Lemon chicken salad

You know when you do something awesome, totally without even realizing it? Well, this isn’t exactly one of those stories, but sort of.

On Sunday, I was trying to make up for the rest of the weekend’s indulgences by throwing some chicken in the slow cooker before I left to spend the afternoon with my friend Suzanne. I was thinking I would come home and have some nice healthy chicken. Well, what really happened was that I ate at a pub and then at Dairy Queen, so when I got home, I wanted nothing to do with that chicken, even though it smelled delicious!

I needed something for my lunch the next day, so I cubed the now cooled chicken, cooked some quinoa and bulgar, and tossed it all together with the broth from the crock pot. Wow! A-ma-zing.

I had tossed some garlic gloves in the slow cooker with the chicken, and they turned green. According to Google, this is because of the acid in the lemon juice.

For a salad that happened by accident, it could not have been more delicious! I’ve had it cold and warmed up, and both were delicious. Enjoy!

Lemon chicken salad

In slow cooker:

– 2 chicken breasts

– juice and zest from 1 lemon

– a few garlic cloves

– 1 tablespoon dried oregano

– 1 tablespoon parsley

– 1/4 cup water

– salt and pepper to taste

Cook until chicken is done, then cool and cube. Toss with quinoa, bulgar and broth from the crockpot. I would have added nuts to this, but I was going to eat it at school, and some kids have allergies.

Superbowl Sunday without the Superbowl

I’m not a huge football fan, so Sunday was just a Sunday for me, not a event. When I woke up, I was feeling pretty lazy, so I watched an episode of Homeland. Have you seen this show? I’m still at the begining of season one, but I am hooked!

I realized soon enough that I had to get out of the house, otherwise I would lose my Sunday to the fight against terrorists. I decided to go to an afternoon yoga class, but before I left, I made dinner in the crockpot so that when I came home, it smelled heavenly.

I made orange curry chicken, and it’s so easy, it’s crazy.

That’s it! Well, almost. When the chicken was cooked, I cut it into bite-sized pieces, then put in back into the sauce, along with some cream. I served it over jasmin rice. So good! Also, it’s gluten free.

Simple and delicious.

My yoga class was perfect for a Sunday afternoon. It was an intro class, so there wasn’t too much flowing. It was very chill. Baby yoga. Not that it was easy, because we held poses for a little longer than we do in a regular flow class. I think it’s a good idea to do a beginner class every once in a while. It really makes you think about your alignment.

Homeland, easy chicken and yoga. Better than the Superbowl.

Orange curry chicken

– juice of 4 oranges

– tablespoon of curry powder

– 2 chicken breasts

– 1/4 cup of cream

Place juice, curry powder and chicken breast in crockpot and cook for three hours on high or six hours on low. Add cream and heat for 20 minutes. Serve over jasmin rice. Enjoy!

Rabbit food

I like carrots, but only when they’re raw. Cooked carrots are just not my thing. However, I’ve noticed that if I add grated carrots to cooked food, like spaghetti sauce or soup, I’ll eat them. It’s kind of like hiding them from myself, because they’re so small and I can’t taste them.

In November, I decided to try going gluten-free. It was going really well for a while, until Christmas. Cookies, pie, quiche…there was no controlling myself. I don’t have an issue with gluten, so it wasn’t so bad. Going gluten-free was more of an “everything in moderation” thing. I still have Christmas cookies in my freezer, but other than that, I’m trying to cut out gluten as much as possible.

So, where am I going with gluten-free carrots? Simple. Gluten-free carrot macaroni and cheese. That’s right. Sooo good!

I bought this corn pasta to replace regular pasta, and it tastes the same. It’s a little yellow, but once cooked, it’s not so neon.

Not the best company name, if you ask me. It’s too close to leper.

Grate a couple of carrots. If you’re super into carrots, feel free to add more.

Two minutes before the pasta is done, add the carrots to the boiling water.

Drain the carrot/pasta mix and set aside.

Mix your sauce any way you like. I used flour for my roux, since it was only a small amout, but you can thicken your sauce with cornstarch. I used 2 or 3 cups of milk. I like mild cheese, so I used mozzarella and cheddar, but you can use whatever you have. I used 2 or 3 cups, I think. I really have no idea. This is not a precise recipe, it’s more of an idea. I also added cream cheese.

Mix everything together, then pour into a baking dish. Add more cheese, of course. I used rice cereal for the crispy topping.

Put in the oven at 350 for about 30 minutes, or the time it takes to clean the kitchen and check your e-mails. When it smells so delicious you can’t stand it, it’s ready.

Enjoy!

C is for Cookie

I’ve just had a weekend that Cookie Monster would approve of. Cookies, cookies and more cookies!

