Chicken Salad

My mother and father make the best chicken salad. It’s a joint effort; my dad assembles the ingredients, while my mom makes the dressing. It’s not exactly your standard chicken salad. They like to include chopped apple, for a sweet note, and also chopped green olives, for their tangy saltiness.
They’ll use leftover chicken from a roast chicken, or their favorite baked chicken dish, and even include some of the crispy skin. You could also just poach some boneless skinless chicken breasts or thighs in salted water for this salad.
The “secret sauce” so to speak, of this chicken salad, is the tablespoon of plum preserves my mom adds to the mayo-based dressing. You could use any berry jelly or jam, but as we always have a lot of plum jam on hand (due to several plum trees), that’s what mom reaches for first. Mom balances out the sweetness from the dab of jam with a bit of lemon juice. The result is just wonderful.

Chicken Salad Recipe

 

Prep time: 10 minutes

Yield: Serves 4

You can use any leftover cooked chicken meat for this salad, with or without the skin. Or you can poach some boneless skinless chicken breasts in salted water for this salad.

Ingredients

• 3/4 lb (2-3 cups) of cooked chicken meat*, coarsely chopped
• 2 stalks celery, chopped
• 1/2 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
• 4-6 green olives, pitted and minced
• 1/4 cup of chopped red onion
• 1/2 to a whole apple, cored and chopped
• 1/3 head of iceberg head lettuce, sliced and chopped

Dressing:

• 5 Tbsp mayonnaise
• 1 Tbsp plum preserves, or any sweet berry preserve (or a lesser amount of honey)
• 2 teaspoons fresh squeezed lemon juice
• Salt and pepper to taste

*To poach chicken for this recipe, start with a pound of boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into large (2 to 3-inch) pieces. Bring a 2 quart pot of well-salted water to a rolling boil. Add the chicken to the boiling water, turn off the heat and cover the pot. Let the chicken pieces sit in the hot water for 15 minutes, then drain the water and chop the chicken pieces into smaller pieces for the salad.

Read More: Chicken Salad

Chipotle Salsa Baked Chicken

In this recipe we are making a simple salsa with fire roasted tomatoes, onions, lime juice, and chipotles packed in adobo, coating chicken breasts with the sauce, topping them with melty jack cheese, and baking them in the oven in a casserole dish. So easy! And so versatile.

First, chiles in adobo last a long time in the fridge, many months once you’ve opened the can, so you don’t have to stress about using them up right away. Second, this dish has lots of sauce, which tastes great with rice, pasta, tortillas, even chips. Third, it makes great leftovers.
This chicken bake is very similar to my salsa verde baked chicken, but with a smokey chipotle salsa instead. It’s a little on the acidic side with the lime juice and adobo, and tastes great with avocados to cut the acid and the heat.
While I usually serve it with rice, it’s also surprisingly good with penne pasta. In fact I could see making this again as a pasta casserole, just chop up the chicken to bite sized pieces, toss with cooked pasta and the salsa, sprinkle with cheese and bake until the chicken is cooked through.

Chipotle Salsa Baked Chicken Recipe

Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 35 minutes
Yield: Serves 6

This casserole produces a lot of sauce! Use it to spoon over rice or pasta, or for dipping tortilla chips.

Ingredients:

• 1 15-ounce can fire roasted tomatoes (or canned whole or crushed tomatoes if fire roasted are not available)
• 1/4 cup chopped red onion
• 1 clove garlic, chopped
• 1/2 cup, packed, chopped fresh cilantro
• 2 chipotle chili peppers in adobo, plus 1 teaspoon adobo sauce (less or more to taste)
• 1 teaspoon lime juice
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 1/2 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts (or thighs), trimmed of excess fat, cut into 3-inch wide pieces
• 4 ounces grated or sliced Monterey jack cheese

Serve with or over

• Avocados
• More chopped cilantro
• Sour cream
• Corn or flour tortillas
• Rice
• Pasta

Read More: Chipotle Salsa Baked Chicken

Asian Coleslaw

We eat a lot of cabbage around here. Could be my father’s Minnesota German roots, but for whatever reason, coleslaw is on the menu several times a week.
I recently had a lovely Asian coleslaw at a local grill, that was served with an ahi tuna burger. This is my attempt to recreate that coleslaw, and I think I’ve come pretty close (may try my hand at the burger sometime too).
It’s super easy to put together; the defining ingredients are cabbage, rice vinegar, and toasted sesame oil. This version also has some peanut butter in the dressing and some twice toasted peanuts.
So good! We had to stop eating it after our “test kitchen” tasting, just to save enough for dinner.

