Asian Chicken Noodle Salad With Ginger-Peanut Dressing

I love salads like these. I found the recipe on Serious Eats. For the chicken, I cooked it using the Kitchn's method. I think it's faster and easier than the method Serious Eats used. I also added edamame to this and changed a couple ingredients to reduce sodium. The ginger-peanut dressing is the best! I also love peanuts, cilantro, and edamame.

Ingredients

For the chicken:

2 bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts (or 2 cups of cooked shredded meat)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup flour
Olive oil
1/2 tablespoon butter


For the salad:
10 ounces soba noodles (or spaghetti)
1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced into bite-sized pieces
4 scallions, white and green parts, thinly sliced
1/2 cup chopped unsalted peanuts
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 tablespoon sesame seeds
1/4 cup shelled edamame 

For the dressing:
6 tablespoons reduced sodium soy sauce
3 tablespoons seasoned rice wine vinegar
2 tablespoons peanut oil
1 tablespoon Asian sesame oil
1-1/2 tablespoons creamy peanut butter
2 small garlic cloves, roughly chopped
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
1 tablespoon sugar

To cook the chicken, use the Kitchn's method. Click here.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook noodles according to package instructions, stirring occasionally so they don't stick. Drain and rinse well under cold water.

Make the dressing by combining all ingredients in a small food processor or blender. Blitz until mixture is smooth.

Remove skin from chicken breasts and shred meat into bite-sized pieces. In a large bowl, toss shredded chicken with noodles, dressing, bell peppers, peanuts, edamame, scallions, cilantro and sesame seeds. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary. Serve immediately.

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Testing: the Kitchn's How to Cook Moist & Tender Chicken Breasts

The Kitchn posted a great article on cooking chicken breasts. It's easy and it totally works. I will be cooking chicken breasts like this for now on.

Ingredients

1 to 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup flour (I used whole wheat flour)
1 teaspoon freshly chopped herbs (optional)
Olive oil
1/2 tablespoon butter (I used I Can't Believe It's Not Butter)

Equipment

10-inch sauté pan with lid

Instructions

Pound the chicken breasts to an even thickness with the handle or flat of a knife.

Lightly salt and pepper the chicken breasts.

Mix about a half teaspoon of salt in with the flour along with a little pepper. Chop the herbs finely, if using, and mix in as well.

Quickly dredge the chicken breasts in the flour, so that they are just lightly dusted with flour.

Heat the sauté pan over medium-high heat. When it is quite hot, add the olive oil and butter. Let them melt, and swirl the pan.

Turn the heat to medium. Add the chicken breasts. Cook for just about 1 minute to help them get a little golden on one side (you are not actually searing or browning them). Then flip each chicken breast over.

Turn the heat to low. Put the lid on the pan. Set a timer for 10 minutes, and walk away. Do not lift the lid; do not peek.

After 10 minutes have elapsed, turn off the heat. Reset the timer for 10 minutes and leave the chicken breasts in the pan. Again, do not lift the lid; do not peek.

After the 10 minutes are up, take the lid off, and tada! Soft, tender, juicy chicken breasts that aren't dried out in the least. Double check them to make sure there is no pink in the middle. Slice and eat.

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B.L.A. (Bacon, Lettuce, Acocado) with Sun-Dried Tomato Mayo on Ciabatta Bread

I'm continuing with the sandwich making at home. Despite the horrible name that I have given this sandwich, it is nothing but horrible or blah. It's really pretty good!

Ingredients

Sun-dried tomato mayo
Cooked reduced sodium bacon
Sliced of romaine lettuce
Ciabatta bread
Slices of avocado

Slice ciabatta bread into two halves. Slather mayo on the bottom half of the bread. Top with lettuce, avocado, and bacon. Put slices together and enjoy.

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Smoky Fried Chickpeas

I saw this recipe a long time ago on Food 52 and it looked great. It's looks like it can be an awesome snack to have at home while blogging (hi) or a hor d'oeuvre for your fancy party.

Ingredients

Two 1-pound, 13-ounce cans chickpeas
1 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon zest, in thin strips
1 fresh thyme sprig
4 garlic cloves, sliced
1 tablespoon smoked paprika (sweet or hot, depending on your taste)
Coarse salt

Drain the chickpeas and set on paper towels in a colander to dry thoroughly. (This can be done 1 day in advance.)

Heat the oil in a large pan (preferably cast iron) to 350°F, or until the oil makes bubbles around a single chickpea when you drop it in.

