Spicy Sweet

Oyez Oyez Oyez. The meeting Thatblog shall now commence. Thatgirl presiding as always. First we begin with old business. First, let me brag for just a second. Indulge me. You see, I am a complete and total novice in the food blogging community and therefore when I some very established, phenomenal food bloggers leave me comments I almost want to broadcast it from the highest mountains. To quote from the first musical I ever saw on Broadway "I gotta crow."

So you can only imagine my sense of excitement upon getting tagged by Bellini Valli at More than Burnt Toast. My heart sang. Then I sang. Then that boy told me to cut it out because he was trying to watch a movie.

Bellini tagged me with an "about me" meme.

1) LAST MOVIE U SAW IN A THEATRE?

Indiana Jones!!!

2) WHAT BOOK ARE U READING?

Dedication by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus

3) FAVOURITE BOARD GAME?

Life

4) FAVOURITE MAGAZINE?

Lucky

5) FAVOURITE SMELLS?

Pumpkin, popcorn

6) FAVOURITE SOUNDS?

Laughter, the martini shaker

7) WORST FEELING IN THE WORLD?

Being alone

8) WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU THINK OF WHEN U WAKE?

5 MORE MINUTES RINGO!!!!!

9) FAVOURITE FAST FOOD PLACE?

Quiznos

10) FUTURE CHILDS NAME?

For a boy: Mister
For a girl: our last name backwards

11) FINISH THIS STATEMENT—’IF I HAD A LOT OF MONEY I’D......

Pay off my student loans, buy a house, and travel all the time

12) DO U DRIVE FAST?

When I used to drive a million hours a day I did. But now that I'm down to a 15 minute commute there's no need.

13) DO U SLEEP WITH A STUFFED ANIMAL?

No - Ringo can't tell the difference between his toys and mine

14) STORMS–COOL OR SCARY?

Cool

15) WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST CAR?

Saturn SL2

16) FAVOURITE DRINK?

It varies based on mood. Right now I'm loving Trader Jose's dark beer

17) FINISH THIS STATEMENT-IF I HAD THE TIME I WOULD…

sleep more

18) DO YOU EAT THE STEMS ON BROCCOLI?

yes

19) IF YOU COULD DYE YOUR HAIR ANY OTHER COLOUR, WHAT WOULD BE YOUR CHOICE?

I'm loving red right now

20) NAME ALL THE DIFFERENT CITIES/TOWNS U HAVE LIVED IN?

Syracuse, Tallahassee, Needham, Indiana, Irvine, LA, San Diego, Mission Viejo, Laguna Niguel

21) FAVOURITE SPORTS TO WATCH?

Hockey

22) ONE NICE THING ABOUT THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU?

Bellini has a faulous blog with varied recipes from all over the globe.

23) WHATS UNDER YOUR BED?

a box of t-shirts I want to make into a quilt and shoes

24) WOULD U LIKE TO BE BORN AS YOURSELF AGAIN??

Eh, I wouldn't mind trying someone else

25) MORNING PERSON OR NIGHT OWL?

Morning person

26) OVER EASY OR SUNNY SIDE UP?

Neither - over medium!

27) FAVOURITE PLACE TO RELAX?

In the kitchen

28) FAVOURITE PIE?

Strawberry

29) FAVOURITE ICE CREAM FLAVOUR?

Coldstone's Carrot Cake batter

30) OF ALL THE PEOPLE U HAVE TAGGED, WHO IS THE MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND FIRST?

With the schedules of the women I'm tagging I have no idea who will respond, when they will respond or if they will respond!

And who am I tagging?

R of Married Not Buried - Happy Early birthday! Everyone drop by her blog to say happy birthday. She's out of town, but I know she'd love to come back to some birthday love.

WeeMo of More Fun than a Barrel of Monkeys - Okay team, collective good energy thoughts aimed at WeeMo and her blog. It would mean a lot to both of us!

Wan of Wan Life to Live - I know I was having you focus your good energy on WeeMo, but if you could diffuse some of it to Wan, she'd appreciate it too.

Mrs. Bumblebee of Puppy Loving Reflections - Luckily Mrs. Bumblebee doesn't need your good energy but stop by her blog anyway just to check out her two troublemakers, er...I mean puppies.

Jessica of Not Your Average Couple - I would hate for anyone to feel left out, even if they have a private blog. So I'm tagging Jessica because I can feel that things are about to get amazing for her now that school's out for summer.

