Healthy: Tangy No Mayo Cabbage Slaw Recipe

Cole slaw, or cabbage slaw, typically is prepared with a mayo base that can range from very sweet and heavy with significant amounts of mayo and sugar to light and acidic with a thin coating of mayo. My preference is normally for a lighter slaw with less mayo. Today's post is a cabbage slaw recipe that uses no mayo at all. It is a light recipe that substitutes a small amount of oil in place of mayo. It is spiced towards a Latin cuisine but not so much that it needs to be served with Latin food. It works well with a steak, BBQ, or any other dish that might play well with cole slaw. It could add an interesting dimension to a sandwich or it could work as a healthier side to a Latin or Tex-Mex meal than the usual rice and beans.

Tangy No Mayo Cabbage Slaw Recipe

Servings: 6-8
Prep time: 1 3/4 hours
Cook time: None

Equipment

• Knife and cutting board
• Measuring spoons and cups
• Large mixing bowl
• Small bowl
• Whisk
• Shredder

Ingredients

• 1/2 medium red onion
• 1/3 cup cilantro
• 1 head of cabbage (red or green)
• 1 garlic clove
• 1/4 cup lime juice
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 1/4 tsp chili powder
• 1/4 tsp cumin
• 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

Directions

1. Chop red onion and cilantro. Place in mixing bowl.
2. Mince garlic. Set aside.
3. Chop cabbage head in half. Make a V-shaped cut in each side to remove the core. Discard the cores.
4. Shred or finely chop the cabbage. Add to mixing bowl.
5. Add garlic and all remaining ingredients to small bowl. Whisk contents of bowl.
6. Add contents of small bowl to mixing bowl. Mix well.
7. Let rest in fridge for 1 1/2 hours, mixing every 30 minutes.

Not Healthy: Cheesecake Factory White Chicken Chili Recipe

Alright, I'm not much of a Cheesecake Factory fan no matter how much my wife watches The Big Bang Theory but their white chicken chili isn't too bad. It's actually not even that unhealthy except they serve it up with a big helping of rice that makes it considerably less healthy. This recipe was stripped from a video of a Cheesecake Factory cook on a morning news show so it's direct from the source. There's not a lot to add about the recipe; if you came here because you were looking for a clone recipe for this dish then you know what you're in for. If you wanted to make it a little healthier you could opt for a half-and-half cream instead of heavy cream. You could also use leftover turkey from a holiday meal instead of chicken although you'll get a different flavor from the meat.

FYI: I did not include the rice in this recipe so if you want to serve it with rice then cook that in addition to the recipe below.

Cheesecake Factory White Chicken Chili Recipe

Serving size: 6 (approximately 60 calories per serving)
Prep time: 20 minutes
Cook time: 20 minutes

Equipment:

• Stove and oven
• Kitchen utensils, measuring cups and spoons
• Knife and cutting board
• saute pan
• Baking pan
• Mixing bowl

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup green onions
• 1 cup pre-made pico de gallo
• 2 cups white beans
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 tbsp chipotle tobasco sauce
• 1 tbsp chili garlic paste
• 1/4 cup salsa verde
• 8 cups chicken stock
• 1/3 cup flour
• 1 green chile
• 1 poblano pepper
• 2 tbsp minced garlic
• 1 1/2 cups yellow onion
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 2 tsp pepper
• 1 tbsp salt
• 1 tbsp chili powder
• 1 tbsp cumin
• 4 lb. diced chicken breast

Directions:

