BLOGHUNGRY

Chinese Chicken Salad with Fusilli and Sesame Dressing

I found this amazing salad on Foodie Crush. I think Chinese Chicken Salad is making a comeback this year and the fusilli and homemade wonton strips in this one are genius. I added some extra chicken, almonds, sesame oil and soy sauce to make it even more exciting. Enjoy!

Chinese Chicken Salad with Fusilli and Sesame Dressing

12  3-inch wonton skins, sliced into 1/4″ strips
1/2 cup canola or corn oil for frying
4 cups chopped romaine lettuce
2 chicken breast, shredded
2 green onions, chopped
1/2 cup sliced almonds, toasted lightly
1 tablespoon sesame seeds
2 cups cooked fusilli pasta noodles, cooled

Sesame Dressing:

1 1/2 tablespoons vegetable or grapeseed oil
6 tablespoons seasoned rice vinegar
3 teaspoon sesame oil
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
3 teaspoons light soy sauce
2 tablespoon sesame seeds
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
1/8 teaspoon salt

Heat canola or corn oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. When oil starts to shimmer, fry wonton skins in batches of 5-7 strips for 30 seconds each side or until lightly browned, working quickly so they don’t burn. Remove from oil and drain on paper towels until cooled.

In a large bowl, combine lettuce, chicken breast, green onion, almonds and pasta.

Combine dressing ingredients in a small bowl. Whisk well until sugar dissolves. Dress lettuce mixture with 2-3 tablespoons of sesame dressing and top with sesame seeds and wonton strips and serve.

10 Salads I Want to Eat Right Now

I'm not usually big on salad. Too often it's bland and lacks a satisfying combination of textures and flavors. However, salad doesn't have to be a punishment for eating too many fatty foods. It can be a fresh and exciting meal. Here are some salads that caught my eye recently.

Summer Bean Salad with Arugula, Almonds, & Manchego

Chicken, Spinach, Apples, Gruyere, & Walnuts with Curried Vinaigrette

Cherry Tomato Salad with Basil and Mozzarella

Bacon Egg Arugula & Tomato Salad

Grilled Watermelon Salad with Arugula, Feta and a Fig Balsamic Reduction

Mixed Greens with Avocado, Celery, and Ginger Vinaigrette

Spinach, Prosciutto, Strawberries Pecans, & Goat Cheese

Grilled Chicken, Peanut Sauce, & Tortilla Strips with Lime Dressing

White Beans and Spinach with Warm Bacon Vinaigrette

BLT Salad

Nectarines Wrapped in Prosciutto with Balsamic Vinegar Syrup Drizzle

On the rare occasion I decide to eat salad at home, I want it to be easy to throw together and worth eating. Too often salads involve 45 ingredients that you have to finely chop and toss and the results are pretty disappointing. This recipe, originally adapted from Donna Hay, came from Once Upon A Plate. It only takes a few minutes to throw together and is pretty tasty. Donna Hay made hers with peaches, but I used nectarines because I had them on hand.

Nectarines Wrapped in Prosciutto with Balsamic Vinegar Syrup Drizzle

2 nectarines or peaches
6 slices prosciutto, halved
3 or 4 ounces arugula or other tender salad greens
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup brown sugar
cracked black pepper

Cut each nectarine (or peach) into 6 wedges then wrap in the prosciutto.
Arrange greens on four plates, divide the wrapped fruit evenly among the plates.

To make Balsamic Syrup:
In a small pot or pan combine balsamic vinegar and brown sugar, place over high heat and boil until thickened. Cool slightly and spoon over the greens, sprinkle with the cracked black pepper and serve.

How To Woo A Gay Southern Boy Salad

I've been inspiRED by Glamour magazine's Engagement Chicken and Let's Make A Baby Pasta recipes. I've decided to throw a few of my own mind control recipes out there. It's all grounded in years of science and research. The gays love goat cheese and anything with strawberries and balsamic. Southern boys love fried chicken, honey and fresh berries. The combination is sure the charm the britches off of any same sex minded southern male. Feel free to make this for non-gay non-southerners too. The mix of sweet and salty with the creamy cheese and homemade vinaigrette are insane.

