Showing posts with label chicken salad. Show all posts
Showing posts with label chicken salad. Show all posts

National Brown Bagged Wine Day - Kidding! Sort of... (and Hummus Chicken Salad!)

6:53 PM | Labels: , , ,

Every so often, I get curious about what "National Food Holiday" has rolled around, in a too-late attempt to eat festively for more than just the major holidays. So, even though I have long since had my meal plan set for this week, I decided to check out what today and tomorrow celebrate before choosing the recipe to share with you today. Well, today was National Escargot Day, and although I have a burning desire to taste this notorious upscale food, I shockingly do not have a recipe that involves escargot, snails, or even seafood in any capacity. So, I moved on to tomorrow, which is both National Wine Day and National Brown-Bag-It Day. Does anyone else find that amusing? I just picture someone staggering around with a bottle of wine semi-concealed in a brown bag from the liquor store. Of all things to celebrate on the same day!

Anyway, I don't have any wine recipes in my arsenal either, but I can offer you a suggestion for a brown-bagged lunch. I just posted a quick tip on chicken salad on Twitter, so hopefully this isn't too monotonous, but have you not picked up on my love affair with unconventional chicken salads yet? You really should not be at all surprised that I find this versatile meal to be excellent for brown bagging it. Some varieties require refrigeration which may not be an option for some people who pack their lunches, but this particular Hummus Chicken Salad should be relatively stable, especially with an ice pack or a fairly insulated bag. 

This recipe for Hummus Chicken Salad is flavorful, light, and textural. I'm talking smooth red peppers and tomatoes, crunchy onions and bell peppers, creamy hummus, and savory chicken. Stick it inside a whole wheat pita or bring a separate container of salad greens, and you have yourself a killer, refreshing lunch! Plus, like every chicken salad recipe, you can switch it up based on what you have in your pantry, so at 10pm at night when you're getting ready for work or school the next day (or, you know, 7am when you're getting ready and need to leave at 8), you don't have to feel panicked if your pantries don't seem to have everything on your ingredient list.

Hummus Chicken Salad, adapted from Aggie's Kitchen
Yield: 1-2 servings*
(printable recipe)

The Ingredients
1/2 chicken breast, cooked and shredded
1/4 cup diced green bell pepper
4 cherry tomatoes, chopped coarsely
2-3 tablespoons diced onion
1 1/2 - 2 tablespoons roasted red peppers, chopped coarsely
1/3 - 1/2 cup hummus
2-3 teaspoons lemon juice
dash each: garlic powder, garam masala

The Method
Place all ingredients except the hummus, lemon juice, and spices in a bowl and toss lightly. In a separate bowl, mix the hummus, lemon juice, and spices. Add the hummus mixture into the chicken mixture, and stir to coat well. Serve in a pita or over salad greens.

Notes:
*I made and ate this as one serving, but looking at the picture, I'd say it's more appropriate for 1-2 servings - especially if you plan to put it into a pita, which I always find tough to stuff. I don't have any indications in my notes that the amount of food was inappropriate, but the Floptimist's mind is not always the most rational one. I'm working on it.

Over the past year, I've become pretty familiar with the brown-bag scene, with full-day classes that required me to either bring food with me, or deal with whatever salty, fatty, overpriced concoction Aramark decided to provide my University with that day. Keep an eye out on Twitter tomorrow for some lunch-packing tips I've picked up along the way, but for now, I'd like to leave you with a link to a website that has made my packed foods more sustainable, conscionable, and - let's face it - cuter, too! Last year I bought reusable snack and sandwich baggies from a company called Lunchskins. I haven't yet found a full-on lunch bag that I like, but these little guys have made my life a lot easier, and my trash can a lot emptier. True, they don't seal shut like a ziploc bag does, so some things if packed too far in advance may not stay their absolute freshest (my cereal this morning that I packed yesterday evening lacked its typical crunch), but that anecdote is by far one of the only examples I can think of, of drawbacks of these bags. Oh, and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich that sat out for over 12 hours and then was stored overnight and then some in the fridge...that got dried out. But I don't point my fingers at the bag on that one - that was all me. 