My friend Suzanne and I have a cookie day every year before Christmas. The first time, we really went for it and made tons of cookies. We were also exhausted by the end of the day! Now, we just make one or two batches and enjoy the day. Yesterday was a perfect day for cookies. It was cold and snowing, making it wonderful to be indoors looking out.

We started with some chocolate and vanilla sugar cookies. They turned out pretty, but the dough was horrible to work with. It was sticky and dry at the same time. It tore and stuck to the rolling pin. Not a recipe worth sharing.

Here I am having a moment with my butter, while Suzanne tries to get her chocolate dough to cooperate.

We also posed with our rolling pins. They kind of look like weapons.

And here is Suzanne with the final product. Pretty and tasty, but not worth the trouble! If you want to make these, just use your favourite sugar cookie recipe, divide it in half, and add cacao to part of it.

After that, we made lemon cookies. These are my favourite “cheat” cookies. Super easy and fast, but so delicious! After they cooled, I drizzled them with lemon icing. Little clouds of lemon bliss.

We then proceeded to eat the cookies we made while watching corny made-for-tv Christmas movies. Perfect day!

Today, after a long-overdue yoga class, I put my apron back on and make two more kinds of cookies.

The first ones were orange cookies. These have a cake-like texture and it is very difficult to eat just one! Once they’ve cooled, I frost them with a melted chocolate orange. Tastes like Christmas to me!

And finally, I made shortbread cookies. This dough was a dream to work with! The complete opposite of yesterday’s terrible sticky mess. I always make my shortbread cookies small, because they’re so rich. A small bite is perfect. For some reason, they came out yellow-looking in the picture, but they’re nice and white!

I’m not done with my Christmas baking, but it’s a good start. I like to make several kinds of cookies and give them as gifts. I still want to make sugar cookies, gingerbread cookies, chocolate chip cookies and maybe one more kind, if I have time!

Lemon cookies

1 lemon cake mix

1 egg

1/2 cup butter or margarine

1 8 ounce package cream cheese

Mix softened cream cheese, butter and egg. Add cake mix. Drop cookie dough by rounded teaspoons onto cookie sheet. Bake at 375 for 6-10 minutes, depending on size. For icing, mix lemon juice with powdered sugar and drizzle over cooled cookies. Makes about 3 dozen cookies.

Orange cookies

1 cup butter

2 cups sugar

3 eggs

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 cup buttermilk

Grated rind and juice of two oranges (1/2 cup of juice)

3 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

5 cups flour

Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, then juice and rinds. Add baking soda to milk. Combine dry ingredients. Add flour mixture to the cream mixture alternately with the milk. Drop on cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 6 to 10 minutes, depending on size. Makes about 6 dozen cookies.

Shortbread cookies

2 cups flour

1 cup butter

1/2 cup icing sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

1 egg yolk

Mix icing sugar with softened butter. Add egg yolg. Combine dry ingredients and add to butter mixture. Roll out dough 1/4 inch thick onto floured surface, adding flour as needed (dough might be sticky). Cut out shapes and place on parchement-lines cookie sheet. Bake 4-8 minutes at 350.

The gluten-free experiment

We all know someone who’s gone gluten-free, for health reasons or maybe because it’s trendy, and it’s completely changed their life! How can, all of a sudden, wheat be responsible for so many problems? I’ve been pretty skeptical about this whole thing.

So I started paying attention to what people around me were saying. There’s the friend who cut out gluten (among other things) to help control her asthma. And it worked. There’s the friend who’s no longer tired. Imagine that! The friend who never felt quite right, and now feels amazing most of the time. These aren’t people trying to sell me something, these are my friends.

It got me thinking I want me some of that. But, there was a small problem. A huge problem, actually. I love cake. And cookies. Also, brownies, muffins, waffles, bread and anything else made with flour. If it’s got gluten in it, chances are, I love it. I asked no-longer-tired-friend Don’t you miss the foods you used to eat? Her answer was pretty clear. No. So many gluten-free options are out there, there’s no need to cut out anything you like.

I decided to try it, but with my own rules. My experiment is not to go completely gluten-free, but more gluten-reduced. I’m not doing this for health reasons, so if I want a scone, then I’ll eat one.

It’s been a week. So far, so good. I’ve cheated, but since I’m allowed, it’s not cheating. I tried to make bread using arrowroot flour. Yeah, that didn’t work. It was like baking glue. It came out of the oven looking good, but then it collapsed onto itself and died. I threw it out and put the garbage bag out on the porch. A squirrel got into the bag and dragged out the loaf, then left it there. He didn’t even take a bite. I don’t blame him.