Fried Chicken & Goat Cheese Spinach Salad with Strawberries and Honey Balsamic Vinaigrette

6-8 premade fried chicken tenders, sliced
1/2 bag fresh spinach
2 cups sliced fresh strawberries, sliced
5 oz Goat cheese, crumbled

Slice chicken and strawberries into thin bite-sized slices toss with goat cheese crumbles, spinach and a good drizzle of dressing.
 
Honey Balsamic Vinaigrette

1/8 cup balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon honey
1/4 cup olive oil
salt and ground black pepper to taste

Stir the balsamic vinegar and honey together in a bowl; slowly stream the olive oil into the mixture while whisking continuously. Season with salt and pepper.

Bloghungry's Go-To Salad

For most of my life, I used to think that I didn't like salad. It turns out I just don't like the way most people make salad. I am not a fan of ice berg lettuce and thick factory-made dressings. I like spinach or arugula with some sliced fruit and a fresh vinagrette. It's really not a difficult or expensive thing to throw together. Here is the side salad we eat a lot at my house. It's a good gateway salad to lead you into fresher and simpler salads down the line.

Bloghungry's Go-To Salad

1 cup grape or cherry tomatoes, cut lengthwise
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon white wine, rice wine or champagne vinegar
1/2 pound fresh baby arugula or baby spinach

In a small bowl, combine tomatoes and healthy pinch of salt. Toss to coat well. Add oil, lemon zest, lemon juice, vinegar, and pepper. Toss to combine. Let stand for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until tomatoes begin to macerate and release their juice.

Place greens in large bowl. Spoon out the tomatoes from the dressing and add them to the greens, tossing everything lightly. Add the dressing by the spoonful to taste, until the arugula is lightly dressed. Re-season with salt and pepper.

The Kids Are Alright: Organic Heirloom Tomato Caprese Salad with Burrata

The Kids Are Alright is one of the few Oscar nominated films I did watch this year. The biggest message PopMuse and I took away from the film is that Los Angelenos need to pull their heads out of their asses and stop obsessing over organic heirloom tomatoes. That said heirloom tomatoes are the most colorful and flavorful tomatoes on earth and I'm really looking forward to stuffing my face with them on Oscar night.

Organic Heirloom Tomato Caprese Salad with Burrata

2 lbs. Organic Heirloom Tomatoes of Different Varieties
4 Balls of Burrata Cheese
20-30 Fresh Basil Leaves
8T.Extra Virgin Olive Oil
6T.Aged Balsamic Vinegar
Sea Salt (to taste)
Freshly Ground Black Pepper (to taste)

Core and cut the different tomatoes into various shapes and sizes and arrange on the plate.

Cut open the burrata cheese to expose the interior and lay next to the tomatoes.

Tuck basil leaves amongst the tomatoes and burrata.

Drizzle tomatoes and cheese with the extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

Season tomatoes and cheese liberally with sea salt and pepper.

Warm Potato Salad with Goat Cheese

I usually don't like potato salad because I don't like cold mayo based salads that sit out at at picnics or pot lucks. However, when you swap the mayo for mustard and goat cheese, I'm in! I found this recipe on The Bitten Word.

Warm Potato Salad with Goat Cheese

2 pounds red potatoes, scrubbed well and cut into 3/4-inch pieces
Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
2 tablespoons white-wine vinegar
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3 ounces crumbled goat cheese (1/2 cup)
1 celery stalk, finely chopped
1 small shallot, finely chopped
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

1. Cover potatoes with water in a medium saucepan; season with salt, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer until tender, 10 to 12 minutes. Drain, reserving 1 tablespoon cooking liquid. Let potatoes cool for 5 minutes.

2. Whisk together vinegar, mustard, and reserved cooking liquid. Add oil in a slow, steady stream, whisking constantly until emulsified.

3. Transfer potatoes to a bowl, and drizzle with vinaigrette. Gently stir in goat cheese, celery, shallot, and parsley. Season with salt and pepper.

