Chicken Salad Veronique

I don't know where the name came from, but that's what my mom always called it when we were growing up, so that's what I'm going to call it. 
It is pronounced 'vair-oh-neek', but Peter looks at the name and calls it "chicken salad very unique". Haha! That makes me smile :)

Whatever you choose to call it, this is a great seasonal, summer salad. So seasonal in fact, that the ingredients showed up in a cardboard box on my doorstep this morning. I subscribed to a farm fresh produce box delivery, and this was my first delivery! It is so exciting when the box shows up! It's like Christmas morning... I have no idea what's inside and I just get to rip it open and dig through to find which fresh fruits and veggies were harvested this week :) As I dug through the box, I started registering all the ingredients in my head like puzzle pieces, so that I could play with them in my mind throughout the day to figure out what I could make for dinner.


After I had my fun with the produce box, I went for a run. Though it was only 8:30  in the morning, it was already so sunny and HOT! Days like these remind me of my dad when I was a kid; he would always ask my mom to make 'chicken salad veronique' whenever it was a hot summer day. That's when it clicked for me this morning- I had most of the ingredients in my produce box already! My puzzle pieces were all put together and dinner was solved :)


This salad is cool and refreshing with its lemony dressing and juicy grapes, yet crunchy and hearty with the slivered almonds and the crisp celery.


The recipe below isn't the exact original, I altered it a bit to fit what I already had in my kitchen and to fit what I like. I get asked a lot how I come up with my recipes... this is usually how they start;  just swapping for healthier ingredients, what I have on hand in my kitchen already, and adding other flavors I think would be good complements to the dish. A lot of times I also research about a billion-gajillion other recipes and take bits and pieces that I like and put them together to come up with my own version. At the end of this post, I will outline some of the differences that I made to this original recipe in case you would like to play around with it for your own preferences as well. It's a very adaptable recipe, so feel free to experiment with some of your own changes too!


Ingredients (4 small servings):

• 2-3 cups Chicken, cooked, cubed, & cooled (about 4-5 chicken breasts)
• 1 cup seedless Grapes, halved
• 1 cup Celery, sliced (about 4 stalks)
• 1/2 cup Almonds, sliced or slivered
• 1/3 cup Craisins
• 1/2 cup Nonfat Greek Yogurt
• 1/4 cup Low Fat Mayo
• 1 teaspoon White Wine Vinegar
• 2 teaspoons Honey
• 1/4 cup Lemon Juice (about 2 large, or 3 small lemons)
• 1/8 teaspoon Ground Mustard Powder
• 1/8 teaspoon Curry Powder

You want to cook your chicken first so that it has time to cool before you assemble your salad (or use cooled leftover chicken).
*Helpful Tip: If you are cooking chicken breast for dinner earlier in the week, just cook some extra and set it aside for this salad for another day's lunch or dinner.*


Prepare the grapes and celery that you need to chop for the salad. And get the rest of the ingredients ready.

In a large bowl, combine the yogurt, LF mayo, vinegar, honey, lemon juice, ground mustard, and curry. This is your hearty dressing for the salad.

Now, just simply add all your prepared chicken, grapes, celery, almonds, and craisins to the dressing in the bowl and stir to coat. It is ready to eat right away or it is perfectly happy sitting in the fridge until you are ready to eat.

Isn't it pretty plated on a bed or ruffly red leaf lettuce :) 
I also garnished it with a little celery leaf and a few craisins for some bright polka dots of color. I always like to garnish with something that actually hints at the flavors that are within the dish. You could also garnish with a little lemon zest too! That could be fun :)

This recipe is great for brunches, for women's teas, wedding showers, for making ahead when you won't have much time later to prepare dinner, or just for those hot summer days :)


Free free to alter and swap ingredients as you please... this is a very 'swapppable' recipe :)
Also, here are the swaps I made from from the original recipe that I told you I would outline to give you some other ideas:

• Instead of the lemon yogurt that the original recipe calls for, I substituted in real fresh lemon juice and fat free greek yogurt sweetened with a little natural honey
• Instead of a lemon-lime alcohol bitter, I used a splash of white wine vinegar to get that same bite in the flavor. 
• It also calls for some diced raw onion, that I omitted completely
• I used low fat mayo instead of regular
• I added the craisins- there's no swap here, just added it 'cuz I felt like it, plus I thought it would be nice to add just for the punch of color contrast. 
• ...Same with the curry. No sub. Just added it entirely. The flavor works VERY well in this dish.
• It called for deli mustart, but I just used a bit of ground mustard instead
• I didn't do this, but you could add a little lemon zest into your salad if you really like that fresh lemon flavor, or you can just sprinkle a little zest on top for garnish. 

