Poached Chicken Spring Salad with Blueberries and Strawberries

Winter is coming to a close here in the Valley. Since we've actually already had a 90 degree day, I'm guessing we're in that sweet spot where we have two weeks of Spring before everything becomes, well, deserty.

In a last ditch attempt to enjoy the winter, my guy and a few of our friends toddled off to the mountains in Utah for a day of Snowboarding. Since I have an angry knee, I went for the pretty views and the chance to escape.

We were staying over night in a little condo so that everyone could get up early and make the first run. My friend Chat  had made the worlds most enormous salad and insisted I try a plate. It had about twelve ingredients and was really delicious. I picked out the celery because I'm weird like that. He'd mixed everything up and added some chicken that he baked in the oven. I nearly went for seconds.

So I spent the day in the lodge, sipping on Maple Crown and Coke (I had a flask because I'm smart like that). Then when we got home I couldn't stop thinking about that damn salad. So off to the grocery store I trundled and picked up the goodies to make a revised version. I didn't want to bake the chicken and I luckily remembered that my friend Kyle had told me that he'd taken to poaching chicken for salads and then refrigerating it to eat through the week. Bingo. Worked like a charm.

And so, this salad was born. I can't stop eating it. It's so simple and delicious and ridiculously low calorie.

Poached Chicken Spring Salad with Blueberries and Strawberries

Play with your quantities here until you're happy with what you have. You'll only use about 1/3rd of a chicken breast per salad, but of course you need to cook the whole thing.

1 Chicken Breast (boneless and skinless)
2 Handfuls Spring Salad Mix
2 Strawberries, diced
10-15 Blueberries
Salt and Pepper
Balsamic Vinegar Salad Dressing

Bring a medium pot of water to a boil and drop in the chicken breast. You need enough water to just cover the chicken. Turn the heat down to a low simmer, cover and cook for twenty minutes. Check to make sure it's cooked all the way through, then shred it. Season with salt and pepper. You can then use about 1/3rd per salad.

Put the spring mix on a plate. Scatter over your diced strawberries and blueberries. Top with the poached chicken and drizzle over some balsamic vinegar salad dressing. Or, make your own with 1 teaspoon flavored olive oil and one teaspoon balsamic vinegar.

Eat with fond memories of mountain views. Embrace spring.

Makes one salad, with leftover chicken for two more.

Pepper and Corn Summer Salad

I didn't mention it, but a few days ago this little baby blog of mine turned a year old. I think it's getting close to the realm of toddler now. I've been really lucky over the last little while because it seems I'm getting more and more visitors. Hi visitors! Thanks for coming by! Salted Spoon seems to be climbing up the Google charts a little, because lots of people seem to get here by searching for different foods and recipes.

I always find it interesting taking a peek at how people find this blog. It's always fun to see the search phrases that have been put in to get here. I think the most interesting one this week was "where to get cramble up sausage for pizza", which I hope led them to my Sausage and Pepper Breakfast Tortilla Pizza.

But it's interesting, too, to see what other people are really seeking. I get a lot of visitors looking for "cabbage as a snack". I really really like keeping cabbage on hand. I frequently make it as a midnight snack, and I think that my recipe for Charred Cabbage is what is being found.

So I challenged myself to dig through the fridge and pantry and come up with a new cabbage recipe. What I came up with was a fresh, simple and summery pepper and corn salad that uses cabbage as a wrapper. The end result was really yummy and, honestly, I'm pretty happy that I get to put this into my repertoire now.

So, for all you cabbage snack lovers out there, this one is for you.

Pepper and Corn Summer Salad

1 Cup Corn
1/2 Yellow Pepper, diced
1/2 Red Pepper, diced
2 Tablespoons Rice Wine Vinegar
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
1 Tablespoon Green Herb (Parsley, Basil, Dill), minced
Pepper
4 Cabbage Leaves

In a large bowl, mix the peppers, corn, vinegar, oil and herbs together. I tend to have parsley available most often, but I think basil is your best choice here. Mix together and then grind over a generous amount of pepper. Mix again and taste, then adjust the seasonings.

Take four clean cabbage leaves and where the stem is thick at the bottom, cut it out in a little triangle. Divide the peppers and corn mixture between the cabbage leaves, then roll up into little wraps.

Eat over a plate to catch the drips, muttering to yourself about the deliciousness of summer while you make a delightful mess.

Serves 2.

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.

Other recipes you might like:

Paprika Vegetable Skillet

Lentil and Rice Salad and Letting the Dust Settle

The dust has finally started to settle after a really busy two weeks. My family is all back in England, my Stunt Guy is back in Georgia. My apartment is starting to get back into a more habitable state after looking for a few days like all hope was lost and it should be condemned.

I'm back to eating Single Girl's Lunch Salads daily, and the best part is that I'm finally managing to get back into the kitchen.

I'm starting to think that I might have a slight cooking magazine problem. See, I'm lucky. I often find really good deals on cooking magazine subscriptions, so I tend to get a lot of them in the mail. My problem is that I don't read them at the rate that they arrive. I read maybe one for every five that come in. This wouldn't be too big a problem, except that I keep finding stacks of unread ones all over my apartment.

