BROCCOLI CHEESE SOUP

I wish I could promote this recipe as a way to use a bumper crop of broccoli; unfortunately only those miserable little white butterflies have ever had a bumper crop of broccoli from MY garden! Fortunately, broccoli is inexpensive most of the year and some lucky folks may even have some they've grown. There are many versions of this favorite on the web; I present this one because of its low-fat, low-cost qualities, as well as its rich, full taste. There's no milk, cream or butter, but they really aren't missed. And best of all, everything needed to make it might already be on your pantry shelf, if you keep freeze-dried potato flakes handy as I do for dinner rolls. (Note: when using a blender with hot liquids, make certain the lid is firmly on the blender jar and keep a pot-holder-protected hand on top of it. The last thing you want to do is launch scalding broccoli soup all over you and your ceiling!)

1 medium head of broccoli, peeled if tough, and cut into 1/2" chunks
1/4 cup dried onion (or 1/2 cup fresh onion, chopped)
1 14 oz can 99% fat-free chicken broth
1/4 cup mashed potato flakes
2 slices cheddar cheese
Tabasco sauce

Pour broth into 2 quart sauce pan and add broccoli and onions. Add 2 cups of water (enough to cover the broccoli, but just barely). Cook over medium heat for approximately 25 minutes, or until broccoli is tender enough to smash with a spoon. Add the potato flakes and carefully pour into a blender. Blend, starting on low speed and gradually increasing speed until soup is fairly smooth. Break the cheese into small chunks, add to the soup, and blend a little longer. Return to heat just long enough to melt cheese. Season to taste with hot sauce. Makes two generous servings.

QUESADILLAS (OR: THE COSTCO CHICKEN RIDES AGAIN!)

Take a little left-over chicken, a few veggies, and a slice or two of cheese, slap it between two tortillas, and dinner is served. The following recipe is basic, but the sky's the limit for variations. The basic idea is to be frugal, creative and healthy; after that it's up to you. The ingredients below will make one good-sized quesadilla -- enough for all but the hungriest among us.

1/4 cup thinly sliced green pepper
1/4 cup thinly sliced red pepper
2 tablespoons thinly sliced onion
2 sliced mushrooms
1/2 cup cooked chicken meat
2 slices of cheese, or about 1/2 cup of grated cheese
2 medium tortillas
Pam cooking spray
sprinkle of garlic salt

Spray a medium skillet with PAM, put over medium high heat and add the vegetables. Stir and cook until the vegetables begin to soften. Don't cook them too much; a little crunch is a good thing. When they are soft add the chicken and stir it around for a minute or two to warm everything. Wipe out the skillet, spray with PAM again and return to the heat.

On a cutting board place a tortilla, a piece of cheese, the cooked veggies and meat, another piece of cheese and the final tortilla. Carefully transfer the stack to the skillet. Spray the top tortilla with PAM and sprinkle with a little garlic salt. Occasionally lift the bottom of the stack and check to make certain nothing is burning. When the bottom looks golden in spots, it's time to turn the quesadilla over. Put your large pancake turner (spatula) underneath it, lift above the pan and tilt the pan with the other hand to assist with the process. Any goodies that escape can be tucked back under the top tortilla. Repeat browning the second side, pressing on the stack occasionally to help everything stick together. The whole process should take less than five minutes. If the tortilla wants to get too brown before the cheese melts, turn the heat down to medium.

Don't let this list of ingredients keep you from trying this. Almost anything goes: broccoli, zucchini (not again!), canned green chiles, pepperjack or cheddar, leftover steak or shrimp, etc. Just be certain that your meat is cooked before it is added as the insides of the quesadilla don't get hot enough to safely cook it.