Today, I tried again. I bought some gluten-free flour and found a recipe for pumpkin muffins. Most baked good made with gluten-free flour have a grainy texture, but these muffins are awesome! I think it helps that there is very little flour in them.

The recipe called for pumpkin pie spice, which I do not have. I used cinnamon, allspice, ginger and cloves. My measuring technique is quite precise: a few shakes of everything, heavy on the cinnamon. Bliss. I also used butter instead of oil. More bliss.

It looks like a muffin, smells like a muffin, and best of all, tastes like a muffin!

I’m very new at this, so if you’re gluten-free, I would love some tips! And recipes. I’ve been eating a lot of salad.

The great pumpkin adventure

I don’t like pumpkin pie. There. I said it. I know it makes people think I’m weird, but I think pumpkin pie is weird. I don’t like the texture. Also, it’s a vegetable. In a dessert. Because I don’t like pumpkin pie, I’ve always thought I don’t like pumpkin anything. However, last weekend, I picked some very beautiful, very orange pumpkins in the garden.

I washed the dirt off, then cut one in half. I scooped out it’s insides. (I was planning on roasting the seeds, but I forgot about them and they kind of all stuck together. It was a little icky looking, so I threw them out.) Then, I placed each half in a baking dish and poured about an inch of water around them.

They went into the oven for about an hour at 350 0C, then I scooped out the edible part. Voilà, roasted pumpkin. That’s it. Nothing else to do.

I did this yesterday, then put the pumpkin in the fridge. Today, I pureed it and froze some of it in half-cup measures to use in the future.

Then came the fun part. Pumpkin scones. I figured if I wanted to check to see if I liked pumpkin flavoured anything, it was best to test it out in one of my favourite things ever. Scones.

I used this recipe and they came out tasting marvelous! They taste like fall, spices and Halloween. Ok, maybe not Halloween, but they’re really good! I made mine bite-sized, so I baked them for 8-9 minutes.

I brought some in to the yoga studio tonight and left with an empty plate!

Baking these put me in a good mood. I wasn’t in a bad mood, but I had kind of a grumpy day. I’ve been feeling a cold coming on all week and today it made sure I knew it was here to stay for a few days. It was one of those days where everything and everyone annoyed me. Being annoyed all day, while sniffling, is exhausting.

The scones made me feel better, and then yoga was perfect. It was yin and it was heaven. At the end of class, we chilled out in pentacle pose. I’ve only done this pose a few times, but I love it. You lay out in one big X with a block under your sacrum. I felt very relaxed and just let go. Then, I got a rare blissful moment where I let go even more when I thought I wasn’t holding anything. It was amazing and I think I gave a little sigh of happiness.

When I came home, my kitchen had that sweet, happy, baking scent. Bliss.

Summer couscous happiness

Ever have one of those days where you bring your lunch to work, then you look forward to eating it all morning? I had one of those days today! I made a couscous salad last night for dinner and I had leftovers for lunch today. I am very proud of this recipe, because it’s the first (and only, actually) recipe that I’ve come up with on my own. And not just “I have a recipe for spaghetti sauce” kind of thing. I tried different ingredients, quantities and everything. I even wrote it down so I can make it taste the same every time. It’s that good. It tastes like summer.

Citrus couscous salad

Ingredients

– 2 cups couscous

– 1 1/2 cups orange juice

– 1 boneless chicken breast

– 1/2 cup sesame seeds

– 1 cucumber

– 2 large oranges

– 6 tbs olive oil

– 3 tbs lemon juice

– 3 tbs orange juice

– zest of 1 lemon

– salt and pepper

1. Bring orange juice to a boil. Remove from heat and add couscous. Stir, cover and set aside for 5 minutes.

2. Cut chicken breast into bite-size pieces and coat with sesame seeds. I like to put the sesame seeds in a bag, throw the chicken pieces in, and shake it up. The seeds will stick to the chicken. Cook in 2 tbs olive oil. (I like to use lemon-infused olive oil, but plain works fine.)

3. Peel and cut oranges in small pieces. I like to take off the white bits too.

4. Cut cucumber into small pieces. I usually leave the peel on, as I like the crunch, but the one I used yesterday was not so pretty.

5. Let couscous and chicken cool.

6. In a small bowl, mix olive oil, orange juice and lemon juice with lemon zest. Add salt and pepper to taste. I know I said 3 tbs of each juice, but really, go with what you like. You want about 1/4 cup of dressing.

7. In a large bowl, mix everything together. (Trust me, go big. You’ll avoid a mess.)

It’s best to let it sit for a while in the fridge, until everything gets cold. However, if you are starving when you make it, like I was, have a small bowl right away and come back later for more! It makes a lot, so you have plenty for your lunch the next day. Enjoy!