Category: Cheese

Low-Fat Broccoli Cheddar Soup

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Low-Fat Broccoli Cheddar Soup

  • Servings: 6 Servings
  • Difficulty: Easy
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Soup season is upon us. Nothing quite like a great bowl of soup to take the chill out of your bones. I go from standards like vegetable soups, to chicken noodle, to beef barley and well cream style soups. Now when you think of creamy soups, you think fat, rich, flavourful. I found this recipe that is both delicious, rich and yet reduced in fat.

Ingredients

  • 1 tbsp unsalted butter
  • 2 leeks, white and light green parts only, halved lengthwise and sliced thin
  • 1-1/2 lbs of broccoli florets chopped, stems peeled sliced thin
  • 2 garlic cloves minced
  • 3 cups low sodium chicken broth
  • 1 cup of water
  • 1 tbsp of Dijon mustard
  • ¾ cup of fat-free evaporated milk
  • 4 ounces of extra-sharp cheddar cheese shredded (about 1 cup)
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

  1. Melt butter in a large pot over medium heat, add leeks and broccoli stems and cook until just beginning to soften, about 8 minutes.
  2. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.
  3. Stir in broth and water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, covered, until stems are soft, about 8 minutes.
  4. Add broccoli florets, cover and simmer until tender, about 5 minutes.
  5. Transfer soup to blender and puree until completely smooth, about 30 seconds. (Do this in smaller batches if need be to not have your blender overflow with hot liquid)
  6. Put back in pot add mustard, milk, and cheese and heat on low until cheese is melted.
  7. Season with salt and pepper and serve.

Nutrition Per Serving

  • Calories 217
  • Fat 12 g
  • Sugar 7 g
  • Carbohydrates 18 g
  • Protein 13 g
  • Fibre 4 g

This was a great way to have a nice warm creamy soup without the fat and calories. Using leeks instead of onions allows the flavour of the broccoli to come through while providing color, and silkiness to the soup. By using the extra sharp cheddar, the distinct cheese flavour is brought to the forefront. You need to remember that when you add the cheese, you can not bring it to a boil or it will separate and make the soup greasy. Same goes for reheating. Using the fat free evaporated milk helps give that creamy texture without the fat. Fat free regular milk won’t work. The cheese, well, that is where you have lots of choices. You can have sharp, jalepeno, Havarti, or even mild, this is where you have fun and make it your own,

Extra tip: preparing your leeks.
Cut off the tough dark green portion of the leek and discard. Slice the remaining white and light green portion in half lengthwise. Submerge halved leeks in cold water and agitate to remove any dirt. Once the leaks are clean, remove them from the water, pat them dry with paper towels and chop them as desired.

Velvetta Tomato Mac and Cheese

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Velvetta Tomato Mac and Cheese

  • Servings: 6
  • Difficulty: Easy
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Mac and Cheese is very popular right now. You go to almost any restaurant and it’s on the menu. This recipe is actually quite old. I’ve used variations of this recipe for at least 40 years. It is economical, relatively healthy and can be modified in so many ways, we could probably fill up a whole recipe book with all it’s versions. You can use this as a base or as is.

Ingredients

  • 1 lb of elbow macaroni
  • 300 g of velvetta light cheese chopped into small pieces (11 ounces)
  • 1 cup of low fat milk (I used almond milk)
  • 1 large onion chopped
  • 1 can of tomato condensed soup (I used Alymer low sodium)
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 tbsp of butter or margarine
  • 1 tbsp of cajun spices

Directions

  1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.
  2. Cook pasta until al dente and drain (reserving 1/4 cup of the pasta water. Set aside.
  3. In the same pot, melt butter and add onion. Stir until translucent and tender.
  4. Reduce heat to medium low, and add milk, water, tomato soup, and cheese.
  5. Stir until cheese is melted and this is a nice smooth sauce. If too thick, add a little milk. It might seem a little runny but don’t worry it will get absorbed into the pasta,
  6. Add spices, salt and pepper.
  7. Add pasta and stir to cover all of the pasta and make sure that the pasta is warm.
  8. Serve. That easy.