And now for new business. I wanted to make some corn cakes the other day and found a recipe that looked pretty basic and easy - pancake batter, add corn, cook. But maybe I still have a little recipe remix left in me because I just couldn't leave well enough alone. I decided that if I was going to make pancake batter I would spice it up...a lot! Nothing goes with the sweet taste of corn like the bite of ginger. And the ginger made me think of adding some asian flare to the corn cakes.

Ginger Corn Cakes

2 cups whole wheat flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp crushed ginger
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground cloves
2 eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk powder
2 Tbsp molasses
5 Tbsp butter, melted and cooled
2 ears cooked corn
1/2 cup red pepper, diced
2 Tbsp cilantro, chopped
2 Tbsp green onion, chopped


1) Combine flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves in bowl.

2) Whisk together eggs and brown sugar in separate bowl.

3) Whisk in buttermilk powder, molasses, 4 Tbsp of the butter, and 1 cup water.

4) Add flour mixture, but don't over mix!

5) Stir in corn

6) Red pepper

7) Stir in cilantro and green onions

8) Heat nonstick skillet over medium heat and brush pan with remaining butter. Add scoops of batter and cook until golden brown on both sides.

Thatboy really liked these, although he liked them better without the sour cream. Actually, at first he said he'd like them better without the sour cream and corn. After he ate 3 of them, he decided they were pretty good without the sour cream and he liked the corn. See, that's the problem with men, they only think they know what they like.



Meeting adjourned

Enchirotos?

The local grocery store in my area sends out coupons every now and again. Attached to these coupons are some recipes which are surely meant to encourage you to purchase the ingredients with the attached coupons. Pretty smart idea. Normally I peruse these recipes without much thought, because I try not to fall for every marketing scheme that comes my way...but when I saw this, I immediately thought of the enchilada sauce I had in the pantry from when I bought two cans by accident. I also thought of those leftover black olives I still had in my fridge. And leftover refried beans from one of my cooking with friends. So that was three ingredients down that I could use up. And of course, I always have cheese and onions. Basically this meant all I had to do was pick up some taquitos.

Taquito-Enchilada Bake (from Ralphs)

1 box steak and cheese taquitos, partially thawed
1 can enchilada sauce
1 1/2 cups shredded Mexican blend cheese
1 can refried beans (I obviously used less, probably closer to 1/2 cup)
1/3 cup green onions, sliced
1/3 cup red onions, diced
1 can black olives (again, I used about 1/4 cup)

1) Preheat oven to 375. Pour 1/3 of the enchilada sauce into a lightly greased baking dish.

2) Arrange 1/2 of the taquitos over enchilada sauce.

4) Evenly spread heated refried beans over taquitos.

5) Layer 1/3 more sauce.

6) Add 1/2 the red onions

7) Add 1/2 the green onions

8) Add half the shredded cheese.

9) Top with remaining taquitos.

10) Add the last of the enchilada sauce. Bake, covered for 25 minutes.

11) The last 5 minutes, top with remaining cheese. Garnish with remaining onions and olives.

These made a great dinner! (Actually 2 dinners....it might even have been three, but Thatboy had 2 helpings the first night and then got upset that he had to share with me the second night). They're a great mix between taquitos and enchiladas. I liked the small size of the taquitos, and that they were baked and not fried any more than they were before freezing. The enchilada sauce made them nice and soft. Topped with some cool whipped cream and it was a fiesta in Thathouse.

Totally Sandra Lee

I'm not a huge fan of Sandra Lee, however I have a small confession to make. For years I thought she was the maker of frozen pound cake. You know "nobody doesn't like Sandra Lee?" Yeah.....not so much. That's SARAH Lee. Honestly people are tricky tricky tricky and always trying to confuse me.

However, this next recipe combines both Sandra and Sarah Lee. As usual, there's a story. My coworker Tats and I had planned on a dinner out with the boys...until I brought in my lasagna. See Tats stops by my desk every day to check on what I'm having for lunch. I cut her a piece of my lasagna when I brought it in. 5 minutes later I got an email. "Forget going out, we're coming over to your place for dinner. What can I bring?"

Nothing like short notice to bring out the creativity in a person....I asked Tats if she wanted me to cook, or if she wanted to cook with me and she chose the latter. I'm smart enough where I had almost everything prepped before hand so all we had to do was throw some chicken on the grill, make drinks, and throw something in the oven. But I figured we'd make dessert together from the beginning. Trifle is easy so I told her she could bring frozen pound cake and I thanked my crazy idiosyncrasies that I keep so much frozen fruit in the freezer. So here it is in all its glory. There's nothing fresh about it, but its a great thing if you want a super quick and easy dessert.

