Chinese Chicken Salad with Honey-Peanut Dressing

This absolutely falls into the "What to make when you don't feel like making dinner" category. 

I even used a store bought rotisserie chicken (gasp!) because, well, I really didn't feel like doing a damn thing involving the oven yesterday. I blame the crazy, unrelenting heat here in Phoenix. You're probably tired of my using that excuse and quite frankly I'm tired too. All of us Zonies deal with the triple scorching digits in our own way May through August but I gotta tell you, come mid September, I personally am spent. Done and down right cranky.

We didn't even get an honest to goodness Monsoon this year! This may not sound like a bad thing if you live in the mid-west or maybe in Japan.  Complaining about  not  getting 80+ mph winds and feet upon feet of rushing waters because the bone dry, compacted desert ground can't absorb it fast enough might sound crazy if you in fact did not live in the South Western deserts of Arizona. You must keep in mind that even the tall and mighty saguaro start looking parched and pathetic by the end of a summer were temperatures have been consistently averaging around 115F.  Every. Single. Day. 

This salad was a welcomed treat for a weeknight dinner. The kiddos thought it "looked pretty" with all of the colors and loved the honey-peanut sauce which made the veggies "taste yummier". 

This could very easily be made vegetarian by omitting the chicken. You would still have a lot of protein from the peanut sauce and the bean sprouts which are a wonderful source of protein. Also, you could use tahini (a sesame paste with a milder flavor than peanut) if you prefer.

The Crunch Factor in this salad makes it very filling. I used baby clementines instead of canned mandarin oranges this time because I had a big gab of them on the counter. I much preferred the fresh taste but the little seeds in them were annoying to pick out in each bite especially with all of the other crunchiness going on.



 juice from the mandarin oranges
tablespoon at a time of warm water to thin to desired consistency

PREP TIME  15 MINUTES        SERVES   6


INGREDIENTS

2 cups cooked chicken, chopped
1/2 head Napa cabbage, chopped
1 large handful fresh bean sprouts
1 red bell pepper cut in strips
1 bunch green onions, chopped
handful of packaged julienned carrots
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
small handful of chopped peanuts
1 can mandarin oranges, reserve juice

1 tablespoon (no added sugar) peanut butter (or tahini)
1tablespoon local, Organic honey
1tablespoon tamari


Putting it all together

In a large bowl combine all veggies and toss together.
Add chopped chicken and toss.
In a small bowl, whisk together the peanut butter, honey, soy sauce juice and water.
Drizzle the sauce over the salad and sprinkle with nuts.

Tamari Soy Sauce, Wheat Free, Organic

How to Eat a Pomegranate and why you really need to.

I have walked passed pomegranates for years in the markets and not given them a second thought. If you can't pick it up and take a bite out of it well, who has the time for that? Not until my mom {again with my mom and her influence on my healthy eating habits} brought home a few from a farmers market.... maybe it was Sprouts, anywhoo, I watched her break one open and pop out the  crimson  colored translucent seeds and was fascinated. I've been hooked ever since. Waiting patiently, not a virtue of mine, for October when pomegranates begin to show themselves on the produce stands.

For 3 short months through the Fall and Winter holidays you can enjoy this amazing fruit. It's gorgeous crimson color makes it absolutely perfect to show off in holiday meals, making any salad or dessert POP with color and tang. But it's the health benefits that made me a fan for life.





Pomegranates date back hundreds of years as all good food does. Hippocrates himself used to recommend them to treat a number of disorders and ailments like eye infections, digestive health and morning sickness.
Nowadays pomegranates are known for their amazing antioxidant properties probably in part to POM juice. They are vital to a healthy immune system ridding the body of all sorts of toxins and free radicals. Sounds hokey? Free radicals are attributed to early signs of aging, persistent illnesses, cardiovascular disease and most cancers.

O.K. so if you're anything like me maybe you too have never bought or eaten a pomegranate. 

Here is a quick tutorial on how to easily eat one without making a big mess of it.

