Author: Monda Rosenberg

1. While burning chicken on the barbie seems to be a national pastime, there’s no need for it. The usual problem is that the barbecue’s intense heat sears the chicken’s tender surface before it’s cooked through. It can take a long time for the heat to make it to the centre of the piece of chicken, especially when you’re grilling up thick pieces with bones. One solution is to precook the chicken: wrap all the pieces in foil and place on the grill until partially cooked, then take the pieces out of the foil and finish them on the grill. And read on for other ways to achieve a beautifully barbecued bird.
2. Never barbecue chicken (or any tender food) over high heat. If you’re cooking on moderate heat but still find the chicken burning in some areas, either move the grill several inches away from the heat, or reposition chicken to a cooler part of the grill. Never leave the lid open; keeping it closed as much as possible will ensure the chicken will be evenly cooked through.
3. Prevent sticking by oiling the grill or coating it with cooking spray before putting anything on it. Also lightly oil chicken pieces – and vegetables and fruit, for that matter – before placing them on the grill.
4. Adapt your grill method to the cut of chicken you’re using. There is no one-size-fits-all technique. Why grill thin boneless skinless breasts the same way you would thick chicken legs, or bony-fatty wings or chicken quarters? Large bone-in pieces benefit from long and slow grilling over low heat. The smartest way to grill a whole chicken is to use a rotisserie attachment, the beer can method or butterfly the bird. Check this website for recipes for all of these approaches.
5. To maximize barbecue flavour, make sure all parts of the chicken pieces are exposed to the heat. Thread bony wings on a skewer starting at the meaty end and ending at the skinny wing tip, so the wing is stretched out. Position them on the grill with the thickest portion over the hottest part of the barbecue.
6. For even cooking, keep the thickness of chicken pieces as even as possible. Before putting bone-in breasts or thighs on the grill, place them on a cutting board and firmly press down on them with your hands. Boneless thighs have a thin portion at one end. Simply fold this thin portion under itself to even out the overall thickness of the thigh. To flatten a whole bird, cut out the backbone. Flip the chicken breast-side up, then open it like a book. Firmly press down on the breastbone to flatten. 
7. Hold the carbs! Unfortunately, many recipes call for you to lather on the barbecue sauce throughout the grilling. Most sauces are sugar laden, and any high-sugar mixture will burn under intense heat. So hold off on basting and brushing on any sweet sauce or glaze, including bottled barbecue sauces, until the last few minutes of grilling. These sauces aren’t intended to penetrate into the chicken flesh but to form a flavour coating. When you bite into the chicken, the glaze taste hits first – this is true whether you add the sauce at the beginning or for just the last few minutes of grilling. Brushing it on at the start may leave you with a charred coating.
8. Marinating chicken can add flavour and moistness, if you do it right. Research shows that marinades don’t penetrate far into the chicken flesh, so begin by removing the skin from the chicken. (While this may seem like a loss of crisp deliciousness, the skin acts as a barrier for the marinade that’s brimming with aromatics and spices. If you’re a skin lover, however, leave it on but don’t except the flesh to pick up as much marinade flavour. ) Then, make deep slashes in the chicken or poke holes all over it before submerging in the marinade; that gives the marinade mixture a passage deep into the flesh. With legs, for example, after pulling off the skin, use a sharp knife to make two or three deep slashes almost to the bone.
9. For barbecuing a whole chicken, a rotisserie attachment is one secret to a beautiful bird. As the chicken slowly turns above the heat, it bastes itself inside and out, producing amazingly juicy meat and gorgeous crispy brown skin. Before putting the chicken on the spit, remove any fat from the body and neck cavities. Dry the bird by patting with paper towels. Tuck the wings behind the neck and tie the legs together with twine to keep them from flopping around.
10. Don’t desert the bird! Chicken is one food you shouldn’t simply throw on the barbie and then forget about. If the skin is still on the chicken, fat will drip from it as it heats up – creating perfect flare-up conditions. And if the chicken is skinless, you have the worry that the delicate meat will dry out and burn. Either way, you need to stay close, frequently raising the lid to check on the cooking progress, and turning the pieces if the underside is getting too brown or moving them so the well-done areas are over the coolest part of the grill.

Here’s to perfect grilled chicken!

Look to the fruit bowl the next time it’s “chicken tonight” and you’ll  be amazed at the big time flavours you can create with little work - beyond a simple slice or chop. Plus you’ll be heaping on essential vitamins and minerals without much fat or sodium.

1. APPLES

• Sliced apples are a fast way to add nutrients to an express dinner.
• Brown boneless breasts or thighs in butter. Add apple wedges, a splash of juice or chicken broth and a heavy sprinkling of cinnamon and nutmeg. Cover and simmer, turning apples occasionally. Yummy over rice or quinoa.
• Simmer large cubes of apples in any chicken curry.
• Add chopped apples to a curried chicken salad along with raisins.
• Finely chop or grate an apple and stir into a chicken salad sandwich filling.
• Add chopped apple to your favorite chicken stuffing recipe whether you’re stuffing the whole bird or just the breasts.