As for Tats and her husband? They loved it!!!! She especially loved telling him how she made it.

Peach and Berry Trifle

One of the reasons this dish is so great for making with a friend is the quantities are so easy to prep.

1 bag of frozen peaches
1 frozen pound cake
whipped topping (normally I'd suggest making your own whip cream, but Tats is lactose intolerate, and whipped topping is dairy free)
1 cup frozen raspberries
1/2 cup frozen strawberries
1/4 cup raspberry preserves
1/2 lemon

1) In a blender combine the raspberries, strawberries, preserves, and the juice of 1/2 lemon.

2) Layer the peaches, cake, berry sauce, and whipped topping. That's it folks. Now go enjoy your company and remember - cooking is easy.

Little Bites

What do you do with leftover puff pastry dough? I make appetizers, snacks, miniaturized food. As you may recall, I used a sheet of puff pastry dough recently and that usually leaves another sheet to play with.

And I really love to play. There has been a decidely Italian flavor in Thathouse lately so I decided to do an Italian twist on chicken cordon bleu. I guess in Italian that would be chicken nastro azzurro. Instead of ham, I used prosciutto. Instead of swiss I used parmesean. Add a little pesto and these little bites are just bursting with flavor.

Chicken Nastro Azzurro

1 chicken breast, cooked, and chopped
4 1/2 tsp pesto
2 slices prosciutto, cut into small pieces
parmesan cheese, shredded
2 1/4 tsp dijon mustard
1 sheet frozen puff pastry
1 egg, beaten

1) Preheat oven to 400. Spray cookie sheet with cooking spray. Thaw pastry sheet and roll into a 12 inch square. Cut into 9 squares.
2) Spread 1/4 tsp mustard on each square and spread around.
3) Divide chicken evenly between squares.
4) Spread 1/2 tsp pesto on top.
5) Sprinkle with parmesean.
6) Top with proscuitto.
7) Brush egg wash on edges of puff pastry and bring together and seal edges. Place on cookie sheet and bake for 14 minutes or until brown.

Top Secret Favorite

Thatboy is a man of simple tastes, but don't tell him that. He likes to think he has the tongue of a gourmand. But some of his favorite ingredients are those I never keep on hand because really, why use bisquick when you can make pancakes from scratch? And why use lemon pepper when you can use fresh lemons? But he loves them so I always keep some around for a little treat for him. As for rice, his two favorites come from a package - Uncle Ben's wild rice, and Far East's rice pilaf. In fact, one of his favorite dishes I make is just a mix of canned or frozen veggies, cooked chicken, and rice pilaf.

However, I don't always have boxed rice on hand. I do always have basmati and brown rice though. So when DH asked for his usual, I decided to improvise. I subbed in basmati rice for the rice pilaf, and for some added flavor I mixed in some homemade caesar dressing (its so easy to make, and once you make your own its hard to justify buying it. If anyone wants lessons feel free to stop by because I always end up trashing the excess anchovies and I hate the waste).

Almost Sante Fe Pilaf

basmati rice
1/2 cup caesar dressing
1 can black beans, rinsed
1 chicken breast, cooked and diced
1 can Mexican corn
4 green onions, sliced

1) Prepare rice your favorite way. For me, that's in the rice cooker.
2) Toss rice, beans, chicken, corn, green onions, and dressing.

Truly from scratch

The first "Tried and True" blogging event was a great concept. Why not share our best and favorite recipes? We copy enough recipes from blogs, here is a place to find the best. The second "Tried and True" goes one step further. Now Giz and Psychgrad are asking not only for our best and favorite, but also our healthiest. They've attached this entry to a noble cause - organ donation.

I'm lucky, I don't have any experience with organ donation. We have our fair share of diseases affecting all aspects of the body, from the brain to the prostate/ovaries. However, such disease in my family has never required an organ transplant or donation. Nevertheless, I can't help but send my heart out to all those who have sacrificed a part of themselves so that someone else could live.

I knew I wanted to take part in the event, but I was a little intimidated by what to enter. And then I remembered how I wanted to make lasagna from scratch. I love making lasagna, and its very easy to make a lighter version - especially when you make your own noodles! And ever since I got my pasta maker I've been dying to make my own noodles.

