Chicken with lima beans and artichoke hearts in Avgolemono (Egg and Lemon Sauce).

I make this dish quite often in the winter.  Originally, this dish is made with fava beans or broad beans.  I haven't been able to find either at the super market, but I also can not acquire a taste for fava beans.  From what I recall, when my mother used to make this dish, I just couldn't eat the beans.  I ate the artichokes but not the beans.  Probably because my mother didn't like them that much either. Therefore,  she wouldn't make this dish too often.

As I was experimenting one day to make something with chicken, I wanted to give the lima beans a try.  (Honestly, when I first tried this dish years ago, I thought that the fava beans were lima beans :) what can I say I was young and didn't know much about cooking).  So I came up with this recipe.  Lima beans with chicken and artichoke hearts in avgolemono (egg and lemon sauce).  I have been making this dish ever since, and when I'm short on time and forget to defrost the chicken breasts, I will also make it without the chicken.  It's a nice vegetarian version if you are not too strict of a vegetarian since there is egg in the sauce.  Both ways, with the chicken or without, the dish is delicious, and it's also gluten free.  Enjoy!

Ingredients (Makes 6 servings-appr. 12oz ea.)

1 lbs. boneless skinless chicken breast cubed

¼ cup olive oil

½ cup chopped onion

1 tsp. chopped garlic

1 tsp. thyme

1 tsp. dill

¾ tsp. salt

½ tsp. pepper

2 cups chicken stock

12 oz. frozen baby lima beans

12 oz. frozen artichoke hearts

Avgolemono - Egg and lemon sauce:

1 egg

½ cup lemon juice

Directions:

In a Dutch oven, pour the olive oil and sauté the chicken with the onions and garlic.  Add the dill and thyme.  Let the chicken sauté until there is no pink showing.  Add the lima beans and artichokes along with the chicken stock.  Add the salt and pepper.  Lower the heat and let it cook for about an hour, until the beans, artichokes and chicken pieces are tender.  Remove from heat and let it cool before making the avgolemono (egg and lemon sauce). 

Avgolemono (egg and lemon sauce)

1 egg

½ cup lemon juice

Separate the egg yolk from the egg white.  Place the egg white in a bowl.  Squeeze the juice of 1 lemon, about ½ cup.  Beat the egg white till frothy.  Add the egg yolk and continue beating.  Add the lemon juice while still beating and slowly pour the mixture over the lima beans and chicken.  Stir, so the egg and lemon sauce will distribute evenly.  Serve.

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size 1 serving (306.8 g)

Amount Per Serving

Calories 319

Calories from Fat 117

Total Fat 13.0g

Saturated Fat 1.8g

Trans Fat 0.0g

Cholesterol 92mg

Sodium 703mg

Potassium 783mg

Total Carbohydrates 19.3g

Dietary Fiber 6.2g

Sugars 2.3g

Protein 32.9g

Pumpkin Orange Ribbon Cake

I was looking in making a pumpkin bread or cake with some kind of cream cheese filling.  I was craving the nuttiness of a pumpkin but also the sweet and savory taste of cream cheese filling.  

As I was looking through my cookbooks (and I have tons of them) I came across a card of pumpkin ribbon bread, that if I recall correctly, came through the mail with something but I don't remember what. That was when we still lived in Canada.  I kept the recipe card because the picture  looked good.  I had never tried to make it before.  There is no  name on the card from which cookbook or cookbook author came from so I really cannot give any credit to whoever came up with the idea of a pumpkin ribbon bread.  Needless to say I tried it first as the recipe ingredients and measurements requested.  I was a bit disappointed though when the recipe asked for two loaf pans and (I did use two) but the batter and the cream cheese filling was not enough to fill the loaf pans or enough batter to cover the cream cheese filling.  However, it tasted good.  But the presentation was not so great.  So I had to try and make it again.  This time I changed the amount of the ingredients.  I used a bit more of cream cheese and went with the less fat cream cheese, I used the whole can of pumpkin pie filling instead of a cup, added a bit more orange zest in the cream cheese filling and a bit more spice in the batter.  I also used a Bundt cake pan and let it bake for 1.5 hours.  It came out moist and delicious (the original recipe being a "bread" came out quite dense and didn't look like it was cooked through for the cooking time the recipe requested).  And the cake was quite photogenic, if I say so myself .  It's a nice fall or winter cake.  Enjoy!

Ingredients (Makes 30 servings)

Cream cheese filling

8 oz 1/3 less fat cream cheese

1/3 cup sugar

1 tbsp flour

1 egg

2 tsp grated orange peel

Pumpkin Batter

15 oz   cooked pumpkin

3/4 cup vegetable oil

2 eggs

1 3/4 cups sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp ground cloves

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

Directions

For filling:

Beat together the cream cheese, sugar and flour. Add the egg and orange peel. Beat well together till creamy. Set aside.

For the pumpkin batter:

Beat together the pumpkin, oil and eggs. Add the sugar, flour, salt, cloves, cinnamon and baking soda. Mix well. Grease a Bundt cake pan. Pour 1/2 of the mixture in there. Spread the cream cheese mixture and finish with the remaining batter. Bake in a preheated 325-degree oven for 1 1/2 hours or until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from the pan.  Sprinkle with icing sugar and decorate with orange slices.  The cake stays well in room temperature.  But after a day or two, store in in refrigerator.  Or you can store in refrigerator and decorate with icing sugar just before serving.  

