Mango Chicken Salad

Ever pick up an item in the grocery store with absolutely no idea what you're going to do with it? Yeah. Thought so. I almost always end up at the checkout line with something in my basket that I absolutely don't need and have no idea why I put it in there. I'm pretty good at putting the item back, but I'm always a bit baffled by what I was thinking.

I was picking up spinach for my Single Girls Lunch Salad (which I am still eating pretty much every single work day for dinner), and I found a bag of Mangos at 3 for $1. Since this was the Mango deal of the century, I really couldn't say no. I absolutely adore Mango, even though it's one of the hardest fruits to get the flesh out of ever. If anyone has handy tricks for that, let me know. As I continued around the store I kept thinking on what I was going to do. I didn't want to get to the check out line and have absolutely no use for the fruit, then come home and just chop it all up and put it in the freezer. Luckily for me, inspiration hit as I passed by the meat counter and spied some gorgeous fresh chicken breasts.

Mango and Chicken go together really really well. Add a tangy dressing to tie it all together and you have a delicious lunch. It's really easy to make ahead, and luckily, nothing will really get soggy if it sits in the fridge for a few hours. I think one of my favorite things about this dish is that it looks bright and sunny and, well, happy. It taste pretty darn good too.

Mango Chicken Salad

1 Mango

1 Large Chicken Breast

2 Cups Spinach, chopped

2 Tablespoons Walnuts, chopped

1 Tablespoon Olive Oil

1 Tablespoon Rice Wine Vinegar

1 Tablespoon Water

1 Teaspoon Poppy Seeds (optional)

Salt and Pepper

In a non-stick pan, heat a little olive or canola oil. Salt and pepper both sides of the chicken and sauté over a medium high heat until  just cooked through. You want to get a nice color on the chicken, so the outside is almost a little crispy. I usually cover the pan with a lid for the first few minutes to try and ensure the chicken cooks through and doesn't dry out. 

Dice up the flesh of the Mango. Put 1/3rd of it in a blender with the water, olive oil, rice wine vinegar and a few grinds of salt and pepper. Blend into a smooth dressing. Stir in the poppy seeds. 

Mix the spinach with the rest of the mango and the chopped walnuts. Put on two plates. Slice the chicken breast and lay over the greens. Add a few more grinds of salt and pepper over the whole dish. Pour over the dressing. Eat, and feel the sunshine.

Makes 2 Servings.

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Paprika Vegetable Skillet

Salmon, Sun Dried Tomato and Goats Cheese Omlitos

I feel as though I'm living a really muddled life these days. I'm working hard at my job, working hard on surviving being 2,000 miles from the other half of me, working hard on not spending money, working hard on getting this weight taken care of.

There really is a lot of working hard in my life and not very much quiet time. I really need to work on that quiet time. I was planning on getting away this weekend (which for me is tues/weds), but my plans fell through when sadly my partner in crime (the beautiful Tina, who is also working hard on being far from her other half) had to stay in town to finish some house buying stuff.

So now I have the whole weekend to myself. I've got a Groupon for a massage that I think I'm going to pull out, since Marshall is super swamped right now and I'm not willing to put my stressy shoulders on his plate. I've got a little bit of housework to do and a bit of writing, but biggest of all, I'm going to pull everything out of my pantry, figure out what the heck is in there, and come up with some sort of plan to work through it. 

When my roommate Josh moved in last week, I hastily made pantry room for him by shoving everything up onto the top two shelves in no semblance of an order. This will not do! Pantry busting shall commence!

So let's start with these little yummies. In my head I call these Omlitos. That's absolutely not a word. I really just made it up. They are like little omletty cupcakes. You can put any kind of leftovers in these, really, but I found the combination of salmon, sun dried tomato, pesto and goat cheese to be a real winner. They are easy to pack up for lunch the next day or two. You could probably even be so bold as to freeze them. I know I'm bringing you two fish dishes in a row, but I'm hoping you'll forgive me!

Salmon, Sun Dried Tomato and Goats Cheese Omlitos

Do yourself a favor. If you don't have a really good muffin pan that nothing ever sticks to, or one of those fancy silicon ones that I still seriously need to figure out how to add to my kitchen, use muffin liners for these. There is no added fat in them, so they have a tendency to stick.

I keep pesto in my freezer for times like this. If you don't have any on hand, use fresh basil instead.

1 Small Salmon Fillet, 4oz, cooked

3 Eggs

2 Tablespoons Sun Dried Tomatoes (chopped)

1 Tablespoon Pesto plus more for topping

2 Tablespoons Goat cheese

Salt and Fresh Ground Pepper

Preheat the oven to 350F. Prepare six cups of a muffin tin so that the mixture will not stick. Use liners, silicon molds, cooking spray, whatever your preferred method is. 

In a small bowl, beat the eggs together with some salt and fresh ground pepper. Mix in the sun dried tomatoes and a tablespoon of pesto. Split the cooked salmon between the cups and then pour over the egg mixture, trying to distribute the sun dried tomatoes evenly. Top with a little more pesto and the goats cheese. 

Bake for about 22 minutes until the omlitos have risen and cooked all the way. You can serve these either hot or cold. For me it was cold with a slice of toast and a smear of brie, and a light mixed green salad.

Makes 6.

Other recipes you might like:

Cinnamon Star Cookies with Maple Glaze

Day in the Life #1

Every so often I get into a kind of rut where what I eat doesn't change much, or I'm not really doing much cooking. This isn't particular conducive to writing a food blog. So, it's Day in the Life time. Early morning tea with toast and Laurie's home made plum butter was first up for the day.

My weekends fall on Tuesday/Wednesday. Having weird days off is pretty standard when you work in the entertainment industry, and you get used to it quite quickly. One of the nice things is that on the weekends, life and restaurants feel much busier, but if your Saturday is a Tuesday, everything is nice and quiet.

My friend Dani and I almost never have the same days off, but when we randomly do we go to Brio for their Basil and Cucumber Gimlets. I don't know what it is about this drink that makes us both love it so. Maybe it's how fresh and delightful it tastes. Maybe it's just the right amount of sweet with the tang of the gin. Either way, we love it.

They are so perfect! The bread there is great too.

I tried the Chicken Piccata. I confess I didn't love it. The sauce was yummy, but it tasted like there was too much egg in the batter. I didn't mean to eat it all, but I finished my plate. Then, it was home to get dolled up for a voice gig. They wanted me on camera so I had to put on good makeup with fancy liquid eyeliner. It turned out that they didn't want to do the camera work after all, and they gave me the script so that I could go and record it from my home studio. Worked out perfectly for me because I hate being on camera and I'd always rather record from home!

Mini-recording session was followed by a short stint at the pool, which was blissfully quiet. I've been reading this fabulous book and I'm loving hearing about what it was like for Julia Child living in Paris in 1949. I would love so much to have been there! It really does sound like a heavenly time for food and wine and camaraderie.

The weekends are my long days in the gym. I usually spend two hours there one of the two nights. This  feels like a lot, but it flies by when you're watching the season finale of the Voice. I did an hour of jogging, followed by 20 minutes of weights, then forty minutes of incline walking work.

Back home it was cheese and crackers and wine for dinner. I'm still eating through the leftover cheese from my birthday. On the plate there is a Cave aged blue, Emmi Gruyere and Seaside Farm Cheddar. Plus a glass of wine to make me feel all classy. I've been working my way through 30 Rock and I adore it.

Finally, some candy imported from back home. When my Dad last visited, he brought me lots of goodies including Quality Streets and Fruit Pastilles. I'm rationing them out, slowly but deliciously!