Nutrition Per Serving

  • Calories 437
  • Fat 8 g
  • Sugar 12 g
  • Carbohydrates 67 g
  • Protein 19.5 g
  • Fibre 5.1 g

So as you see this was easy peasy. This is a very economical meal. I looked at the prices for the cheese and the pasta vs Kraft Dinner. Mind you there is nothing wrong with Kraft dinner but there is more sugar, less calcium and vitamins and if you are not using generic mac and cheese, can actually be more expensive with Kraft Dinner. I’ve written a comparison between Kraft Cheez whiz, Kraft Velvetta light and Kraft dinner, see Economical Comparison of Velvetta, Cheez Whiz and Kraft Dinner. On the average you can make this for approximately 1.10 a plate. Now is the fun part, I was asked what about veggies. This is not a balanced meal and they were right. I suggested a nice green salad with this, or you can add spinach, steamed broccoli or streamed cauliflower. You can also add drained canned veggies or thawed and drained frozen veggies. All depends on your budget and/or tastes. If you want to add protein feel free to do so, including a very economical black bean or white kidney bean drained. This is where I tell you have fun and make it your own.

Gouda Mac ’N’ Cheese

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Gouda Mac ’N’ Cheese

  • Servings: 8
  • Difficulty: Easy
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A young chef (OSM) asked me if we could try this recipe together. Who doesn’t like Mac ’N Cheese? I said sure, why not. This turned out pretty good. We adjusted from the original recipe to reduce the fat content. This was made with left over cooked chicken.

Ingredients

  • 2 1/2 cups of cooked chicken (1.5 lbs)
  • 1 1/2 cups of frozen peas (thawed)
  • 5 ounces of Gouda grated (just under 1 cup)
  • 3 ounces of Sharp Cheddar grated (1/2 cup)
  • 1 1/2 cups of chopped spinach
  • 2 avocados smashed
  • 1/4 cup of light margarine
  • 1/4 cup of flour
  • 2 cups of chicken broth
  • 1 cup of milk (used nonfat)
  • 1/4 cup of panko
  • 1 lb of macaroni (454 g)
  • Salt and Pepper to taste
  • Parmesean grated or shaved to taste (optional)

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350.
  2. Spray a large deep dish baking dish
  3. Cook macaroni until al dente and set aside in a very large bowl.
  4. Add chicken, avocado and peas. Stir well.
  5. Salt and pepper to taste.
  6. Place margarine in skillet, add flour and make a roux. Whisk until smooth.
  7. Add milk and chicken broth, keep stirring so it doesn’t stick to the bottom of skillet until thickened.
  8. Add the cheeses and stir until melted. (if sauce is too thick, add a little broth)
  9. Add in chicken, veggie and pasta and stir well to coat the pasta.
  10. Pour into baking dish.
  11. Sprinkle the panko on top evenly and add Parmesean if desired.
  12. Bake for 45 minutes.

Nutrition Per Serving

  • Calories 567
  • Fat 23 g
  • Sugar 3.6 g
  • Carbohydrates 54.3 g
  • Protein 43.3 g
  • Fibre 4.9 g

You can serve this with a nice salad. If you don’t have cooked chicken, you could use cooked turkey and if all else fails, use drained canned tuna. If you want some spice to it, add some cayenne or hot sauce. This recipe has so many possibilities. You can change the cheeses, the protein, the spices, so it’s all up to you. Have fun and make it your own.

Protein Rice Salad

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Protein Rice Salad

  • Servings: 2
  • Difficulty: Easy
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Who says salad needs to be boring? Not me. I used to say that a salad was a side not a meal, now I know better. Here is a version that I have done. It’s a great summer meal.

Ingredients

  • 2 cups of spinach
  • 1 cup shredded carrot (I use the carrot peeler to get thin strips instead of shredded)
  • 1/2 cup of cooked white rice (brown rice would be better)
  • 1 can of tuna
  • 2 large hard boiled eggs
  • 1 large red bell pepper cut into thin strips
  • 2 tbsp of chopped green onion
  • 2 ounces of cheddar cheese cubed
  • 2 tbsp of apricot jam or jelly
  • 1 jalapeño (optional)
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

  1. Assembly is easy. Divide everything in two. Put spinach at bottom of large bowl.
  2. Cover with rice.
  3. Spread the carrot around the bowl.
  4. Spread the red pepper, green onion, and jalapeño if used.
  5. Put the sliced egg, the ball of tuna and cubed cheese dividing the plate into thirds.
  6. Add salt and pepper if desired.
  7. In the centre put the apricot jam or jelly.

Nutrition Per Serving

  • Calories 436
  • Fat 17.8 g
  • Sugar 11.9 g
  • Carbohydrates 38.9 g
  • Protein 32.4 g
  • Fiber 2.8 g

This salad is fun. It reminds me of summer. The ingredients are what I had on hand. I wanted to make sure that it was high in protein as I was having this after having done a workout on the treadmill. You don’t like cheddar but prefer mozzarella, use that. You want it spicy add that jalapeno. You have left over cooked chicken, use that instead of tuna. You don’t have cooked rice, you can cook some spaghettini or rice noodles. The possibilities are endless. Remember have fun and make it your own.