1. Set oven to broil. Place poblano on the baking sheet.
2. While oven is heating, chop yellow onion, green onion and green chile but keep each separate.
3. When the oven is hot place the baking sheet in the oven near the broiler and broil the poblano until the skin is browned. Turn the poblano so each side is browned. Once that occurs, take the poblano out of the oven and turn off the oven.
4. Combine the chicken, salt, cumin, chili powder and pepper in mixing bowl and coat the chicken.
5. Chop the poblano and keep 1/4 cup for the recipe. (You can discard the rest or preferably keep it for some other dish.)
6. Heat 1/4 cup of canola oil in the saute pan over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and brown until roughly 3/4 cooked through. Then remove the chicken and set aside.
7. Add the remaining 1/4 cup of canola oil and butter in the pan. 
8. Saute the onions until translucent. 
9. Add the garlic and cook another 30 seconds.
10. Add the poblano and green chile.
11. Add the flour and mix thoroughly. Cook for an additional 2 minutes.
12. Add the chicken stock 1/2 cup at a time, stirring to break up any lumps. 
13. Once all of the chicken stock has been added, add the salsa verde, chili garlic paste and chipotle tobasco.
14. Bring to a simmer.
15. Then add chicken and cook 5 minutes.
16. Add cream and white beans and mix thoroughly. Cook 2 minutes.
17. Serve with green onion and pico de gallo on top as a garnish.

Not Healthy: Flaky Biscuit Recipe

Biscuits are delicious. If you don't agree, well, I don't know what to tell you. You're just wrong. One reason why you might not love biscuits is that you grew up eating those weird biscuits that come out of a tube at the grocery store that you can peel apart by the layers and they look, feel and taste like pressed layers of gummy dough into something that is supposed to resemble a biscuit. That is not a biscuit. A biscuit should have a flaky golden crust hiding a moist but flaky interior that begs for a generous helping of gravy.

Although biscuits are not difficult to make I have been served terrible excuses for biscuits, whether they oozed out of a store-bough tube or came out of an alleged homemade recipe. I am at a real loss for why people buy tubes of pre-made biscuits or follow terrible recipes that produce painfully dense pucks of baked flour or soggy...whatever they are. Biscuits are just not that difficult. This recipe is incredibly easy and is nearly failure-proof.

Flaky Biscuit Recipe

Servings: 6 biscuits
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes

Equipment:

• Oven
• Baking sheet
• Mixing bowl
• Kitchen utensils, measuring cups and spoons
• One drinking glass
• Knife
• Whisk
• Rolling pin
• Spatula (optional)

Ingredients:

• Cooking spray
• 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour (plus extra for dusting work space)
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp sugar
• 4 tsp baking powder
• 1/3 cup butter
• 1 cup milk

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 450F.
2. Add flour, salt, sugar and baking powder to mixing bowl. Mix with whisk to evenly mix dry ingredients.
3. Cut butter into small pieces and add to mixing bowl. Mix with whisk for a few minutes until butter starts to break up into smaller pieces in the mix.
4. Add milk and mix gently until milk is loosely mixed into the mixture. Use a spatula or the whisk to incorporate any dry ingredients on the sides of the bowl.
5. Continue mixing until it forms into a dough of even consistency.
6. Lightly dust counter space and move dough onto floured work space. 
7. Roll out dough to 1/2 inches thick. 
8. Lightly spray baking pan with cooking spray (optional). 
9. Using the mouth of a drinking glass cut biscuits and transfer to baking sheet. Once you have cut as many biscuits as you can, combine the remaining dough into a ball and roll back out and try to cut additional biscuits. Whatever is left that you cannot cut should be rolled out into a poorly shaped but still tasty biscuit. 
10. Make sure all biscuits are on the baking pan and bake at 450F for 8-10 minutes until fully risen. The bigger the biscuit circumference the longer you want to bake them.

Options & Suggestions:

• You can use buttermilk in place of regular milk to create buttermilk biscuits. Keep everything else in the recipe the same.
• People disagree on the fat content of the milk needed to make biscuits. I routinely use skim milk but others swear by a fattier milk. More fat will make the biscuits more buttery and moist while less fat will make them more dense and crumbly. I usually make mine with gravy so I don't need the extra moisture or buttery character from the milk. 
• The size of the mouth of the glass you use to cut the biscuits out of the rolled dough will determine how many biscuits you make. Obviously, the smaller the mouth on the glass the more biscuits you can make. A shaker pint glass will make biscuits about the size of what you usually get at restaurants. Smaller biscuits will still fluff up just as well but you will want to bake them closer to eight minutes rather than a full ten minutes so they don't dry out.
• Biscuits are best right out of the oven but they will last for several days before they get too dried out. Consider reheating in the oven (or a toaster oven if you have one) rather than microwaving them, which will make them a soggy mess.