Tag Archives: chicken

Asian Chicken Salad

Unfortunately, I’m not a big salad person. I know some people who can eat a salad for lunch everyday but I’m just not one of those people as much as I wish I was. Every once in a great while, I’ll go through a salad phase, but that comes and goes with the solar eclipse. I just don’t enjoy chomping on lettuce. I love baby spinach but only when cooked or topping a sandwich. But recently I realized that I do like cabbage. Maybe because there is more heft to it. This is a realization for me because I never ate cabbage as a kid. Not even the little cups of creamy coleslaw that seemed to sit beside every sandwich at every restaurant.

But since this blog is making me expand my horizons a little, I boldly lifted two different kinds of cabbage into my grocery cart this weekend in order to make Asian Chicken Salad. Napa cabbage and red cabbage are mixed with chopped chicken and cilantro and tossed with a spicy, gingery, Asian dressing. The dressing calls for Chinese mustard (I got mine from a leftover Chinese food packet!) but if you don’t have any, I think dijon or even yellow mustard would work. The dressing gets heat from the chile paste and a slight sweetness from honey. Topping it all of are toasted almonds and Chinese noodles (I used chow mein noodles) which add a buttery crunch and sweet, juicy mandarin oranges. This is a great salad which will travel well for a picnic or, if you plan on eating it over a few days, toss the dressing when you are ready to eat to keep the cabbage from getting soggy. Don’t be intimidated by the list of ingredients in this recipe (which is one of Cooking Light Magazine‘s Superfast recipes) because if you use precooked chicken, it can be made in less than 20 minutes. This is one salad I won’t mind eating everyday.

The ingredients:

In a large nonstick skillet, sauté almonds in melted butter over medium-high heat for 1 minute. Add in Chinese noodles and sauté for 3 minutes or until toasted. Set aside to cool slightly.

In a large bowl, combine soy sauce, rice vinegar, sesame oil, honey, Chinese mustard, ginger, and chile paste (sambal oelek) with a whisk.

Add in cabbages, chicken, and cilantro and toss gently to coat.

Top salad with oranges and noodle/almond mixture.

Additions: None

Omissions: None

Substitutions:

  • Green cabbage
  • Chow mein noodles

Overall Rating: Love It

Source: Cooking Light Magazine

Spicy Moroccan Chicken Skewers

Last week, when I made Tortellini Caprese Bites, I mentioned that I could probably revolve this entire blog around different caprese recipes. This week I have come to realize that I could also write just as much about different kinds of skewers. I mean, who doesn’t like food on a stick? We were all kids once, right? One thing about skewers that I love is that they can be so healthy if made with lean meat and tons of veggies.

These Spicy Moroccan Chicken Skewers not only have tender chicken, plump juicy cherry tomatoes and sunny yellow peppers, but the chicken is coated in a spicy marinade of chile paste, cumin and coriander which provides tons of bold flavors. Serve this with a side of plain Greek yogurt to tame the flavors and cool your palette if you like. I cooked my skewers on an indoor grill but I can only imagine how much better these are over an open flame. If the tomatoes are slightly big or different sizes, pay close attention to the chicken as it’s cooking to ensure it is fully cooked. Or consider using grape tomatoes instead. Eaten plain or with a side of quinoa, couscous or rice, these skewers are sure to please. I can’t think of anything better than a spring or summer evening with chicken skewers in one hand and sparklers in another. Ah, to be a kid again.

The ingredients:

Combine garlic, chile paste, olive oil, salt, cumin and coriander in a small bowl.

Using a rubber spatula or spoon, place mixture into a zip-top plastic bag. Add chicken and seal, massaging chicken so that all pieces are coated by the marinade. Marinate in refrigerator for 2 hours, turning after 1 hour.

Soak wooden skewers in water for 30 minutes to prevent burning on the grill. Drain and pat dry. Preheat the grill to medium-high heat. Remove chicken from marinade and discard any remaining marinade. Thread 3 chicken pieces, 1 pepper piece, and 1 tomato alternately onto each skewer, beginning and ending with chicken. Sprinkle with remaining salt. Arrange skewers on grill rack coated with cooking spray; grill 4 minutes on each side or until done.

Serve with yogurt.

Additions: None

Omissions: None

Substitutions: None

Overall Rating: Love It

Source: Cooking Light Magazine

Spicy Basil Chicken

I’m starting to notice a pattern in my life…I spend the weekend eating badly and then turn around and try to remedy it by making something low-carb. I’m not sure if this is working for me or not but I guess deep down it must make me feel better about myself. After starting the day off Saturday with coffee for breakfast and a nice salad at lunch time, the day quickly spiraled out of control and I woke up Sunday to remember that I had also consumed cheesy chicken nachos, two (yes, TWO) separate plates of french fries, and a fast food chicken sandwich around midnight. Whaaaaaaaat? I can count on one hand the number of times I eat fast food in a year so I wasn’t really sure why my friend and I decided it was a good idea to head through the drive-thru on our way home from a night (or day-into-night) on the town. I came home and ate this super-salty chicken sandwich while watching Saturday Night Live and didn’t really enjoy one bite of it. If I learned nothing else, I remembered exactly why I don’t eat fast food.

So, true to form, on Sunday I decided to make a nice low-carb chicken dish – Spicy Basil Chicken. Tender chicken is cooked with shallots and sliced garlic before being bathed in a spicy and salty mixture of soy sauce, chili paste, sugar, water, and cornstarch. Sliced basil tops off the whole dish, giving it a fresh, bright finishing touch. This tasted like an authentic chicken dish that I might get at my favorite Chinese food place, slightly reminiscent of Kung Pao. No matter how good the chicken was though, it was made even better by the soft garlic slices that soaked up the sauce. I probably could have eaten that garlic by the spoonful. In fact, I just might have. This dish is soooooo much better than fast food!

The ingredients:

Add canola oil to a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add shallots and garlic to pan and cook for 30 seconds.

Add chicken to the pan and cook until chicken is done.

Combine fish sauce (which I omitted), sugar, soy sauce, water, sambal oelek, and salt in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk. Add sauce mixture to the pan and cook for 1 minute or until mixture thickens making sure to coat the chicken. Remove from heat.

Stir in basil.

Serve with rice, couscous, or just your fork.

Additions: None

Omissions:

  • Fish Sauce

Substitutions:

  • Chicken tenders

Overall Rating: Love It

Source: Cooking Light Magazine

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