2. PEARS

• Chop or slice pears and add to sautés with a drizzle of white wine and generous pinches of thyme or tarragon.
• Quarter pears and tuck around roasting chicken for the last half hour of cooking. Check out  Roasted Rosemary Chicken With Maple Pears on this website. The pears get a basting of maple syrup and if you bake potatoes and squash alongside, you’ll have a super healthy dinner that needs no baby sitting as it roasts away.
• Chop and add pears to a chicken salad with a sprinkling of thyme.
• Tuck thin slices of pear into a chicken sandwich.

3. MANGOES

• One of our best sources of important antioxidants. When sautéing, after browning the chicken, add thick mango slices and enough orange juice to cover the bottom of the pan. After a good sprinkling of Cajun seasonings, simmer away.
• Toss cubes of mango into a chicken salad with toasted almonds and chopped cilantro.
• Grill big thick slices of mango alongside the chicken on the BBQ - just oil well or coat with butter before throwing on the grill.
• For a summery salsa topper for sautéed or barbecued chicken, mix avocado and mango cubes with lime juice, sliced green onion, and finely chopped jalapenos.

4. GRAPES

• While we seldom think of cooking with grapes, Chicken Veronique - sautéed chicken smothered in a sophisticated creamy wine sauce with green grapes is a classic French recipe. Chicken cutlets or breasts are browned, then shallots, cream, white wine and grapes are added. Finally the cooked chicken is removed and the sauce is reduced. Simple and elegant.
• Toss grape halves into your next chicken salad.
• For a classy appetizer, spread chicken salad sandwich filling over baguette slices, then arrange grape halves on top in a decorative design. 
• Add grapes to a chicken rice pilaf or stir into a rice or quinoa side dish to serve with chicken.

5. PEACHES

• Add sliced peaches to a chicken sauté with a little splash of white wine or orange juice. Tarragon or Herbes de Provence is a good match with the sweet peaches or scatter with lots of fresh mint just before serving. 
• Mix finely chopped sun dried tomatoes with chèvre and mound into peach halves. Bake beside chicken. 
• Thinly slice peaches and toss in a chicken salad with a honey yogurt dressing, arugula and almonds or pistachios.
• Alternate chicken and peach cubes on skewers, then baste with an Italian salad dressing while barbecuing.

6. RHUBARB

• While there’s a lot of debate about rhubarb being a vegetable, most experts see it as fruit for culinary purposes. Cook as you would for a dessert sauce with a little water and lots of stirring. You might want to add some chopped fresh ginger. Spoon the warm sauce over the cooked chicken.
• Rhubarb chutney is outstanding with any chicken cut. There are many recipes for it on line or just mix stewed rhubarb with your favourite chutney. Now that’s easy.

7. CRANBERRIES

• During cranberry harvest in the fall, use fresh cranberries for a raw salsa to spoon atop chicken. Simply pulse fresh cranberries in the food processor with red onion, jalapeno, a spritz of balsamic vinegar and sugar or honey to taste. Chopped apple and grated orange zest are nice additions.
• Add finely chopped fresh cranberries or dried cranberries to chicken stuffings.
• Mix chopped dried cranberries with chèvre and use to stuff chicken breasts.
• After browning chicken pieces, add apple juice to the pan and simmer away. When cooked, place chicken on the plates, then stir cranberry sauce into the pan juices and boil gently to reduce. Pour over chicken.
• Plump dried cranberries in chicken broth and toss into chicken salads.

8. BERRIES

• Next berry season, think chicken. Sliced strawberries can be luscious mixed with cooked chicken, spinach and toasted pecans. Add a honey Dijon or creamy dressing such as Caesar or ranch and if you’re a stilton fan, crumble over top.
• For a healthy appetizer make a chicken salad sandwich filling, mound on slices of baguette, then overlap thin strawberries slices on top of each.
• Ripe raspberries are divine pureed and tweaked with a little lime juice and sugar if needed, then poured over chicken .
• Raspberry chicken was a très popular recipe several years ago when raspberry vinegar was the darling of gourmet cooks. There are a many recipes to be found on line for it - and you can sub balsamic vinegar for the raspberry vinegar. Do finish with a good handful of fresh raspberries and a sprinkling of sage or rosemary.

9. CLEMENTINES

• A great holiday party entrée is chicken breasts cooked in butter, then into the oven to keep warm. Orange juice, sherry and fresh ginger slices go into the pan and simmer until thickened, then clementine sections are added and warmed through.
• Chop clementines or tangerines and toss in a chicken salad with finely chopped celery, green onions and tarragon.
• Add clementine or tangerine wedges to a chicken stir-fry near the end of the cooking. Clementines just need heating. Teriyaki sauce is perfect with this combo.

