can be heated in a 350* oven for 15 minutes, then re-served as a fillet or on a bun as a sandwich. Add some ranch dressing if using a bun to add moisture to your sandwich. Throw out leftovers if not heated and eaten within 3 days of the initial cooking.

 

Until next week...... be the best parent you can be.