Buffalo Chicken Salad

I am a major blue cheese lover.  Put blue cheese in dog treats and I'd eat em'.  Enter, Buffalo Chicken Salad.  

I'm sure this has been done a million times before, but this is just my thrown-together version.  It is so fast and easy, there is virtually zero prep, and can be adapted to any spice/heat preference.

Buffalo Chicken Salad

Disclaimer: We are MAJOR whimps when it comes to heat in our food.  This is a very very mild version, obviously just add more hot sauce to your liking.

- 2 Tbsp Butter
- 3-4 Tbsp Franks Hot Sauce
- One small red onion, chopped
- One pepper (any variety) chopped
- One pound chicken breast, chopped
- Loads of blue cheese
- Tortillas (if desired)
- Salad Greens
- Desired Dressing

1.  In a skillet, melt 2 tbsp of butter, and add desired amount of hot sauce.
2.  Saute garlic, onions, and peppers until soft, about five minutes.
3. Add chicken, cook thoroughly.  Allow to cool before placing on salad greens.
4.  Load up with blue cheese and enjoy!

*I coated my tortillas with oil before baking them.  It gave them a nice crunch.
*I made a quick homemade vinaigrette of vinegar, hot sauce, and olive oil.  It was pretty tasty!

Trader Joe's Hack: Risotto-Style Barley & Chicken

Trader Joe's is a big deal for our family.  If we shopped at Whole Foods we would be splitting a can of pea soup between the three of us for a week, so we make TJ's work for our needs.  I try to pick up a few new things every time we are in there, mostly because their store policy allows a customer to return something if you don't like it (without a receipt--since everything is a store brand!).

No brainer for me.

Almost every time I go in there I have a cardboard sleeve of something we didn't care for, a carton of frozen produce that went bad too quickly, or a bag of chips with a few handfuls missing.  They credit your grocery bill for the products you returned.  Every penny counts!  And every time I do it, I think of my dad who, as a child, was forced by my Grandfather to return a half-eaten frozen pizza to Safeway.  I come by it honest.

I will not be returning the empty bag of "10 Minute Barley".

It has been lurking in my pantry for awhile now, and since I've got so much time on my hands these days, meal planning is now becoming one of my favorite activities of my new career.  I happened to notice the recipe on the side of the package, and after reading about the Risotto in Bread & Wine, I was anxious to give this a try.  I made several modifications, the most drastic being the 3/4 cup of half and half I dumped in at the end.  I couldn't help myself.  I had to do something to counteract the health benefits of the barley.

This was a real winner.  Ben gave it the "this would be good for supper club" approval rating.  I would suggest, as always, reading through the recipe several times before beginning.

Risotto-Style Barley & Chicken

Adapted from Trader Joe's 10 Minute Barley 

- 1 Quart Chicken Broth

- 4 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil

- 1 Cup Diced Onion

- 1 Clove Garlic

- 1 Package of TJ's 10 Minute Barley

- Salt and Pepper to Taste

- 3/4 Cup Half and Half, Whole Milk, or Heavy Cream

- 2 Tbsp Butter

- 4 Tbsp Parmesan Cheese

- 1/4 Cup Grated Sharp White Cheddar Cheese

- Diced Chicken Breast, or your choice of protein

1.  Bring broth to a gentle simmer.

2.  In a separate skillet, heat oil and add onions and garlic.  Sauté until translucent, about five minutes.

3.  Stir in the barley and coat with oil.  Toast barley until color begins to appear, about five minutes.

4.  Begin to add stock to the barley 1/4 cup at a time, allowing each cup to fully absorb into the barley, around two minutes at medium heat.  Stir, stir, stir.  Continue adding stock until the barley is softly al-dente, about 20-25 minutes.  

5.  Add in the half and half before the barley is fully saturated.  Continue stirring.

6.  Once mostly absorbed, add the butter and cheeses.  Mix until melted and incorporate.

7.  Add the protein.  Garnish with additional cheese or fresh parsley.

Next time, I am going to add chopped red pepper at the beginning with the onions.  This was hearty enough to be a full meal.  Olivia couldn't get enough!

