Refrigerator Chicken Salad

It has been a bit warm the past week and the last thing I've wanted to do is turn on the oven, use a bunch of pans and actually cook something. So, I've decided to make a huge bowl of chicken salad. And by huge, I mean HUGE. Are you hungry? Do you want some chicken salad? Well, I've got some. Come on over, and bring chips!

Now, I BASE my chicken salad off of my Mom's recipe, meaning that both of the salads have chicken, hard boiled eggs and mayo. But other then that, I have veered way off many, many times. In fact, every time I make chicken salad, it turns out different because the recipe is pretty much based on what's in my fridge. Hence the name, "Refrigerator Chicken Salad." This time my chicken salad has quinoa, celery, kale, carrots, hard boiled eggs, cucumbers, onions, sprouts, canned chicken, mayo, mustard, salt, pepper and paprika. Directions: dice everything up, throw it in a bowl, mix and add spices until it tastes good. 

Here are some pictures!!

Okay so, I didn't get a picture before I added the carrots, celery and quinoa to the bowl. I like the shred the carrots when I add them to things because sometimes they are a bit strong in flavor. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE carrots, but I don't want them to overpower all the other flavors in the salad. So, there is about two cups of quinoa, three celery stalks and two carrots.

Kale! I love kale! I try to add a handful to things like turkey burgers, meatloaf, stirfry...and chicken salad! Trader Joe's has these awesome bags of chopped organic kale that you can just toss in things. I like to chop the pieces up finer pieces just so they don't cause messes while eating. Have you ever been in a situation that includes lettuce getting caught up in everything and causing a mess all over the place? Chopping them finer is so simple and just stops the mess! But be careful, the kale will leek and dye your cutting board. So use the cheap cutting board and not the expensive bamboo cutting board.

Three eggs! I like my eggs a bit chunky, but you do you.

Next is cucumber. This cucumber was one of those long, English ones so I used about three quarters of one...and ate the other quarter. I wanted thin pieces of cucumber so I broke out the mandolin. And didn't hurt myself!!

Why am I crying? Because of this darn onion! I only ended up using a quarter of the onion this time because I just wanted the taste. This one was a really strong one and made my eyes hurt, a lot. It could have used more to be honest, but I wasn't about to cut any more!

Sprouts! These are micro-greens from Trader Joe's. They don't need to be chopped. I just liked how the knife looked in the shot.

The chicken I had was canned chicken. I like the chicken in the broth better then the chicken in water. I feel it has a better taste and is not as dry. Add two cans to the bowl.

Pro tip! Before you add the chicken to your bowl, take a fork and "fluff" the chicken. Doing this will insure that the chicken doesn't end up in large, dried out chunks on the third day of left overs.

Last is the mayo, mustard, salt, pepper and paprika. Paprika? Yes! It adds a little bit of the flavor of deviled eggs. Add all these to bowl until it looks about right. Then add a little more. Trust me. I don't know why, this works. Then, mix it all up and taste. Add more spices, mayo or mustard to taste.

Here is the yummy chicken salad! I know, it doesn't look that great, but it tastes and smells amazing! My husband, Paul, and I like to eat it with salty potato chips or between two slices of toasted bread. It's also even better the second and third day after the flavors have marinated in the fridge at least overnight.

I know what I'll be having for lunch tomorrow. :)

On The Cheesy Side

Mmmmmmm.....cheese....

Recently I found that I am allergic to dairy.

A few things have happened since I've stopped eating dairy, including the soreness and burning in my legs going away, all my bathroom issues disappearing (I won't go into detail here...you're welcome!), better sleep, waking up in happy moods and losing 45 pounds.

Like how I just slipped that in there? I'm serious - since I've stopped eating dairy, I've been loosing weight without trying. My body feels like it's resetting or something. No big deal. :P

However, lately - just like the past few days - I have been missing dairy. Like with a fiery passion!!!

For example, I saw a kid eating a bagel with cream cheese the other day and I just wanted to rip it out of her hands, lick all the cream cheese off, then hand it back like nothing happened. What the hell is going on with me?!! That is the kind of passion and desire that I usually only reserve for chocolate and cookies, not for dairy!

OMG NACHOS!