To keep this lighter I made whole wheat pasta and then used skim milk ricotta. Turkey sausage instead of beef sausage, and I tossed on some baby broccoli for folate, vitamin C, and fiber. It comes out gorgeous and there's such a sense of accomplishment when you start with some flour and eggs and end up with this!

Whole wheat lasagna with broccolini

1 cup whole wheat flour
3 large eggs
30 oz part skim ricotta cheese
1/4 cup pesto
4 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 lb turkey sausage
1 bunch baby broccoli, cleaned
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 1/2 cups part skim mozzarella, shredded
3 Tbsp toasted pine nuts

1) Make a mountain of flour on your work surface, then create a crater in the center.

2) Add 2 eggs in the crater. Use a fork and beat the eggs in the crater incorporating a little bit of the flour at a time. Once the egg mixture begins to look like a batter, you can start incorporating more of the flour into the dough. After mixing all the flour, you will end up with a dough. If the dough is still sticky, add some more flour. Knead the dough until it feels smooth. Let the dough rest covered in a bowl, for 15-20 minutes.

3) Divide the dough in thirds and run through the pasta machine according to your directions.

4) In a large bowl combine ricotta and pesto and remaining egg.

5) Heat 2 Tbsp olive oil in large skillet over medium high heat. Remove sausage casings and and cook until browned.

6) Heat remaining olive oil over medium high in large skillet and add brocollini and garlic. Cook about 1 minutes. Reduce heat and add 1/4 cup water; simmer, partially covered until greens are crisp yet tender, 3 minutes. Remove from heat and season with salt and pepper.

7) Set aside 1/2 cup baby broccoli and toss remaining greens with sausages.

8) Heat oven to 375. Coat a lasagna pan with nonstick cooking spray. Cover bottom of pan with pasta, cutting to fit.

9) Spread ricotta mixture over first layer of pasta, then top with another layer of pasta.

10) Spoon sausage greens mixture over second pasta layer. Top with another layer of pasta.

11) Sprinkle mozzarella cheese, then remaining broccoli rabe. Sprinkle pine nuts on top. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove foil and cook another 10 minutes.

Snap Crackle Pop

The best part about fried chicken is how crispy it is. So whenever I fake fried chicken, that's my ultimate goal. But how do you get crispy? Most of the time it's related to the coating. I've seen chicken coated in potato chips, doritos, flour, cornmeal, panko, and French's fried onions is always touting how great their onions are for making chicken.

And really, that sounds like a pretty good idea. I mean, fried onions are already crispy, and they have the added bonus of imparting a great oniony flavor to the chicken. I didn't use French's fried onions, because Trader Joes carries their own brand, and I'm partial to Trader Joes. It's a quick easy dinner and I am becoming SUCH a pro at fried chicken. Even when it's baked!

Crispy Onion Chicken
2 chicken breasts
1/4 cup flour
1 egg, beaten
fried onions, crushed

1) Dip chicken in flour, then egg, then onions.
2) Refrigerate for one hour. Preheat oven to 400. Cook chicken for 20 - 30 minutes, or until cooked through.

A billion bruschettas

As I've mentioned before, I've been doing a lot of entertaining lately. Which is great because I really appreciate spending time with my friends, but also because it means I get to play around a lot in the kitchen. I hate when guests come over and there's nothing to snack on. A lot of my dinners have included a "let's cook together" segment and there's nothing worse than trying to make food while your stomach grumbles.

Luckily we live around the corner from a fantabulous bakery, which means there's never a shortage of fresh bread. Which mean my go to snacker lately has been bruschetta. All different kinds and flavors. Each a little different so I don't get bored.

The base for all these twists and variations is bruschetta:
Preheat broiler. Slice french baguette and brush each slice of baguette with olive oil and place on baking pan under broiler. Broil 1-2 minutes each side, or until golden brown.

This is not a good one for romantic evenings...because do you SEE those gorgeous onions? They were just far too beautiful not to use. Not so great on the breath, but then again, if everyone's eating it then everyone has horrible breath so no one can be self conscious.

Heat 1 Tbsp oil and 1 Tbsp butter in skillet over low heat. Add the onions and cook until they're nice and soft. Then just pour them over your bruschetta and top with some parmesan and leftover sliced olives you may have had in your fridge from say, deconstructed pizza.

This one is far more makeout friendly. Especially with the addition of some mint on top. It's basically begging for kisses. Cause mint makes everyone want to kiss, right? Just be careful when you serve this to your guests if you're not big on kissing.