First, cut open the pomegranate lengthwise down the middle. (not from top to bottom)
Admire how pretty it is.
Use a cutting board that won't stain, the juices are pretty but hard to remove.

Fill a large bowl with cool water. Place the cut pomegranate into the bowl. Gently break apart the sections, the seeds easily pop out. It is easiest to do this under water so you

a)  Don't make a huge mess with the juice
b) the seeds are much easier to get out under water
c) the white skin will float to the top making it easy to scoop out. 

This is just showing you what you will be doing under water so you can see easier. 

The seeds will sink to the bottom of the bowl and the white 'skin' will float. Gently swish the seeds around to release any more skin. Using your fingers or a small sieve, scoop out the skin.

Drain the water and pop the tart and sweet seeds into your mouth!
My mom chews the seeds in the middle, but I can't get past it so I spit them out.
My 5 and 6 year old boys love pomegranates!

I've seen recipes in the past where people sprinkle pomegranate seeds onto salads and baked goods or even pastas. I like to eat them all by themselves or on the side of my salad.

I love the contrast between the tangy sweetness of the pomegranates paired with this chicken-fennel salad. 

Enjoy!

Have you ever eaten pomegranate? Will you now?

What produce have you not tried that you think you would like to?

sources:
Pomegranate Nutrition

Crock Pot Barley Pilaf with Summer Squash, Sugar Snap Peas and Fresh Berries with Citrus-Mint Dressing

This is another recipe that I came up with out of necessity for a few reasons.

One.  It's to stinking hot to even consider turning the stove on. The thought of it makes me tired and cranky.

Two.  My budget is less than glamorous at the moment and so I'm having to get really creative with my meatless dinner recipes so as not to have a full on revolt happening. Four meat loving kids and a hungry husband can be dangerous unless I come up with something filling and flavorful for dinner.

Three.  I have a big bag of barley in my pantry that has been staring at me for the last several weeks asking me why it's been neglected.





Well, necessity is the mother of invention right? And this one turned out so very good that I decided to share it with you lovely people. Barley is a whole grain and very healthy. When I think of barley my mind goes straight to barley soup made with mushrooms, carrots and maybe beef. I can't even imagine eating soup while it's 118F degrees outside so I went with my usual flawless plan; a crock pot, more veggies and a bit of fruit to sweeten it up. Bravo!



Throwing the barley and dried mushrooms (best invention ever) into the crock pot with home made chicken stock was simple and sweat free. I tossed in some summer squash and sugar snap peas, raw and threw together a simple mint vinaigrette using my cute little hydroponic mint plant really pulled this together into a sweet dinner. Even the kids liked it!



TIME    4 HOURS (CROCK POT)        SERVES 6

Ingredients:

1 cup dried barley
3 cups chicken broth (preferably home made)
handful of dried mushrooms (I used shitake)
1 teaspoon salt
3 summer squash (yellow)
large handful sugar snap peas
large handful fresh blueberries
4-6 fresh strawberries, sliced
1/2 cup slivered almonds or nut of choice
chopped lettuce to serve on (I used a head of red leaf because it was cheaper)


Place barley, broth, salt and dried mushrooms in crock pot. Cook on med-high heat for about 4 hours checking after 3 hours.

Meanwhile, chop squash into small bite size pieces, slice strawberries and sugar snap peas. When barley is done spoon on top of chopped lettuce and sprinkle veggies and fruits and nuts over top. Serve with Citrus Mint Dressing.  (A Strawberry Vinegraitte would be nice too)


FOR THE DRESSING

1/4 cup fresh mint leaves from your cute little indoor herb garden
1 clove garlic or shallot
1/3 cup freshly squeezed lime or orange juice depending on your fancy
1/4 cup EVOO or  grape seed oil
if you prefer you could use vinegar instead of citrus. I've used both.
1/3 cup white wine or champagne vinegar

Blend all ingredients in a blender until combined. You can whisk if you'd like but I find the ingredients tend to separate much faster.