Add the lemon zest, thyme sprig, and chickpeas in batches so the pan doesn’t crowd. Fry each batch for about 5 minutes until the chickpeas darken and are crunchy.

Remove the chickpeas, zest, and thyme from the oil with a slotted spoon and drain well over a colander or sieve. After you’ve fried the last batch, add the garlic to the oil and fry briefly until golden. Remove and drain.

Toss the chickpeas and garlic with the smoked paprika and salt, adding more to taste. Serve right away while still warm and crisp.

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Caprese Sandwich

I previously posted a recipe for Caprese Pasta Salad so this weekend I decided that I would try making a Caprese sandwich. Here's how I went about it.

Ingredients

Basil pesto sauce
Balsamic Vinaigrette
Whole fresh basil leaves
Sliced mozzarella cheese
Sliced sun-dried tomatoes (or fresh tomatoes, whatever you prefer)
Whole wheat ciabatta bread

To assemble sandwich, slice ciabatta bread horizontally in half. On one half, spread pesto sauce. On the other half, spread balsamic vinaigrette. On either half of the sandwich, stack the sliced mozzarella cheese, basil leaves, and tomatoes. Combine both bread halves together and consume.

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Spicy Ginger Chicken Noodle Soup with Snow Peas, Shiitake Mushrooms, and Cilantro

Now that winter has finally, sorta hit here in Los Angeles, I'm craving to have warm soups and comfort foods more often. Here's a great recipe from Serious Eats slightly modified using reduced sodium ingredients. I also used snow peas instead of sugar snap peas because I love snow peas. I like this recipe because it's spicy and uses a lot of fresh veggies. The result reminded me of pho.

Ingredients

24 fluid ounces reduced sodium chicken broth
1/2 teaspoon Sriracha or other chili sauce
1/4 cup reduced sodium soy sauce
2 inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and sliced
1 tablespoon brown sugar
2 tablespoons lime juice
3/4 pound boneless skinless chicken breast cut into 3 inch strips
1 cup sliced shiitake mushrooms
3 tablespoons chopped scallions
1 cup snow peas
1 red bell pepper, cut into 1/8 inch strips
1 teaspoon lime zest
6 ounces soba noodles
1/4 cup chopped cilantro

In a large pot, combine broth, chili sauce, soy sauce, ginger, brown sugar, and lime juice. Bring to a boil then cook, boiling, for 5 minutes.

Reduce heat to medium and add chicken and mushrooms. Let simmer for 15 minutes.

While chicken is cooking, fill a medium pot with cold water. Bring water to a boil, and add soba noodles. Cook for four minutes, then drain noodles and set aside.

Add scallions, snap peas, red pepper, and zest to broth. Let cook one minute. Take off heat.

Divide noodles among serving bowls, then ladle in soup. Garnish with cilantro. Add more Sriracha or other hot sauce if you want it to be more spicy.

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Balsamic Vinaigrette

Over the past few years, I have come to love homemade salad dressings. They are extremely easy to make, and I personally think they taste better than the most expensive bottle of salad dressing that you can buy off the shelf at the market. I also noticed that when eating salads with homemade dressings, it encouraged me to eat salads more often. I typically pour this dressing over romaine lettuce with black olives, garbanzo beans, and sun-dried tomatoes. It tastes great!

Ingredients

3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 cup olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper

In a small bowl, combine the vinegar, mustard, and garlic. Add the oil in a slow steady stream, whisking constantly. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Bottle for later use. Shake well before pouring.

Reference
Balsamic Vinaigrette

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Italian Antipasto Salad

I love antipasto salads. They are light but full of flavor thanks to the dressing, meats, and pepperchinis. I also love black olives and garbanzo beans! With this salad, I didn't indicate quantities for the ingredients because you can adjust for your liking. If you like more meats, then add more meats; if you like more garbanzo beans and olives, then add more of those. Enjoy!

Ingredients

Reduced fat salami, sliced
Reduced fat pepperoni, sliced
Part-skim mozarella cheese, shredded
Reduced sodium garbanzo beans
Romaine lettuce, diced
Pepperoncinis, sliced
Reduced sodium black olives, sliced

Dressing:

1 large garlic clove, minced
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
3 tablespoons red-wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon crumbled dried rosemary
1 teaspoon dried basil, crumbled
1 teaspoon dried orégano, crumbled
1/4 teaspoon dried hot red pepper flakes, or to taste
1/4 cup olive oil

In a small bowl whisk together the garlic, the vinegars, the rosemary, the basil, the oregano, the red pepper flakes, and salt and pepper to taste, add the oil in a stream, whisking, and whisk the marinade until it is emulsified.

