Squash Blossom Salad

Ingredients needed for 1 salad:

• mixed spring greens
• sprouts
• 3 squash blossoms
• 1/2 small bell pepper sliced into 6 strips
• 9 cherry tomato halves
• 3 chicken tenders
• 1 stem of a green onion, thinly sliced
• slivered raw almonds
• dressing of choice

Directions:

• Make a bed of mixed spring greens and sprinkle a handful of sprouts all over it.
• Arrange the squash blossoms, bell pepper strips, and cherry tomato halves on the salad.
• Grill the chicken strips over medium heat using the salad dressing as a glaze.
• Arrange grilled chicken strips onto the salad.
• Sprinkle with green onion slices and slivered raw almonds.
• Serve with dressing of choice.

This recipe works quite well when making 2 salads, because then you can use the whole small green pepper, and the odd number of tomato halves can result in the two salads sharing one of the tomatoes.  How harmonious!  Not that you have to use my exact proportions, this is just the way this salad worked out for me today.

Special note:
Almost everything that went into this salad was purchased at the Good Earth Food Coop (except for the green onion, I grew that myself).  The squash blossoms were today's locally grown treat at the coop, and they are what I created this salad around.  The chicken I used was from Just BARE Chicken, and the dressing that I chose for today's salad was Drew's All Natural Rosemary Balsamic Vinaigrette.  Hooray for supporting small local shoppes and local growers, using organic and natural foods, and just plain eating healthy!

Chicken Fried Quinoa

• 1 1/2 cups prepared quinoa
• 4 oz cooked, cubed chicken
• 3 large rainbow chard leaves, washed and coarsely chopped
• 3/4 cup chopped onions
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 3/4 cup small broccoli florets
• 3/4 cup chopped red bell pepper
• 1 jalapeno, minced
• 2 eggs, scrambled
• sunflower oil (or your oil of choice)
• coconut aminos (or soy sauce) to taste
• pepper to taste

Instructions:

1. Scramble the eggs and set them aside.  
2. Saute the veggies in this order: 1) onions, 2) broccoli, 3) bell pepper, 4) garlic and jalapeno.  Take a couple of minutes in between adding each next veggie in order to make sure the last veggie has gotten enough time to start cooking.  
3. Add the chard and cook until it starts to wilt.
4. Add the quinoa and chicken and heat through.  
5. Splash in some coconut aminos (or soy sauce).  
6. Fold in the eggs.
7. Serve.

Chai Spice

• 5 teaspoons ground cardamom
• 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Shake well.

This recipe was taken from: 

http://www.thespicehouse.com/recipes/spicy-chai-recipe

The original recipe also has 1 can (14 oz) of sweetened condensed milk.  I decided to leave that out, and just add milk and sweetener later when I decide how I am going to use this.  I brewed up some black tea, added a generous amount of this seasoning along with some milk and a spoonful of sugar, and enjoyed a nice Chai tea.

B.E.T. Spinach Salad

Where the B.E.T. stands for Bacon, Egg, and Tomato

• baby spinach
• cucumber, chopped
• hard boiled eggs, chopped
• bacon, cooked and chopped
• cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
• sunflower seeds (this was an after thought, but I think it would be good)

No measurements included because it all depends on your taste and how big you want your salad to be.  I served this with a bleu cheese dressing, but I'm sure it would also be good with a tomato & bacon vinaigrette.  And, it makes an excellent main dish salad.

Cottage Cheese and Tomatos

I love cottage cheese.  I love it even more when I put things in it.  For a savory cottage cheese snack try adding tomatoes, or perhaps cucumbers.  For a sweet snack add pineapple, kiwi, peaches, etc.  Not big words of wisdom, just a random thought.  What do you add to your cottage cheese?

Chicken Noodle Soup - Take Two

Ingredients:

• 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts (or 2 pounds if you like)
• 16 cups water (divided)
• 1 sprig fresh rosemary
• 2 stems fresh parsley
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 small onion, diced
• several shakes of dried thyme leaves
• salt and pepper to taste
• chicken bullion to taste
• 3 nice sized carrots, chopped
• 4 celery stalks, chopped
• 1 small head of cabbage, chopped
• 1 package (8.8 oz) egg noodles

Instructions:

1. Add the chicken, rosemary, parsley, garlic, onion, thyme, salt and pepper to 8 cups of water and bring to a boil.  Simmer for about 35 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, peal and dice the carrots, chop the celery, and chop the cabbage.
3. Once the chicken is done simmering remove it from the water, and remove the parsley stems and rosemary sprig.  Do not discard the water.
4. Add 4 more cups of water as well as some chicken bullion and return to a boil.
5. Add the carrots and boil for a couple of minutes, add the celery and continue boiling for a couple of minutes.
6. While the carrots and celery are boiling shred the chicken and set it aside.
7. Add the noodles and cabbage and cook as long as the noodles say to cook.
8. Add back the chicken and heat through.
9. Taste the broth, if it needs salt or pepper add more.

This is how I made this soup this time, but I might change it up again next time.  Honestly, I used 4 cups of chicken broth instead of 4 of the cups of water and the chicken bullion.  I just thought it looked simpler this way, and I know that the way I have it listed works too.  And this time I tried taking the parsley and rosemary out after simmering the chicken.  Maybe next time I will chop those two herbs up and leave them in.  While eating this soup it was also apparent that these noodles were difficult to manage because they were so long, and they tended to splash broth all over the table.  Never fear, they did not hold their shape.  Although, next time I might experiment with different noodles.  Here is a picture of the soup after a day in the fridge:

Although I made vast modifications, and definitely improvements, the initial inspiration for this soup came from:

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/rosemary-chicken-noodle-soup/

Quinoa Tabouli

• 4 cups cooked and cooled quinoa
• 1 chopped cucumber
• 2 cups fresh parsley leaves
• 1 cup chopped green onion
• 1 huge tomato, chopped (or 2 medium tomatoes)
• 1/2 cup salted sunflower seeds
• 1 tablespoon dried basil
• 1 extra large garlic cloves, minced (or 3 regular cloves)
• 1/2 cup sunflower seed oil
• juice of 1 lemon
• pepper to taste

Make this ahead of time and keep it in the fridge for a quick snack or side dish.  It's yummy right away, but when you let it rest overnight the flavors get a chance to co-mingle.  This was a pretty big batch I made, so you might want to cut the portions in half.  Also, the better the ingredients the better the salad.  Almost everything in my batch was organic and came from the local co-op (save for the black pepper and dried basil).  In particular, the tomato that I used was phenomenal and I would recommend the same to you if you have the choice.  I used a giant pink Heirloom tomato.  It added a lot of flavor to the dish, and it was very meaty so it held together well when I chopped it.

The research for this recipe included these web sites:

http://www.lynnskitchenadventures.com/2011/07/quinoa-tabouli.html

http://sousstyle.com/2013/03/12/the-best-quinoa-tabouli-recipe-ever/