Salads

Fresh and Savory Quinoa Salad

by Neil on May 15, 2013

in Paleo, Recipes, Salads, Sides

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Happy Wednesday! I’m still major de-load from my trip to Adobe MAX (which I’m still writing about — slowest blogger ever award please), but I wanted to pass along the recipe for the awesome quinoa salad Neil put together for our BBQ at CrossFit this weekend. It was a complete hit, so much so that we made another batch the next day and took it to my parents for Mother’s Day dinner.

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We found the original recipe via Pinterest, and then tweaked it a bit to make it more “us.” I think the other version would obviously be equally as good, but I’m partial to the addition of bacon in ours.

Ingredients

¾ cup uncooked quinoa
5 or 6 strips of uncured bacon, cooked and chopped
1-2 cups shredded red cabbage
1 red bell pepper, diced
½ red onion, diced
1 cup shredded carrots
½ cup chopped cilantro
¼ cup diced green onions
½ cup cashew halves
Squeeze of fresh lime

Dressing:
¼ cup all natural almond butter
2 teaspoons freshly grated ginger
3 tablespoon Dr. Braggs Liquid Aminos
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon coconut sugar
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 teaspoon rice vinegar
Water to thin, if necessary

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Directions:

  1. In a mesh strainer, rinse quinoa thoroughly with cold water until the water runs clear. Bring a 1 1/2 cups of water to a boil and then add quinoa. Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes or until quinoa has absorbed all of the water. After 15 minutes remove quinoa from heat and put in a large bowl and toss to help cool. Allow to cool for 10 minutes.
  2. If you did not cook the bacon beforehand, now is a good time to fry it up until crunchy/chopp-able.
  3. Heat dressing ingredients in a small saucepan over medium-high heat until smooth. Mix dressing in with the cooled quinoa until thoroughly combined, adding water to thin if necessary.
  4. Add all of the vegetable ingredients and bacon to the dressed quinoa and fold over to mix so that the dressing coats evenly.Add cashews and fold over again until combined. Cool thoroughly in the refrigerator before serving.

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It’s the perfect summer cold salad. It’s packed full of veggies and flavor and it complements other dishes as well. I haven’t made a ton of things I’ve found via Pinterest, despite pinning nearly everything in sight lately, but I’m so happy I gave this a try. So with that being said…

Have you found any Pinterest gems lately?

{ 1 comment }

Almond-crusted Chicken Salad with Honey Mustard Dressing

by Jessica on June 10, 2011

in #cookchat, Food, Recipes, Salads

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Another hot day, another evening of kitchen avoidance. With leftover goodies from our Sesame Chicken Lettuce Wraps, we threw together a light and creamy salad of almond-crusted chicken and honey mustard dressing. Although a little messy to prepare, it is super easy to make and another meal we can easily put together in less than 15 minutes. Who doesn’t love a big salad?

Ingredients:

Adapted from My Recipes
3 boneless/skinless chicken breast halves
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons Braggs Liquid Aminos (or soy sauce)
5 tablespoons cornstarch, divided
1 teaspoon white wine
2 tablespoons lemon juice
½ teaspoon baking soda
2 large eggs
Canola oil for frying
2 ½ cups sliced almonds (I threw a couple tablespoons of brown sugar in mix)
8 ounces young spinach, cleaned and destemmed

for Honey Mustard Dressing:
¼ cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon prepared mustard
1 tablespoon honey
½ tablespoon lemon juice
1-2 tablespoons olive oil or rice wine vinegar (optional if you want to thin it out, which we recommend)

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Directions:

1. To make Dressing: In a small bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, mustard, honey, and lemon juice. Store covered in the refrigerator until ready to use.
2. Trim fat from chicken breasts and slice into four 4 pieces. With a kitchen mallet or your fists, pound each piece to an even ¼ to ½-inch thick.
3. In a bowl, combine salt, liquid aminos, 2 tablespoons of the corn starch, white wine, baking soda and 2 tablespoons of lemon juice. Add chicken and stir to coat completely. Allow to sit for 3-5 minutes. Transfer chicken to a plate. In the same bowl, beat two eggs and slowly add the remaining 3 tablespoons of cornstarch. This will keep the corn starch from clumping. Add chicken to coat.
4. In a 12-inch frying pan, heat ½-inch (it might take less) oil over medium-high heat. Spread almonds (and brown sugar should you choose) onto a clean, flat surface (counter or cutting board will suffice). Press chicken into nuts/mixture, coating both sides evenly, then carefully lay chicken in oil. Cook until browned, turning once, 2-4 minutes total (cooking time will vary). Drain on paper towels.
5. Slice and toss with spinach and honey mustard dressing to taste, adding about 1 tablespoon at a time. Sprinkle with freshly ground pepper and serve immediately.

Despite being lightly fried, the chicken itself tastes very light, and the almonds and brown sugar give the salty of the meat a warm and nutty compliment. Coupled with the tangy honey mustard dressing and the slight bitterness of the spinach, it was a wonderful combination of flavors, and perfect for a hot summer day. Despite the fact that it’s been warm for several weeks, it still feels like the snow and endless crocks of chili were just the other day. Time just seems to be moving incredibly fast lately…

What are your plans for this weekend?