10. PINEAPPLE

• Many a parent has learned that pineapple paired with chicken sweetens the pot for many kids. This is one time that canned fruit can have as much flavor as fresh and is much easier to use. Simply add drained cubes to any stir-fry.
• When baking chicken pieces, lay pineapple slices on top of the chicken pieces. Baste often with pan juices.
• Skewer big chunks of pineapple with chicken pieces and red pepper squares. Baste with a sweet-and-sour sauce while baking or barbecuing.
• For a sophisticated sauté, brown chicken pieces, then add juice from a can of pineapple. Simmer until chicken is done, then remove. Add ginger marmalade or chutney and pineapple pieces to the pan. Boil, stirring constantly to reduce. Pour over chicken. A scattering of fresh coriander or thyme adds a glamorous touch. 

Author: Monda Rosenberg.

Canada’s own Monda Rosenberg retired as Food Editor of CHATELAINE, Canada’s largest circulation magazine, in 2009. She was responsible for the magazine’s entire award-winning Food section, including writing and recipe development of over 2,000 recipes a year and overseeing food photography. Before joining CHATELAINE, Monda Rosenberg was Food Editor of the Toronto Star for five years.

Monda has received an impressive number of food writing, styling and publishing awards including the Nabisco Food Writer’s Magazine Food Editor of the Year Award, the New York Art Directors Award for Food Styling and the General Foods Nutrition Writing Award. She has been president of the Ontario Home Economics Association and president of the Toronto Home Economics Association for a double term. 

A frequent guest on national television and radio shows, Monda is the author of The New Chatelaine Cookbook, two Vitality Cookbooks, the Quickies series of 7 cookbooks and Chatelaine’s Wonder Foods.

1. SNIP AWAY

Check out the chicken pieces before starting to cook. Once skin is removed, there will be visible pockets and strips of creamy white fat. Scissors do the best job for clipping these off. If there is a long strip of fat, grab one end and pull it off.

2. SKIN BE GONE 

Chicken fat is concentrated in the skin. A roasted chicken breast with skin on has 7 grams of fat but remove the skin and you lose 5 grams of fat. That translates to 23 calories.

3.SKIM FROM THE TOP

When you make chicken soup or stew, you can easily skim a portion of the fat from it. Simply refrigerate the entire pot of soup. The fat will rise to the surface and -congeal into a lightcoloured, thin layer - almost like a skin. Use a big shallow spoon or metal spatula to skin it off and discard.

4. GO LIGHTLY 

Many sautéing recipes begin by calling for adding a tablespoon or two of fat to a pan before adding the chicken pieces. Some recipe writers do this automatically without thinking if 2 tablespoons are really necessary;maybe 1 tablespoon would have been enough. Truth is, you usually need only enough oil or melted butter to lightly coat the pan to prevent the chicken from sticking or burning. If you keep the heat moderate and don’t impatiently jack it up high, you can get a desirable golden color on the chicken without using a lot of fat.

If the recipe for a soup starts with cooking onions and garlic in oil, you can add a little water instead and simply simmer until the onions are softened. Then pour off the water.

5. BAKE OR BRAISE

Chicken balls are as easy to make as beef meatballs - even easier because of the sticky nature of ground chicken.

If you don’t want to use an oiled pan to brown them, simply toss into a pasta sauce and simmer away or bake on a lightly oiled or sprayed cookie sheet in the oven.

6. FAUX FRIED HEALTHIER CHICKEN

Instead of frying chicken in 2 or 3 inches of hot oil, you can bake it in the oven and still achieve a very desirable, crispy coating.

Basically, you heat the oven to 400 F (200 C). Dip the chicken in buttermilk whisked with an egg white or brush with a creamy salad dressing such as Caesar. Coat with bread crumbs and place on a rack set on a baking sheet.

The important thing is to use a brush and lightly dab with oil as evenly as possible over the chicken coating or generously spray with cooking oil. Bake 30 to 40 minutes.

7. SWITCH DRUMETTES FOR WINGS

You know those cute little drumettes sold in trays in the supermarket? They’re an ideal stand-in for chicken wings. Not only can you slather them with lots of addictive hot sauce but they’re perfect finger food for a casual party. The difference between the wings and the drumettes is - skin and protein.

Wings have a higher percentage of fatty skin and not as much meat as drumettes. Think of all those pointy parts on wings all covered with skin and the juicy knobs of dark flesh on the drumettes - like mini chicken legs. To cut fat even further, skin drumettes before coating with a barbecue sauce, then bake to sticky yumminess.

