Joyce Cornett of Westwood requested a rehab of her recipe for Chicken Artichoke Bake — sauteed chicken strips combined with artichokes and water chestnuts, covered with a wine-flavored sour cream sauce and topped with Parmesan cheese. This is perfect for a buffet, but each serving contains 23 grams of fat.

        For this rehab, we:

        • Replaced the 1/2 cup butter with 3 tablespoons margarine.

        • Used light sour cream in place of regular.

        • Reduced the Parmesan from 1/2 cup to 6 tablespoons.

        Results were excellent — it actually “browned” more than the original. Lack of browning is usually a sign the item has less fat.

        With only 10 grams of fat per serving, anyone who enjoys artichokes will surely want to try this recipe.

        Tip of the week: In this recipe, the reduced amount of margarine provided ample fat for browning the chicken, but not enough to saute the onions. To remedy this, we added the water in the recipe sooner than specified and cooked the onion in it. Any liquid ingredient could work in the same manner. If there is no other liquid ingredient, simply add a small amount of water and cook the onion or vegetables until the water evaporates.

       Karen Weber, Pat Streicher and Ellen Illig are registered dietitians at Jewish Hospital Cholesterol Center. Their Recipe Rehab Cookbook ($18), five yearly recipe supplements ($25 or $6.25 each), or a complete set ($40) are available by sending check or money order to: RR Cookbook, PO Box 58100, Cincinnati 45258.
       

Chicken & Artichoke Bake

        2 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless, chicken breast (about 8 halves)
        1/4 cup flour
        1/2 teaspoon salt
        1/4 teaspoon black pepper
       2 teaspoons paprika
       3 tablespoons margarine
       1 can (14 ounces) artichoke hearts, drained, chopped
       1 can (8 ounces) sliced water chestnuts, drained
        1/2 cup water
       1 small onion, chopped
       1 cube chicken bouillon
        3/4 cup light sour cream
        1/2 cup dry white wine
       6 tablespoons Parmesan cheese

        Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly spray 2-quart casserole with vegetable oil spray. Cut raw chicken into strips. In small bowl, combine flour, salt, pepper, and paprika. Toss chicken strips in seasoned flour. Melt margarine in medium skillet; saute chicken strips in margarine until lightly browned. Put chicken in prepared casserole dish; top with artichokes and water chestnuts.

        Add water to hot skillet. Add onions; simmer until soft. Add bouillon cube to skillet; stir until dissolved. Stir in sour cream and wine. Pour sauce over chicken mixture; top with cheese. Bake at 350 degrees 25 minutes. Makes 6-8 servings.
       

Before and after

        Values based on 1 serving (1/7 of recipe)
       Chicken & Artichoke Bake...Adapted
       Calories...461...359
       Fat........23 g...10 g
       Carbohydrate...15 g...18 g
       Sodium.........955 mg...691 mg
       Cholesterol....146 mg ...107 mg
       Fiber...........2 g...2 g
       Calories
       from fat........45%...26%

       Nutritionists recommend those on a daily 2,000 calorie diet limit their fat consumption to 65 g or less, cholesterol to 300 mg or less and sodium to 2,400 mg or less per day.
       

Required Reading

        Mom's Big Book of Baking (Harvard Common Press; $29.95 or $16.95): This basic baking book by Lauren Chattman has a nice emphasis on creating memories and good feelings by baking for and with your kids. It's obviously written by a real mother: She includes a recipe for meringues because she has a kid who eats only white food, she knows about feeding eight kids pancakes after a sleepover and the desire to out-sell other contributions at a bake sale.

        The recipes do not appear to be too difficult. They include necessary standards, such as chocolate-chocolate chip cookies and cream cheese brownies, and some interesting new ideas, such as chocolate-currant rugelach, maple-walnut blondies and blueberry-cornmeal crumb squares.

        There are tips for how to get kids to help, and many recipes include “"a good excuse” to make them. For instance, A Good Excuse to Make Ice-Cream Sandwiches: “These are great for casual entertaining. I serve them when I invite another family with kids over for a summertime barbecue.”
       

Teacher says

        • Place a slice of apple in hardened brown sugar to soften it.

        • Don't throw out leftover wine. Freeze into ice cubes for future use in casseroles and sauces.

        • Brush beaten egg white over pie crust before baking to yield a beautiful glossy finish.

        — Steve Hellmich, instructor at Culinary Sol, Norwood
       

Uncommon knowledge

        How to make stuffed peppers sit up:

        • Instead of cooking stuffed peppers in the baking dish or roasting pan specified in most recipes, put them in a tube pan. The snug fit makes the peppers sit up.

        • Alternatively, place the peppers in the cups of a muffin tin. This also gets the job done nicely.

        — Cook's Illustrated
       

We tested it

        To celebrate its 75th anniversary, Godiva has introduced five new varieties of chocolate pieces this month. Always on top of things, we hustled over to the Godiva store at Tower Place, downtown, to try them.

        The new varieties were created to commemorate the company's Belgian heritage of chocolate making. Four include praline, a fine powder of caramelized nuts. It's best in the Romaine, with a center of hazelnut praline and nougatine (chocolate mixed with hazelnut paste), in milk chocolate with a hazelnut on top. Very European.

        Praline also is in the Nippon, which mixes it with crispy rice, for a sophisticated version of the crispy rice candy bar.

        The Creole combines praline with liquid caramel and intensely chocolate coffee in a pretty chocolate cup.

        The Noix Macadamia has a little shortbread cookie at the bottom of its praline filling.

        If you really, really love chocolate and have trained your palate to a sophisticated level, try the new 72-percent cocoa demitasse. It's a plain square of premium chocolate with a high cocoa content. It's very dark, melts slowly in your mouth, with just enough sugar to make it edible and without blocking a single molecule of chocolate flavor.

        The new candies are available by the piece or in Godiva's classic Ballotin boxes and other assortments. They're sold by weight: $33 per pound, That comes out to between 99 cents and $1.60 a piece.

Learn to cook

        These cooking schools offer classes different times of the year. Call for schedules and prices.

        • Cooks' Wares, Shops at Harper's Point, Symmes Township. 489-6400.
        • Cooking School at Jungle Jim's Market, Fairfield. 829-1919, Ext. 3.
        • Culinary Sol, Rookwood Commons, Norwood. 841-2665.
        • Dorothy Lane Market School of Cooking, Dayton. (937) 434-1294.
        • Kremer's Market Cooking Classes, Crescent Springs. 341-1067.
        • Restaurant Equipment Outlet's Cooking Classes, Northside. 542-5900.
        • Wild Oats, Rookwood Commons, Norwood. 531-8015.
        • Williams-Sonoma Grand Cuisine, Kenwood Towne Centre, 793-3445.

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