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. CHICKEN ROLL CALL When it comes to the starring dish on your dinner plate, you can always count on chicken – it can play any role you can conjure up. Whether you’re craving a curry, chili or chowder, hearty braise or burger, fiery stir-fry or sauté, chicken can be the star of the meal. One smart reason to consider subbing chicken in for other meat in a much-loved dish such as pot roast or paprikash (where we've come to expect beef, for example) is that it brings fewer calories and less fat to the main course but just as much essential protein. Another reason, of course, is dollars and cents. A few pieces of veal for a classic schnitzel can set you back big bucks while a couple of skinless boneless chicken breasts are a fraction of that price. GROUND IS GOOD Let's start with ground chicken. Any dish you make with ground beef you can also do with ground chicken. Extra-lean ground chicken weighs in at 160 calories with 10 grams of fat per 100 grams and it holds a whooping 18 grams of protein (about half our daily requirements) while the same amount of lean ground beef has around 210 calories and a third more fat (15 grams). Burgers are always my go-to quick and easy dinner whether they are a bun mate or a fork-and-knife version. Make them just as you do beef patties but keep in mind that ground chicken is softer, stickier and milder in taste than beef. So, if I'm going to add an egg to bind the mixture together, I also add about a ¼ cup (50 mL) of store-bought fine dry bread crumbs, crushed croutons or a couple slices of torn soft bread to soak up the liquid. The same principles of burger making apply though; work the ground chicken as little as possible because you don't want to squash the airy ground mix together and toughen it. Always make a small indent in the centre of the burger with your thumb so they don't rise to puff ball portions. Keep turning to a minimum. But never sear a chicken burger in a hot pan to a dark brown crust. Chicken is more delicate and leaner than beef so it also crisps up quickly -- always keep it away from high heat. You don't want to bite into a hard shell. Instead, cook burgers in a well oiled pan at a medium heat until they develop a gleaning golden hue on each side. Then cover and turn the heat to low to cook them all the way through. This will take another 3 to 4 minutes per side. For a flavour boost consider grated orange peel and sage, Dijon and tarragon or dill, soy and ginger, grated Asiago and sun dried tomatoes or jalapenos and cumin. Meatballs can be a healthy option as well with ground chicken, ditto meatloaves. My favourite fast pasta sauce is pouring a jar of store-bought sauce – tomato-based or Alfredo – into a pot and then immediately rolling ground chicken into small balls and tossing into the simmering sauce. By the time the pasta is cooked the chicken is beautifully poached. If I have the time I may jazz up the chicken with herbs, Parmesan or whatever I am in the mood for. (Never black pepper, however, because it is too strong and assertive and overpowers the mild chicken, assaulting your taste buds.) But without any additions it is still good because it soaks up flavour from the sauce. This same thing happens when you use ground chicken or diced chicken pieces in a chili. I prefer it to beef because it seems lighter and purer in flavour. You can also substitute one for the other in lasagna, tacos, tourtiere and even shepherd's pie. WARM COMFORT or QUICK COMFORT Comfort dishes and chicken are a heavenly match because chicken is mild and soothing but not scarily rich like a good mac and cheese. You probably have not thought of a chicken pot roast but it is surprisingly easy, cheaper and has fewer calories than typical beef versions. Just create a bed of sliced onions on the bottom of a roasting pan. Sit a whole chicken on top. You might want to tuck a knob of soft butter and a few dried herbs such as sage under the skin, then massage the top of the skin to spread the butter. Scatter some substantial root veggies around the chicken -- pieces of squash, carrots, potatoes, parsnips, turnips, leeks, whole peeled garlic cloves –- whatever turns you on. Now comes the pot roast part. Pour liquid over the chicken so it cooks in a steam bath. About a cup (250 mL) of white wine is my usual, but cider, apple juice and even a drizzle of a flavourful salad dressing such as Greek with a little water works beautifully. Now cover and roast at 350 F (180 C) about an hour. Uncover, baste the chicken and stir the vegetables. Jack the temperature up to 400 F (200 C) and roast, uncovered, until the chicken skin is beautifully browned, at least another half hour.  Spoon the veggies around the chicken on the plates. Smash the garlic into the sauce and spoon over the chicken pieces or use as a dipping sauce. Yummy. Yet another advantage of chicken is that cut into smaller pieces it takes well to simmering in a broth or sauce. Ever think of turning an onion soup into a nutritious whole meal? The soup made from broth and onions alone has little protein; it's the gooey cheese on the bread topper that delivers the protein power. Consider adding either small pieces of leftover cooked chicken or thin slices of uncooked chicken to the finished onion soup along with a good sprinkling of thyme, then letting it simmer away just until they're cooked. Don't take them to the point that the chicken curls and toughens. Finish of course with the bread-and-cheese topping on each bowl, then eat to your heart's content because you have much more than a meal starter - you have created a nutritionally balanced meal with substantial protein that doesn't tip the fat scale. You can take the same route with a can or carton of chicken noodle soup, creamy mushroom, chunky chowder, even minestrone. Or heat broth with fresh ginger slices. Then add strips of chicken, a few broken rice noodles, sliced green onions, a drizzle of sesame oil and some hot garlic chili sauce. Light virtuous and delicious. ­ HAIL AND HEARTY Use cubes of chicken in place of stewing meat in your beef bourguignon recipe, Hungarian paprikash or goulash. The real bonus here is you slash all that cooking time normally needed to tenderize the meat because chicken is tender with a soft taste that seems to instantly melt into the sauce flavour. Prime veal cutlets for schnitzel, a lightning fast cooking entree, is pricey. Switch it up for chicken and save big time. Lightly wet skinless, boneless chicken breasts and place between two pieces of clear wrap, then pound to an even thickness of about 1/4 inch (0.5 cm). When the dinner time crunch comes in my kitchen, having bags of frozen chicken breasts, thighs and leftover cooked chicken in my freezer is always a comforting thought and has proven to be a tremendous lifesaver. (Many times it has saved my bacon as the saying goes.) Think about this the next time chicken is on special in your supermarket.