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Women.com presents

Swanson's Consumer Kitchen Staff
Healthy Cooking

December 15, 1999

Swanson's consumer kitchen staff discusses health issues involving recipes, meals, food, ingredients, and of course Swanson's products.

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HomeArts: The holidays are a time when families come together, and often they come to eat! Well, Swanson Broth is ready to provide you with easy-to-prepare recipes that are both delicious and lower in fat. Our consumer kitchen's staff will answer all of your questions while supplying you with convenient recipes, tips and suggestions that are sure to please the entire family this holiday season. Please welcome Diane Holtaway, Judy Rusignuolo, Jennifer Leimkuhler, Debbie Conway, and Jane Freiman from Swansons!

Jane: Hi, we're so glad you can join us!

BzyMom: Do you have any suggestions for quick meals that will feed a large number of people?

Jane: We have a 49 oz can of beef broth you could purchase, and we have a recipe for Southwestern Beef and Rice. What you do is just use 2 pounds of ground beef and brown that in a large pot with chopped onions and green pepper. Stir in the full (49 oz) can of beef broth with 2 cans (8oz each) of tomato sauce, 2 Tbsps. chili powder, 1 tsp. garlic powder, and 2 cups uncooked rice. Cook that together for about 20 minutes, or until the rice is done. You can serve it topped with cheese and sour cream, and this will serve 12 people!

Diane: I have an addition to this. Any of our soup or stew recipes we have on our Swanson website, www.swansonbroth.com, can be easily doubled - simply double the ingredients and any recipe can serve 8-10 people.

HoHoHolly: When should I begin cooking for an upcoming holiday meal?

Debbie: You can begin shopping for your pantry ingredients whenever you want - like now! - whenever you go to the grocery store. But for the fresh ingredients, such as vegetables and meats, purchase them closer to the day of the meal; for the vegetables no more than five days in advance and for the meat no more than two or three days in advance. Then the day before your holiday meal, prepare your ingredients - any chopping that needs to be done can be done that day. The day of the holiday meal, assemble your ingredients and cook the finished dishes.

Jane: A soup could be entirely prepared the day before, and then reheated. Casseroles can be made the day before, but prior to re-heating it, if it looks a little dry you can always add some Swanson's broth to it before reheating.

Debbie: If you are making rice for your holiday meal, you can prepare that the day before. You can also prepare it by using Swanson's broth to replace the butter, water and salt so you don't have to add fat to the recipe. Then the next day when you reheat it, add a little more Swanson's broth to re-heat.

Mimi: You recently came out with a line of flavored chicken broths. Any ideas for using them you can share with us?

Jennifer: You could make garlic flavored mashed potatoes. Cook potatoes in Swanson's Seasoned Chicken Broth With Roasted Garlic, then drain the potatoes - reserving the broth - then mash the potatoes, using the reserved broth instead of butter or milk. If you are making a turkey or a beef roast, you could use any of the flavored broths for the turkey, but if you are doing a roast beef you should use the Seasoned Beef With Onion broth. I think that's best. And don't forget to baste while cooking. Just a reminder, go to our website www.swansonbroth.com for more ideas on creative ways to use our seasoned broths.

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