I had a craving for an old favourite tonight. What I USED to do was put a couple of chicken legs and thighs in a casserole, cover it with onions, then dump a can of mushroom soup on top, mixed up with garlic and curry powder. Serve over rice or mashed potatoes. It wasn't gourmet, but it was a super easy, quick, comfort food kinda dinner. I haven't even looked at a can of mushroom soup in the 6 months I've been on the Zone, but sometimes when I'm too restrictive, I fall off the wagon.

So tonight, I did this:

3 oz turkey breast, sliced
bunch of mushrooms, sliced

Saute those in a pan sprayed with cooking spray until turkey is cooked.

Added half a can of cream of mushroom soup mixed with curry powder, crushed chillies and garlic powder. Simmered a bit, then served over spaghetti squash. Sprinkled with a bit of parm cheese.

The half can of mush soup was 7g fat and 10 g carb. Sure, it's unfavourable carb, but only 1 block. You could easily get away with 1/4-1/3 can.

There was enough sauce to make it very tasty and satisfying!

Thanks for posting this Xee! I agree -- we know ourselves well enough to know when resisting a craving is going to eventually cause ourselves more harm than good (i.e., we're going to overeat, as we "eat around" the craving, and then eventually wind up eating whatever we had our minds on anyway!)

So kudos to you for making a really good choice and working the meal into your Zone plan :-) . I'm not a fan of curry, but LOVE the combination of chicken and mushrooms -- so will definitely be trying this out (sans curry).

Laurie

I agree, Xee! I think that being too restrictive can sometimes be our undoing. But, you really did an awesome job of making that dish work for you.

In the book Zone Perfect Meals in Minutes on pg 148 there is a recipe for a Zoned Mushroom sauce, it makes four 1cup servings, one carb block each. It's more work (though it's super easy) but you would get more sauce it that is part of the goal.

4.5 cups mushrooms, slices (1.5 c) ( I use an egg slicer, it takes just a few minutes to slice up this many mushrooms. They are not as pretty but for this dish, it doesn't matter.)
10 teaspoons cornstarch (2.5 c)
3 cups strong beef broth (I used whatever organic broth I have on hand, beef, veg. or chicken)
1/8 tsp Worchestershire sauce
1 tsp red wine (I usually don't have this on hand so I leave it out)
1/8 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp garlic chopped (I use jarred, fresh, or dried, again, whatever I have on hand)
1 tbls dried parsley flakes
salt and pepper to taste.

Combine in a sauce pan (the book says small sauce pan, but really, with all those mushrooms, you need a large sauce pan), heat and stir until thicken. (combine the cornstarch with cold water or cold broth to dissolve prior to adding it to the pan.) I actually use a big fry pan and saute the mushrooms a bit first in water.

In regard to the seasoning, I add a little more of this and a little less of that for my own tastes, but I love the idea of adding the curry. I love curry and have very few recipes using it.

Anyway, just an idea. I like this cook book better than the Zone Meals in Seconds. This one has more flavors to my taste than the other.

I like that one too! I made it a couple of weeks ago to go with some roast beef. It's very different than the creamy mushroom sauce though... more like a dark beefy mushroom gravy.

I have had that recipe, too. I think I probably cut back on the cornstarch, so it wasn't as thick... but otherwise, it certainly is tasty!

I wonder if you blended it smooth?, you could even possibly blend in milk to one serving at a time for a more creamy texture, just be sure to count the added block.

Anyway, your recipes sounds awesome and I can't wait to try it, or something simliar!

Cheers, thanks for sharing.
Cleo