8. STIR-FRY SMARTLY

Many chicken stir-fries start by frying chicken strips in oil, sometimes several tablespoons. Instead, consider poaching the chicken in a little water or chicken broth, then 

Removing it from the pan.

Stir-fry all the healthy veggies as you always do and add the sauce. Toss in the chicken at the very end and stir just until hot. Fat savings - 122 calories and 14 grams of fat for every tablespoon you did not use.

9. COMFORTING CREAMY CHICKEN SOUP

Who doesn’t love a bowl of creamy chicken soup? Did you know you can achieve it without opening a carton of cream or a pound of butter or committing caloric hari kari?

Start by making your favorite chicken soup using broth. Then just before serving, stir in sour cream. Two tablespoons of 5 percent sour cream has a mere 35 calories and 1.5 grams of fat while the same amount of whipping cream rings in at 100 calories and 10 grams of fat.

With canned cream of chicken soup, look for the ones labeled fat reduced and you’ll save up to 70 calories and 7 grams of fat per cup of soup when diluted as directed on the label. These soups also make a great start for a chicken pot pie or pasta sauce. 

10. SPREADS ARE NOT ALL CREATED EQUAL

A chicken sandwich is a healthy lunch, no? A lot depends on what goes on the bread. Slather mayonnaise with abandonment and you can easily add over 200 calories and that’s just a tablespoon on each slice of bread.

Consider the low fat version of mayonnaise and cut the fat in half or use calorie reduced creamy Caesar dressing which has a ton more of flavour and less than half the calories of full-fat mayonnaise. Thick yogurt and sour cream also add rich creaminess at about half the calories of a low-fat Caesar dressing.

Better yet, opt for smearing mashed avocado or guacamole on the bread. Avocados are not only powerhouses of nutrients but contain no saturated fat or cholesterol and are the only fruit that provides good-for-you mono-unsaturated fat. Plus they’re at the top of the list of fibre-containing fruits.

Adding slices or pieces of chicken to the sandwich is a much healthier route than making a mayo-laced chicken salad to spread on the bread. It is amazing how much mayonnaise goes into any creamy sandwich mixture. The tuna sandwich, for example, that you might think of as a smart choice at one of our country’s most popular sandwich stops, has more fat than their steak and cheese sandwich.

Super Bowl is this Sunday, February 3 and if you’re hosting a party, you better be ready to feed some rowdy and hungry beer-swilling folks!

The key to planning a super bowl party is planning ahead. Everyone enjoys a good football game, so you don’t want to be stuck in the kitchen while the game’s on.

Here are some tailgate party recipes that will have you scoring a touchdown on game day.

Boneless Buffalo Hot Wings with Vegetable Sticks and Blue Cheese Dressing

Take your traditional spicy wing recipe and go boneless! You’ll get all the flavour, minus the extra clean-up!

Baked Chicken Nachos with Tomatillo Salsa

Nachos are always a hit! Chop up the topping ingredients the night before for a quick and easy crowd pleasing snack.

Fab Fajita Sliders

These healthy sliders are packed full of flavour! Form the chicken patties the night before and bake or BBQ them when it’s time to feed your guests.

Hot Spinach and Chicken Dip

This recipe is made in a slow cooker so all you have to do is toss all the ingredients in the slow cooker and walk away. The dip should be ready by the time your guests arrive and is perfect served with crostini, crackers, pumpernickel bread and a variety of crudités.

Author: Monda Rosenberg.

Canada’s own Monda Rosenberg retired as Food Editor of CHATELAINE, Canada’s largest circulation magazine, in 2009. She was responsible for the magazine’s entire award-winning Food section, including writing and recipe development of over 2,000 recipes a year and overseeing food photography. Before joining CHATELAINE, Monda Rosenberg was Food Editor of the Toronto Star for five years.

Monda has received an impressive number of food writing, styling and publishing awards including the Nabisco Food Writer’s Magazine Food Editor of the Year Award, the New York Art Directors Award for Food Styling and the General Foods Nutrition Writing Award. She has been president of the Ontario Home Economics Association and president of the Toronto Home Economics Association for a double term.

A frequent guest on national television and radio shows, Monda is the author of The New Chatelaine Cookbook, two Vitality Cookbooks, the Quickies series of 7 cookbooks and Chatelaine’s Wonder Foods.

WHAT DO WE NEED 

While we hear a lot about the vitamins and minerals we need daily, the fibre that also comes in fruits and vegetables is not talked about as much. Truth is, fibre is also essential to good health. Just marrying some of the flavour-bursting fruits and vegetables we buy in supermarkets and produce stands brings along a valuable cache of fibre.

Here are suggestions for upping your fibre intake with your chicken dinners, from every day meals to entertaining friends and family.

Health Canada recommends that we consume 25 to 40 grams of fibre a day; at the end of my meal suggestions is a chart of some of our richest fruit and vegetable sources.