Asian Coleslaw Recipe

 

Prep time: 15 minutes
Yield: Serves 6

The dressing on this salad is peanut-based. If you have a food allergy to peanuts, you can substitute tahini for the peanut butter (or leave it out all together), and toasted sesame seeds for the peanuts.

Ingredients

Dressing:

• 1 Tbsp creamy peanut butter
• 6 Tbsp vegetable oil
• 1/2 teaspoon toasted (dark) sesame oil
• 4 Tbsp seasoned rice vinegar (if seasoned rice vinegar is not available, add a teaspoon or two of sugar to regular rice vinegar)

Salad:

• 8 cups thinly sliced cabbage (Napa, green, purple, or a combination)
• 1 cup grated carrots
• 1/2 cup toasted, salted, shelled, peeled peanuts

Optional:

• 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 2 hinly sliced green onions or chives

Read More: Asian Coleslaw

Carrot Cake Cupcakes

I find that you can tell a lot about someone based on the type of carrot cake they make. I find that those who enjoy pineapple and coconut in their carrot cake are a bit more flamboyant and unpredictable than the average baker and, likely, have a tiki shirt in their closet.
Those who prefer heavy amount of cloves and raisins are traditionalists; they have a penchant for nostalgia and reminiscing over their fragrant and fruity carrot cakes that encapsulate their childhood.
Others prefer orange juice – modernizing the classics and stirring up cocktails to pair with them.

I like to see myself as inventive, strange, and maybe even quirky – my carrot cake is a carrot cupcake (I like to think I’m a wee bit adorable, too). Toasted walnuts add a certain bittersweet and earthy taste to the cupcakes. Cinnamon and a good dose of cardamom give it a faraway newness, which is only made more intriguing with the floral and citrusy finish from the orange zest.
Dolloped with some cream cheese frosting, it’s a carrot cupcake that emulates old times from way back when with a bit of a contemporary twist. A funky cupcake that anyone’s personality can appreciate.

Carrot Cake Cupcakes Recipe

  

Yield: Makes 24 cupcakes

 

Ingredients

• 1 cup of chopped walnuts (100 g)
• 1 pound (450 g) of carrots (about 3 1/2 cups, grated)
• 3 large eggs
• 1/2 cup (120 ml) of buttermilk (or add a teaspoon of lemon juice to regular milk and allow to stand for 10 minutes)
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 2 cups (400 g) of sugar
• 1 cup (240 ml) of vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon of orange zest
• 3 cups (400 g) of all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon of baking soda
• 2 teaspoons of baking powder
• 1 teaspoon of kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon of ground cardamom
• 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon

Cream Cheese Frosting:

• 1 cup of unsalted butter, softened
• 16 ounces Philadelphia cream cheese
• 2 cups of powdered sugar, sifted

Read More: Carrot Cake Cupcakes

Grilled Garlic Shrimp Skewers

Anyone up for shrimp on a stick? Grilled, slathered with garlic butter, and sprinkled with chives, these big beautiful prawns are perfect party food for a backyard cookout.
Here’s a tip when grilling shrimp. First make sure you soak your wood or bamboo skewers (I recommend bamboo, they hold up better to heat) in water for at least half an hour. Then set up your grill so you have one side that is hot, and another cool.
Put the shrimp over the hot side, and the exposed skewers over the cool side. That way the shrimp cook quickly and the skewers don’t burn.

Once you take the shrimp off the grill, immediately brush them with garlic butter, while the shrimp are still hot. The shrimp will absorb the garlic butter flavors better that way.
I do recommend you make more of these than you’ll think you need. Because even though 1 pound of shrimp should serve four, you’ll want to eat them all yourself. They’re sort of irresistible that way.