Chips seem empty and lonely these days. I actually miss the plastic-like blob of cheese that happens when you make nachos in the microwave at home. Try going into a restaurant and ordering nachos without the cheese. I can just hear it now, "You mean...you want nachos - without the cheese? Like chips..and stuff?" *sigh* That just sounds so sad, but yes. This is my life now. Have you ever ordered pizza without cheese? The looks I get are as if I just asked to have somebody killed when I order pizza without cheese. I mean, I understand these looks - I'd give them out too if I worked for a pizza place. What is pizza without cheese?

How will the toppings stay on the crust?

THEY DON'T.

Trust me.

Don't even get me started about trying to find something to eat at a Mexican food place!

Also, dairy is in EVERYTHING. And, it goes by many different names. I have to look even more carefully at labels. Now I'm the annoying one in the grocery store blocking the isles for too long reading every little ingredient on labels. I've gotten to the point that if the food has more than, like, eight ingredients, I don't buy it. I just don't, I'm too lazy!

I know there are a lot of alternatives for me out there, and I should be happy. I can eat vegan brownies, cupcakes, and drink almond milk and coconut milk - which I actually prefer over cow's milk anyway. There are even alternative dairy products like yogurt and ice cream, all of which I am happy about and use! However, where is the alternative carrot cake with cream cheese frosting?!

Am I ever going to get to taste my FAVORITE cake again?!

Wish List Wednesday

It's Wednesday and you know what that means!  Time for Wishlist Wednesday!  I have been racking my brain with what to put on my wishlist, but then I remembered something I have been wanting for a while now - a KitchenAid stand mixer in RED!  :)

I am not sure why I want one now - I have been avoiding them like the plague for years.  I think I felt that owning one would make me too "domestic" or something.  I guess I'm over that now.  :P  I would also like to venture into more baking and having one of these would GREATLY help.  

Plus it's red!!  :)

Look What I Made Monday!

This will have to be a "retro" Look What I Made Monday post since pretty much everything I am making right now is Christmas related and might be for people who might just read my blog.  Anyway, here is a pumpkin cake I made for my mom a couple Mother's Days ago:

Cute huh?!  It took forever to get the orange right.
I finally had to buy gel food coloring.

The cake is two bundt cakes with pumpkin seeds added down the middle after baking.  Then extra cake that was cut off to  shape it to look more like a pumpkin was put on top before frosting.

I used two types of cake - vanilla AND pumpkin.  It was DELICIOUS!

Lazy, Grumpy Saturday

Today started out pretty lazy and grumpy.  Not sure why, but I woke up with a bone to pick with anyone who crossed my path.  Even my fluffy, black and white kitty Zorro wasn't left out of the wrath - he got cuddled and squeezed like a baby when he decided to join me in the bathroom this morning, which he LOVES (insert sarcasm) btw.  After a while of sitting around and watching "stupid HGTV" (it's not normally stupid, this was the grump talking!) and complaining about there not being a decent coffee/donut/bookstore places in either of the two stupid towns we live by or the stupid town we live in, P mentioned that we could go to Hastings in Flagstaff to see if we could sell some of our books and DVDs that we never read/watch or just don't need/like any more.

I perked up with the mention of Flagstaff.  I love Flagstaff - or Flag as the locals call it.  It is a college town with a diverse population, various places to eat, coffee houses, bookstores, TRADER JOE'S, Target and a bunch of other things we don't have here in our po-dunk town.  In fact, it was a HUGE deal when the ONLY coffee shop type place - not attached to a grocery store or gas station - opened here.  People acted as if they had never heard of such a place, "WHAT? A coffee huh?  You mean it's not in the Walmart?!"  (insert a horrible Arizonian accent here)  Ahem...anyway, back to Flagstaff.  So, P and I hopped in the car, plugged in the iPod and turned on the audio book we are listening too.  (Aren't we cute?!  We listen to audio books together!  I know, I know, *gag*)  We took the long way, passed a prison, drove through Winslow, saw really neat landscapes with low shrubs, red soil and a bunch of random trailers just kind of plopped in the middle of nowhere - and people actually live in them!  We also came across a school bus stop just kind of there in the middle of the road.  I guess enough people live randomly out in the desert that they decided to build a school?

