chicken salad

Whenever I think of salad, I think of greens topped with other veggies or maybe some meat. Or maybe a nice fruit salad as a side or dessert. But I don't think of the mayo based chicken, egg, potato or pasta salads. Salads = healthy. Mayo does not = healthy. It's a disconnect in my head that the chicken/egg/etc kinds are consdered salads. And I can probably count the cumulative number of times I've eaten any of those on both hands.

But my coworker, Mary, was kind enough to share some of her chicken salad with me the other day, and it was pretty darn good. So I figured, I should try my hand at making it, too. I looked up a ton of recipes and found that they all pretty much have this in common: chicken, mayo, lemon juice, celery. Some have nuts, others have fruit, Mary's had capers (yum). So I figured I'd wing it with that in mind, and came up with this. I love the tang the dijon brings and that the cranberries add just a teeny bit of sweetness to it. And while I still can't see it as a traditional "salad" the way my little brain thinks of salads, I do consider it tasty :-)Chicken Salad

4 oz chicken breast, cooked (approx. 1 cup)

2 tbsp light mayo

1/2 tsp dijon mustard

1 tsp lemon juice

1/4 celery stalk, finely diced

1 tbsp onion, finely diced

1 1/2 tbsp dried cranberries, finely diced

salt and pepper

Cut the chicken breast into small pieces (or shred it). Season with some salt and pepper. Mix together the rest of the ingredients, then fold in the chicken breast.

I'll be eating this stuffed inside a whole wheat pita with some lettuce. I'm not sure how else to eat these mayo based salads other than in a sandwich of some sort... if you have any ideas, leave a comment!

Piece Montee

I'm a Daring Baker! This is officially my first post for their challenges, and boy am I thrilled to be part of this. The May Daring Baker's challenge (yup I'm a couple days late, my bad) was hosted by Cat of Little Miss Cupcake. Cat challenged us to make a piece montee, or croquembouche, based on the recipes from Peter Kump's Baking School in Manhattan and Nick Malgieri. I first saw a croquembouche on some Food Network holiday special years ago, so at least I was familiar with this tower o' cream puffs. It's the first time I have heard it called a piece montee (one of these days I'm going to learn how to make the little accent marks over the e's). Piece montee literally means "mounted piece," which explains the stacking of creme filled puffs into this little cone shape. There are many ways to create this form - use an actual cone as a base, use toothpicks to keep them together, or... just stack them, like I did, using the chocolate as a glue. You can also use molten sugar to get that crunch (croquembouche = "crunch in the mouth"), but it was raining today and humidity and spun sugar don't really mesh well.

The croquembouche is made up of 3 components - the puffs (pate a choux), pastry creme filling, and the glaze. I followed the recipe for the choux and chocolate glaze exactly. I used the vanilla creme recipe and folded in some diced candied ginger. That addition was simply awesome if I do say so myself... it makes the filling's texture and flavor more interesting. I also happen to think vanilla and ginger are a match made in heaven, so I may be biased :-) I think I either didn't cook the choux long enough or added the egg too early because it was a little liquidier than I'd have liked (see next picture), but they puffed up nice and golden (see picture after that). After they cooled, I filled, glazed, then stacked them. Viola, piece montee!

One of these days I'd love to try it with the hard caramel glaze and maybe a different flavored filling, but it won't anytime soon. NoVA's summers are hot and very humid, so maybe I'll do it sometime for Christmas as a special occasion treat.

breakfast burrito... for dinner

Breakfast for dinner is always a good idea, especially when it's just for one person. Usually cereal is my breakfast for dinner of choice, but I wanted something cooked tonight. And in lieu of my recent vacation to Mexico, the obvious inspired choice was a breakfast burrito.

I had spare egg whites from a pastry creme (stand by, something special coming soon) so just added them to the whole egg and onions. Top with whatever toppings you like, fold, eat. I've also made a variation (scratch the avocados and tomatoes, include shredded chicken and corn), let it cool, then eat it the next morning for breakfast. Really easy grab and go type thing.

Breakfast Burrito

1 flour tortilla

1 egg

1 egg white

1/8 C diced onions

1 tsp olive oil

a few cherry tomatoes, diced

3-4 slices avocado

mexican cheese

salt to taste

Heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add onions and cook until translucent. Add eggs, salt, then stir, cooking to your desired doneness. Take off heat, and put on tortilla. top with cheese, tomatoes, and avocado. Wrap up like a burrito and num num num.

Additional topping ideas: black beans, queso blanco, sour cream, salsa, peppers... pretty much anything you like.

I'm not dead :-)

Nope, I was in Mexico on vacation! Cabo, specifically, and it was sunny, clear, and tasty. That's right... guacamole every day, tacos, the best ceviche of my life. Wanna see pictures? Here they are :-)

Seriously best ceviche ever! I think it was probably the chunks of avocado and definitely the little bits of mango. And right under here... Loaded steak nachos. Had this at least twice, lol.Last but not least are the fish tacos. These are particularly special because Mike and my brother actually caught the fish that morning. Tiger fish, a blondie, and I think a yellow snapper maybe. Sooo good.

margarita time!

Margarita cupcakes, that is, because it's cinco de mayo tomorrow! Be honest - you have no idea what the significance of cinco de mayo is. Wait, maybe that's just me. So... I'm going to skip right over the holiday and go right to the cupcake. A couple recipes I saw called for margarita mix plus tequila. While at the liquor store during my lunch break the other day, though, I happend upon a 4 pack of Jose Cuervo margaritas and just went with that. I thought that maybe it'd make a really boozy cupcake. Nope, after it baked, the margarita flavor wasn't very pronounced. (Or maybe my taste buds were dulled from downing the 2nd half of one bottle while prepping this...) Instead the flavor is more subtle. The icing, though, is not. *happy face* I made mine pretty limey, so it's both sweet and tart. Perfect for me, and perfect for a cinco de mayo treat. Or an anytime treat!

Margarita Cupcakes

adapted from Confections of a Foodie Bride

1 box white cake mix

3 egg whites

2 Tbsp canola oil

10 oz margarita (mix, if you don't want alcohol in this)

1 oz Grand Marnier (non-alcoholic version: oj)

zest of one lime

Preheat oven to 350. Line 2 cupcake pans (this makes 24).

Combine the margarita and grand marnier in a liquid measuring cup - you should get about 1 1/3 C total. In a large bowl, mix the cake mix, egg whites, oil, and margarita mix until well blended - about 2 minutes (basically you're following the instructions on the box, but instead of water, you're using booze.)

Divide the batter evenly - fill each cup about 3/4 of the way. (I used my large cookie scoop for even, fast dishing.) Bake for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool in the pan for about 5 minutes, then remove to the cooling rack.

Lime Cream Cheese Icing

adapted from Homemade by Holman

1 bar cream cheese, room temp

1 stick unsalted butter, room temp

juice of one lime ~ about 3-4 tbsp
4 1/2 C powdered sugar

green food coloring (optional)

green sanding sugar (optional)

Beat the cream cheese and butter together until smooth. Beat in 3 tbsp lime juice. Mix in 1 C of powdered sugar at a time, until it reaches your desired sweetness and consistency. Check the lime flavor, and beat in more juice if you like it more tart. Add a bit of food coloring if using, and beat in until even. Frost the cupcakes, and sprinkle with sanding sugar. Alternative decorations: a slice of lime, a bendy straw, or a little umbrella just cuz I feel like I should be sitting on a beach under an umbrella sipping on a margarita!