In a salad bowl, toss the romaine lettuce, meats, cheese, garbanzo beans, black olives, and pepperoncinis. Top with dressing.

Reference
Mixed Antipasto 

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Artichoke Pasta Salad with Roasted Chicken and Sun-Dried Tomatoes

I love love love this recipe. I pretty much used Alton Brown's Artichoke Pasta Salad recipe with a few small changes to quantities and a couple ingredients. The herb oil is fantastic! I have been making this dish over and over again over the past couple of weeks because I can't get enough of it. So good!

Ingredients

2 cups cooked whole wheat penne pasta, cooled
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
3 tablespoons herb oil, recipe follows
1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes, julienned 
2 tablespoons thinly sliced fresh basil
1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano
1/4 cup roughly chopped roasted chicken
1/4 cup roughly chopped marinated artichokes
1/4 cup sliced black olives
2 tbsp shredded parmesan cheese
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Directions

In a large bowl toss all of the ingredients. Serve or store in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

Herb Oil:

1/2 bunch parsley
1/2 cup packed fresh basil
1/2 bunch fresh thyme
1/2 cup packed fresh oregano
1/2 orange, zested
1 whole dried arbol chile
1 teaspoon whole black pepper corns
2 cups canola oil
1 cup extra-virgin olive oil

In a 1-quart mason jar or glass container, place all of the herbs, zest, chile, and peppercorns. Pour both oils into a saucepan and heat to 200 degrees F. Pour the hot oils into the jar and cover with a kitchen towel. Let stand overnight.

Place cheesecloth or strainer over the top of the jar and replace the outer rim of the lid. Invert and strain oil into desired container.

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Burrito: Refried Beans, Chorizo, Avocado, and Queso Fresco in a Whole Wheat Tortilla

This recipe is inspired by Serious Eats' Crusty Torta With Black Beans And Chorizo. I love chorizo and avocado so I wanted to try this, give it a lighter spin, make a burrito instead of a torta.

Ingredients

4 ounces fresh Mexican chorizo, casings removed
1 fifteen-ounce can fat-free refried black beans
3 ounces part-skim queso fresco
1 avocado, peeled and sliced
Sliced black olives
Romaine lettuce, diced
Hot sauce (I used sriracha)
Salt

Toss the chorizo into a large skillet over medium heat. Cook for about 8 minutes or until the fat has rendered, breaking up the meat until it is crumbly.

Dump in the whole can of refried beans into the skillet. Stir until combined and cook for 10 minutes at a simmer. Add a little water if it becomes too dry. Season with salt to taste.

Warm a tortilla on a stove burner. After tortilla is warmed up, you are ready to assemble your burrito.

Smooth the chorizo-bean mixture onto the center of the tortilla. Place diced lettuce, crumbed queso freso, sliced black olives, and slices of avocado on top. Lightly salt the avocado to bring out the taste. Wrap up the tortilla into a burrito.

If you want more spiciness to your burrito, add some hot sauce. I added Sriracha to mine and it was fantastic!

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Iceberg Wedge Salad With Bacon And Lite Blue Cheese Dressing

I absolutely LOVE this recipe. Adapted from Serious Eats' Iceberg Wedge With Warm Bacon And Blue Cheese Dressing, I made a lighter version of the blue cheese dressing and used reduced sodium bacon. Thanks Serious Eats! You are the best!

Ingredients

1 ½ cups lite mayonnaise
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, from one lemons
1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon hot sauce
2 tablespoons reduced fat buttermilk
1 cup crumbled reduced fat blue cheese
½ pound reduced sodium thick-cut bacon
1 head iceberg lettuce, cut into six wedges, each with some core attached
½ red onion, thinly sliced

For dressing: Mix mayonnaise, lemon juice, black pepper, hot sauce, and buttermilk to medium-sized bowl. Whisk to combine. Stir in crumbled blue cheese. Set aside.

Take 2-3 stripes of bacon and cook. I used the easy microwave method but you can cook it in a skillet per the directions on the packaging too. After cooking, break up bacon into smaller pieces.

Place one wedge of iceberg lettuce on plate. Spoon two tablespoons or so of dressing on top. Sprinkle some bacon and red onion on top. Repeat with five remaining wedges.

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Spiderweb Cupcakes

Gotta love Martha Stewart. I love reading her website for ideas and I saw her post a No-Bake Spiderweb Cheesecake. I thought the spiderweb design on top of the cake was great. I used her method to recreate the design on cupcakes.

