A Twist on Lasagna

You're probably used to getting Mexican-themed recipes from me. Well, here's another one! This time, I do a remix on lasagna. And it's pretty easy to put together!

Salsa Verde Lasagna (Makes 9 servings)

• 12 whole wheat lasagna noodles, uncooked
• 2 12.5-oz. cans of chicken
• 2 16-oz. jars of salsa verde
• 1.5 cups of reduced-fat cheese
• Minced garlic, to taste
• Diced onion (dessicated), to taste
• Salt, to taste

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Drain chicken and place in a large bowl. Break into chunks. Add one jar of salsa verde, and the garlic, onion and salt; mix well.
3. Spray a 9x13 pan with cooking spray, and add salsa verde from the second jar to the pan, about one-third of the jar, more than enough to cover the bottom.
4. Add 3 lasagna noodles, top with a third of the chicken mixture. Add 3 more noodles, top with another third of the remaining chicken mixture. Add 3 more noodles, top with the rest of the chicken mixture.
5. Add the final 3 noodles. Top with the remaining salsa verde. Top with the cheese.
6. Bake until noodles are tender.

With a salad or a side of vegetables, this is a reasonable Weight Watchers meal. To tone down the heat of the salsa, you could mix in fat-free sour cream to the chicken and salsa mixture, or top your serving of the lasagna with 1/4 cup of fat-free sour cream. Buen provecho!

Easy Tortilla Chips

I made lunch for my husband this morning, a Mexican feast with chicken tacos and tortilla chips. But rather than break out a bag of greasy chips, I whipped them up in the microwave.

In 2 minutes of cooking time, you can have crisp, low-fat corn tortilla chips! All you need is taco-sized corn tortillas. These are the flat discs of corn that you heat in the oven to make soft tacos, as opposed to a box of the already crisped taco shells. I can get a bag of 36 of the soft corn tortillas from my local Aldi for less than $1.50. You'll see that this will keep you in tortilla chips for a long time.

Here's what to do:

• Get two to four tortillas, depending on how hungry you are.
• If desired, cut the tortillas into triangles. Cut in half, stack the halves and cut those in half. (If you want, you can cut smaller by stacking the quarters and cutting them into half. Or, you could leave the tortillas whole to crumble in the end, if you're eating them with a tortilla soup, a taco salad or something similar.)
• Put the tortillas on a plate. This should be a Corelle plate (which I use), melamine or ceramic, as opposed to a paper plate or a foam one.
• Heat the tortilla pieces for 1 minute; turn them over and heat for another 30-60 seconds, or until crisp and dry from the steam created during cooking.

That's it! As I mentioned, you could crumble the hardened tortillas over tortilla soup or a taco salad, eat them with salsa as a snack (1/2 cup of a fat-free salsa is a generous portion), or make a nachos meal with reduced fat cheddar (1 oz., or 1/4 cup), fat-free sour cream (1/4 cup), veggie toppings and beans (pinto or black), grilled chicken or lean ground beef or turkey (3 oz.).

Buen provecho!

White Chili With Chicken

This one was not only easy, it was economical, too!

• Half-pound of frozen grilled chicken breast strips
• 1 15-oz can of white beans, drained (Great Northern, small white, cannelini—any type will do)
• Jar of salsa verde
• Diced red onion to taste
• Cilantro to taste

1. Heat the chicken in the microwave; dice into small pieces and add to a bowl.
2. Add in the salsa verde.
3. Add the red onion.
4. Add the cilantro.

When I made this, I actually didn't cook anything, besides the chicken. I just heated the end product in the microwave when ready to serve. I served it with corn tortillas crisped in the microwave, and low-fat cheddar cheese.

Buffalo Chicken, Two Ways

Here are two different ways I've cooked buffalo chicken breast:

Slow Cooker

• chicken breast (approximately 1 1/2 lbs.)
• 1 to 1 1/2 cans of fat-free chicken broth
• hot sauce to taste (I probably used about half a cup)

Place everything in the slow cooker. Cook on high for 4-6 hours. Remove chicken, shred, return to sauce.

Stove Top

• frozen grilled chicken breast slices
• 1 T canola oil
• hot sauce to taste (1/4 to 1/2 cup)
• butter sprinkles to taste (optional)

Place still frozen chicken in a nonstick saucepan. Add oil, hot sauce and butter sprinkles (if using). Cook everything until chicken is thawed and heated through.

I have eaten the chicken on a bed of lettuce, chopped celery and shredded carrot as a salad, or in a multigrain flatbread wrap, with baby spinach, as a sandwich. Either way, to save on fat and calories, go with a light blue cheese dressing as an accompaniment.