{ 9 comments }

It’s Too Hot to Cook! Sesame Chicken Lettuce Wraps

by Jessica on June 9, 2011

in Food, Main Courses, Recipes, Salads

Yummy!

I don’t know what it’s like where you are, but summer has hit Missouri like a punch in the mouth. We went from rainy, seasonably cool temperatures to mid-nineties and very humid seemingly overnight. I seriously considered shaving my head for about 2 hours last night until I remembered that I have to start my new job on Monday. Between the hot weather and all the deep cleaning projects I’ve been doing in the house, slaving over a hot stove is not high on my priorities list.

Ingredients:

2 medium chicken breasts
2 teaspoons olive oil
3 teaspoons lemon zest
2 teaspoons basil
1 cup shredded carrots (will take about 2 medium carrots)
1/2 cup sliced green pepper
1/2 cup sliced yellow pepper
3/4 cup sliced almonds
6 large Bibb or iceberg lettuce leaves
Sriracha sauce

Sesame Dressing:
2-3 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon ground white sesame seeds

Directions:

1. To make dressing: Mix rice vinegar, soy sauce, and sugar in a small bowl. Add ground sesame and sesame oil in the dressing and stir together. Refrigerate for 2-3 hours before preparing wraps.
2. Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the chicken, lemon zest and basil, and cook until chicken is no longer pink in the middle. Remove from skillet and slice into strips (we prefer to slice after cooking as the chicken retains more moisture and flavor).
3. Meanwhile, slice green and yellow peppers and shred carrots and place in a medium bowl. Add cooked chicken and slowly stir in dressing. Stir in almonds and continue to stir until thoroughly combined.
4. Spread lettuce leaves on a plate and add chicken mixture. Roll or eat open-faced, topping with additional almonds or sriracha if desired.

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These lettuce wraps are super light and tangy and take less than 15 minutes to make. They are light and filling, but don’t leave you feeling sluggish, a feeling I prefer on a hot summer day. If you prefer salads with lots of dressing, I recommend doubling the sesame dressing, as the amount I made is enough to coat, but not excessively.

I got the idea for making these while talking to a few of my friends about BlogHer ’11. I pulled the trigger a few months ago and bought my ticket. It’s my first blogging conference and I’m super excited, albeit completely nervous. I’m a mixed bag when it comes to socializing. Depending on the group, I’m either really comfortable or painfully shy. I’m so excited to meet many of my favorite bloggers, and tell people about our blog and freelance business. We’ve been going through the process of planning, booking rooms and getting sponsors, and our latest discussions have been about diet. Big events always seem to bring about goals of losing weight or getting a diet back on track don’t they? A few of us are setting goals for BlogHer ’11. Mine are pretty low key and probably borderline cop out. I’d love to shave off the five pounds I gained last semester while finishing classes and moving. I ate a TON of bad food, and I just want to get back on track with my diet and exercise goals. It’s a light goal, but I love food and don’t want to set myself up for failure, so I’m starting easy.

A few of the girls are trying the Cinch Diet, a new diet method by Cynthia Sass. I’ve never been one for super organized diets, but I’ve decided to design some meal ideas for them that are easy and I think (keyword: “think”) would be Cinch Diet approved. These Sesame Chicken Lettuce Wraps are the first, and I’m making another tonight. Stay tuned!

{ 3 comments }

Cleaning Up our Snack Act: Light and Creamy Crab Salad on Endive

January 6, 2011

Even though I’m proud to say we’ve eliminated a lot of processed food from our diet, one of the main areas we still tend to lapse and indulge in it is snacks. We really only treat ourselves to snacks on the weekends, but when we do, it’s chips and crackers with some of Neil’s stash [...]

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Vegan Creamy Broccoli Salad and No More Dark Photography!

December 6, 2010

This weekend we finally picked up the much-anticipated external flash (the Nikon SB-600) for our D90 (thanks to Neil’s brother Alex). It was long past due. The stress of taking food pictures when you have a dark kitchen and it gets dark at before 5 was increasingly frustrating. We had tried different techniques and placement, [...]

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Light and Savory Vietnamese Bun Thit Nuong

September 29, 2010

When a friend of mine first took me to a local Vietnamese eatery back in Springfield, Missouri a few years ago, I was a little bit skeptical to say the least. I had no idea what Vietnamese food tasted like, or even a clue what ingredients and tastes were popular in that region. Feeling a [...]

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Mayo-less Yogurt and Avocado Chicken Salad

September 14, 2010

Ever since we made our Cucumber Egg Salad, I’ve been craving chicken salad. I once had an amazing avocado chicken salad at a local restaurant here in Columbia, so I thought I’d try to replicate it and make it a little creamier by adding yogurt. Served in pitas, it’s a healthier alternative to its full-of-mayo [...]

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