When we got to Flagstaff, we hung out at Hastings and drooled over books, magazines and various other fun stuffs one might find in a REAL BOOK STORE.  We ended up walking out with only two magazines and store credit for the books and DVDs we sold.  We are planning on using the credit maybe for the kids for Christmas?  We'll see...a couple of books were calling my name today...and my bookshelves are looking kind of bare now with ALL the books I got rid of...  :P  After Hastings, we found ourselves a bit peckish (I swear internet spell-checker, peckish is a word and it's spelled correctly!  Stop squiggly-underlining it in red!) and ended up at Granny's Closet.  (I will write more on this restaurant in a Friday Review Day post, but yes, it does have a giant Lumberjack outside it)  After dinner, we went to Walmart and exchanged some horrible pants for a small cat food dispenser type thing and vitamins.  We then drove home the faster way through Camp Verde since we had to make it home in time to meet Dad online for SNL.  I am SO glad I made it in time for SNL because Betty White was the host!  She is so funny!  After SNL, I decided to write this blog entry and here we are.

So that was how my Lazy and Grumpy Day turned into a Not So Lazy, Pretty Awesome Day!

*That's right!  You're eyes aren't deceiving you - that is a Lumberjack label!  

I do plan to write a Lumberjack post someday.

Mac and Cheese

So, P came home tonight and said, "I'm kind of in the mood for Mac and Cheese tonight," when the discussion of What's For Dinner came up.  I responded with, "Well, do we HAVE any Mac and Cheese?" and he said no, since he didn't buy any when he went grocery shopping.  Yes, sometimes he goes grocery shopping on his own when I don't feel well, or just whine a lot about how I don't want to go.  I know, I'm spoiled!  :P  Anyway, when  the topic of Mac and Cheese came up, I instantly remembered the post over at So Many Veggies, So Little Time on her "Easy Peasy Mac and Cheesy" and decided to try it.  I pretty much followed the recipe to the -T- except I didn't have organic veggies.  Also, I had a brain fart and forgot how many ounces were in a pound and didn't cook enough noodles at first.  But this was an easy fix, I just added more later.  Oh and I used bow-tie noodles again because, well, BOW-TIES ARE COOL!  :)  Except for it being too cheesy at first because of less noodles, I give this recipe  five stars and would make it again in a heart beat.  :)  So thank you Sadie for the excellent meal idea!  :)

Roasted Chickpeas

As P goes out and forages for food, I have decided to write a blog.  I have recently discovered the amazingness of roasted chickpeas - or garbanzo beans.  Did you know that garbanzo beans and chickpeas are the same thing?  I really didn't realize this for a long time until I had to buy them on my own.  Luckily the can usually says both on the label.  Does anyone know if you can get them some other way besides canned?  I've never really looked for them in any other way but canned...

Anyway, back to the amazingness!  P does not really like beans of any kind and when I add them to any dish, he pretty much eats around them.  Something about the texture or something...whatever!  In general, roasting things changes the texture so when I ran across the recipe on the internet, I decided to try it.  P was pretty skeptical.  He didn't think the texture would change much and was really tentative about trying them.  But, he did and they were a hit!  Roasting the chickpeas changed their texture dramatically.  They were no longer mushy inside but crispy and crunchy and a nice substitute for chips.  They were really easy to make too!

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F.  Get yourself two 15oz cans of garbanzo beans, strain and rinse them.  Get a roasting pan or cookie sheet, layer it with foil and spray the foil with cooking spray (I actually just wiped the foil with a little olive oil).  Dump the garbanzo beans on the foil in one layer and pop them in the oven for about 30-40 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes.  You can test the crunchiness by taking one chickpea out, letting it cool a bit and then tasting it.  While they are baking, get a bowel and mix about two tablespoons olive oil in the bowel with about 3-6 teaspoons of your desired spice(s).  I used garlic salt because it was all we had on hand.  Once the chickpeas get to your desired crunchiness, take them out of the oven and let cool a few mins then toss them with the pre-mixed oil and spices.  Taste them while mixing until they taste perfect.  Then, MUNCH!! Store leftovers in an air-tight container, if there are any leftovers...

Recipe adapted from chowmama's recipe.

