Category Archives: Salad

Curry Chicken Salad– tart, creamy,crunchy, delicious

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I need to apologize for my disappearance lately. I’d love to blame it on the romanticism of married life, but truly, I have been insanely busy, commuting out to New Westminister for audiobook recording, researching for my thesis, and trying to keep up with the ridiculous number of professional commitments I’ve signed up for. It’s all very exciting but it is also exhausting and terribly it is Not Crocker that has suffered… oh and my husband, because I’ve barely cooked. But! BUT! Today I made chicken salad. As a meal. AS A MEAL. And it was glorious and easy. I’ve always thought of chicken salad as something you make with left over chicken, but cooking chicken fresh, for the purpose of chicken salad is AWESOME. Recommend, 10/10, will cook again. I got the recipe base from one of my favourite blogs, Budget Bytes, and I adjusted it just for my own tastes and personal preferences! I am going to try this recipe with a marinade on my chicken one day and report back!

Curry Chicken Salad

Lightly adjusted from here.

Ingredients

  • 2 chicken breast halves
  • salt & pepper to taste
  • 1/2 tsp ground ginger
  • 3 stalks of celery
  • 4 green onions
  • 1 yellow or red pepper (green is cool too but then you have a really green dish)
  • 1/2 cup sliced almonds
  • 1 tart green apple (I used Granny Smith)
  • 1/2 cup dried cranberries

Dressing

  • 1/4 cup mayonnaise (make your own!)
  • 1/3 cup plain greek yogurt
  • 1 1/4 tsp lime juice (or lemon)
  • 1 1/2 tsp curry powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp black pepper

Directions

  1. Season both sides of the chicken breasts with a light sprinkle of salt, pepper, and ground ginger. Cook the chicken breast on a grill, I used our counter-top one, or in a skillet until cooked through. Refrigerate the cooked chicken breast while you prepare the rest of the salad.
  2. Slice the green onions, and chop the apple, pepper, and celery into small pieces. For the apple, I quartered it, cut the quarters into thirds and sliced those thirds into small chunks. Put the green onion, celery, apple, sliced almonds, and dried cranberries in a large bowl, sprinkle with a little lime juice to prevent the apples from browning.
  3. In a small bowl, stir together the mayonnaise, yogurt, lime juice, curry powder, salt, and pepper in a small bowl. Taste the mixture to see if you prefer more curry powder.
  4. Take the cooled chicken out. Cut the chicken into small cubes and place it in the large bowl with the rest of the chopped ingredients. Stir to combine. Pour the dressing over top and stir to coat.
  5. Eat. I am definitely making a sandwich with this sometime. Soooo tasty. Oh yes, and it may or may not be accompanied by a fruity beer.

Fresh mayo in the tall cup, veggies and spices, ready to go!

Okay, okay, so the recipe says to pour the dressing onto the veggies, but I just chopped and plopped the veggies onto my dressing. Works either way!

Scrumptious

 

Tequila Lime Chicken (or shrimp) with Fennel and Fresh Salsa Quinoa Salad

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This is a recipe I came up with a couple years ago when I wanted to do something awesome with shrimp. I also wanted to try fennel because it scares me. Well this is a fresh recipe that is easy to jazz up with your favourite raw salad veggies. It was great with shrimp two years ago and was pretty great with chicken as well. Tequila is the great flavour booster, without overwhelming the freshness.

Tequila Lime Marinaded Chicken or Shrimp

Ingredients

  • 2 tbsp lime juice
  • 2 tbsp gold tequila
  • 3 tbsp olive oil
  • 1/2 tsp minced garlic (1-2 cloves)
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp cumin
  • 1/4 tsp cayenne
  • 1/4 tsp black pepper
  • 2 large chicken breasts (or try it with 1 pound large peeled shrimp)

Directions

  1. Whisk together all ingredients and pour into a large ziplock.
  2. Score the chicken breasts and drop into the marinade, smoosh around to properly coat. Place the ziplock in a bowl. Refrigerate 1 to 4 hours before grilling and try to re-smoosh halfway through the marinating time.
  3. Heat grill (I used my George Foreman). Drain and discard marinade from the chicken.
  4. Cook, over medium-high heat until done. Depending on your grill, it will take from 8-15 minutes. Cook until the juices run clear, or until the meat is white throughout, turning once. For shrimp, turn once and cook for 5 to 7 minutes until pink.
  5. Serve over Fennel and Fresh Salsa Quinoa Salad with a squeeze of lime.