South Beach Friendly Southwestern Pot Roast

I just had a friend over for dinner who was on the South Beach diet. I didn't have the time or energy to research exactly which phase she could eat what foods so I looked through Kalyn's Kitchen Blog and found a pot roast recipe for all phases of South Beach. I served mine with black beans on a bed of fresh spinach. It was rich and filling with a fresh crispness. I'm thinking southwestern pot roast and black bean salad is going to take the world by storm.

Southwestern Pot Roast Cooked in the Crockpot

(Makes about 4 servings, recipe created by Kalyn)

3 lb. boneless chuck roast, trimmed of visible fat
1 can reduced sodium beef broth
1 cup + 1/4 cup your favorite salsa (I used Pace Picante Sauce - mild. For South Beach Diet choose salsa with less than 2 grams sugar per serving)
steak rub or your favorite seasoning for steak to rub on meat before browning
1-2 tsp. olive oil for browning meat

Put beef broth in a small saucepan, removing any fat that has collected on top in the can. Boil until the broth is reduced to 1/2 cup.

While beef broth is reducing, trim all visible fat from chuck roast. You may need to cut the roast into several pieces to remove big pockets of fat. Rub pot roast on all side with steak rub (or your favorite seasonings for steak.) Heat olive oil in heavy frying pan (pans that aren't nonstick will give the best browning.) Brown roast well on all sides. Don't rush this step because browning provides flavor, and I think it's especially important in crockpot cooking.

When roast is browned on all sides, put pieces of meat in crockpot, arranging them in a single layer. Pour reduced beef broth into frying pan and use a metal turner to scrape off any carmelized bits from the browned meat. Add salsa and stir into broth, then pour salsa/beef broth mixture over pot roast.

Cook on high for one hour, then turn to low and cook 3-4 more hours, or until meat is very tender when pierced with a fork. (You could also cook for a longer time on low setting. If you don't have a slow cooker, cook in a heavy dutch oven on stovetop at lowest setting for 2-3 hours.) Remove meat from crockpot and pour sauce into small saucepan. (If there is a lot of fat on top of the sauce, spoon it off or use a fat separator to remove the fat. You may not need to do this if you did a good job trimming.) Put meat back into crockpot to keep warm, then add final 1/4 cup salsa to the sauce and simmer until reduced to about 1 cup.

To serve, slice meat across the grain and serve hot, with sauce spooned over the top. I also think this meat would be great served as a filling for tacos or burritos.

Food For Parents: Roasted Vegetables

This basic recipe is amazingly good and a staple in my house. It works especially well with carrots, squash, peppers, sweet potatoes or cauliflower. You can prechop and throw them together last minute or make them ahead and reheat from your fridge. They're also use them in salads, on sandwiches, or pureed with some chicken broth in your blender to make a light veggie soup that's great for dipping sandwiches.

Roasted Veggies

Vegetables
olive oil
salt
pepper

Preheat oven to about 425 degrees. Cut up your favorite veggies into similar sized pieces so they cook evenly. lay them on a baking sheet and coat them all lightly with olive oil and a healthy dose of salt and pepper. Pop into oven and roast for 15-20 minutes. Test for doneness with a fork. They should be fork-tender and have some tasty caramelization on the edges.

Britney Taco Salad

If Britney could be any taco salad recipe this would be the one. I got this recipe from Popmuse's mom who has been setting Boca Raton Jewish golf communities ablaze with it's unbridled zest.. With Britney and the Jews behind this salad, can Madonna be far behind?

Britney Taco Salad

1 head of lettuce
1 lb. Ground beef
1 pkg grated cheddar cheese
1 pkg Ortega taco mix
2 tomatoes chopped
7 oz bag of  Doritos (Nacho Cheese) crushed up
1 bottle Catalina dressing 16 oz (this is reddish russian dressing)

Cook beef and drain fat. Add taco seasoning, follow directions on pkg, let cool.
Add this to chopped lettuce. Add cheese, tomatoes, Doritos. Add dressing just before serving.