1. DON’T ROAST ALONE

Whether you’re roasting a whole chicken or pieces, it takes almost no extra effort to add vegetables and create a one-dish roast dinner. Remember, with potatoes, it’s the skin that harbours the most fibre. So whether you cut regular potatoes in half, or use mini potatoes, leave the skins on. Simply add them to the pan or baking sheet and remember to turn or stir them.

Regular potatoes need about an hour of cooking, mini gems about a half hour. Nestle whole sweet potatoes, skins intact, beside the chicken. Once tender, their skins will easily peel off.

Bake big wedges, slices or halves of squash beside the chicken - all squash types rate well on the fibre scale. A cup of cooked squash holds over 5 grams of fibre.

Other veggies to nestle around a roast are pieces of carrots, wedges of onions, red pepper halves, fennel slices, parsnips and leeks. 

2. NOODLES NEED THEIR VEGGIES TOO  

Peas are near the pinnacle of the high-fibre pile. A cup has more than twice the fibre of a cup of corn niblets and over three times that of a potato with skin on. Keep a bag in the freezer and add a handful or two to your chicken pasta sauces, particularly creamy sauces.

Include snow peas, julienned carrots, broccoli florets and baby carrots in your Asian noodle tosses - all are fibre-rich.

Chicken noodle soups - homemade or straight from a can or box - are one of the easier dishes to be able to boost up the fibre intake. Simply include shredded cabbage and/or green beans, kale, mushrooms, turnip, parsnip, pumpkin, zucchini, tomatoes - just about any vegetable you can think of. 

3. FROZEN DINNER ADD-ONS

There are delicious frozen chicken dinners sold in supermarkets and, while you don’t want to heat up a prepared frozen dinner every night, they can be a godsend when you want dinner in 10 minutes.

It’s amazingly easy to up the fibre count of most frozen meals by simply stirring in frozen peas or your favourite vegetable that needs little cooking for the last few minutes.. This works particularly well for butter chicken, curried chicken, chicken korma, chicken risotto or paella.

Side vegetables can be fibre boosters as well. You can quickly steam up asparagus, cauliflower, broccoli, bok choy or green beans and serve beside the frozen dinner. Since many frozen dinners suggest letting them sit for a few minutes after cooking before eating, you can use that time to microwave a vegetable and serve beside the entrée. Bright green baby bok choy or green beans look gorgeous surrounding a shallow bowl of chicken curry. 

4. POT PIE WINNERS

When making your next chicken pot pie, be sure to include lots of high-fibre vegetables such as peas, sliced carrots and chopped peppers.

If you love Brussels sprouts, thinly slice and blanch them before adding to the pie filling. Zucchini, bite-size pieces of asparagus and marinated artichokes add plenty of flavour, character and, of course, fibre.

Corn niblets are always an easy and inexpensive stir-in.

5. SALADS

Chicken salads, whether cool and refreshing from cooked chicken pieces, or in warm strips atop a pile of dressed greens, are the most popular of summer main salads.

While fresh greens alone assure calcium, potassium and folate: a high-fibre profile is easy to achieve because some of the highest-fibre fruits and vegetables are those that add scrumptiousness to chicken salads.

It’s hard to beat a curried creamy chicken salad with raisins and sliced dried apricots. Mangoes, avocado, red pepper, marinated artichoke, grapes, snow peas, red pepper, kiwi and papaya are all fibre-rich and work deliciously in a chicken salad. Better yet, serve the salad in a fibre-high avocado, cantaloupe, honeydew or papaya half, and then sprinkle with fibre-boosting almonds or toasted coconut.

6. BARBECUE DINNERS

Thank goodness it’s a snap now to cook your entire dinner on the barbie and it’s super easy to grill up fibre-rich healthy fruits and vegetables that beautifully complement barbecued chicken.

Take mangoes, for example. Slice large pieces of mango from the stone. Brush with melted butter and grill until marks form and the mango feels warm.

Artichokes are incredibly high in fibre, so prepare as you would for steaming - but sprinkle with water, wrap in foil and cook right on the grill beside the chicken. Halve peppers and grill until blackened, then wrap in foil and the black easily peels off.

Place halved large tomatoes, cut-side down, on the grill and after turning, sprinkle with chèvre or any cheese you like with chicken. Do scatter with a few fresh basil or coriander leaves before serving.

Don’t forget corn-on-the-cob. Wrap in foil and cook beside the chicken.

7. SKIP IN THE PAN SAUTES

Gotta get dinner on the table in 15 minutes? Sautéing up chicken thighs will fit the bill perfectly. But wait, as soon as you get the chicken in the pan, slice up some apples, pears, mangoes or peaches. As soon as the chicken is browned, throw in the fruit and a splash of juice or white wine and you can feel good about the fibre boost you have just created.