This post is linked to:

Fresh Food Friday
Seasonal Saturdays
21st Century House Wife
Tasty Tuesday's

The Case of the Sneaky Munch Mouths: Simple Salmon Salad w home made Tangy-Dijon dressing

Really this post was going to be about the simplicity and health benefits of making your own salad dressing. I think that most people already know that no matter what the labels say, home made is just plain better tasting, better for you and gosh darnit just plain cheaper. What most people don't realize, is that home made salad dressings and marinades are super simple! Once again, if I must, "So easy a mom of 4 can do it!" ;)

Tangy-Dijon Dressing

So while I was taking pictures of my ridiculously simple salad dressing, someone was secretly sneaking veggies off of my plate. It's impossible to set up food ahead of time to be photographed around this joint! I thought a plate of salad, peppers and salmon would be safe, but alas nothing is safe around these little munch mouths.

Moral of this story, your children may like veggies that you might not think they would  such as bell peppers. Give your children a variety of veggies starting at a young age so they grow up with healthy eating habits.

They worked together as a team. Nolan climbed up on the bench and was handing off bits of my pretty salad to baby Mona. Oh, well, happy, healthy babies are more important than pretty pictures on my blog any day.

my picture perfect Salmon Salad......



Ah, saved! This is a simple salad after all. Romaine lettuce, orange bell peppers and leftover Wild Salmon.

To make Dressing:

TIME   5 MINUTES    SERVES 8-10

You Will Need:

1/4 cup Dijon Mustard

1/4 cup Apple Cider Vinegar

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons honey

cracked pepper to taste

optional but recommended: 1 tablespoon fresh thyme, 1 clove garlic, smashed.

Put all ingredients into a blender. Blend on high for 30 seconds. Serve over mixed green salad or as a dip for salmon, or veggies. My kids love this as a dip for veggies.

*Store remaining dressing in an airtight container and refrigerate. Keeps for about a week.



Spinach and Turkey Salad with Cranberry-Orange Dressing

Sugar free, Guilt free, Delicious-ness  ;)

I realize I'm a bit late in posting leftover T-Day turkey recipes. I'm sure most people have either ate up all of their turkey or are sick of the thought of turkey all together. Next year I will make a turkey early so as to get these delicious, healthy 'left over' turkey recipes out to you all sooner.

* disclaimer of the day ;-)

I'm still new to this whole blogging thing and how to be helpful and actually get people to try healthy foods. Also, I made my turkey a few days after T-Day since we ate the official meal at our parents homes this year. The only reason I made our turkey was for a few spectacular recipes I want to share.

 This salad was actually yet another last minute, 'What the heck are we going to have for dinner' recipe. Salad is a simple, healthy and perfect dinner especially following the Big T-Day stuffing of ones-self. 

The Cranberry-Orange dressing was spectacular! For those of you who still buy canned cranberry 'sauce' shame on you! Fresh cranberries are cheap, better for you and take less than 10 whole minutes to cook up! As I like to say, 'So simple even I can do it!' I was out shopping and running errands all day today and came home exhausted and was able to throw this together, cooking the cranberries and all, in 10 minutes flat. Fresh cranberries are so tart and delicious I buy several bags and freeze them for throughout the year.

I was so disappointed when browsing the Internet and blogs recently and saw that every cranberry sauce recipe ( that I came across) was literally loaded with sugar. I'm talking 1 1/2 - 2 CUPS of sugar per 12 oz. bag of cranberries!  Yikes!  That's more sugar than cranberries people! The upsetting part for me was that people were actually commenting things like " Wow, looks great!" and "Yum, wonderful recipe!"  I don't get it. Either people are totally addicted to sugar or don't actually read or care about the recipes and only want to put their face on popular sites or both. What's so wonderful about turning something so good for you into something so bad for you? Cranberries are supposed to be tart, their special that way. They get their feelings hurt when you smother them with sugar! I used a bit of Agave Nectar to balance them out along with fresh orange juice and zest. Perfect!
My kids ate them all up..... and without all of the added sugar!   * applause, cheer!!