SOUTHWESTERN CHICKEN WRAPS

The lurking Costco (read: any deli pre-cooked chicken) chicken turns into a real asset in this recipe. While it's perfectly legal to saute a frozen chicken breast and dice the meat, having chicken already cooked makes this recipe come together in minutes. Should you need to cook some chicken, do it first, as the remaining ingredients should only be lightly sauteed, not stewed, in order to retain some crunch and individuality. The following quantity will fill four wraps, and one makes a good-sized serving for all but the hungriest individuals. You may notice that zucchini also shows up here, but only in a supporting role. Using a little olive oil in lieu of the Pam is also allowed, but not so much that the wraps become greasy.

1/2 cup chopped onions
1 medium sweet red pepper, chopped
1 large or 2 small garlic cloves, chopped
2 cups black beans, rinsed if canned
1 medium-sized zucchini, chopped
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice (1/2 to 1 lime, depending on juiciness)
8 ounces of boneless cooked chicken, chopped
1/2 packet Taco Seasoning mix
1 avocado, peeled and chopped
1/4 cup lite sour cream
4 wraps (I prefer sundried tomato wraps, but whole wheat are good, too)

Spray a skillet with PAM, heat over medium high for a minute or two and then add the onions, pepper and garlic. Stirring frequently until the onions are softened. Add the beans and zucchini. Continue cooking while you squeeze in the lime juice, and add the chicken and taco seasoning mix. Add 1/4 cup of water and mix all ingredients thoroughly. As soon as the water has blended in, remove from heat and divide between the four tortillas. Top with avocado slices and sour cream (either inside before wrapping, or outside for a garnish after wrapping). These are pretty much knife and fork food -- likely to spill everything if you try to pick them up -- but really, really good.

HEALTHY, YUMMY, WHAT MORE COULD YOU ASK?

This makes a delicious hot lunch, and the wonderful aroma will tempt the most ardent zucchini-avoiders to dig in. The fact that it's low calorie, vegetarian, and cheap fades to irrelevant against the outstanding flavor. The following recipe serves two adults or one teenager.

HOT ZUCCHINI SANDWICHES

2 6-8" good crusty rolls (the rest of this lunch costs very little, so splurge on these)

1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil or PAM

1 medium zucchini, cut into 3/4" cubes

2 mushrooms, sliced

1 clove of garlic, minced

1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

sprig of fresh oregano, chopped fine (optional)

1/2 cup spaghetti sauce

1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

1 tablespoon Parmesan

sprinkle of garlic salt

Turn on oven to 375 degrees. Spray 2 12x12" chunks of foil with Pam and set aside.

Heat a medium skillet over medium high heat. Add oil or spray and then zucchini and mushrooms. Stir frequently until zucchini starts to brown. Add in garlic and continue to cook until you smell the garlic. Add pepper flakes, spaghetti sauce, and oregano and stir a little longer until all is hot.

Split rolls almost all the way through. Ladle in the zucchini mixture, top with cheeses and the garlic salt. Wrap up in the foil and put in oven to melt the cheese and crisp the rolls (about 15 minutes).

The Famous, Infamous Costco Chicken

So every grocery store has its 'signature' roasted chicken, just waiting to become your new best friend. I'm convinced that the Costco bird is a feather or two above the flock for its size and succulence, but any freshly cooked chicken can be a treasure for a hungry last minute cook. The problem, however, is the size of the bird when you are cooking for just one or two. When just plain chicken and chicken sandwiches have lost their appeal, here is a really yummy salad, which uses ingredients you may already have. If not, pick up the missing ones when you buy your chicken.

CURRIED CHICKEN SALAD
2 tablespoons dried diced onions
1/4 cup mayonnaise or light mayo
2 teaspoons curry powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 cup cooked chicken, cut into small bites
1 stalk celery, cut into 1/2" pieces
2 tablespoons dried onions
1/2 cup grapes, cut in half if large
2 tablespoons softened raisins (let stand in a little boiling water for several minutes and then
drain)
1/4 cup chopped pecans, zapped on high for 30 seconds

Start putting the ingredients in a bowl in the order given, mixing as you go. Serves two generously.