Here is most of my unread pile.



I've started to get pretty good at marking recipes, then clipping them for later, though I don't think that the shoebox I am storing those clippings in is necessarily the best organizational tool. It is also getting a bit full.

But, the good thing is that I now have lots and lots of inspiration when I need it. I just dip into the shoebox, leaf through some clippings, get an idea and I'm good to go.

I also mark things in recipe books. I always have a little package of sticky tabs with me when I'm reading a cookbook. You can tell how much I like a book by how many tabs are sticking out of it.

I came home from running errands today and had what I thought was a pretty clear vision of something I wanted to make, but I thought maybe I should thumb through a book just in case. I pulled a random book from the shelf and started thumbing through the pre-marked tabs. I used to be vegetarian, and the one I grabbed happened to be a vegetarian cookbook. Inspiration, as usual, came before I'd gotten to the 10th tab. I found a lentil and rice salad. I liked the idea of that, but I decided to just use those two ingredients as my base and then make the rest up from what I had in the pantry and fridge. Luckily, it turned out pretty awesome, and I'm delighted to share the fruits of my labors with you.

I really do believe sometimes that the best food is borne out of raiding what you already have in the house. Sometimes it allows you to think up combinations that you normally wouldn't consider. This is a prime example.

Vegan Lentil and Rice Salad with Lime and Tahini Dressing
Inspired by Vegetarian and Vegetable Cooking by Christine Ingram

When you're thinking about rice for this salad, I would really recommend trying to include a mix that has wild rice in it. I have a rice medley that I pick up from Fresh and Easy and it's brown, white and wild rice mixed together. That extra chewy earthiness that wild rice has goes really well here. But, if you don't have it, use whatever you feel like.

Salad
2 Small Carrots, peeled and grated
1 Cup Cabbage, finely shredded
1/2 Cup Uncooked Rice
1/2 Cup Uncooked Green Lentils

Dressing
1 Teaspoon Tahini
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
2 Tablespoons Fresh Parsley, minced
1 Tablespoon White Wine Vinegar
Juice of 1 Lime
Salt and Pepper to taste.... be generous with the Pepper!


Soak your lentils for thirty minutes in unsalted water, then boil them for 15-20 minutes until they are just tender. You want them cooked, but not mushy. Cook the rice, drain and set aside.
Grate your carrots and shred your cabbage. Then, mix your dressing together. Make sure to stir the every loving heck out of the tahini before you add it in. Taste the dressing and adjust the seasoning as you like. I added a smidge more vinegar than listed here, but I crave acid in everything. If you wanted, you could also substitute rice wine vinegar. Mix everything together in a large bowl. Serve with a little extra parsley on top.

You can eat this by itself pretty easily. It would go really well also as an accompaniment to fish, probably salmon or tilapia marinated in lemon juice.

Makes 4-6 Servings.

Want something sweet? Try these Chocolate Coconut Macaroons

Single Girls Lunch Salad

I'm a creature of habit. I really like routine, and I have a few of the same little things that I do pretty much every day. I've started my morning with a cup of tea almost every single day since I was about twelve. It's not that I seek the caffeine in it anymore…. it's because I have it every morning that it helps me get up.

Sometimes, my eating habits get stuck on repeat, too. Now that my Stunt Guy is in a different city, I'm left to my own devices when it comes to lunch. I've eaten this salad every single day for the last five days. I look forward to it every time. My friend Mary thinks I'm a little weird to look forward to a salad, but this one seriously rocks.

I feel that a good salad is all about ratio and variety. You want it to be leafy and nutritious, but you also want it to be really really interesting. The best part of a salad is always the goodies... you know, the parts that aren't lettuce, and this one is chocked full of them.

Single Girls Lunch Salad

I've been chopping up a my ingredients and keeping them in tupperware in the fridge, for ease of assembly. If you're vegetarian, just leave out the turkey. It's also really hard to tell you how much Mozzarella I use, so I've estimated. Use good Mozzarella, the kind that comes in a ball in water.

1 1/2 - 2 Cups Chopped Fresh Spinach (loose, not packed)
1/2 an avocado, diced
Half a regular or Slow-Roasted tomato, diced
Two slices of deli lunchmeat (I like turkey), diced up
1/4 Red or Yellow Bell Pepper (or a mix of both)
1.5 Ounces fresh Mozzarella, diced
2 Tablespoons Walnut pieces, toasted
2 Tablespoons Salad Dressing (I use Italian, but pick your favorite)



Prep your ingredients. To toast the walnuts, take a small non-stick pan and throw the walnuts in there over medium heat. Stir around while you prep your other ingredients. Get some good color on them. It takes about five minutes.

Mix all the ingredients together in an oversized bowl. Drizzle over your favorite dressing, mix up, and eat either rushed at your desk on a work day, or while you are curled up on your couch working through your Hulu+ queue on the weekend.

Related Recipes:

Slow-Roasted Tomatoes

Check out my Recipe Index for more things to nosh on.