Check this site for Four Season Warm Asian Salad using mangoes or peaches and Apple-Sage Chicken Sauté.

8. STIR FRYS

Three cheers for chicken stir-fries. Not only can they be a one-dish wonder, with more mix of fresh produce than any other fried entrée, but depending how fast you can chop - an amazingly quick yet super healthy dinner. Whatever veggies you happen to have can usually go into the toss. Fortunately, some of the highest fibre vegetables are darlings of the stir-fry set, including broccoli, snow peas, carrots, cabbage and zucchini.

Then there are the nuts. Every respectful Chinese menu includes Cashew Chicken.  A cup of cashews has over 4 grams of fibre. Pecans are in the same ball park and much less expensive. Almonds still encased in their skins have over 16 grams of fibre. Use the white ones without skin and you have lost over a gram of fibre.

9. SOUP SAVVY

Homemade chicken soups have always been trusted to cure our ails (even if it wasn’t made by your mother) and improve our moods. So whether your ultimate soup is one created from stock that began as chicken bones lovingly simmered for hours, or one from a can that you have been buying for years, the vegetables you add can turn this ultimate comfort food into an important source for your daily fibre count.

Supplement the usual onions, carrots and celery with fibre-rich shredded cabbage, turnip and parsnip. Sub black beans for the expected noodles. While a cup of egg noodles has about 4 grams of fibre, a cup of canned black beans has over 12 grams. Add corn niblets, cumin and chili powder for a south-of-the-border-rocking soup. Stir in half a bag of fresh spinach just before you ladle into bowls and you’ve added over 10 grams of fibre.

10. SALSA IT UP

Fresh salsas are the fastest way to add flavour-rich fibre to chicken cuts, especially a whole barbecue chicken you picked up at the supermarket deli. This is partly because salsas don’t need cooking and can be stirred up while the chicken is cooking or while you heat up the store bought chicken.

In the Fall, when cranberries are harvested, do include finely chopped fresh cranberries in a salsa or grind them up in a food processor with onions and apples because a mere 1/4 cup chopped cranberries have over 2 grams of fibre.

Check out Chicken Tartlets with Cranberry Salsa - ideal for harvest and holiday entertaining.

For casual dinners or lunches, consider Honey-Salsa Chicken’n Spinach Wraps, Bombay Chicken Sticks with Mango Salsa, Baked Chicken Nachos with Tomatillo Salsa and Chicken and Tomato Salsa Enchiladas.

Remember, any of these salsas could be used to dress up a rotisserie chicken or breaded chicken.

An avocado (the highest-fibre fruit) and ripe tomato salsa is the perfect summer topper for barbecued chicken or a buttery sauté. Just chop all and mix with lime juice, garlic and green onions.

Figs, as you might expect, are fibre heavy. Dried figs contain the highest fibre content of any dried fruit. For a fibre rich chutney check the internet for date chutneys. There are many versions that sound like they would work beautifully with chicken including some containing dried apricots and maple syrup. Yum!

Ever wonder how top Chefs prepare chicken? Look no further! I’ve rounded up some delicious chicken recipes from some of Canada’s top Chefs.

Here are the recipes I’m going to try!

1.       Chef Michael Smith

Rosemary Vanilla Chicken

Chicken and vanilla paired together? This should be a deliciously unique dish. Would you try this recipe?

Chicken and Mushroom Stew

This earthy stew looks amazing and it only uses seven ingredients plus a dash of salt and pepper. It’s the perfect dish to enjoy on a cold winter day.

2.       Chef Chuck Hughes

Portuguese Chicken with Chorizo and Clams

This traditional Portuguese dish is chock full of flavour and gets a spicy kick from the addition of chorizo.

Balsamic Chicken Wings

Here’s a different take on chicken wings. These would be great to serve as an appetizer at a Christmas party.

3.       Chef Christine Cushing

Roasted Provencal Chicken

This Mediterranean recipe uses one of my favourite French seasonings, Herbes de Provence. Herbes the Provence is a mix of basil, fennel seed, lavender, marjoram, rosemary, sage, savory, and thyme.

4.       Chef Lynn Crawford

Chicken with Polenta and Mustard Greens

This chicken dish is both hearty and healthy making it the perfect comfort food to enjoy all winter.

5.       Chef orbin Tomaszeski

Spiced Chicken and Shrimp Nappa Slaw

This healthy Asian slaw combines  flavours of cilantro, five spice powder , ginger, chili and mint which are complemented by the crunchy textures of sesame seeds and toasted peanuts.

6.       Chef Bob Blumer

Green Chile Chicken Wing Bake

These chicken wings are easy to prepare and use pantry items that your likely to have on hand.

7.       Chef Anna Olson

Curried Chicken with Apples

Give your tired curry dish a sweet kick with apples and a fragrant Jasmine rice.