By the way, on an almost completely different note, I've been thinking a lot about giveaways, and this post about Lunchskins makes me pine to give some away. Truthfully, though, my ego gets worried that if I were to have an ego, my blog isn't yet visited enough to get any response. Also, let's face it - an unemployed college kid doesn't have too much spare cash around to be sending gifts to strangers. A little selfish, perhaps, but realistic. I'll keep working on it, though, and pondering it, because I'd love to be able to share with you guys the things I love, more than just via the written word. 

So how will you celebrate National Brown Bagged (Wine) Day? Do you pack your lunch (or breakfast, or dinner...or snacks!)? What are your favorite foods for the proverbial brown bag? Favorite containers to replace it?

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Posted by toni

Chicken Salad atop a Caramelized Onion & Spinach Quickbread

7:50 PM | Labels: , , , ,


The past several months, something has been growing inside of me (and no, Mom and Dad, not literally - you can breathe). It began in, oh, maybe late February as a mild distraction, a feeling that, perhaps, I wouldn't be able to breeze through the semester as per usual. By March, I was beginning to feel the inklings of exhaustion that are more typical for the end few weeks of the semester, as Finals week approaches, the weather turns more consistently toward sunshine and warmth, and the Summer Itch descends upon us all. Now, it's April, and that mild distraction, that inkling of fatigue, has bloomed into a fully-germinated flower of unfathomable overexertion. I have stretched myself too thin, and I find myself fading in every sense of the word. My school work has suffered, both the quality and quantity of my entries here have suffered, my ability to give back to the greater community through volunteering has suffered, and - perhaps most importantly - my ability to maintain meaningful relationships with the people around me has suffered, as I have turned into a blob of what was once a girl, now only capable of bursting into tears about how I can't possibly go on like this.

Yesterday was a low point, and then today I woke up after 10 1/2 hours of heavy sleep to find sunshine and a high of 85. I finished my work early and even had time to shower before the day ended. It was easy to feel good on a day like today. Now tomorrow, I have a gloomy, rainy, chilly day ahead of me, with a to-do list that will propel me from my apartment before 8am and refuse to let me return before 5pm. Spring, I have decided, is the embodiment of Floptimism: one day it's gorgeous and warm, and the next the clouds have rolled in and the wind has picked up. It's a constant challenge to maintain a sunny disposition even when Mother Nature denies us that same luxury. My goal for myself is to have a good day tomorrow, even if the bottoms of my jeans get all wet, I don't have time to finish my school work before the sun sets and I have to play loud music to prevent myself from passing out in my tomato soup at dinner. I will maintain a positive outlook on the day no matter what.

The recipe I have for you tonight is much like my perception of tomorrow's forecast and sequence of events. Well, okay, almost. Unlike how I feel about tomorrow, I discovered this recipe for caramelized onion and spinach quickbread and just thought there was no way it would be anything less than heaven in food form. So, I borrowed a loaf pan from my house and set to work in the Floptimism Kitchen making this delicious sounding bread. I stuck it in the oven and, after the suggested amount of cooking time, tested it with a toothpick and discovered that the toothpick was clean. Excellent! So I removed it from the oven and let it sit in the pan, as directed, for 15 minutes. Then I happily inverted this beautiful, amazingly-scented bread...and it completely fell apart. I mean, I had a blob of gooey bread crumbles mixed up with some onion and spinach. It was not unlike the blob that I imagine myself to be on those particularly trying days throughout this semester. My heart sank. What do you do with a blob of quick bread? I put it back in the oven, thinking it just needed longer to cook, but nothing really changed it. I had a flopped recipe in front of me, and there was no way to salvage it.

Or was there? I took a few "slices" (re: hunks) and stuck them in my toaster oven to broil for a few minutes while my very-un-flopped Chicken Salad sat patiently awaiting the carbohydrate that was to complete it. The broiling helped...a little. I refused to give up on it, though. I plopped it on my plate with the chicken salad and dug in, and enjoyed it. It was underwhelming - I called it relatively bland - but not at all inedible. The chicken salad was flavorful and crunchy, with a little zing and crunch to it.