Island BBQ Kabobs

Last weekend we had more BEAUTIFUL beach weather. Peter and I went for our Saturday morning walk, then we took a cruise down the coast to get Peter a new pair of sandals at the Rainbow Sandals factory in San Clemente. On our drive back home, we called a bunch of friends to meet us at the beach and join us for a BBQ afterwards. So far, it had been a perfect 'summer' day... and it was only going to get better. I had been dying to try a new marinade, so on the way home we picked up a couple pounds of meat from the deli, whipped up a quick marinade, and let the meat marinate while we were at the beach. When we came home it was only 20 minutes to cook the rice and grill the kabobs and we were eating dinner in no time!

Island Kabobs: 

• approximately 2 lbs Beef, cut into 1 inch cubes
• Island Marinade (see below)
• 1 Red Onion, cut into large chunks then separate layers
• 1 can pineapple rings, cut into quarters (reserve juice for marinade and side rice)
• 8 long, metal skewers

Island Marinade: 

• Zest of 1 Lime
• 2 Tablespoons Lime Juice
• 1/2 cup Pineapple juice
• 1/2 cup Soy Sauce
• 1/4 cup Honey
• 1/4 cup minced Garlic
• 1 Tablespoon Cayenne Pepper
• 1 1/2 Tablespoons Dijon Mustard
• 2 Tablespoons Corn Starch

Combine all marinade ingredients, except corn starch, in a bowl big enough that will later fit all the meat as well. Then reserve 1/2 cup of the marinade out of the bowl to use for basting the kabobs while on the bbq. 

Whisk 2 Tablespoons of corn starch into this 1/2 reserve marinade- this will thicken into somewhat of a glaze as we paint it onto the meat over the bbq. 

Stir all your meat into the marinade, cover with plastic wrap, and let marinate for 1 hour or more... while you're enjoying the beach :) 

**The longer the meat marinates, the better it is because the acidic juices will tenderize the meat more with time. 

Assemble kabobs by skewering the ingredients, alternating between the onion slices, meat, and pineapple quarters. Discard the marinade that remains in the bowl. Heat bbq to medium high. (while grill is heating, start the Island Rice side dish. This way, the rice and kabobs will be done at the same time!) When the BBQ is hot, place the kabobs right onto the grill.

If you haven't done so yet, whisk 2 tablespoons of corn starch into the 1/2 cup reserved marinade. After the kabobs have grilled on one side for about 7 minutes or so, flip them and brush them with the marinade glaze. 

Proceed to cook the kabobs on the second side for another 7 minutes, basting continually with the marinade glaze. Serve these delicious island kabobs over a bed of island-style rice!

It was so fun to set the table outside, bring out some music, and enjoy this pseudo-summer weather while dining outdoors with our friends!

Raspberry-Red Wine Vinaigrette

With all the strawberries coming in to season, I have been going hog wild with strawberry recipes. Though there are no strawberries in this particular dressing, it does go very well on a strawberry and spinach salad (for which I made this dressing on this particular evening :)


Recipe:
1/2 cup fresh Raspberries (or 1/4 cup of raspberry preserves)
1/4 cup Red Wine Vinegar
1/4 cup Balsamic Vinegar
1 Tablespoon of Sugar or Honey
1/2 teaspoon Dijon Mustard
1 small Garlic clove, finely minced
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup Vegetable Oil


Add all your ingredients, except the olive oil,  into your blender or food processor. Turn on your processor for about 30 seconds until all those ingredients have pureed together .

Then add the oil in a small but steady stream so that the dressing can emulsify:

And you will get a BEAUTIFULLY-colored, creamy-textured, and smooth vinaigrette!

Enjoy over a yummy summer strawberry & spinach salad!

Champagne Vinaigrette

This champagne vinaigrette recipe is from the Nordstrom Cafe cookbook, and it goes well with candied walnuts in a fancy pear salad. It is a super yummy salad and it is a great one to serve when you have guests because it is impressively 'fancy', yet so quick and easy to throw together since these ingredients are always available, and most likely already in your kitchen. This vinaigrette could not be a more delicious and easy homemade touch to your salad. You'll have to try it for yourself :)


Recipe (the recipe in the cookbook makes ALOT of dressing, so I halved the recipe for you here and it is still good for 6-8 individual side salads!)