HABITS

At the end of it all, it's not our occasional great deeds, our frequent misdeeds, our talents, our flashes of brilliance or our fleeting physical attributes that define us. It's our habits. We all know gifted people who never accomplish anything. Shot-in-the pan, one act wonders, big talkers with little or nothing concrete to show the world. In the end the habit of getting up, getting at it and getting it done will far outweigh sheer gifts. Perhaps it is the most precious gift of all.

So I leave a challenge: pick out one good habit and develop it for the month of February. Be it making your bed, working an hour a day on the next great American novel, saving ten percent of your income, or planning and cooking a month of good food, habits form a solid base from which the remainder of our existence can spread.

Food is an important part of my life. Planning, shopping, cooking, enjoying and even cleaning up nurture bodies and strengthen family bonds. Some of my best memories of my mother come from the hours we shared while I dried the dishes she washed and we practiced singing harmonies (actually she mostly sang the harmony while I struggled to stay faithful to the tune!). Some 46 years of cooking and cleaning later, I have developed a good habit for getting nutritious food to the table. It starts with collecting recipes. I scan and print from magazines and library books, download from the internet, and even copy things which catch my eye from my own considerable collection of cookbooks. These get stashed in the back of my huge three-ring binder. When it comes time to go to the grocery store I pull out three or four recipes from my stash which represent a wide variety of main dishes: some quick to cook, some requiring more preparation or a stay in a slow cooker. To these I add three or four side dishes. Some days the main dish and the ever-present salad are enough, some times very simple entrees need more help. Then I add two or three entrees from part of my four-decade repertoire which need no written recipe. On the computer I type menus down the left hand column and list ingredients which are beyond what I consider staples in the right column, even if I have them on hand at the moment. I staple recipes and menus together and make a shopping list which reflects items from the right hand column I need to purchase as well as breakfast and lunch items which are low. This process takes about an hour. BUT, everything I need to fix dinner for a week is right at my fingertips, it's easy to thaw whatever is needed for the following night's dinner, and when the week is through, the menu/recipe/ shopping list gets hole-punched and included in the front part of my three ring binder. On a week when an hour is not available, I can grab a completed menu from the past and be out the door with a completed grocery list in five minutes! Try my method as your habit for February? I think you'll be glad you did.

BASIC CHICKEN PARMESAN

My go-to choice for a first visit to an Italian restaurant. I figure if they can't make good Chicken Parmesan, the chances are pretty good they can't make anything else, either. Sometimes the CP is soooo good, I never investigate any other menu items. (Rosa's Italian Restaurant in Pismo Beach, California, has an excellent CP.)

This recipe doesn't pretend to equal theirs, but you can feed a family of four for less than ten dollars with it, and there won't be any complaints, either! Try it with the brined, frozen breasts which have recently appeared in my market for chicken which is really moist and tender. And it's a great way to use up a little bit of spaghetti sauce. If time isn't a problem, the sauce can be enhanced by adding sauted finely chopped onion, mushrooms and green pepper and simmering for 10 minutes or so, but even without the veggies, this is a flavorful dinner.

BUSY COOK'S CHICKEN PARMESAN

4 small boneless, skinless chicken breasts or
2 of those genetic monster breasts, cut in half
1/2 cup Italian bread crumbs
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups prepared spaghetti sauce
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
.
Sprinkle the breasts with bread crumbs, using more if needed to get an even, light coating. Heat the oil in a large pan until a light haze forms. Gently add breasts and cook over medium high heat for four minutes, or until nicely golden. Turn and cook on the second side for another four minutes.

Spray an oven-proof shallow pan (large enough to accomodate the breasts in a single layer) with Pam, spread out a thin layer of the sauce and top with the chicken breasts. Spread them with remaining sauce, mozzarella, and parmesan cheeses.

Bake for 20 minutes. Check for doneness with a meat thermometer or by cutting into the center of the largest breast.