Ingredients

Baked cupcakes (I used Pillbury's Devil Food Cake)
White Betty Crocker cookie icing
Betty Crocker Decorating Gel in black

After baking the cupcakes, I waited for them to cool down to start decorating.

Apply a thin layer of  the white Betty Crocker cookie icing onto the cupcakes. After covering the surface of the cupcake, wait for the icing to set, about 5 minutes. Now you can start making the web.

Starting in the center of the cupcake, pipe a spiral.

Pull the tip of a paring knife in a gently curved line from the center of the spiral to outer edge. Do not push the knife into the dried white icing. Move across the surface of the icing lightly, only moving the black gel icing down. Wipe knife clean, and repeat to form a web.

The above picture is your finished result. Enjoy! Happy Halloween!

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Jack Skellington Cupcakes

Besides carving a Nightmare Before Christmas pumpkin, I also decided to make some cupcakes, decorated to look like Jack Skellington's face. I got the inspiration for this on the Disney Family website and really loved the idea. The execution was pretty simple too.

Ingredients

Baked cupcakes (I used Pillbury's Devil Food cake mix)
White Betty Crocker cookie icing
Wilton Black Decorating Icing 
Wilton No. 3 round decorating tip
Wilton Coupler Ring (to attach the round decorating tip to the icing tube)

After baking the cupcakes, I waited for them to cool down to start decorating.

I used white Betty Crocker cookie icing for the face and Wilton Black Decorating Icing with the No. 3 decorating tip attached to make the face. I really liked using the Betty Crocker icing. Not a whole lot of prep was needed before opening the package and starting to put icing on the cupcakes. Apply a thin layer of this onto the cupcakes.

After covering the surface of the cupcake, wait for the icing to set. With this icing, it took 5 minutes. Now you can start decorating.

Use the black icing to draw the outline of the eyes. The Disney Family site recommends using toothpicks to draw the outline of the eyes before piping the black frosting. I didn't find this necessary, but it's a good suggestion.

Pipe on two short lines for a nose.

Pipe a long line across the bottom of the cupcake for the mouth.

Randomly top the mouth with a bunch of short icing barbs.

Pipe icing into the eyes to fill in the circles.

And you're done! Enjoy and have a happy Halloween!

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My Halloween Pumpkins

Besides dressing up every year, my favorite thing to do during the Halloween season is pumpkin carving. This year I carved three pumpkins.

This Nightmare Before Christmas themed pumpkin was the first one I carved this year. I absolutely love this movie and every year I do something themed with this film. I used two templates to come up with the end result.

My second pumpkin was a Dia de los muertos skull. It took me two days to do this. I got the pattern for it at Jammin' Pumpkins. I carved this pumpkin and the Jack and Sally pumpkin using a Pumpkin Masters carving kit.

My third pumpkin was Don Draper from Mad Men. I love this show, and I missed it this whole year. (Come back on the TV, Mad Men!) I had to make a pumpkin in honor of the sexiest man on TV.

For this one, I found a black and white stencil of Draper, transferred it over using the traditional poking method onto the pumpkin, and then I carved the skin off using a Speedball linoleum cutter. For this method, it's important to make the wall of the pumpkin thin on the inside so that the light shines through the pumpkin.

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Baguette Croutes With Brie, Avocado Mousse, and Sun-Dried Tomatoes

This is a pretty easy hor d'oeuvre to make. They taste good and look fancy so you can impress your guests and friends at all the fancy dinner parties you go to or throw. Or you can make them for yourself and just feel fancy alone.

Ingredients

1 avocado
Salt
Baguette, cut on a diagonal into ¼-inch slices
1/2 pound of lite brie, cut into slices
Sun-dried tomatoes cut into strips
Olive oil

Place the baguette slices on an aluminum sheet and brush olive oil on the sides that will be toasted facing up. Put aluminum sheet in the toaster oven and toast until slices are lightly toasted.

Prepare the avocado by mashing the ripe avocado with a potato masher or large spoon until it becomes smooth.

After the baguette slices are toasted, place one piece of brie on each baguette slice. Spoon some avocado mousse on the brie, and top with a few slivers of sun-dried tomato.

Reference
Baguette Croutes With Brie, Avocado Mousse, And Sun-Dried Tomatoes

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Cucumber Avocado Roll

One of my favorite rolls. This will also fully explain how to make sushi rolls.

