Asian Chicken Salad

Here is the recipe for the salad I posted last week. 



Asian Chicken Salad 
(www.nourishedkitchen.com)

4 cups shredded cooked chicken (I used a Rotisserie chicken)
• 3 ribs celery, sliced thin
• 1/2 lb shredded napa cabbage (I used very thinly sliced red and green cabbage)
• 1/4 lb snow peas, trimmed and sliced thin
• 4 medium carrots, scraped and cut into matchsticks
• 1 bunch scallions, sliced thin
• 6 loosely packed cups mixed salad greens
• 2 tablespoons sesame seeds, optional
• ginger vinaigrette, as needed

Toss cooked chicken, sliced celery, shredded
cabbage, snow peas, carrots and scallions
together and plate over mixed salad greens.
Dress with sesame seeds and ginger vinaigrette.

Orange-Ginger Vinaigrette
juice of 1 orange
• 1 shallot, peeled and finely minced
• 1 1-inch knob ginger, peeled and grated
• 1 tbsp raw honey
• 1/2 cup unrefined extra virgin olive oil

*This is the recipe as written. I didn't serve mine on lettuce, just because I ran out of time to gather and wash the lettuce.  I also added diced yellow and red peppers and mandarin oranges. Obviously you can use whatever fresh veggies you like. I also used less chicken than the recipe called for and I may have added a little rice vinegar to the dressing to give it more of a kick. 

Mediterranean Chop Salad & Strawberry-Mint Lemonade Slushie

Next to the chocolate mint in the garden is a big patch of lemon mint. The leaves are marbled yellow and green and they smell so refreshing. The kids were asking for popsicles since we had one of our first truly hot days, but we didn't have any, so I told them I'd come up with something. That something turned out to be a strawberry-mint lemonade slushies. We have loads of strawberries in the garden right now so I used the berries, lemons, honey, and several bunches of lemon mint, and ice, of course. I predict my craving for this yummy drink will keep the blender humming all summer long.








Evan is a total strawberry swiper. He can eat nearly as fast as I pick. He doesn't waste time with stem removal either. He takes the meaning of  eating "whole foods" to a new level. And yes, he is wearing a pink sequined shirt. He brought it to me from  Nina's laundry basket and I figured well, why not? 


I love a good chopped salad. This one is similar to a greek salad, but with the addition of romaine and garbanzo beans to make it more of a meal. The other ingredients are red pepper, red onion, basil, cucumber, tomatoes, kalamata olives (I prefer Nicoise, but didn't have any), and feta tossed with a 1:1 ratio of red wine vinegar and olive oil plus a little sea salt. Zig and I had this for dinner with some crusty bread with a smear of fresh pesto.Perfect summer fare.

chop chop

Sometimes I forget how much I love a good chopped salad. I won't call it a resolution, but one of my goals this year (and every year) is not to let fresh veggies go to waste. For some reason, my potatoes almost always sprout before I use them, so I've been making hash browns more often. The kids love them and I just shred them in the food processor. I pretty much eat greens most mornings with eggs and fruit so that has mostly cured the greens sticking around till past their prime, but often it's when I have one of this or that that the veggies end up in the compost bin. Luckily our veggies never go totally to waste because of the chickens. But anyway, I was reading the best of Cooks Illustrated this week and there was a write-up on chopped salads and that was just the inspiration I needed. I promptly got up, went to the fridge and made me a chopped salad with loner veggies that needed friends. The dressing is just red wine vinegar, garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper. I almost always have Niscoise olives in the fridge, but I struck out this time. The kids were happy no olives showed up, but they would have made this even more flavorful..for me, that is.

salads on the go

My sister, Erin, and I both love to cook, so naturally we also like to talk about food a lot. Seldom do we have a phone conversation where one of us doesn't mention something we've made, something we want to try, and even recent "flops" (kale chips anyone?) Whether it's meal planning, new recipes, food ruts, new healthy treats we've tried, and not so healthy ones, or our not so little dream of opening a healthy "fast food" restaurant, we just love to share our findings with each other.

(Miss you, Erin!)


One of our recent conversations revolved around finding meal-type salad recipes that we can make up ahead of time and keep in the fridge for several days and nibble on. Obviously these aren't of the green tossed salad variety as they wouldn't keep. Since I'm currently working my way back through a lot of Cynthia Lair's recipes, I made the Asian Noodle Salad with Fried Tofu this weekend. Great simple recipe!

