Being Healthier

Preparation Details:

Heat oil in a large pot on medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic; sauté for 5 minutes. Mix in sherry, salt/pepper, broth and soup. Bring mixture to a boil and add chicken breasts. Bring this to a boil. Cover, reduce heat and simmer 40 minutes or until chicken is tender. Remove chicken from cooking liquid. Place chicken on plate or in separate container. Allow chicken to cool for approximately 20 minutes.

Remove chicken from bones, discarding the bones.  Pour cooking liquid into skillet, stirring in mushrooms, peas, corn, and chicken.

To prepare dumplings, combine baking mix and milk. Drop the dough into chicken mixture to form dumplings. Bring to a simmer; cook 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Cover and cook for 10 minutes or until the dumplings are done.

Healthier Bites:
By taking the skin from the chicken breasts and removing the chicken from the bones, you can reduce the saturated fat in your dish. Olive oil is great healthier, unsaturated fat that is perfect for sauteing veggies. Speaking of veggies, I added starchier vegetables like corn and peas but threw in fresh mushrooms too! This is a perfect recipe to add lots of veggies too! Low sodium broth adds flavor but keeps that sodium culprit lower too. Condensed soup is pretty high in sodium so I really try to avoid using it in recipes too often.  There is about half as much sodium in either “healthy” versions these soups come in: 98% Fat Free or the “Healthy Request”  version. Here are the comparisons:

98% Fat Free Cream of Mushroom Soup
* Calories 60
* Fat Calories 25
* Total Fat 2.5g
* Sat. Fat 0.5g
* Trans Fat 0g
* Polyunsat. Fat 1.5g
* Monouns. Fat 0.5g
* Cholesterol 5mg
* Sodium 480mg
* Total Carb. 9g
* Dietary Fiber 1g
* Sugars 0g
* Protein 1g
* Potassium 550mg

Healthy Request® Cream of Mushroom Soup
* Calories 70
* Fat Calories 20
* Total Fat 2g
* Sat. Fat 0.5g
* Trans Fat 0g
* Polyunsat. Fat 1g
* Monouns. Fat 0.5g
* Cholesterol 5mg
* Sodium 410mg
* Total Carb. 10g
* Dietary Fiber 1g
* Sugars 2g
* Protein 2g
* Potassium 780mg

Classic Cream of Mushroom Soup
* Calories 100
* Fat Calories 50
* Total Fat 6g
* Sat. Fat 1g
* Trans Fat 0g
* Polyunsat. Fat 4g
* Monounsat. Fat 1g
* Cholesterol 5mg
* Sodium 870mg
* Total Carb. 9g
* Dietary Fiber 2g
* Sugars 1g
* Protein 1g
* Potassium 60mg

While it’s not ideal, the healthier versions are pretty similar in fat and sodium content. They add just as much flavor to the sauce as the classic soup using half as much sodium. To find out where your soup comes from, check out this nifty map Campell’s has on their website

2010 Dietary Guidelines on Sodium
Sodium is primarily consumed as salt (sodium chloride). As a food ingredient, salt has multiple uses, such as in curing meat, baking, masking off- flavors, retaining moisture, and enhancing flavor (including the flavor of other ingredients). Salt added at the table and in cooking provides only a small pro- portion of the total sodium that Americans consume. Most sodium comes from salt added during food processing. Many types of processed foods contribute to the high intake of sodium. Case and point: Processed, Condensed Soup!

I did not realize how much sodium I was consuming this week but it feels like alot! I’m going to make an effort to keep an eye on it and balance it out this week.

What else did I eat this week?

I made mini-meatloaves and mini-lentil loaves, though they did not turn out as tasty as expected.

Unfortunately, I ate out quite a bit too because of traveling for work. However, I was able to choose meals like grilled salmon with vegetables and (fairly) healthy lunch options too!