Spread ricotta cheese on top of bruschetta and top that with chopped tomatoes and mint. Then just drizzle some olive oil on top and you're good to go.

This is one of my all time favorites. Maybe because it has goat cheese and I just love love love goat cheese. This bruschetta finds its way to our table all the time, whether we have guests or not. Basically if we have goat cheese, we often have this. What tops to goat cheese often varies.

In this instance I spread goat cheese on the bruschetta and then topped with some chopped figs. Drizzle of honey this time instead of olive oil and you're on a completely different continent! Palm trees, camels, and a warm breeze.

As American As...

Apple galette? That doesn't sound very American. If I had to guess, I'd say it sounds downright French. And Wikipedia agrees with me: "Galette is a general term used in French to designate different types of round and flat crusty cakes." Hmmm, sounds suspiciously like a pie to me.... I looked through a bunch of recipes and most had one thing in common, a gorgeous display of sliced apples. As for me, I'm not very good at gorgeous displays, and really, who needs the pressure? So I decided to cover mine with a crumb topping....ohhhh now we're verging on apple crisp territory! It's always good to fall back on what you know and I know apple crisp!

I used my favorite pie crust recipe for this, but feel free to use your favorite! And the rest, well its as easy as....no, I won't go there, it's just too easy!

Apple Galette

Pie dough
3 medium sized granny smith apples (You can use another kind if you wish, but as for me, granny smith is the apple of choice for baked dishes!)
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
5 1/2 Tbsp butter, cut into cubes
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup flour
1/2 cup almonds, chopped
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 egg

1) Preheat oven to 400. Slice apples and mix with brown sugar and cinnamon.
2) In a small bowl, combine sugar, nuts, and cinnamon. Melt 1 1/2 Tbsp butter and stir into mixture with a fork, forming large crumbs.
3) Roll out pie dough onto a lightly floured surface. Pile apples in the middle of the dough and fold sides over. Lightly beat one egg with 1 Tbsp water and brush over dough.
4) Dot remaining butter evenly over apples. Spoon the crumb topping over the buttered apples.
5) Bake 35 minutes.

Pizza on a Plate

When I put this plate down in front of Thatboy he took a bite and instantly exclaimed "It's Pizza, on a Plate!" And I thought he was brilliant. But then I got to thinking...pizza on a plate? How else do you eat pizza? It's not really a bowl kind of food...I decided what my brilliant husband probably meant was that it was like a deconstructed pizza. It has all the great pizza attributes - crust, tomato, sausage, cheese, but in a very un-pizza like form.

The inspiration for this dish was some leftover focaccia bread. I started out with a strata idea but decided I wanted something less breakfast-y. I used the same kind of idea behind the strata - put bread and ingredients in a baking pan and pour egg over, but I used a lot less egg so it didn't become an egg dish. Since the focaccia was parmesean, it seemed natural to throw a bunch of Italian ingredients into the dish which is I guess why it became a deconstructed pizza. So pizza on a plate, deconstructed pizza, call it whatever makes you happy. And I guarantee this will make you happy!

"Pizza on a Plate"

1/2 lb Italian sausage
1/4 cup olive oil
focaccia bread, cubed
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 cup parmesean, shredded
1/2 green pepper, diced
1/4 cup sun dried tomatoes, chopped
1/4 cup green olives, chopped
1/2 can chopped olives
3 basil leaves, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 egg
3/4 cup white wine
2 Tbsp butter, cubed

1) Preheat oven to 325. Heat 1 Tbsp oil in large skillet over medium heat. Remove casings from sausage and crumble ins killet. Cook until no longer pink, set aside.
2) In large bowl, combine bread cubes and the remaining oil. Sprinkle with pepper and toss to coat. Transfer to a baking pan sprayed with cooking spray. Bake for 10 minutes, stirring once. Cool pan on wire rack.
3) In a large bowl combine bread cubes, sausage, Parmesean cheese, green pepper, sundried tomatoes, olives, basil, and garlic.
4) Combine eggs and wine and pour over bread mixture and toss to coat. Transfer to a baking dish. Dot with butter and bake for 35-40 minutes.

Doing it right this time

So the last time I made meatball subs there were complaints from the peanut gallery. Apparently store bought meatballs are no match for the fabulous meaty balls I make myself. So even though my last attempt at meatballs turned into meat crumbles, I armed myself for another attempt. After last time I knew I had to master the art of the stovetop meatballs.

