• 3 Tbs rice vinegar
• 2 Tbs red onion (I had none so left this out)
• 1 tsp brown sugar
• 1 Tbs sesame oil
• salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

Mix it all together and pour over 6 cups of greens and diced veggies. I did add some chopped cilantro as she suggested to my red leaf lettuce and baby spinach, which I thought added a nice touch. I also included some diced red pepper, diced celery and 1 green onion (scallion) diced.

Really quite nice and a nice counterpoint to the recipe for teriyaki salmon I made.

Chicken,Rice and Artichoke Salad

My mom gave me this recipe. Things always taste better when she makes them but this still came out good!   I was missing one ingredient so did a substitution but I don’t think that was the critical piece. Not sure what she did different but I will try to figure it out!  For the record, I was missing barbecue sauce so used some Catalina dressing instead. Perhaps ketchup would have been a better choice. And it was still good–just not quite like it tasted when my mom made it!

The Dressing:

• 2 Tbs red wine vinegar
• 2 scallions, minced
• 1 Tbs grated fresh ginger
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• 1/3 cup olive oil or canola oil
• salt and pepper to taste

Mix together and set aside.

The Salad

• 1 15 oz can artichoke bottoms, drained and chopped
• 2 cups cooked rice, cooled or cold
• 3/4 pound chicken breast, cooked and shredded
• 2 Tbs barbecue sauce
• 1 small red pepper, diced
• 1 scallion, minced
• salt and pepper to taste
• chopped fresh parsley to garnish

Mix everything but the parsley together. Pour the salad dressing over it and toss, then garish with the parsley.

This is great for a hot summer night, especially if you plan ahead and don’t have to cook the rice or chicken! It also works well for entertaining, which is how I used it. I cooked the rice and chicken the night before, then let them heat up to room temperature while I chopped the vegetables and mixed up the dressing. I was serving with a cream of broccoli soup and some fresh sliced tomatoes.

I got the soup ready to the point of adding the cream, then turned it down to way low and covered. I had the salad all mixed up ready to dress and let it sit while my friend and I visited. When it was time to eat, I tossed the salad with the dressing, stirred the cream into the soup, and sliced the tomatoes with some fresh basil, olive oil, and salt.   Very good and very easy!  And moderately healthy.  A winning combination.

Last night I made one with red onions that pretty much follows the recipe in The Everything Thai Cookbook: From Pad Thai to Lemongrass Chicken Skewers, except I left out the 2 Thai chilies, seeded and minced so add those in if you want it spicy! I saw a very similar recipe in a magazine recently that had thinly sliced radishes in it, which also sounds good. I also added some bean sprouts to a cucumber salad once and loved the double crunchiness.

• 1 cup boiling water
• 5 Tbs sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup rice vinegar
• 2 -3 small cucumbers, seeded and sliced
• 1 small red onion, sliced

Mix together the hot water, sugar, salt and vinegar, then let cool to room temperature so you don’t cook the cucumbers! If you don’t have rice vinegar, you can use white vinegar.

Last night I actually got out the mandoline to make the slices really thin just for fun but you can just slice the cucumber in half lengthwise, use a small teaspoon to scrape out the seeds, then slice into half moons.

I served this with some excellent curry, similar to this  Thai red chicken curry. I used a mix of peppers, bamboo shoots and peas for the vegetables.

I grew up with my mom making a quick pickled cucumber salad, similar to this quick cucumber salad recipe (and my mom’s old recipe is on that page as well.)  I’ve also played around with cucumbers and sour cream.  And then there’s this one with an Asian flare to it.   (And if you’re looking for a different salsa, this cucumber and grape salsa is fantastic!)

Cut whatever fat you can off the pork shoulder or pork roast. You won’t get it all for sure, but you can eliminate the big pieces of it.  If yours is tied together with twine, as mine was, just cut the twine away. You WANT the pork to fall apart!  Pour about a cup of barbecue sauce on it, your favorite bottled variety or your own homemade, and cook on high for 4-5 hours or on low for much longer. You want to be able to pull it apart with two forks, so you want it really well done and soft and falling apart.

To serve, I usually add more barbecue sauce as the sauce in the slow cooker has been thinned down so much. Stir in the sauce and heat through, then serve on buns. Goes great with coleslaw on the side or in the sandwich.

I’ve got this recipe for coleslaw without the mayonnaise or you can mix up some dressing along the lines of:

• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 2 Tbs cider vinegar
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 Tbs celery seeds

Adjust the sugar/salt/vinegar ratio to suit your tastebuds.

I served this with grated cheese,chopped lettuce, chopped tomatoes,  sour cream, chopped avocados, and salsa plus refried beans and corn tortillas.

For lunch tomorrow, my youngest has a salad packed up with some of this on top. A handful of tortilla chips will round out a great lunch I think!  This is one of those Fit and Fresh containers that includes an ice pack. Very cool.

I bought two different Fit & Fresh containers the other day and am quite impressed so far. If you’re trying to pack some healthy lunches and minimize landfill waste, they are affordable and well made. Note: clicking the picture below takes you to Cooking.com’s store and I make a small commission if you buy it.

I grew the tomatoes and basil and bought the mozzarella and olive oil.

Layer slices of fresh tomatoes and mozarella, then drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with sliced slivers of fresh basils (or whole leaves of basil if you really like basil!).

