Author: Dee
Date: 08-26-02 11:55
Hi, only have a minute while we take a break, but here is how I amke white sauce:
for the fat, I use Fleishman's LIGHT margarine which has 40 calories per tablespoon, and no trans fat. I use about 1 ounce of that, which is 2 tablespoons, and 80 calories. I also use 1 ounce of cornstarch (1 ounce of flour would work instead), which has 100 calories, and 10 fluid ounces of non-fat milk (1 1/4 cups) which has 100 calories. This quantity of sauce has 280 calories in total, but remember that there are 5 people in my family (self, husband, 3 kids), so that works out at 56 calories each! The recipe is easy:
melt the fat in a small non stick pan
add the corn starch or flour a little at a time to the melted fat, stirring well
when there are no lumps left in it, cook the corn starch (or flour) a little
then drizzle in the milk very slowly stirring all the time, till you have a smooth liquid
then bring to a gentle boil, and simmer for a couple of minutes stirring all the time to revent lumps
add a little pepper and salt to taste, and that's it. If I amke gravy, I make it in a similar way:
for chicken gravy, I use a reduced fat, reduced sodium canned chicken broth that I buy in the regular supermarket, and proceed like this:
I put a little corn starch (flour would work) in a small bowl and mix in a little chicken broth to make a smooth paste. I mix that smooth paste with the rest of the chicken broth in a non stick pan, adding the liquid a little at a time to prevent lumps. Then i bring it to a gentle boil, and simmer it for a few minutes, stirring all the time, to cook the corn starch. It is more tasty if I add some very small bits of previously chopped and boiled veggies (onions, carrots, green beans, corn), but the bits need to be small, or you've created something more like soup than gravy!! I make beef gravy the same way, using home made beef stock. We do eat very lean red meat, so whenever I buy it, I take a little meat out, put it in a pan with chopped onions, chopped carrots, and lots of water, and boil it gently in a covered pan until the veggies have about disappeared, Then I strain out the meat, and freeze the resulting liquid in ice cube trays. When i want beef gravy, I mix corn starch with a little water, salt and pepper until smooth, put it in a pan over a low heat, and drop in the "beef ice cubes" a few at a time, mixing the resulting liquid into the corn starch paste, stirring all the time, until I have enough gravy, then i boil it gently for a minute or two, stirring all the while, and then serve.
I use ice cube trays to freeze canned or home made chicken broth too...for a basic stir fry, I dump a couple or 3 frozen cubes of chicken broth into the fry pan, melt them, and then add my chopped and sliced veggies, starting with the hardest veggies first, and stir fry! I also use frozen chicken broth ice cubes to make a fast chicken gravy, of course.
Dunno if any of this is low fat enough for you (for us, with 5 people in the family, I can keep the sauce and gravy servings to about 50 calories per person, and that is acceptable to me for the taste that such things add to a meal with skinless plain broiled chicken, plain grilled or broiled fish, and lean bits of boiled beef!!!)
Cheers, Dee
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