Unfortunately, not a bit made it to the refrigerator for the intended purpose of having leftovers. I had a very little bit of it before running Sela off to her tennis match. I returned to the big serving bowl completely empty and sitting in the sink with just a few drops of dressing left :( Turns out both Zig and Rollin liked the salad, a lot. I was both bummed and happy at the same time. This salad had kale, red cabbage, carrots, red & yellow bell pepper, zucchini, cilantro, sesame seeds, radishes, and TOFU! Rollin apparently had a huge bowl and and a second helping. So I couldn't be too dissappointed, but I was hungry.


Just the veggies. pretty huh?

Now back to the tofu. None of us are fans of tofu, especially the kids, but I gave it another try and prepared the marinated pan fried tofu and it was delicious. For real. This is definitely the way I will prepare tofu in the future. Sometimes chicken just sounds so gross and fish doesn't work in the recipe so it's really nice to be able to have a way to use tofu. And the tofu is lightly fried in coconut oil, need I say more?! (Plus, if you have little kitchen helpers around, tofu is really fun to cut up into little squares.)



I made the salad again the following day because we had lots of veggies and because I wanted more than two bites. When I make this salad, I loosely follow the recipe, I don't measure anything, and I add lots more veggies than are listed in the recipe, but I know it's also great just exactly as written. Since I doubled the recipe, kind of, I needed a little extra dressing at the end so instead of making another round of dressing, I just used a little soyaki that we had in the fridge, and that worked just fine. We've been eating if for the past few days, took some on a day trip to San Juan Island, and I'm pleased to report, this salad keeps very well. Add that to the list, Erin!

And here it is, Asian Noodle Salad with Fried Tofu.

Will definitely make again and again.....

Yesterday I tried two new recipes and they were both total keepers which shouldn't be a surprise since they are from 101cookbooks. Delicious! The only additions I made were a few dried cranberries on the salad, mainly for color, and I added coconut to the cookies. I also used pecans instead of walnuts. The cookies are awesome, and got thumbs up from the neighbor kids as well. So good and very moist. And for cookies they are quite nutritious.

Farro can be hard to find, but it has a unique flavor and texture that is unlike any other grain I've used. It is also quite a bit more expensive than say, quinoa, but a little goes a long way and it's really, really good. But I'm sure you could substitute another grain or rice.

Citrus Parmesan Farro Salad Recipe

Hot farro grains will cause the salad greens to wilt, so give yourself enough time for the farro to cool to room temperature before tossing the salad. If you want to do a warm/hot version of this salad use spinach (3 handfuls) and toss with hot farro and dressing just before serving - this will wilt the spinach in a good way.

4 to 6 big handfuls of mixed salad greens, washed and dried
2 cups farro, rinsed and drained
5 cups water (or stock)
2 teaspoons fine-grain sea salt
1 medium orange, zest and juice
1 shallot, chopped
1/3 cup Parmesan, freshly shredded
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
1/2 cup good quality olive oil
a couple big pinches of salt
1/2 cup Spanish almonds, or toasted regular almonds
1/2 cup goat cheese, crumbled

Combine the farro, salt, and water in a large, heavy saucepan over medium heat. Cover and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the farro is tender, 45 minutes to an hour, or about half the time if you are using semi-pearled farro. Taste often as it is cooking, you want it to be toothsome and retain structure. Remove from heat, drain any excess water, and set aside.

While the grains are simmering make the dressing. Whisk together the orange juice, orange zest, shallot, Parmesan cheese, white wine vinegar, and olive oil. Salt to taste and set aside.

Just before serving, in a large bowl, toss the salad greens with a bit of the dressing. Add the farro and another generous splash of the dressing - gently toss again. Taste and add more dressing and/or salt. Finish by sprinkling the goat cheese and almonds across the top. Be careful not to over mix.

Carrot Oatmeal Cookie Recipe

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
scant 1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
1 cup rolled oats
2/3 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup shredded carrots
1/2 cup real maple syrup, room temperature
1/2 cup unrefined (fragrant) coconut oil, warmed until just melted
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger

Preheat oven to 375F degrees and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
In a large bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and oats. Add the nuts and carrots. In a separate smaller bowl use a whisk to combine the maple syrup, coconut oil, and ginger. Add this to the flour mixture and stir until just combined.
Drop onto prepared baking sheets, one level tablespoonful at a time, leaving about 2 inches between each cookie. Bake in the top 1/3 of the oven for 10 - 12 minutes or until the cookies are golden on top and bottom.
Makes about 2 1/2 dozen cookies.