Even then, I refused to give up on it. I "sliced" the rest of the loaf as best I could and froze them, to be pulled out here and there for various meals. And that's exactly what I did. I had some alongside soup, with salads, you name it. And you know what? I love this bread! I almost don't even care that it crumbled to pieces before my very eyes and failed to impress me right from the start. It's savory and has this essence to it that I can't even describe. It just makes you want to go back for more. And more. In fact, I wish I still had some in my freezer - pop it in the toaster for 5 minutes and you have yourself a warm, sizzly, golden slice of perfectly imperfect quick bread.

I don't know what I did wrong, why this bread turned out so devastatingly, but I do know that I'm glad I didn't just pitch it when I saw it fall apart right in front of me. I like to think that there's something deep and profound in my persistence, and the inner beauty and longevity this particular recipe was able to bring to the table again and again. I plan to make tomorrow like this onion and spinach quickbread: a situation that seems destined for failure, but turns out to be one of the most enjoyable experiences I can name (well, for the quickbread, it just tops the list of culinary experiences...my life is not so devoid of activities and human contact that a homely loaf of bread would be the highlight of my life, but you get the idea).

So now, if you're still with me (I know, it's late - I might have fallen asleep by now too if I weren't the one typing it), I'm going to do something absolutely groan-worthy: I'm not going to post the recipe. I took so long blathering on about metaphors and positive thinking, and now it's way too late for me to get into the formatting aspect of this entry. I'm sorry. I will, without a doubt, have the recipes for these two delicious foods up tomorrow night, but that 7am wake up call...it's coming up way too quickly. I hope you understand.

But in the meantime, here's to a good day tomorrow for everyone - rain or shine!

Chicken Salad-topped Caramelized Onion & Spinach Quickbread, adapted from  The Food Network and Cookin' Canuck
Yield: 1 serving chicken salad + 1 loaf of quickbread

The Ingredients - The Quickbread
3 teaspoons olive oil, divided
1 large yellow onion, cut in half through the root and thinly sliced
2 cups (packed) fresh spinach leaves
2 teaspoons minced garlic
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 eggs, lightly beaten
3/4 cup milk (I used 1%)
2/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 ounce feta cheese
butter and flour for pan

The Ingredients - The Chicken Salad
1/2 cup shredded, cooked chicken
1 tablespoon chopped celery
1/8 small onion, finely chopped
handful cherry tomatoes, quartered
1 1/2 tablespoons low-fat sour cream
1 - 1 1/2 teaspoons dijon mustard
salad greens, for serving

The Method

Start by preparing the quickbread: preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and butter and flour a loaf pan. Meanwhile, heat 2 teaspoons of the olive oil along with the onion over medium heat in a fairly large skillet, and cook for approximately 10 minutes before reducing the heat to medium-low and cooking for another 10 minutes, looking for a golden brown color to develop on the onions. Add the remaining teaspoon of oil to the pan and stir in the garlic and spinach, continuing to stir until the spinach has wilted and turned a bright green, approximately 1 minute. Remove from the heat.

Whisk the flour and baking powder together in a medium bowl and set aside. In a large mixing bowl, lightly beat the eggs and milk and add in the remaining 2/3 cup olive oil, whisking well to combine. Pour the flour mixture into the egg mixture, stirring only until just combined - taking care not to overmix. Finally, add in the spinach and onion mixture along with the cheese, stirring again to combine, but minimally.

Pour the batter into the pan and smooth out the top. Place into the oven and bake for approximately 40 minutes, or until the top has developed a golden brown color and a toothpick or skewer inserted into the center comes out dry. Remove from the oven and cool in the pan for 15 minutes before inverting onto a wire rack to finish cooling.

While the bread is baking, assemble the chicken salad: combine all ingredients in a small-medium mixing bowl and season with pepper. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to serve.

When all components of the meal are ready, place a handful of (washed) salad greens on a plate and top with 1-2 slices of the bread and all of the chicken salad. Enjoy!


(By the way, despite several obstacles that could have easily undermined my determination to have a good day today, today was, in fact, quite excellent - Floptimism prevails!)