Grilled Garlic Shrimp Skewers Recipe

 

Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes
Yield: Serves 4

 

Ingredients:

• 1 pound 16-20 count large prawns, peeled and deveined (can still have tail on for presentation)
• Olive oil
• Salt
• 3 Tbsp butter
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon minced chives for garnish
• Short bamboo skewers, about 20, soaked for 30 minutes in water before grilling

Read More: Grilled Garlic Shrimp Skewers

New Jersey Italian Hot Dog

I was a boy the first time I ate this sandwich. I remember being somewhere around 13 years old at the time, and I went down with my stepfather Frank to a place called the Corner Store in Fanwood, New Jersey.
Frank always bought the newspaper and coffee at the store, which, oddly, was not on a corner. I can’t remember why we were there around lunchtime, only that I was hungry, and that Frank suggested I get an Italian Hot Dog. Seemed like a decent enough idea.
When the cook handed it over the deli counter, it did not look anything like any hot dog I’d ever eaten. For starters, it was on a sub roll, and was huge. Four hot dogs lurked within that roll, but you could barely see them—they were covered in a jungle of potatoes, peppers and onions that had been grilled on the deli’s flattop.

I took a bite, and instantly tasted a hit of deli mustard. Then the tangy hot dog—I love that pop! you get when you bite through the casing—and finally that curious, breakfasty combination of potatoes, peppers and onions. This was good! I ate the whole thing, which probably weighed close to two pounds, long before we even got home, just a few miles away.
This is my Jersey dog. I know there are other versions, some with special bread, some where everything inside, including the hot dog, has been deep-fried. I’ve even heard of a few versions of this sandwich that use ketchup, a condiment which, when combined with a hot dog, will get you whacked in most parts of Jersey. I like those Italian hot dogs, too. (Except for the ones with ketchup) But this one always reminds me of that otherwise unmemorable day I spent with my dearly departed stepdad long ago. It’s a memory I still hold close.

New Jersey Italian Hot Dog Recipe

 

Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 35 minutes
Yield: Serves 4-6

Ideally you would find the special pizza bread roll, which is round, like a muffuletta roll. These can be hard to find, though, so use a good sandwich loaf. Try to avoid using a hot dog bun; those are too small for the Jersey dog.

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• Salt
• 2 pounds potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch chunks
• 2 medium green peppers, sliced into strips
• 1 large yellow or white onion, sliced into strips
• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning, or a mixture of oregano, basil and rosemary
• 8 beef hot dogs, preferably with natural casings
• 4 sandwich buns
• Mustard

Read More: New Jersey Italian Hot Dog

Breakfast Casserole with Leeks and Asparagus

Looking for ideas for a special brunch? Why not a warm and welcoming breakfast casserole? Assemble everything the night before and then just pop it in the oven first thing in the morning.
Breakfast casseroles are really quite easy to make. Bread, eggs, milk, and cheese are your base. Where you can get creative is with the seasonings and additions.

In this one, we are celebrating spring with asparagus and leeks. Feta is our cheese of choice, along with some Parmesan for the topping. Bacon makes an important appearance as well. (You can skip the bacon if you must, but I don’t recommend it.)

We’re seasoning with Herbes de Provence, which is like the French equivalent of Italian seasoning. Great with eggs. You can use dried thyme or tarragon if you don’t have it.
By the way, this breakfast casserole? It’s exceptional. Thumbs up from all present. Enjoy!

Breakfast Casserole with Leeks and Asparagus Recipe

 

Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 1 hour, 30 minutes
Yield: Serves 6 to 8

Pro tip: raw bacon is much easier to slice if it is frozen. So keep your bacon chilled until you are ready to cut it, or put it in the freezer for several minutes before slicing.

Ingredients

• 3 slices thick-sliced bacon (about 3 ounces), cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 1 pound of asparagus, trimmed of woody ends, cut into 1/2-inch diagonal pieces
• 6 slices of bread, cut into 1 1/2 inch wide square pieces, including crusts
• 2 leeks, cleaned, cut in half lengthwise, sliced crosswise into 1/2-inch pieces, white and light green parts only, about 2 cups total
• 2 Tbsp butter, divided 1 Tbsp and 1 Tbsp
• 1/2 cup of crumbled feta cheese
• 8 eggs
• 2 cups milk
• 1/2 teaspoon of dried herbes de provence (can sub dried tarragon or thyme)
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup of freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Read More: Breakfast Casserole with Leeks and Asparagus