CEiMB: Curried Chicken Salad

I’m late in posting my weekly CEiMB recipe because, quite frankly, I was hesitant to make it. For one thing, I was less than impressed with the last chicken salad we made. Also, I didn’t know if I would like curry powder, even though I recently discovered a love of Indian food.

I reconsidered, though, after reading through the recipe and realizing that it is not that different from my standard chicken salad. It is basically the same, except substituting almonds for walnuts and adding both curry powder and cilantro. Plus, I have heard about the popularity of curried chicken salad and even saw an episode of Barefoot Contessa where Ina Garten prepared it, so I gave it a try.

On a side note, I LOVE Ina Garten’s food. I think her show is a little very unrealistic and it drives me a little crazy (seriously, who entertains that much and has that many male friends?), yet I watch it daily and have prepared her food on many occasions.

Back to CEiMB: this week we were hosted by Sarah of Sarah’s Kitchen Adventures. To see the recipe, click here or visit Sarah’s blog.

I skipped the first part of the recipe, which called for poaching the chicken in chicken broth. I just pulled some frozen chicken breasts out and boiled them in water. I also did not toast the sliced almonds, but that was only because I forgot to do it!

Overall, I was pleased with the result of this recipe. The curry powder was not overwhelming but added a spicy warmth to the salad. I also liked the cilantro in the recipe because it made the chicken salad taste very fresh. I think this may be a permanent addition to my chicken salad, curried or not.

I ate the chicken salad as pictured, over greens, but I think it would be much more filling as a traditional sandwich. I also liked Sarah’s suggestion to serve it with pita chips, which I may try with the leftovers.

Thank you, Sarah, for a great CEiMB pick!

CEiMB: Waldorf Chicken Wraps

This is actually the CEiMB recipe from September 3, but as I said in my last post I got a little behind with my posting. This recipe is for Waldorf Chicken Wraps and was hosted by Jessica of Johnstone’s Vin Blanc (who is also my “neighbor” since she is another North Carolina blogger. Hi Jessica!).

I had a hard time getting together on this recipe. I had all of the ingredients on hand, I just couldn’t get motivated to actually make it. I finally finished up around 8:00 on the night of September 3, then discovered my computer would not read my camera’s memory card. I ended up going to bed frustrated because I finished the recipe just in time to post, then I couldn’t do it!

My thoughts on this recipe:

- I liked the dressing very much, although I found there was too much of it. I don’t like chicken salad that is really wet – I prefer just enough dressing to hold the other ingredients together.

- I loved the addition of grapes and apples. I always put grapes in my chicken salad but I’ve never tried other fruit before, but the apples added a very nice crunch.

- Chicken salad is not photogenic AT ALL.

- I was disappointed to find the next day that the dressing had separated and it was very difficult to mix back together.

I am not sure if I will try this exact recipe again, but I will probably continue adding extra fruit to my normal chicken salad mixture. Also, since I like only a small amount of dressing, I will keep the amount of mayonnaise the same but omit the Greek yogurt – I think the mayonnaise is such a small amount it doesn’t make the dish completely unhealthy, and it will be thick enough to hold the salad together without separating.

CEiMB: Grilled Thai Beef Salad

This week’s CEiMB recipe was Grilled Thai Beef Salad and was hosted by Jen of Jen B’s Cooking Carveout.

My husband and I just ate a steak salad last week with balsamic vinaigrette and bleu cheese, so I considered skipping this week in favor of trying something new. We both enjoyed the first salad, however, and I don’t want to get into the habit of skipping weeks in the cooking club since I’m enjoying it so much. So, I decided to make it anyway, hoping that Scott wouldn’t ask “Didn’t we just eat this a few days ago?” (Which he did, by the way.)

I think the best thing about a steak salad is that they provide a great way to incorporate beef into a dinner that is otherwise light and low in fat. We had our salad served with a baked potato (one that Scott and I split in half) and it made a very filling meal.

I also love Thai food and this was a good way to recreate and enjoy the flavors at home while still having a healthful meal. I have to admit, though, that I usually steer away from Thai dishes that are extremely heavy on basil, so the amount called for in this recipe (1 cup) seemed like too much to me. I cut it down to less than half and still found the flavor a little overwhelming.

This recipe requires you to make a dressing (using lime juice, oil, soy sauce, ginger, brown sugar and garlic) that is divided to both marinate the meat and dress the salad. I thought the marinade was quite good on the beef, but I did not enjoy it uncooked as a salad dressing – I think the flavors needed to be heated on the grill to really come together. I also believe this would be a good marinade for other protein as well and I will probably try it on chicken or shrimp in the future.