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Posted by toni

Quinoa-Chicken Waldorf Salad: A Belated Farewell to Fall

3:16 PM | Labels: , , ,


Sometimes, the degree to which I have fallen behind in my recipe posting shames me. Even with updating nearly every day, I have so many recipes that I want to share with you - this is what happens when I am on my own for the first time, and I suddenly have the resources to experiment with cooking - real cooking, not how to turn microwavable mac-n-cheese into a gourmet dorm indulgence. The problem with this is that I am sitting here at the tail-end of March with all of these Fall-inspired dishes in my backlog; and although the weather could convince even the sharpest meteorologist it's still a cooler season, the wannabe-locavore within me is cringing at the thought of dedicating a post to anything with cranberries, apples, or pumpkin in the ingredient list. I still haven't decided what to do about this dilemma - the idea of waiting until Fall 2011 rolls around seems unbearable, but there's no way I can realistically encourage you to run out and make my "Autumn-Spiced Beef Skillet" or "Butternut Squash and Parmesan Pasta." (However, that being said, both of those meals were excellent and if I could bring myself to write about them, I would absolutely insist that you run out and make them both immediately.)

I can bring myself to tell you about this chicken and quinoa salad. Fall flavors unquestionably permeate this dish, but it doesn't call for fresh cranberries or fall squashes in a way that would make me feel absolutely ridiculous for writing about it on the cusp of Spring. Instead, it uses dried cranberries, apples (out of season, yes, but I'm not yet strict enough with this local eating thing to vow off my beloved apples), and a maple vinaigrette to deliver its punch of autumn, and I can handle that. This is a recipe that is perfectly acceptable to make when you're missing the enticement of Fall. That happens to me around this time of year. When Fall turns colder, I don't mind. I enjoy the crisp breeze and the fact that I need to start wearing a sweater outside. But I loathe cold weather in the Springtime, and I find myself right about now thinking wistfully back to the good ole' days of September and October. If you're at all like me, or if you just like the sound of these ingredients jam-packed together, consider making this. Maybe you can even forget about the dreary cold front that has seized...well, if not the country, at least the poor East Coast.

If you do choose to make this, you will be greeted with the play of sweet and tangy, chewy and crunchy. It's easy as pie to make (speaking of which, wouldn't a nice, fresh-out-of-the-oven pie be perfect right about now?), and my only change for next time - and there will be a next time - is to decrease the apples just a bit. I love me some apples, but they shouldn't be the focus of the dish.

Quinoa-Chicken Waldorf Salad, adapted from $5 Dinners
Yield: 1 serving
(printable recipe)

The Ingredients - The Salad
1/4 cup quinoa
1/4 - 1/3 cup chopped broccoli florets
1 apple, chopped
2 tablespoons chopped walnuts
1/4 cup (approximate) craisins
1/3 - 1/2 cup cooked & shredded/diced chicken
salad greens, for serving (optional)

The Ingredients - The Dressing
2 teaspoons maple syrup
1 tablespoon apple cider
2 teaspoons plain yogurt

The Method
Bring 1/2 cup water to a boil with the quinoa and broccoli, then reduce the heat and cover with a lid. Cook for approximately 15 minutes, looking for the ring to separate from the grain.

Meanwhile, chop the apples and place them in a small-medium mixing bowl with the walnuts, craisins and chicken. In another small bowl, whisk together the dressing ingredients.

When the quinoa is finished, add in the chicken mixture and toss to incorporate the ingredients evenly. Top the salad with dressing, stir briefly to combine, and serve.

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Posted by toni

Healthy Chicken Waldorf Salad

12:17 PM | Labels: , ,


Last time we left off with an ode to plain chicken, and the many different split-second wardrobe changes it can make in your freezer over the course of the week/month for easy meals that never get old. So, how about we talk about an example of such an exciting, quick meal that utilizes these pre-cooked chicken recipes? How genius, you say? Well, I'm glad you think so!