I have a few cucumber salad recipes I repeat a lot, including this cucumber salad with sour cream recipe and this one from many years ago, cucumber salad with onions and green peppers. Oh, I also have this great Grape and Cucumber Salsa recipe. I like cucumbers.

Tonight I saw a recipe in an old Cooking Light magazine that added an Asian twist with some sesame oil and using rice vinegar for a milder version of the basic marinade, but then kicking it up a notch with the crushed red pepper. Very nice variation!

• 2 cups peeled and thinly sliced cucumbers
• 3 Tbs rice vinegar
• 2 tsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp sesame oil
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper

Mix it all up and chill an hour or two before serving.

• leftover taco meat
• homemade salsa if it’s summer or bottled if not
• chopped lettuce
• grated Cheddar cheese or a Mexican blend
• refried beans or black beans or whole pinto beans
• sliced olives if you’d like
• chopped avocado if you have some
• chopped fresh tomato
• chopped green onions or yellow onions
• tortilla chips or broke up leftover taco shells

If you’ve got a vegetarian in the family, this is a great dish because you can serve everything in small bowls and let everyone build their own taco salad, with or without meat.  You could also substitute leftover cooked chicken for the ground beef. It’s very flexible.

First, the binding and the book production itself is fantatsic!  The cookbook is bound a bit differently than I’ve seen before, with spiral binding along the top third and the bottom third. There are pictures for at least half, and probably more, of the finished dishes and they are inspiring. The ingredients are called out clearly, the directions are clear and just detailed enough. Most recipes fit on a single page or are at least on facing pages (I hate having to turn a page in the middle of cooking!). Aside from all that, they “read” great (I’m pretty good at interpreting recipes by reading them through at this point) and the three I’ve tried have been fantastic.

If all you’re looking for is Ramen noodle recipes, tuna melts, and grilled cheese sandwiches, pick up a different book. But if you’re looking for creative recipes that will be fun to cook and don’t require much special equipment, buy this book or send it to your budding college cook.  I had hoped to have my daughter try out a few recipes but somehow summer job and a social life has gotten in the way. I will send her off to college with this book (after photocopying a few recipes!) since she has a kitchen in her dorm and is looking forward to cooking.

I’ve made a few Chinese Chicken Salad recipes before and this one takes the least effort and tastes fantastic. (If you like breaded chicken and are only cooking for one, try this recipe. )  The only change I made to this was to use peanut oil to cook the chicken breast in. Oh, and I had some sate seasoning from Pensy’s, courtesy of a client, so sprinkled some of that on the chicken, but I know it would be good, just different, without.  Oh, I also didn’t have any chow mein crunchy noodles. If you like those on your Asian Chicken Salad, use about 1 cup of them. I also added a cucumber.

• 1 Tbs peanut oil (or vegetable oil)
• 3 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 1/4 cup soy sauce, divided
• 1 head iceberg lettuce
• 1 carrot, peeled and grated
• 1/2 a large cucumber or 1 medium one
• 1 4 oz can water chestnuts, drained
• 1/4 cup chopped green onions
• 1 Tbs sesame oil
• 2 Tbs rice vinegar
• 1 tsp chili paste
• 1 Tbs brown sugar
• 1 Tbs olive oil

Heat a nonstick skillet ove rmedium heat and add the peanut oil.  Add the chicken breasts and cook 2-3 minutes on each side, sprinkling with salt and pepper (and I added sate seasoning, but totally not necessary). Cook until lightly browned.

Add 1 Tbs soy sauce and cook another 3-4 minutes until cooked through. Cut one in half to check–you’re going to slice them up later anyway.   If the pan gets to dry, add some water.  Let the chicken cool a bit while you make up the salad.

Wash, dry and chop the lettuce and add to a large salad bowl.

Peel and grate the carrot (or use the peeler to cut into thin strips). Peel the cucumber and dice. Drain the water chestnuts. Chop the green onions.

Make the dressing: Mix together the remaining soy sauce (3 Tbs), sesame oil, rice vinegar, chili paste, brown sugar, and olive oil.

Cut the chicken into strips. Toss together the vegetables, chicken strips and salad dressing. Garnish with chow mein noodles if you’d like.

Oh  yum!  And you could leave out the chile paste if you don’t have any.

I made this along with Sesame Peanut Noodles. The other recipe I tried from here was for chicken breasts marinaded in an Asian bbq sauce. (Really, the recipes are not all Asian influenced. Just what my taste has been for the last few days! )

Other recipes in the book include Rosemary Roasted Potatoes, Guacamole, Michigan Chicken Salad (with dried cherries, very intriguing!), homemade hummus, Omelets, Turkey Chili, a nice selection of vegetarian dishes, some grill based dishes, and some themed menus (Meditteranean, Italian, and Japanese) plus some nice desserts.

• chopped red lettuce
• alfalfa sprouts
• sliced radishes
• chopped avocado
• sliced mushrooms

The steak was a small tri tip strip I’d frozen previously. After thawing it, I put a bit of olive oil on it, then sprinkled both sides with seasoned pepper and garlic salt.  Barbecued about 4 minutes each side, let rest while I finished the salad, the sliced thinly.    I have some bottled dressings left over from various parties so I didn’t even make the salad dressing.

Great quick and filling dinner.  Plus I’ve got leftovers for lunch tomorrow, always a bonus.