Blackberry Pie Soup & Things

How about this for a kitchen nightmare?  I followed a recipe that I picked up at the blackberry patch, and it was such a complete disaster, that I created a new thing.  And yes, Blackberry Pie Soup is a thing.

It is a thing you eat over ice cream.  It is a thing you can eat hot or cold.  Beware: It is a thing that is too sickingly sweet to eat by itself, like normal soup.  It is also a thing that would liven up any pound cake or shortbread.  It is a thing.

It is a thing it is a thing.

It is a thing that is so scientifically impossible to re-create, that I am writing it down and seeing if any others are brave enough to tell me what happens.

Blackberry Pie Soup

Adapted from Maple Ridge Farm Recipe for Fresh Blackberry Pie

6 cups fresh blackberries

2 T fresh lemon juice

3/4 c sugar

1/4 c cornstarch

dash of salt

2 T butter

1/2 c water

Recipe for one Pie Crust

Recipe for crumb topping (1/2 c each of butter, sugar, flour, blended together with pastry blender)

Prepare pie crust in deep dish pie plate.  Pre-bake crust for 15 minutes at 350 degrees.

Prepare crumb topping.  Set aside.

1.  Puree 2 c of the blackberries and set aside.

2.  Whisk together sugar, cornstarch, and salt.  Add water.  Stir in puree and lemon juice.  Add butter.

3.  Bring mixture to a summer and cook for one minute until thickened, stirring constantly.

4.  Place remaining berries in pie shell, and top with thickened mixture. 

5.  Top with crumb topping.

6.  Bake until the top is brown and crispy.

This will be a hot, soupy mess.  Be careful when you remove it from the oven!!  Let me know how this goes.  

I cannot wait ladle up this soup over homemade vanilla ice cream.  Happy Fourth everyone!  

The Blackberry Pie Soup monster.

The Blackberry Pie Soup pickers.

Olivia picked blues with her Grandparents!
Expect some delicious berry recipes (I hope) very soon!

Carrot Pulp Carrot Cake

 

Does making carrot cake out of the juice pulp negate the fact that I drank carrot juice this morning?

I know what you're thinking.  I was thinking it too.  We watched the documentary, "Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead" based on my brother-in-law's recommendations (find it on Netflix).  We were pretty intrigued by the whole juicing phenomenon and decided to give it a chance.  We've only tried carrots, apple, and celery, but we are hooked already.  I love that fact that so many vitamins are packed into a very small amount.  I'm becoming all about the quality, and less about the quantity, right?!

Back to the cake, nobody came here to read about health food.

As usual, I had to do a few substitutions, although this time I didn't have any all-purpose flour so the substitutions were pretty liberal.  I omitted a few ingredients as well, but it turned out just the way I like it: dense, flavorful, and moist.  I'd say this is hearty enough to be used as a wedding cake, and if you juice, you know you'll have enough pulp to build a house, or a pretty substantial cake.  I will definitely make this the same way next time, which hopefully won't be tomorrow morning after our breakfast of carrot juice.


Carrot Pulp Carrot Cake

For the cake:
2 cups all purpose flour (I used 1 c brown rice flour, 3/4 c whole wheat flour, 1/4 c self rising flour...[don't ask, it expired in 2011 so I wasn't sure if putting a whole lot of it was a good idea...])
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon (Vietnamese, if you have it)
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 tablespoon finely grated fresh ginger (I ommitted, didn't have it)
1 cup granulated white sugar (I used a little less)
1 cup light brown sugar
1 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil (I did use 1/4 c veggie oil, since olive oil is a whole lot more $$)
4 large eggs
4 cups carrot pulp from juicer
1 cup unsweetened applesauce (I omitted, didn't have it)
Optional: 1/4 cup ground flaxseed

For cake:
1.Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease two 9-inch-diameter cake pans.

2. Sift together the flour, flaxseed, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg in a medium bowl.

3. In the base of your electric mixture with the whisk attachment, whisk the sugar and oil until combined. Beat the eggs in one at a time.

4. Switch to the paddle attachment, and and add the flour mixture until all combined.

5. Add the carrot pulp and continue mixing. The batter was thicker than normal cake batter, so don't freak.  Divide the batter between prepared pans and bake for 40 minutes or until a tester inserted in center comes out clean.  After several minutes, flip the cakes out onto a wire rack and let cool completely (crucial step for those of us who can't wait to shove our faces in cake since all we've "eaten" the entire day is juice).