Let's get one thing straight: I never liked protein-centered salads very much - you know, egg, tuna, chicken. I honestly just thought they looked a little goopy, sometimes smelled a little funny, and didn't really deliver in the flavor department, unless you like a whole lot of mayo. Which, I don't know, there are weirder things to like. Anyway, what I do like is to make my own chicken salad. I've talked about this twice before, but that was a long time ago.

This Chicken Waldorf Salad is my version of a light, creamy-with-the-occasional-crunch, sweet-yet-savory chicken salad. No mayo in sight, thank you very much. (As a side note, I really don't dislike mayonnaise that much. In fact, I find it pretty tasty. But I don't keep it in the fridge, so therefore I don't use it pretty much ever anymore.) Instead of the mayo, I use any combination of yogurt and sour cream - low or non fat, bien sur. I also throw in some veggies and healthy nuts, topple it over a nice bed of lettuce, and, if I so choose, round it out with some whole wheat pita (though this last part is, of course, not necessary).

I've held off writing about this ever since my neighborhood turned into the new Antarctica, feeling obligated to share heartier casseroles or baked goods with you instead. But I just ate chicken salad last week (not this one - a different one, which is a whole other story not to be delved into at the moment), thus abolishing my own conception that this is a warm weather meal. Au contraire, it's a very nice option for a filling (but not overly-so) meal, any time of year.

Chicken Waldorf Salad
Yield: 1 serving

The Ingredients
3/4 - 1 cup cooked, shredded chicken
3 tablespoons plain or vanilla greek yogurt
1 tablespoon sour cream
1 teaspoon lemon juice
8 grapes, quartered
1 segment green bell pepper, chopped
1/2 - 1 tablespoon chopped walnuts
salt and pepper, to taste
lettuce / salad greens, to serve
whole wheat pita, cut into wedges, to serve (optional)

The Method
In a small-medium bowl, combine the yogurt, sour cream, and lemon juice, and mix well. Add in the chicken, grapes, pepper, and walnuts, and stir to incorporate fully. Season with salt and pepper and serve over the greens.

Could that be any easier? And it has everything: lean protein, some fruit, some veggies, low/non fat dairy, some fiber and whole grain if you go the pita route. Plus, it's delicious, and that's really what we're after, right?

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Posted by toni

Guilt Free Chicken Salad, Take Two

6:35 PM | Labels: , , , , , , , , ,

I warned you that I wouldn't have any enticing pictures of today's post, and it turns out that I wasn't lying. However, what I do have is a satisfyingly simple chicken . salad (as opposed to chickensalad, if you get my drift) that you don't have to feel guilty about eating. Yesterday, I told you about my Tzatziki/Yogurt Chicken Salad and hinted at my idea of a Thai-Inspired/Peanut Butter Chicken Salad, which I am here to tell you about tonight.

This chicken salad is much more savory than the yogurt one from yesterday, and although I used virtually the same base ingredients, simply changing the sauce made today's salad an entirely new meal. I think this one might be my favorite of the two. Also, even if you can't see it, believe me when I tell you that it's pretty darn attractive to boot - salad greens, orange carrots, red peppers, creamy tan peanut butter. The colors are perfect. It packs a double dose of protein - one a very lean source, and the other healthfully plant-based - some good, unsaturated fats, and lots of vegetables for all (okay, most) of your vitamin and mineral needs. The meal is low in saturated fat and sodium (depending on the peanut butter you use), as well as sugar. I can't swear on my life that this is an honest-to-goodness Thai flavor profile, but I'm going out on a limb here and saying that it should at least be loosely inspired by that cuisine. Whatever the cuisine, it's delicious, and way more exciting than any mayonnaise-based chicken salad you could ever dream up.

Thai-Inspired Chicken Salad
Yield: 1 Serving
The Ingredients
1/2 C (approx.) cubed, grilled chicken
1/8 C (or roughly 1 segment of a medium-large) red bell pepper, chopped
1-2 Tbsp. zucchini, coarsely chopped
1/2 carrot, washed, peeled, sliced thinly & then halved
1 C (approx.) salad greens (I used a combination of a packaged romaine mix and spinach)
Salt & pepper, to taste
2 Tbsp. all natural peanut butter (beware of hydrogenated oils in the ingredient list)
Hot sauce (a few healthy splashes)
Cinnamon & Red Pepper Flakes, a pinch each
Cumin, a dash
Olive oil, to create a more liquidy consistency


The Method
1. Combine the first four ingredients in a small or medium bowl.
2. Combine the last five ingredients in a separate, small bowl. Adjust flavorings for taste.
3. Add the sauce to the meat and veggie mixture, and stir up to fully incorporate.
4. Serve over the salad greens, sprinkle with a little salt and pepper if necessary, and enjoy!