For the salad: 

6 cups fresh baby spinach

2 cups cooked turkey, diced

1-12 oz. bag of fresh cranberries

1/4 of a small red onion, thinly sliced

1 juicy orange, juiced ;)

1/4 cup water

1 tablespoon orange zest

3/4 cup Agave Nectar

Raw Almonds, slivered or sliced

 In a sauce pot place cranberries, water, juice and zest. Bring to a gentle boil, reduce heat to low and simmer, covered for 6-8 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and cool in refrigerator for a few minutes.
Place all other ingredients into a large salad bowl. Drizzle some of the cranberry dressing over salad and toss to coat. Top with more of the in tact cranberries.

Fight the Holiday Fat ~ Delicious Snacks and Light Meals! ~ All about Beets

So who got through Thanksgiving without stuffing themselves silly?  * hangs head in shame...

I pep talked myself till I was sick of hearing the sound of my own voice but managed to fill my plate and go back for seconds when it came down to it. That wouldn't be so bad except that while we are extremely lucky in that we have lots of family close by, it also means we have 2 or 3 T-Day dinners and are sent home with left over rolls and pies galore! Even my 5 year old, Jack exclaimed as we made our way to Papa and Nanna's for our 3rd ( his 4th including his Kindergarten feast) holiday party "Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving! Is it ever going to end!" 

 It's o.k., I'm not complaining really I just need to nip it in the bud and stick to a mostly

Raw veggie/fruit and whole grains and legume diet so I will still fit into my jeans after Christmas!

Here are some of my favorite low-calorie, vitamin rich snacks and light meals.

Simple Chilled Gazpacho      Gorgonzola and Pecan Stuffed Figs

Spicy Broccoli Quinoa    Grapefruit Quinoa Salad    Thai Garden Veggie Wraps with Peanut Sauce

Grilled Rosemary Salmon over Lentils Rustico

Last week I was at the grocery store with my 4 year old, Nolan and he pointed to some bunches of Organic beets and said "What's that?" I realized that we have only ever had pickled beets in our salads and immediately picked up a bunch of beets to take home with us.

Simple Beet and Orange Salad

To Make Salad:

In a medium sauce pan, bring 3 cups of water to a boil. Trim and wash beets, no need to peel. Cut them into 2 inch pieces to cut down on cooking time! Boil gently for 30-40 minutes until fork pierces them easily.

Remove, let cool. Skins should slide off very easily now.  Toss cooled beets with orange segments and squeeze some orange juice over top. Fresh mint would be lovely tossed in with this salad!

I hope you take the time to read through these amazing health benefits of beets!

NUTRITION:

Beets are surprisingly sweet and mild tasting and make an excellent snack with oranges and in salads.

They are super easy to prepare and are a vitamin mega veggie with very high levels of A, B1, B2, B6 and C!

While the sweet beet root has some of the minerals in its greens to a lesser degree, it is also a remarkable source of choline, folic acid, iodine, manganese, organic sodium, potassium, fiber and carbohydrates in the form of natural digestible sugars.

The beets belong to the same family as chard and spinach. Beet leaves have a bitter taste like chard, but are rich in chlorophyll and higher in iron than spinach! Although bitter, the greens have a higher nutritional value than its roots. The greens have high levels of calcium, magnesium, copper, phosphorus, sodium and iron.

Both beet root and beet greens are very powerful cleansers and builders of the blood.

 HEALTH BENEFITS:

Beets have long been known for its amazing health benefits for almost every part of the body.

• Acidosis: Its alkalinity is essential and effective in combating acidosis.

• Anemia: The high content of iron in beets regenerates and reactivates the red blood cells and supplies fresh oxygen to the body. The copper content in beets help make the iron more available to the body. A great blood builder.

• Atherosclerosis: This wonderful crimson juice is a powerful solvent for inorganic calcium deposits that cause the arteries to harden.

• Blood pressure: All its healing and medicinal values effectively normalizes blood pressure, lowering high blood pressure or elevating low blood pressure.

