Trisha Yearwood trims calories from country cooking
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Country music superstar, Food Network personality and bestselling cookbook author Trisha Yearwood shares healthy twists on comfort food classics in her third cookbook, Trisha’s Table: My Feel-Good Favorites for a Balanced Life (Clarkson Potter, $29.99).
The three-time Grammy Award winner, who will be in town this weekend for the 50th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards along with her also-famous hubby, Garth Brooks, provides more than 100 slimmed-down Southern-inspired recipes, from slow-cooker Georgia pulled pork and “unfried chicken” to quinoa corn chowder and angel hair pasta with avocado pesto.
Yearwood also shares her fresh outlook on food and life.
“After losing my dad to complications from diabetes and my mom to cancer and turning 50 myself, I had to really take a hard look at what I want my future to look like,” Yearwood writes.
“I believe that although we can’t control everything that happens to our bodies, we have the opportunity to control a lot more than we think, and food is a great place to start.”
Brooks, who lovingly refers to himself as “Mr. Yearwood” in the book’s foreword, writes that thanks to his wife’s newfound determination to create meals that are as tasty as they are healthy, his high cholesterol and blood pressure levels have dropped.
“I know it is because Trisha has found ways to replace ingredients that create a more unhealthy experience with ingredients that, I believe, actually fight and repair the damage caused by my own poor choices,” he writes. “And I have yet to sacrifice taste.”
You may use fresh or frozen raspberries for Yearwood’s raspberry chicken, a recipe that dresses up the potentially boring, boneless chicken breast meat. Yearwood, who’ll host Friday’s ACM Lifting Lives One Night, Two Cities, All Music gala at the Omni Dallas Hotel along with Brooks, likes to pair the one-skillet dish with crisp green beans and creamed corn.
“When I’m trying to drop a few pounds, I skip the breading step,” she writes. “You won’t miss it.”
— Recipe courtesy of Clarkson Potter. “Trisha’s Table: My Feel-Good Favorites for a Balanced Life” available now at www.trishayearwood.com.
Country Music Week!
Monday: Movies for fans of C&W tunes
Tuesday: Country power couples’ lasting love
Wednesday: Recipes from Trisha Yearwood’s latest cookbook
Thursday: DFW’s place in country music
Friday: Your guide to the ACMs in Arlington
Saturday: Deciphering the “denim and diamonds” dress code
Sunday: Celebrating the Stetson’s 150th anniversary
Raspberry chicken
Serves 4
- 4 boneless, skinless chicken breast cutlets
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 large shallot, thinly sliced
- 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 1/2 cup white wine
- 1 cup chicken stock
- 6 ounces cremini mushrooms, sliced (about 3 cups)
- 1 cup fresh or frozen raspberries
- 1 teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest
- 2 tablespoons salted butter
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1. Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Place the flour in a large, shallow bowl. Dredge the chicken in it and shake off any excess.
2. In a large skillet set over medium heat, heat the olive oil until it shimmers, about 2 minutes. Add the chicken and sear until slightly brown, 2 to 4 minutes on each side. Remove from the skillet and set aside. Add the shallots and garlic to the same pan and cook for 1 minute. Add the wine and stock, and cook until reduced slightly, about 10 minutes. Add the sliced mushrooms, reduce the heat to low, return the chicken to the skillet, cover, and cook for 10 minutes.
3. Stir in the raspberries, lemon zest, butter and balsamic vinegar. Continue cooking, uncovered, until the butter melts, about 1 minute. If needed, add salt and pepper to taste. Transfer the chicken to plates and spoon the raspberry sauce and mushrooms over each piece.
This story was originally published April 13, 2015 at 6:14 PM with the headline "Trisha Yearwood trims calories from country cooking."