Feel free to add actual peanuts or your own mix of spices and/or veggies, or using homemade peanut butter (which I am impatiently waiting for a good time to try)! I've made pita sandwiches with this general "theme" before, with excellent results. So really, the possibilities are endless, you just have to use your imagination a little bit. I could imagine a Curry Chicken Salad, a Tropical Chicken Salad, and - a combination that disgusts my family but intrigues me - a savory chocolate chicken salad. Maybe. That last one could wind up being a total flop.

Or it could wind up being the most spectacular combination of flavors and tastes ever.


You never know if you don't give it a shot.

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Posted by toni

Guilt Free Chicken Salad, Take One

5:22 PM | Labels: , , , , , , , ,


I was never a fan of those mayonnaise-based salads: chicken, potato, macaroni, you name it. I feel like it's this calorie-laden, not very interesting mess of ingredients parading as light and healthy. However, that does not mean that I dislike chicken salads. Au contraire! Here, I present to you one of two salads I made tonight using grilled chicken that the head of the household had grilled early on in the day.

This chicken salad is yogurt-based, adding those super probiotics, vitamins, and minerals without the fat (unless you like whole fat yogurt, that is). It tastes light, which is perfect for days as hot and muggy as it was today, yet it is one of the furthest things from bland I have ever tasted. The sauce actually reminds me a lot of the tzatziki I made a little while back, and as I suspected back then, it does pair excellently with chicken.

I think I've mentioned before how much I enjoy non-dinner meals, because I feel so free to experiment. It doesn't matter if I botch something, because it's just for me. I don't have to worry about feeding anyone else (usually, until L coerces me into making something for with him). This is proof of that, and you could easily do something similar. All I did was take chicken, some vegetables I had on hand, and a sauce full of flavors that sound like they would work together. For the sauces, all you need to do is add ingredients little by little, building on the flavors until you reach the taste you're going for. Trust me, I'm no Top Chef, so anyone can do this - especially with practice.

What's more, aside from cooking the chicken, this recipe goes from zero to in your belly in seconds (okay, minutes) flat, and would take little extra time to double or quadruple to suit your needs. I highly recommend trying it out, or at the very least using it as inspiration for an unconventional, healthier chicken salad of your own.

Tzatziki Chicken Salad
Yield: 1 serving
The Ingredients
1/2 C (approx.) cubed, grilled chicken
1/8 C red bell pepper, chopped
1-2 Tbsp. zucchini, coarsely chopped
1 C (approx.) salad greens (I used a combination of a packaged romaine mix and spinach)
2-3 Tbsp. plain or vanilla fat free yogurt*
1/2 - 1 tsp. lemon juice
1/2 tsp. dried dill
The Method
1. Combine the first three ingredients in a small or medium bowl.
2. Combine the last three ingredients in a separate, small bowl. Adjust flavorings for taste.
3. Add the sauce to the meat and veggie mixture, and stir up to fully incorporate.
4. Serve over the salad greens, and enjoy!

*Note: I used regular 'ole Dannon vanilla low fat yogurt, but this produced a pretty thin, sweet sauce. Next time, I will definitely try either a vanilla or even plain greek yogurt (fat free) to change the consistency.

After this, I put together a Thai-inspired (in my brain, anyway) peanut chicken salad to bring with me to work tomorrow. I will absolutely post the "recipe" for that, as well, but I didn't take a picture before packaging it up, so I won't make any promises on the beautiful imagery front. In the meantime, give this a shot! Pull out some fridge or pantry items, and see where they take you. The absolute worst that can happen is that you botch a recipe, and know how to change it for the better next time around.

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Posted by toni
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