A Food Entry

Good evening!  As an adult, I have never really been a fan of cooking.  I tried in college, but found it hard to fix an entire meal for just one person.  Then, when I cooked for more than one, I would have so many leftovers that I would get bored of the same meal after two days of leftovers.  I found it just easier to buy pre-prepared food and just, essentially reheat the food.  However, in the past few years I have been trying to discover my "Inner Woman."  Or maybe I have just gotten bored with eating pre-prepared and tasteless food.  I also have been reading and following a couple of food-related blogs, communities and have been finding myself saying, "I can do that!"  Also, since I now cook for two, we still have leftovers but they don't usually make it past two more servings.  And since P doesn't know how to cook that many dishes, I have been experimenting with different things to make while also going back to my "roots" as they say, and cooking dishes that my mom used to.

The first dish I have to offer tonight could be a one pot dish.  In our family we call it, "The Casserole."  All you really need is some kind of meat, a box/bag of pasta, a can or two of beans, a can of olives and a jar of pasta sauce.  Here we have bow-tie pasta - because BOW-TIES ARE COOL - ground turkey, kidney beans, garbanzo beans, olives and I think a generic pasta sauce.  Boil up the pasta and set it aside.  Make sure to run water over the pasta every now and then to make sure it doesn't stick together.  Next, cook up the turkey.  Once all the meat is browned and a bit caramelized (the way I like it), dump the noodles into the pan and stir.  Then dump the sauce, beans and olives in and stir until everything is covered in yummy sauce.  Let the mixture sit on the stove until everything is warm and the house smells yummy.  Spoon into loverly bowls and add cheese on top if you like.  This dish tastes even better the second day after all the ingredients have had time to meld together in the fridge.  I love taking my leftovers to work.  All my coworkers follow me around asking what the meal is and how to make it!

The next dish I have is pizza!  This pizza happens to be chicken with white sauce, baby Portabella mushrooms, olives and chives.  The crust is a premade one, but P and I both work 40 hour work weeks and we don't have forever to make dinner.  Now, since the crust is premade, all you really have to do is pile on all the toppings, shred cheese on top and bake for 8-10 mins at 400 degrees.  Let cool for a few minutes after baking, then cut and serve.  It is so hard not to eat this entire pizza in one sitting!  I just have to remember how awesome it is as a lunch the next day.  This also made my coworkers jealous as a left over!

One thing I haven't shared with my coworkers is my WAFFLES!  My mom likes to tell the story of how we found a waffle iron while going through my great grandmother's things and me grabbing it, holding it to my chest and not letting anyone near it.  I remember the waffle iron.  It traveled around with me until it finally died.  If I'm remembering correctly, it was round and one of those older ones with the fabric chords.  One day I plugged it in and where the chord attached to the back of the iron popped, sparked and burst into a small fire that quickly died out.  I was sad but also knew the waffle iron lived a long and happy life.  Shortly after, the family got another waffle iron that made those big square waffles.  It died not too long ago and it was replaced by one of those sandwich makers with removable plates.  It was also at my family's house a state away so fortunately, I got a waffle iron as one of the gifts from my bridal shower.  I have to say it makes pretty dang good waffles!  There are many waffle recipes out there but I happen to like the one on the side of the Bisquick box, with a few little additions like cinnamon and vanilla.  I also like to double the recipe so I can freeze the rest and pop them in the toaster for breakfasts for the week.  They are a nice change from toast.

Last but not least, I couldn't finish my first food blog without mentioning my cookies!  I make some pretty good Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies.  Today I had to stick around the house and wait for the cable guy to come by and fix our internet and since I didn't have internet and had to be home all day, I decided to bake.  It also wasn't too hot so the oven didn't heat up the entire house.  I am still getting used to baking in this high altitude, but I think they came out pretty good.  :)  The recipe is the Oatmeal Raisin Cookies from the bottom of the lid from the Quaker Oatmeal container but with a few changes, like chocolate and white chocolate chips instead of raisins.  I also change a couple of other things, but those things shall remain a secret.

So, as you can see, I have been having fun in my smaller-than-a-postage stamp kitchen and making some yummy things!  I have to say that it's more fun cooking and baking for more than just me!  :)