For the frosting:
16 ounces (2 packs) softened cream cheese
1 stick softened butter
1 tablespoon real vanilla extract
4 cups powdered sugar

1. Using the electric mixer, beat cream cheese and butter in a large bowl until combined. Add the vanilla, whip until soft and fluffy.  Add the powdered sugar bit by bit until completely combined.  The frosting will be rather thick, if you prefer it runny, add a DROP of milk or two.

2.  Once COMPLETELY cooled, Ice the cakes and serve chilled.

Cake adapted from this recipe.  Icing adapted from this book, which as promised, I finally came back for.

Secret Salad

"The perfect dressing is essential to the perfect salad, and I see no reason whatsoever for using a bottled dressing, which may have been sitting on a grocery shelf for weeks, even months--even years.  With your own dressing, everything is fresh--the best oil, your own choice of vinegar, fresh lemon--and a really good salad dressing is so quick and easy to make..." 

-Julie Child excerpted from Julia's Kitchen Wisdom

It's true ya'll.  Salads at home don't have to be lame.

We like to grate the cheese to closely resemble that of the California Dreaming Salad, one of our favorite guilty pleasures.  Now if only I could duplicate those croissants...

We buy the goatload box of organic mixed greens from Costco, 

and toss in whatever fruits/veggies we have on hand.

The secret sauce?  TJ's Orange Muscat Champagne Vinegar.  Ingredients are as follows: Champagne Vinegar, Orange Juice, Sugar, Fresh Oranges, Muscat Grape Juice.  If you don't have a TJ's nearby, you could easily whip up something similar...

My sister Becky uses this ratio, and I think it is near perfect:

1 TBSP of Olive Oil

to

1 TBSP of Vinegar (again, we use the Orange Muscat)

to

A bit of sugar, or she uses strawberries.  I used blackberries tonight.

So tonight, since we are doing grilled chicken salads for our main course, 

I tripled this recipe for the two of us.

Easy as pie broccoli, right?!  Half oil, half vinegar, and a little something sweet.

Give it a shake, and pour it over your greens.

It keeps for a day, but I prefer to make it fresh since it doesn't take much time.

Happy & Healthy!

Milner's Magical Pot Roast

Pot Roast isn't one of those romantical fancy pants dishes.  It just isn't.  It's a down home, meaty bowl of fill-your-belly.  I had never elected to make Pot Roast, until the fateful girls' night when Milner pulled out all the stops and served us her Magical Pot Roast.

It is unbelievably easy.  I dug out a bunch of old stuff that had been lurking in my pantry and fridge for a little too long, and mixed it together for a marinade...

...added some fresh squeezed orange juice and gave it a stir.

I made enough to cover both pieces of roast, since Costco sells it packaged in twos.  You can see that I froze one in the marinade, and put the other in a bowl to soak covered overnight.

When the time comes to make the real magic happen, we simply mix a packet of Ranch, French Onion dip, and Italian seasonings in a cup or so of water.  I didn't have the Italian on hand so I used actual salad dressing.

Plop it on top of a bed of veggies and turn it to low for 8 hours.

I only used carrots, but I highly recommend adding onion.  It may also be beneficial to add a little more water and cook some potatoes as well.

Test the carrots a few hours in; remove and set aside in the fridge when cooked.  I would have also done the same for the potatoes, and then mashed them.  They would have soaked in a lot of flavor while cooking alongside the roast.  Fifteen minutes before you are ready to devour, add the carrots back in and they will heat up nicely.

I used instant mashers (which my husband detests...we grew up on those things) and then ladled the meat and lots of juice right on top.  I cannot understand why I was ever intimidated to make a pot roast, it was one of the easiest start to finish meals I have done in a long time.

Fresh Summer Salsa in Pictures

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(I also added black beans & red onion.)

I will show you the canning process soon!  I took these photos LAST SUMMER when I got the inkling to start blogging.  Yeah, it took me awhile to get started...but when my garden starts spitting out tomatoes, I will get to canning and share all the secrets :)

You didn't realize it, but thanks Carissa for reminding me about posting the salsa!