Ingredients

Seaweed sheets for sushi rolls (Go for a medium priced seaweed. The cheap stuff will break too easily and the more expensive stuff is for hand rolls.)
Cooked sushi rice
Avocado, cut into large quarter slices
Japanese or Hothouse cucumber (I used Japanese cucumber here), peeled and julienned

Tools

Bamboo sushi mat
A large bowl filled half way with water

While the sushi rice is cooking, I prep my ingredients for my roll as well as set up my roll-making area. In this case, I first peel and julienne the cucumber and cut the avocado.

Next I wrap the bamboo sushi mat with plastic wrap. This is key for easy clean up and to prolong the life of your bamboo mat.



I also prep the sheet of seaweed. Cut off 1 inch from the top.



When the sushi rice is ready, my set up looks like this. I have the bowl of water in the corner to dip my hands in to clean off rice from my hands. Dampen your hands in the bowl before handling the rice. It'll make it easier for you to manage. Be sure that your seaweed sheet is rough side up. That's where your rice will be going.

With damp hands, make a snowball of sticky rice in your hands and place it on one side of the seaweed.

Press down on the ball of rice with your hands, working towards the other side of the sheet and into the corners. If you have gaps on your sheet, just grab smaller amounts of rice and press it in.

Your completed sheet should look like this.

Gently peel the sheet up and flip onto the smooth side. Place julienned cucumber down in a horizontal row, followed by the quartered avocado slices. Don't place your fillings in the middle of the sheet, but 3/4 down the sheet.

Now to wrap. You are going to wrap it similar to wrapping a burrito very tightly. If some of the filling starts spilling out a bit, that's ok. You are doing something right.

Lift the bamboo mat starting towards the end nearest to you while lightly curling your fingers where the filling is.

Then you are going to pull over the mat more and squeeze the filling in tightly with your hands.

Continue wrapping slowly and bit by bit until you get this.

Time to take it to the cutting board.

Cut the roll in half.

And then half the halves.

And then half the quaters so you will have 8 pieces.



And then you are done! Serve up some soy sauce and enjoy. If you want it a little spicier and you don't have wasabi, try dabbing the pieces with Sriracha. 

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California Roll

California rolls. Probably the roll that introduced us all to sushi and it's always a safe bet when going to a sushi bar. This post will show you how to make them at home.

Ingredients

Seaweed sheets for sushi rolls (Go for a medium priced seaweed. The cheap stuff will break too easily and the more expensive stuff is for hand rolls.)
Cooked sushi rice
1 Avocado, cut into large quarter slices
1 Japanese or Hothouse cucumber (I used Japanese cucumber here), peeled and julienned
3 Crab meat sticks, defrosted, and shredded

Tools

Bamboo sushi mat
A large bowl filled half way with water

A lot of this post is going to be almost exactly like the one for the Cucumber Avocado Roll, but with a minor difference in that we are adding shredded crab meat.

While the sushi rice is cooking, I prep my ingredients for my roll as well as set up my roll-making area. In this case, I first peel and julienne the cucumber and cut the avocado. After the crab meat sticks have defrosted, I place each one in between my hands and lightly rub together to make it shred like this.



Next I wrap the bamboo sushi mat with plastic wrap. This is key for easy clean up and to prolong the life of your bamboo mat.



I also prep the sheet of seaweed. Cut off 1 inch from the top.



When the sushi rice is ready, my set up looks like this. I have the bowl of water in the corner to dip my hands in to clean off rice from my hands. Dampen your hands in the bowl before handling the rice. It'll make it easier for you to manage. Be sure that your seaweed sheet is rough side up. That's where your rice will be going.



With damp hands, make a snowball of sticky rice in your hands and place it on one side of the seaweed.



Press down on the ball of rice with your hands, working towards the other side of the sheet and into the corners. If you have gaps on your sheet, just grab smaller amounts of rice and press it in.



Your completed sheet should look like this.



Gently peel the sheet up and flip onto the smooth side. Place julienned cucumber down in a horizontal row, followed by the quartered avocado slices and the shredded crab meat. Don't place your fillings in the middle of the sheet, but 3/4 down the sheet.



Now to wrap. You are going to wrap it similar to wrapping a burrito very tightly. If some of the filling starts spilling out a bit, that's ok. You are doing something right.

Lift the bamboo mat starting towards the end nearest to you while lightly curling your fingers where the filling is.



Then you are going to pull over the mat more and squeeze the filling in tightly with your hands.



Continue wrapping slowly and bit by bit until you get this.



Time to take it to the cutting board.

Cut the roll in half.



And then half the halves. And then half the quaters so you will have 8 pieces.

And then you are done! Serve up some soy sauce and enjoy. If you want it a little spicier and you don't have wasabi, try dabbing the pieces with Sriracha.

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