Potato Wrapped Chicken with Prosciutto and Sage

This recipe uses only five ingredients and will definitely impress your guests.

8.       Roger Mooking

Roast Chicken with Celeriac

Need a roasted chicken recipe for the Holidays? This one is easy to prepare and will wow your guests.

Peanut Butter Chicken Wings

These sweet and spicy Asian flavoured chicken wings can be enjoyed all year round with a nice cold pint of beer to cut the heat.

9.       David Rocco

Lemon Fried Chicken

You know the saying “less is more”. That’s exactly what you’ll find in this recipe. The chicken is marinated in lemon juice and coated with a crunchy tempura batter. Fry each piece until golden.

10.   Laura Calder

Chicken in Vinegar

If you’ve never tried cooking chicken with white wine vinegar, you won’t be disappointed.

11.   David Adjey

Bangkok Chicken with Pineapple Rice and Spicy Peanut Sauce

What a powerhouse of flavour! Double up the peanut sauce recipe and use it as a dip for chicken skewers.

Who's your favourite top Canadian Chef? Let us know in the comments.

There’s nothing like a big bowl of piping hot chili when the weather is cold. Not only is it easy to make but it is a real comfort food.

Chili freezes well so I always make a big batch of it and freeze the rest in one cup portions that I can bring for lunches or just heat up for dinner. I also like to freeze a few containers of chili that I can use to create other meals with.

By being a little creative, you can throw together a quick dinner for your family on any week night.

Here’s what I do with my leftover chili.

Chili baked potatoes– spoon the chili into a baked potato and top it with a sprinkle of grated old aged cheddar cheese, diced green onions, diced cooked bacon and a dollop of light sour cream.

Chili tacos – use the chili as a taco filling and then add your favourite taco condiments. I like the usual, grated cheese, diced tomatoes and shredded lettuce.

Chili nachos– make sure the chili is either cold or at room temperature for this recipe. Hot chili will make the tortilla chips soggy. Top the chips with chili, diced green peppers, green onions and finish it with a good amount of shredded Tex-Mex cheese, then heat it in the oven at 350 F until the chili has warmed through and the cheese has melted. Serve with light sour cream and guacamole.

Chili sloppy Joes– Spoon a generous amount of chili onto a soft and doughy whole wheat bun. Easy peasy and a real kid pleaser!

Taco salad– top your favourite lettuce with chili, crushed corn chips, diced tomatoes, sliced black olives, guacamole or diced avocado, shredded cheese, shredded carrots and serve with a creamy ranch dressing. The chili should be at room temperature to avoid wilting the lettuce.

Using leftover chili is a real time and money saver so get cooking! Here’s a recipe to get you started.

Do you have a favourite recipe using leftover chilli? If so, please share it with us in the comments.

This year, Chicken Farmers of Canada has introduced 3 new Brand Ambassadors – wonderful bloggers whom we like to feature and who write things about us, too. By expanding our audience this way, we can reach out to new and enthusiastic readers, just like you!

Here’s one of our great Brand Ambassadors, Stacey (@thislilpiglet):

City Mom to Farmer Joe, Stacey will keep you on your hooves and give you everything you need to raise barn animals OR kids. Stacey writes the This Lil Piglet blog where she will enlighten you on social media marketing tactics and source bloggers with tutorials to reach their potential. Readers can enjoy the many recipes, DIY projects, consider a product review, win some giveaways and grab a laugh every now and then.

Stacey shared some great ideas on picnicking year round (http://thislilpiglet.net). Here’s what she had to say.

Picnics are a favourite bonding activity for us, whether it’s the whole family or a romantic picnic for Hubs and I.  Food and location create the mood for the picnic; the company and details are what make it memorable.  Picnics do not need to be only planned for the summer months or for certain picnic friendly locations; be creative and you will enjoy picnics throughout the year.  

Year round picnic ideas:

1. Back to school picnic – If your child normally stays at school for lunch or it’s a shorter lunch hour, pack a lunch and enjoy it in the school playground area or a nearby park.
2. Keep active – If your daily routine entails a walk or run, take a long a backpack with a mini picnic and ask a friend to join you for a little re-energizing picnic in the grass afterwards before you go about the rest of your busy day.
3. Go on a date – These days most of us lead busy lives and sometimes our weekly or even monthly date nights dwindle.  A thoughtful picnic for two will add a little peace to your hectic lives and allow for some much needed partner time.
4. Have a rainy day picnic – Whether the power is out or the weather just isn’t cooperating, take advantage of it for a little candle lit picnic for the whole family. Use it as a chance to spark a little more open conversation between family members.

One thing I love about picnics is that you are taking an outing with your family that isn’t going to cost you anything other than the food you already would be feeding your family.  Change up the scenery, the activities and food and you will be sure to enjoy picnics throughout the year, like we do.  For recipe ideas, check out Chicken Farmers of Canada’s recipe section for many deliciously healthy recipes the whole family will love.

