kyburg | Passing it along -

I get a number of email feeds daily. I get Buddhist sayings, recipes and general kicks in the ass - daily - by email.

This morning, the one that Minnesota Public Radio provides for The Splendid Table offered up something too good not to pass on. Particularly right now -

Roast one chicken, make three night's worth of meals. Seriously. Better yet, get one pre-cooked.

NIGHT ONE: Hot Roast Chicken with Creamy Baked Yam and Simplest-of-All Green Beans.

Microwave a small yam until soft when squeezed (5 to 7 minutes on high). Yams are creamy, packed with fiber and taste so rich butter and salt are never missed. If it's organic, go ahead and eat the skin (especially good sprinkled with balsamic vinegar) for extra nutrients.

These greens beans are as much finger food as a side dish … eat all you want. Serve them hot or at room temperature.

Simplest of All Green Beans: Start with fresh beans. Trim off stem ends. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil, drop in the beans and boil, uncovered, until just beyond tender-crisp (4 to 6 minutes). Drain and toss with salt to taste. They should be tender, but not mushy.

LYNNE'S TIPS

* For good color and flavor, buy Jewel or Garnet yams free of bruises and soft spots. Store yams in a basket in a cool, dark place with air circulating around them. They rot in plastic bags. Keep up to five days.

* Turn leftover baked yams into a dip/spread by blending with lemon, garlic, onion and chilies, or a favorite salsa.

* Save chicken skin. Cut fat by removing the skin from the chicken. If it isn't packed with salt and flavors you don't like, refrigerate it for night three.

* Cooking green beans beyond the crisp stage to when they are tender brings out a special sweetness and mellowness. The extra salt accentuates this. Serve them with drinks, or add to salads.

NIGHT TWO: Tart and Fresh Southeast Asian Soup Bowl

Talk about reclaiming balance, this soup restores souls, is practically fat free and chockablock with veggies. It plays bright tastes of lime, pineapple, cherry tomatoes and chile against each other. Including chopping time, figure on about 30 leisurely minutes to get it to the table.

I've purposely kept to easily-had ingredients, but if available, add to the broth two inches of fresh lemon grass stalk and/or one tablespoon tamarind concentrate. (This is more a collection of guidelines than a recipe.) Save any leftover vegetables for tomorrow night.

Tart & Fresh Southeast Asian Soup Bowl:

Cut up another quarter or third of the chicken, setting skin aside in refrigerator. Toss meat with half a minced jalapeno chile (seeded), 1/2 teaspoon fish sauce, and the juice of a small lime. Let stand while you make broth.

Combine in a 3 to 4-quart saucepan 1 can low-sodium, fat-free chicken broth and 1 cup water. Mince together 3 large garlic cloves and 1-1/2 inches peeled fresh ginger root. Add to pan. Boil 2 minutes.

Add 1/2 sweet yellow pepper, cut into small pieces; 1/2 small can water chestnuts, coarsely chopped; a handful of organic spring mix salad greens, chopped green cabbage, chopped bok choy, or spinach; about 10 snow pea pods and 1 small can pineapple chunks in juice (not syrup).

Stir in a handful of halved cherry tomatoes, juice of 1 small lime (or to taste -- soup should be tart with a hint of sweet) and the chicken. Heat a minute or two and serve.

You could cook rice noodles with the ginger and garlic but, for me, the soup is filling and lower in calories without them.

LYNNE'S TIPS

* Use food processor for mincing and slicing.

* Vegan Soup: Substitute firm tofu for the chicken and vegetable broth for the chicken broth.

* Use bagged organic spring mix for the soup greens, saving leftovers for tomorrow night's salad. Save leftover water chestnuts and the half pepper as well.

* Like it hotter? Leave seeds in the jalapeno.

* Like more sweet-sour? Add 1 to 2 teaspoons sugar and/or vinegar.

NIGHT THREE: All American Chicken Salad

You have got to feel healthy with this one -- a pile of fresh greens, vegetables and fiber-rich beans topped with a crunchy chicken salad, and possibly a lagniappe that I call, "crispins."

Crispins: This old French trick turns good tasting poultry skin into a crunchy, almost fat free, treat that is great over salads. If the chicken skin tastes good (as opposed to saturated with salt and spice), spread it in a skillet and cook over medium heat about 10 minutes, or until it's yielded up all its fat. Spread it on paper towels and break up over the finished salad.

The Salad:

Cut up what is left of the chicken meat. Toss it with the juice of a lemon, some minced red onion, a dash of Tabasco, a cut up apple (or pear) with skin (don't use anything called, "Delicious," because it isn't), a chopped stalk of celery, about 1/3 cup salted almonds, some fresh basil or coriander, a little mayonnaise and salt and pepper to taste.

Pile on a dinner plate salad greens (organic bagged ones work here), any leftover vegetables, the rest of the canned water chestnuts, about 1/2 cup canned kidney beans that you've rinsed and drained. Sprinkle with a little extra-virgin olive oil and cider vinegar, top with the chicken salad and finish with "crispins". Enjoy.

LYNNE'S TIP SHEET

* Vegan Salad: Substitute a 15-ounce can chickpeas for chicken. Their sweetness and texture works well with the other ingredients.

* Chicken mix can be done up to 24 hours ahead.

* Chicken's salad "bed" can change with what you find in the market. For instance, blend cut-up cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, celery and shredded cabbage

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Hee. One chicken per person for three days. Go.