Quick Chicken Trick

You might think I grew up eating gourmet food, but the truth is, my childhood food experience was just like the vast majority of my generation.  We had casseroles made with condensed soups, and lasagna came from the freezer.  That being said, Mom cooked dinner just about every evening, and I don’t remember having a lot of complaints.  So where did I learn to cook without mixes and canned stuff?  Well, a lot of it has come from trial and error… and there have been plenty of errors.  There have been many flat cookies or broken cream sauces.  For a while, the phrase, “I don’t know what happened”, was a running joke in our house.  So don’t be afraid to try new things.  Worst case scenario, you have a mess in your oven and you’re eating pizza for dinner.  But next time, maybe you’ll have perfection!  The other part of learning has been picking up tricks wherever I can find them.  I’m not ashamed to say I totally stole this trick from my friend Elise Logan.  I was telling her about how much I love Trader Joe’s Healthy 8 Chopped Veggie Mix. 

Seriously guys, if you have a Trader Joe’s nearby, (I say nearby, but mine is 63 miles away.  Fortunately there is also a Whole Foods and an amazing barbecue place down there, so we go every Sunday.) you have to try this stuff.  Toss it with a bit of your favorite salad dressing, and it makes a fabulous side, snack, or even lunch.  It’s a mixture of broccoli, carrots, green cabbage, red cabbage, jicama, green bell pepper, radish, and celery.   

Well, Elise said she uses it for chicken salad.  Holy crap!  I’m pretty sure the woman is a genius.  Chicken salad is one of my favorite things, so I wasn’t going to pass up on that trick.  Now I pass the trick onto all of you.  Pile some of the veggie mix on a cutting board.

Chop it down to whatever size you like.  I prefer mine to be fairly small. 

Now, in my world, chicken salad isn’t chicken salad without green onions, so those go into the bowl along with the veg and chicken.  I like about a 1 to 1 ratio of chicken and veggies.  Btw, trick #2, rotisseries chickens are fabulous for this, but if you can get your hands on a smoked chicken, they’re even better.  I don’t know if they do in other places, but in my area, Whole Foods has amazing smoked chickens.   

Add whatever dressing you like.  For me, it’s homemade, low fat ranch.  What, you want that recipe as well?  Alright, I’ll post it soon, but if you need it in the meantime, comment below or use the request form on the right and I’ll be happy to share it with you. 

Mix that all together and you’re almost to chicken salad perfection.  Look at all those fabulous colors!

I say almost because in my world, pistachios are a requirement for chicken salad.  They go soft rather quickly, though, so remove whatever you’re not going to eat now to a storage container and then add them to your portion. 

You have now reached chicken salad heaven, and it took like 10 minutes or less. 

What are you favorite kitchen tricks?  Post them in the comments below so we can all add them to our repertoire.   

Zesty Zucchini Bread

If you have a garden and are growing zucchini, this is about the time of year you have them coming out your ears.  We have a handful of recipes using them, like Seeley’s zucchini fettuccini, my potato and zucchini pie, and quiche.  Today, however, I’m going for a more traditional option.  Everyone has had zucchini bread before, but this recipe is made with buttermilk and lots of spices so it’s moist, flavorful, and delicious. 

Here’s what you’ll need:

• 1 ½ cups flour
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon nutmeg
• ½ teaspoon allspice
• ¼ teaspoon cloves
• ¼ teaspoon ginger
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 ¼ cups sugar
• 2 eggs
• ¼ cup butter, softened
• ¼ cup oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• ½ cup buttermilk, room temperature
• 2 cups grated zucchini, room temperature

I know that looks like a long list of ingredients, but most of it is just spices… and speaking of spices, if you happen to have cardamom or mace in your cupboard, feel free to add ¼ teaspoon of either or both.  I just didn’t have any on hand.  I have since remedied the situation with a trip to Penzeys with my friend Elise Logan. 

Before you start with the ingredients, go ahead and preheat your oven to 350° and butter a 2 quart loaf pan. 

Then, into a bowl go all of the dry ingredients except the sugar.  (First 10 on the list)

Whisk that together so that everything is evenly distributed. 

In a separate mixing bowl, go the butter, oil, and sugar. 

Mix until it’s nice and smooth and creamy, then add the eggs and vanilla

Mix until the eggs are completely incorporated, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl at some point. 

Add the zucchini.

Stir that in and add the buttermilk.

Once that’s incorporated, add the flour mixture. 

Now that the flour is in, you don’t want to over mix, so just gently stir until the flour is barely incorporated. 

Scrape the batter into the prepared loaf pan. 

Level it out on top and place it onto a sheet pan before putting it in the oven.  Bake at 350° for 60-70 minutes.  It should be nice and brown on top and a toothpick inserted in the center will come out clean. 

After 20 minutes, remove the loaf from the pan and place it on a rack to cool. 

Allow it to cool completely (or nearly) before slicing.  Then inhale the aroma of all those fabulous spices and enjoy.  Spicy, sweet, moist, deliciousness. 

What's growing in your garden this year?