For children, the cooler mornings and shorter evenings mean the beginning of the colourful season with leaves to jump through and spooky goblins to dress up as, but for parents across Canada this generally means back-to-school and the busy routine of packing lunches for their kids.

If you’re a parent, does this scenario sound familiar to you?

After putting the last dinner dish in the dishwasher and sending the kids off to finish homework, you open the fridge, yawn, hold yourself up against the door, and wonder what to pack for school lunches. “Is there anything in there that’s quick ’n’ healthy? What do we have that the kids will eat?”

Well, don’t despair! Chicken Farmers of Canada is bringing to you our best tips to help you get those brown-bag lunches packed with nutritious food in minutes.

Step 1 – Get started by thinking about food safety! Remember, those lunches stay in knapsacks for hours.

• Insulated lunch bags with two compartments (preferably zippered) will help keep hot foods hot and cold foods cold. Freezing small gel packs (even juice boxes and yogurt packets) will help keep meats and other perishable items at a safe temperature. Unless you have a good thermos that will keep food hot for 5 hours, it’s generally better to stick with cold foods, such as chicken wraps or pasta. If you would like to learn how to prepare, store and thaw chicken safely, click on our easy guide.       
• Regularly inspect the temperature of your fridge. The Canadian Partnership for Consumer Food Safety Education recommends setting the temperature cold enough to maintain an internal food temperature of 4°C (40°F) or below. This will help to discourage the growth of foodborne bacteria and prevent perishables from spoiling fast.
• Have a special area in the refrigerator for pre-made lunch items. This will prevent cross-contamination and keep you from constantly having to dig through your fridge for lunch ideas.

Step 2– Save on packing time with a plan!

• Elicit help! Make it a team effort. If you have a picky eater, talk to your child about which approach he or she would prefer for planning meals. My kids like to keep a list of their favourite lunch foods on the fridge. Create some fun with headings to grab their attention or cut-out and paste pictures of simple foods they recognize and love. Have them order from the “menu”.

Here is my 5 day lunch menu, which I base on the four food groups. You can let Canada’s Food Guide assist you.  

Step 3 – Avoid cooking on weeknights by batch cooking on weekends.

• Find the time to assemble those lunch items neatly stored in your fridge by having one-dish meals ready to thaw and reheat for dinner. Soups, stews & casseroles offer parents a terrific break from preparing dinner on weekdays. Here are a few of my family favourites that freeze well.  

Soup

Big Batch Chicken, Lentil, Bean & Rice Soup

Stew

Gypsy Chicken Stew

Casserole

Chicken & Broccoli Divan over Nutty Rice

Step 4 – Prepare weekday meals with leftovers in mind so that kitchen clean-up only happens once.

• Invest in a large slow cooker, if you don’t already have one. My slow cooker is constantly used for roasting two whole chickens which provide an easy nutritious dinner, as well as the protein needed for lunch sandwiches or pasta.    
• Cut up extra veggies at dinner time and keep them in large reseal bags in the fridge for pre-made snacks (cauliflower, broccoli and carrot sticks stay crunchy the longest).

Final tip!  Use school lunches as a chance to teach your children about making smart food choices. Explain how eating a nutritious lunch will give them (and you) the energy needed to enjoy a full day. 

If you read our blog then you already know that during the week of January 23, 2012, I was off-site with the team at In Motion filming our new series of 15 how-to videos.

The videos are seasonal so we are not releasing them all at once. In April, we released two videos and if you missed them, here they are.

How-to make chicken breast in parchment

How-to make Thai chicken burgers

In June we released two more videos where the recipes use ingredients that are perfect for a light summer meal.

How-to make Greek salad with chicken

How-to make chicken Nori rolls

Today, we are releasing two more videos that are perfect if you are looking for ideas on how to use ground chicken or if you’re simply in the mood for some real soul food.

How-To Make Chicken Meatloaf

I often get asked “what can I make with ground chicken”? There are many uses for ground chicken and you can find a wide range of recipes here. My favourite use for ground chicken is when preparing a big batch of chili.

How-To Make Fried Chicken

Fried chicken is a true soul food that can be enjoyed any time of the year and it’s always a hit with both adults and children. I made a batch of fried chicken using this recipe and it was delicious!

Still to come:

• How-To Make Chicken Pad Thai
• How-To Make Stuffed Peppers
• How-To Make Chicken Pot Pie
• How-To Make Chicken Paella
• How-To Make Butter Chicken
• How-To Make Sloppy Joes
• How-To Make Quick Chicken Paprikash
• How-To Chicken Curry
• How-To Make Jambalaya

Have you tried making a recipe that you learned from one of our how-to videos? If so, which one and how did it turn out? We’d love to hear from you!