Marinade prep

Fennel and Fresh Salsa Quinoa Salad

Ingredients

  • 1 fennel bulb
  • 2 large tomatoes
  • 1 red onion
  • 1 can black beans
  • 1 lime
  • a large bunch of cilantro
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • pinch of cumin
  • 1 cup uncooked quinoa
  • 2 cups water

Directions

  1. Cook quinoa with water according to directions on package. Let it cool after fluffing.
  2. Chop onion and place in a bowl with some ice water and lime to mellow the bite.
  3. Slice fennel, chop tomatoes, rinse black beans, and chop cilantro. Combine all the ingredients for the salad and taste, adjust spices as needed.
  4. Serve as side or as an awesome combo for the main.

So fresh and tasty. I definitely forgot to add the black beans to the salad, but we added them after the picture. Definitely use them, so good!

Cabbage Taco Salad- Homemade Taco Spice Mix

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I love making my own spice mixes. Ever since discovering that curry spice combo I’ve been looking for other ways to make my own spice blends. Tacos are not a favourite of mine but Gen loves them. I had intended to make fresh corn tortillas and do a tutorial for those (they are infinitely better than any store-bought ones) but horrifyingly I found that some bugs had made it into my Masa Harina and I had to chuck the batch. I am guessing they bunked down on the move from Calgary to Vancouver, but either way it was a bummer.

Plan B was taco salad. Gen has turned me into a cabbage eater. We never have lettuce with our tacos; the cabbage is crisp and cold and everything that lettuce is but more! It stands up well to the other ingredients and offers it’s own subtle bite. Anyway, I made this awesome taco seasoning and put the rest out for us to make delicious salads!

Cabbage Taco Salad

Ingredients

  • 2 lbs ground beef (or TVP, or lentils, chickpeas, etc.)
  • 2 tbsp chili powder
  • 1/2 tsp garlic powder
  • 1/2 tsp onion powder
  • 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
  • 1/2 tsp dried oregano
  • 1 tsp paprika
  • 1 tbsp ground cumin
  • 2 tsp sea salt
  • 1/2 head green cabbage shredded
  • 1/2 red onion sliced
  • 1 small bunch parsley
  • salsa
  • greek yogurt
  • 1/2 lime

Directions

  1. Mix together your spices in a small bowl. It will make more than you need, save the rest for another time.

    I forgot to take pictures with all the spices out. This is the leftover spice mix.

  2. Brown the ground beef (or TVP or lentils) in a large pot with some coconut oil. Drain.
  3. Place the meat back into the pot, sprinkle 2-3 tbsp of the taco spices over top. Stir to coat the meat with the spices. Taste and add more if needed. Pour in 1/4 cup of water, stir and let simmer for a few minutes.
  4. Pile shredded cabbage on a plate. Top with taco meat, salsa, yogurt, sliced onions. Drizzle everything with lime and plunk some parsley on top.
  5. Yum. Genesis quote, “Refreshing, tasty, crunchy. We should eat this every week.” He actually suggested I replace my curry with this… not happening. This was super tasty and is sure to resurface many times this summer but that curry makes my heart sing. Case closed.

Meat all ready for the salads.

Ready to make some salads. Greek yogurt all the things!

Caprese Salad

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Not much of a recipe but a celebration! I love Caprese Salad. I could eat it daily.

Oh dear. Deliciousness.

Mozzarella di Bufala (or if you don’t have this, a soft cow mozzarella, though it wont be as amazing)

Extra virgin olive oil

Basil

Ripe tomato

Slice the cheese and tomato. Rip the basil leaves over everything. Drizzle with olive oil. Devour.