I did make two changes to the dressing – first, I used crushed garlic and grated ginger rather than mincing the two ingredients. I personally hate biting down on a piece of either of these items raw, and I found that crushing them helped to emulsify the dressing rather than having these ingredients sink to the bottom. I also used sriracha instead of curry paste just because I enjoy the flavor more.

Finally, I used thinly sliced onions on top of the salad instead of shallots. Unfortunately my grocery budget for the week did not allow me to pay $4.00 for three shallots when I already had an onion at home.

Overall, I enjoyed the flavors of this recipe but not the final product. If I make this again, I will marinate and grill the meat and possibly serve it with a side salad, but I do not plan on combining all of these ingredients into one composed dish again.

CEiMB: Cobb Salad

So I decided to join Craving Ellie in My Belly, as I mentioned in an earlier post, but immediately got behind. I did make last week’s recipe, Cobb Salad, at the right time. However, life got in the way and I didn’t get the opportunity to post until today. Sorry to the other CEiMB members, I promise the next one will be on time!

This Cobb Salad recipe was chosen by The Feast Within, and I was very excited to try it. I love Cobb salad but rarely order it in a restaurant to avoid the heavy toppings and typically creamy dressings, and I have never make one at home before. I was also a little concerned that my husband wouldn’t play along, but he actually enjoyed it. Note to self: serving salad as a main entree will go over well as long as there is plenty of protein as a topping!

I was also determined to make this recipe exactly as written since it was my first post for CEiMB, but I was not able to find watercress at either of the two grocery stores where I shop and substituted arugula instead. I also made a half recipe since it was just me and my husband and we found that it made three servings total instead of two.

Some other notes on the recipe:

• I really enjoyed the dressing and will make it again for other salads. It is a little tangy, however, so I would include something with fat to cut the tartness rather than serve it over plain greens.
• I also enjoyed subbing Black Forest ham for bacon, but found the amount called for in the recipe to be way too much. I would cut the amount in half for the future.
• While the salad was beautiful with the ingredients all lined up, it seemed almost to be a waste of time since they all mixed together upon serving. In the future, I will probably spread all of the toppings evenly over the salad greens.

Here is the recipe:

Cobb Salad

source: Food Network, Healthy Appetite with Ellie Krieger

Ingredients

For the Dressing:

• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon Dijon Mustard
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 small clove garlic, minced
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

For the salad:

• Cooking spray
• 1/4 pound sliced Black Forest or other smoked ham
• 2 hard-boiled eggs
• 6 cups romaine lettuce (about 6 ounces) coarsely chopped
• 2 cups watercress, thick stems removed
• 2 medium tomatoes, seeded and diced (about 2 cups)
• 1/2 avocado, diced (about 3/4 cup)
• 1 cup cooked diced chicken breast 1 (6-ounce) breast
• 1/2 cup crumbled Roquefort or Blue cheese (about 2 ounces)

Directions

In a small bowl, whisk together all of the dressing ingredients and set aside.

Slice the ham into 1/2-inch strips. Spray a nonstick skillet with cooking spray and preheat over a medium-high heat. Add the ham to the skillet and cook over stirring frequently, until the ham is warmed through and crisped, 3 to 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside.

Remove and discard the yolk from 1 of the hard boiled eggs. Chop the remaining egg white and whole egg and set aside.

In a large bowl toss the romaine and watercress with 2/3 of the dressing. Put the dressed greens onto a large serving dish. Place the tomatoes on top forming a row down the middle. In strips on either side of the tomatoes place the avocado, chicken, cheese, diced egg, and the crisped ham on top of the greens. Drizzle with the remaining dressing and serve.

Per Serving:

Calories 360; Total Fat 24 g; (Sat Fat 7 g, Mono Fat 13 g, Poly Fat 3 g) ; Protein 28 g; Carb 11 g; Fiber 4 g; Cholesterol 115 mg; Sodium 770 mg

Steak and potatoes (and a huge salad)

I was planning on making this for lunch on Sunday while my parents were still here, but it ended up as Monday's dinner for me and the boyfriend. First, I made the Crash Hot Potatoes from The Pioneer Woman:



The herbs are interchangeable in this recipe, and I had chives and parsley in my fridge. That picture was taken before baking.

For the salad, I took my basic salad mix (lettuce, spinach, red cabbage, red onion, and cucumber) and added blue cheese and the purple tomato from the farmers' market. I grilled a London broil and sliced it thinly to top the salad. I also added a small handful of walnuts and some Kalamata olives to my salad and topped it all off with some EarthFare olive oil and balsamic vinaigrette.

My plate, with the baked potatoes:

There was a big serving of the salad leftover, so that will be lunch tomorrow. See you then!