RECIPE MAKEOVERS

Creamy Casserole Makeovers

healthy chicken divan

Featured Recipe: Chicken Divan

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Rich, delicious and creamy Chicken Divan can be healthy too!

By Jessie Price, EatingWell Food Editor

One of our favorite categories of comfort food is anything with a creamy sauce. Problem is, we can do without all the richness and calories.

Luckily we have plenty of techniques for making “cream” sauces without the (heavy) cream. Our take on Chicken Divan is a perfect example of how delicious a lightened cream sauce can be. In this recipe we use 1% milk thickened with flour as the base of the sauce. Then we add Parmesan cheese—it pays to buy the good stuff, because it has more flavor.

In addition to lightening the cream sauce we added more vegetables to this recipe to boost the nutrients and fiber. (Check out our 5 easy tips to get more fiber into your diet.)

Specifically we included 1 pound of chopped broccoli and 2 cups of sliced leeks. Typically we prefer fresh vegetables, but in this case we call for chopped frozen broccoli. Frozen vegetables are convenient, not to mention nutritionally comparable to fresh vegetables in some cases. (Check out our Q&A on nutrition in fresh versus frozen vegetables.) Plus, frozen broccoli helps get this casserole made in a hurry—the whole thing is prepped in just 30 minutes.

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