• Cancer: Betaine, an amino acid in beet root, has significant anti-cancer properties. Studies show that beets juice inhibits formation of cancer-causing compounds and is protective against colon or stomach cancer.

• Constipation: The cellulose content helps to ease bowel movements. Drinking beets juice regularly will help relieve chronic constipation.

• Detoxification: The choline from this wonderful juice detoxifies not only the liver, but also the entire system of excessive alcohol abuse, provided consumption is ceased.

• Gastric ulcer: Mix honey with your beets juice and drink two or three times a week on an empty stomach (more frequently if your body is familiar with beets juice). It helps speed up the healing process.

• Gall bladder and kidney ailments: Coupled with carrot juice, the superb cleansing virtues are exceptional for curing ailments relating to these two organs.

Choosing and Storing Beets: Choose beet roots that are firm and unwrinkled. With the greens attached, beets can keep for only three to four days in the fridge as the root has to supply moisture to the leaves. Without the greens attached, beet root can keep for a couple of weeks.

Beets with round bottoms are sweeter than flat-bottomed ones. Eat beets fresh to enjoy its flavor better. Do not overheat beets when cooking as heat destroys all the essential nutrients. Remove the skin before cooking.

 HOW CAN YOU GET MORE BEETS INTO YOUR DIET?

1. Boil, steam or pickle them and add them to salads.


2. Eat them with a variety of fruits and veggies, they are sweet all by themselves!


3. Juice them or blend them with other fruits or veggies for an amazing detox!

A Word of Caution!

Individuals with a history of oxalate-containing kidney stones should limit their consumption of beets.

As beetroot juice is very potent, do not consume too much, especially if your body is not yet accustomed to it. For a beginner, start with the juice of half a medium-sized beetroot once a week, slowly increasing to one whole beetroot a week.

This delicious juice is so potent that it may cause some dizziness during cleansing as toxins are being eliminated. This process may cause some discomfort but there is nothing to be alarmed about. During this time, drink plenty water also to flush out the toxic materials.

Summer Squash Medley with Shrimp

I hate cooking during the summer months. My appetite is also diminished when it's so hot out. I love coming up with simple, light summer meals like this one. The little peppers and parsley are from our garden, our tomatoes didn't make it in this heat. I haven't bought jarred dressing in years. It is so simple to quickly throw together a basic dressing and much healthier. You only need a few ingredients. If you keep extra virgin olive oil and red wine or other vinegar as staples in your pantry your set!



You will need:

2 summer squash
1/2 small red onion, sliced
yellow/orange sweet peppers
2 tomatoes, sliced
large handful of baby spinach
small handful fresh parsley, chopped
cooked shrimp, tails removed
1 cup cooked pasta
Lemon, garlic dressing (recipe to follow)


Putting it all together:

Cook pasta according to package directions, drain & cool.
Wash all veggies under cool running water. Using a food processor or veggie peeler, slice squash thinly, lengthwise.
Combine all veggies, shrimp and pasta in a large bowl. Drizzle with dressing, toss to coat.

Simple lemon, garlic dressing:

In a measuring cup combine juice from 3 lemons, fresh ground black pepper and minced garlic. Whisk as you drizzle in 1/2 cup of EVOO. Store in an airtight container. This will keep in a cool place for a few weeks.

Caprese Salad

So simple. It only looks complicated because it's beautiful.

1. Little tub of marinated mozzarella

2. Camparini tomatoes (small, warm and still on the vine.... while I wait for my tomatoes to grow.)

3. Basil from your little potted herb garden that I inspired you to grow.

4. Pine nuts to sprinkle over the top.

5. Aged balsamic vinegar ( if it's not aged, they add extra sugar to make it taste aged. Should be 3 grams of sugar or less, many contain up to 8 grams!.... I'm here for you people.)

5. Quick chop of the tomatoes and basil. Artful drizzle of the balsamic vinegar and elegant sprinkling of the pine nuts.

Voila! It is as beautiful as it is delicioso!