I was also able to freeze part of the cake.  A few days later when I needed it, I let it defrost at room temperature, sprinkled it with icing sugar and served it.  It was still moist and tasted well.  

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size 1 serving (53.1 g) appr. 2 oz each serving

Amount Per Serving

Calories 155

Calories from Fat 67

Total Fat 7.5g

Saturated Fat 2.1g

Trans Fat 0.0g

Cholesterol 21mg

Sodium 121mg

Potassium 44mg1%

Total Carbohydrates 21.1g

Dietary Fiber 0.7g

Sugars 14.9g

Protein 2.0g

Cabbage rolls in Avgolemono (egg and lemon sauce)

Cabbage rolls in Avgolemono (egg and lemon sauce) is a traditional Greek winter food.  When I was working full time I would make this dish, on weekends – usually on a Sunday - and have left overs the next day.  It’s a dish that I avoided making often because of the time it consumed.  Of course, you are not going to make this dish every week, or you will get tired of it, like any other type of food that you eat often.  There is a less consuming type of cabbage rolls that you can make; and that is without preparing the filling on the stove; but instead mixing all the ingredients together raw.  The only thing you will need to do is boil the cabbage leaves.  I found that type of preparation though, a bit heavy on the stomach.  My mother will always cook the filling on the stove (as per recipe below).  In the past I used to mix it raw, but when I quit work, I decided to make it the way my mother used to make it.  And Dah! No heartburn, no acid reflux, no heaviness on the stomach (this is on individual preference; it does not affect some people like others).  So from then on, I decided, since I love this dish so much, to cook the filling. 

There is also another way of cooking the cabbage rolls, and that is baking them in the oven in tomato sauce.  Instead of cooking them on the stove, you layer the cabbage rolls in an ovenproof pan, in a single layer, pour a 14 oz can of tomato sauce on top, mixed with 1 cup of water, add the ½-cup olive oil, and bake at 350° for about one hour to an hour and a half.   This way is also very delicious.  But for now enjoy this wonderful dish in the Avgolemono sauce. 

Cabbage rolls in Avgolemono (egg and lemon sauce) 

Ingredients (Makes 46 servings)

46 cabbage leaves

To boil the cabbage:

8 quarts of water for 1 large cabbage

2 large cabbages about 3lbs each

For the filling:

1 ½ lbs ground turkey

1 cup rice

½  cup olive oil

1 cup chopped onion

½ cup chopped parsley

¼ cup chopped dill

1 tsp salt or according to taste

½ tsp ground pepper

1 ½ cups water

For cooking:

2 1/2 cups water – enough to cover the cabbage rolls

½ cup olive oil

½ tsp salt

Avgolemono - Egg and lemon sauce:

1 egg

½ cup lemon juice

Directions:

Wash and remove the outer leaves of the cabbage.  Place it in a large pot with water and boil.  As the cabbage leaves soften, remove the leaves by cutting them at the core.  Place them in a colander to strain.  When all the leaves are cooked, leave them in the colander to strain and cool.  Make sure that you don’t over boil the leaves, otherwise when you try to roll them, they will tear.  

In a large frying pan, add the olive oil, and saute the onions and the ground turkey.  Add the rice, salt, parsley, dill, pepper, and water and let it cook for 5-10 minutes or until the water is absorbed.  The rice will not be fully cooked.  Remove from heat and set aside to cool. 

At the bottom of a dutch oven, place the small cabbage leaves, enough to cover the bottom of the pot. 

Take one large cabbage leaf, cut the core, and place a teaspoon of the filling on it.  Roll once covering the filling, then fold the sides and continue to roll till you make a nice oblong shape (see picture below).  Place it in the dutch oven and repeat, till done.  These will make about 2 rows of cabbage rolls – 46 pieces total.  Cover the cabbage rolls with the rest of the small cabbage leaves that you have leftover. 

Place the pot on the stove and pour the ½ cup olive oil, ½ tsp salt and 2 ½ cups water and let it simmer for 1 hour till cooked.  When slightly cooled, prepare the egg and lemon sauce. 

Avgolemono (egg and lemon sauce):

Separate the egg yolk from the egg white.  Place the egg white in a bowl.  Squeeze the juice of 1 lemon, about ½ cup.  Beat the egg white till frothy.  Add the egg yolk and continue beating.  Add the lemon juice while still beating and slowly pour the mixture into the cabbage rolls.  Swish the pan around so that the egg and lemon sauce will distribute evenly.  Serve. 

 Nutrition Facts

Serving Size 1 serving (55.0 g)

Amount Per Serving

Calories 97Calories from Fat 60

Total Fat 6.7g

Saturated Fat 1.2g

Cholesterol 15mg

Sodium 71mg

Total Carbohydrates 4.5g

Dietary Fiber 0.5g

Sugars 0.6g

Protein 4.6g

The raw cabbage

The filling

Layering the bottom of the pan with the small cabbage leaves

Assembling the cabbage rolls

Adding the filling

Rolling the cabbage 

Folding the cabbage

The cabbage roll in the final folding stage

Layering the pot with the cabbage rolls - tightly together

Layering with the remaining cabbage leaves on top

The cooked cabbage rolls with Avgolemono (egg and lemon sauce) 

The finished product.  Delicious!