1/2 small Shallot
1 small clove of Garlic, or 1/2 clove garlic
1 1/2 teaspoons of smooth Dijon Mustard
1 Tablespoon of Sugar
1 big pinch of Salt
A couple cranks of freshly ground Pepper (recipe calls for white pepper, I used black and it was great)
3/4 cup Champagne Vinegar (White Wine Vinegar is a fine substitute if you don't have Champagne Vinegar on hand)
3/4 cup Canola Oil (you can also use Grapeseed oil as it also has a very light flavor. However, I wouldn't suggest using Olive Oil because it has a strong flavor of its own that competes with the flavors of the other ingredients in this dressing; but I guess if it's all you have you can try it?)


**Nutrition Noteworthy: Canola oil has the least saturated fat of any cooking oil, and its high heat tolerance, neutral taste and light texture make it ideal for many culinary applications. The FDA authorized a qualified health claim for canola oil on its potential to reduce the risk of coronary heart disease when used in place of saturated fat.


Add all the ingredients (shallot, garlic, dijon, sugar, salt, pepper, and vinegar) EXCEPT the oil, into your food processor and blend until smooth. Then, while the processor is ON, slowly drizzle in the oil to form an emulsion:

It is a beautiful, smooth, ivory dressing!

The lightness of a vinaigrette works great with this fancy baby green salad, yet the pungent flavors in this dressing stand up well to the hearty ingredients of pears, walnuts, and gorgonzola. A little bit goes a long way, so start by drizzling sparingly and add more as desired.

Lime-Cilantro Vinaigrette

I know it's the middle of January, but we just had a few rogue, hot 'summer' days, so for dinner I made a fresh healthy salad to battle the heat. However, this recipe can also be appropriate for January because it follows the new year mindset of being 'healthy, wealthy, and wise'... I will show you how inexpensive, nutritious, and delicious this SUPER EASY lime-cilantro vinaigrette is over a simple southwestern salad.


Dressing Ingredients:
1 cup of packed fresh cilantro
1/4 cup lime juice (I used 3 whole, hand squeezed limes)
1/4 cup orange juice (I used 1/2 large, hand squeezed orange)
1 clove of minced garlic (again, I used my handy dandy garlic 'zoom' toy -seen in previous post)
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper

Simply pack all the ingredients at once into your food processor (or blender)...

...Let it spin for about 10 seconds or so...

...and you have a beautifully colorful, DELICIOUS, and flavorful vinaigrette made from fresh ingredients:

Now pour it over your salad of choice. I think this dressing goes great over a fresh southwestern salad.

 Of course, you can add or subtract any ingredients to your liking, but this is how I like to create my southwestern salad (I like to add lots of color; Typically, more color means more nutrients): 

Colorful Nutritious Salad:

-2 heads iceberg lettuce, chopped (I've tried it with Romaine lettuce before, but I found that the Romaine didn't quite compliment the tex-mex flavors in this salad)

-1 large tomato, diced (good source of Vitamins A & C, and Lycopene -a cancer fighting antioxidant)

-1 avocado, peeled and diced (high in GOOD monounsturated fats)

-1 red bell pepper, diced (high in Vitamin C)

-1 can black beans, drained (high in Protein and Fiber)

-1 can corn, drained (Whole Grain, and a good source of Fiber and Protein)

-1 handful of cilantro, chopped (helps remove trace heavy metals, and fights infections)

Salads are so easy to tailor to your own preferences. For example, I usually like to add either grilled chicken or ground turkey with taco seasonings to this salad, but if you are a vegetarian this can be a great vegetarian-friendly dish without the meat because it is already full of protein from the black beans and corn- and if you wish to add more protein you can even add in some kidney beans, or some cheese too!

And it's a money-saving meal too:

Salad:

2 heads Iceberg Lettuce	$1.98
1 large Tomato	$0.50
1 Avocado	$0.88
1 Red Bell Pepper	$1.00
1 can Black Beans	$0.59
1 can Corn	$0.44
handful Cilantro (1/2 bundle)	$0.50

Dressing:

Cilantro (1/2 bundle)	$0.50
¼ cup Lime Juice (3 limes)	$0.99
¼ cup OJ (1/2 Orange from Grandma Joanie’s yard)	$0.00
½ tsp Salt	$0.01
½ tsp Pepper	$0.01
1 clove Garlic	$0.05
½ cup EVOO	$0.71

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Grand Total

$8.16

or 6 very generous servings of salad with dressing, which weigh in at  just $1.36 per serving