I switched it up a little this time just in case the peanut gallery held onto the taste of the last sub and decided to transfer it to the current one. So instead of classic Italian, I decided on a Mexican meatball sub. The result? Rave reviews. Second helpings. Thoughts of the last meatball sub banished from memory. The moral of this story? When you spoil someone with homemade, its hard to go back to freezer aisle.

Mexican Meatball Sub

1/2 pkg of taco seasonings
3/4 lb ground beef
1 Tbsp bread crumbs
1 Tbsp oil
1 can crushed tomatoes
hot dog buns

1) Combine 1/2 Tbsp taco seasonings, beef and bread crumbs and shape into 12 balls
2) Heat oil over medium high heat and brown meatballs.
3) Stir in tomatoes and remaining seasoning. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to low and simmer covered, stirring occasionally 5 minutes.
4) Put meatballs on buns and top with sauce.

A twist on some classics

Sometimes I make myself laugh when I look at a string of posts I've written. I don't know if you can tell - but I know I can - I've been ridiculously lazy this week. Lazy leads to really creative food combinations and recipes, because no matter how lazy I am the three of us still have to eat. Thatdog is easy since his food merely requires scooping from a bin. Thatboy and I are a little more complicated.

Back in college my favorite roommate ever, The Actress, and I had a really easy solution for those long days leading into long nights. Bean and cheese burritos from Puzzles. In those days The Actress would get spanish rice with hers and I'd opt for something healthy like curly fries.

These days I added a little "grown up-ness" to this classic dish. First I added some of that cooked chicken I had on hand to make this a bean and chicken and cheese burrito. Then, instead of rice or fries, I served it with a really grown up side - a spinach salad. But keeping it nice and light I made my own vinaigrette and switched out the bacon for something more grown up, prosciutto. However, just like the old days, this meal was consumed while watching some of my favorite shows. Some things you just never grow out of!

1, 2, 3 Burrito

1) Warm up some refried beans, cooked chicken, and flour tortillas (do each separately or it's going to get really ugly)
2) Spoon warm beans and chicken on top of tortilla. Top with salsa and shredded cheese. (Now it can be as ugly as you want, because really, you're eating it, not displaying it in an art gallery)
3) Roll up. (This is an art form and will take years of practice. You should practice a lot. All the time)

Grown Up Spinach Salad

2 slices proscuitto
1/8 cup olive oil
1/8 cup lemon juice
1/2 Tbsp honey
salt and pepper
2 cups baby spinach
2 large white mushrooms, cleaned, stemmed, and sliced

1) Heat broiler. Spread prosciutto on cookie sheet and cook 3 minutes until crisp. Cut into pieces.
2) Whisk together olive oil, lemon juice, and honey. Season with salt and pepper.
3) Combine spinach and mushrooms and toss with dressing. Sprinkle with prosciutto.

Also I wanted to support my blog buddy Joelen and her new attempt to combine her in-life events with her online friends. So I'm submitting this salad recipe to her "Salad Spinnin' Adventure." This month they're focusing on light and healthy salads for the summer. Spinach salad with a honey vinaigrette sounds like just the thing!

Bright and Light

Summer is a great time for chicken salad. It's easy to put together, is great cold or at room temperature and can travel where ever your summer adventures take you. Even if your summer adventures only take you the the outside balcony where you can enjoy dinner al fresco.
The warm weather always makes me long for something light for dinner. We do a lot of salads, sandwiches, and other foods that don't require a stove. When they come together quickly it's even better. I've taken to preparing chicken breasts on the weekend so we have already cooked chicken to use/eat all week.

This especially comes in handy since I have been entertaining up a storm this past week, so on off nights its great to fall back on something that comes together in moments. Thatboy is started to get a little sick of Dijon mustard, but as I've often said, I make the food, so until I'm sick of its mustardy goodness, he'll just have to make due.

Curry Chicken Salad

1/3 cup plain yogurt
1 1/2 tsp curry powder
1 tsp dijon mustard
1 tsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp ground cumin
pinch of cayenne
1 cup diced cooked chicken
2 Tbsp raisins
2 Tbsp minced celery
1 Tbsp minced shallot
salt & pepper

1) Combine yogurt, curry powder, mustard, lemon juice, cumin and cayenne.
2) In separate bowl, combine chicken, raisins, celery, shallot.
3) Add curry dressing to chicken, toss well, season with salt and pepper.