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.

10,232

Y'all, that was awesome. Seriously.

In the last two weeks, I have traveled 10, 232 miles. I have been on four airplanes. I have seen pink sand in the Caribbean, Christmas trees in Bryant Park New York, and learned how to Snowboard in Utah.

I've caught up with old friends, hugged my family, missed a play, and gone on my first trip with my boyfriend.

I've had bad lobster, drunk champagne five days in a row, ordered room service, and eaten snow.

I've had a really really lovely vacation. I needed it, and I'm glad I went. I'm rested and ready for whatever comes next.

I have no good food pictures, because honestly I didn't have anything revelatory in the food department (except for some damn good barbecue chicken which I have no evidence of). But I've got some pretty pictures and I thought I'd share a few.

Pink sand in Barbuda. It's pink due to all the little shells. My mother did the hand modeling.

 Sunset, Mamora Beach, Antigua.

Sunset, Shirley Heights, Antigua. Overlooking English Harbor. Amazing barbecue here every Sunday.

The view from my balcony, St James Club, Antigua. Where I would curl up in the afternoon with a book and a cup of coffee.

Bryant Park, New York. A quick stopover to say hi to my friends Danny and Meredith. We walked around and drank Strawberry Hot Chocolate and then I taught Meredith how to knit.

Sunrise, Arizona (possibly Nevada). First trip away with my guy. We left Las Vegas at 6am to go to Brian Head, Utah. 

The view from the top of the mountain in Brian Head. I learned how to Snowboard. I've got a lot more learning to do, but I loved it. We stayed overnight and it was absolutely gorgeous and wonderful.

The whole two weeks have made me ridiculously happy. I'm a lucky girl in that I get to do things like this once in a while.

Did you see my Snickerdoodle recipe over at Whisks and Words? Check it out.

Home Sweet Green Juicy Atlanta Home

 

After I got done with work at 11:30pm on Sunday I hitched a ride to the airport, curled up in a corner, and napped and watched TV until it was time to get on a plane at 6am. After five and a half hours, I made it to Atlanta, Georgia and was greeted by my amazing Stunt Guy. We had 67 hours before I had to head back to the Circus. 

Georgia in early June is one of the most beautiful places you can be. The air is heavy with the smell of flowers and grass and trees. Everything is lush and beautiful. The occasional cloud bursts of rain keep it glistening but not too wet. The humidity is about perfect, and everything feels so wonderfully alive. But on to the food!

When I go to Atlanta, there are several places that I end up eating each time and I managed to hit a couple of the regulars on this trip. The Brickstore Pub is in Decatur. It's a favorite local spot because they have an enormous beer selection, with lots of great craft beers. It's frequently busy but the pub itself is really lovely inside. It's got local art on the walls, and a good buzz of happy people. If you're torn between beers there, they will happily let you taste a few to pick which you are after.

I devoured their Country Chicken Pate with Smoked Peach Preserves. The crackers were thick and homemade and the perfect complement to the pate, which was pale and light and almost mousselike. It packed a great wallop of flavor, and the pairing of the peach preserves was perfect and so.... Southern. I had to order more crackers of course, but it was awesome.

Beer-wise, it was Founders Cerise for me. It was a light cherry beer with a good amount of tartness, it wasn't overly sweet like a lambic. I loved it, and sadly you can't get it on this coast, but if you are East of the Mississippi you should be good.

I know the picture is awful, but my Stunt Guy had the Shepherd's Daughter Pie which was described as "ground lamb, beef & pork, barley wine ketchup, fennel & fresh herbs, scalloped potatoes, gruyere sauce, mesclun greens with lemon vinaigrette". I'm sorry to say that it completely missed the mark. The flavor of the lamb was there, but everything else was just kind of... meh. The sauce was quite bland and the potatoes were almost non-existent. It wasn't really a heart dish. Our dining companions adored their pretzels though, and I have to say the house made mustard dipping sauce for them is really great. I've found that the food in the Brickstore can be a touch hit or miss. I remember loving their pierogies too. But if you are there, definitely try the pate.

As should well be, our liquor bill outweighed our food bill. I adore that.

 Partly because our waitress missed the pretzels on the check. We paid for them anyway and left her a moral dilemma note. I wonder what she chose to do?

After I crashed horribly hard, having been awake for 48 hours with less than four hours of sleep, it was time to hit up my absolute favorite place to eat breakfast. We go here every time I come home or I get very cranky. It's The Flying Biscuit Cafe. They have the best and most delicious biscuits anywhere, and the rest of their food is also pretty top notch. We started out with a Blue Moonmosa, basically a mimosa made of beer.

I had the Egg-Stravaganza which combines everything I love, their perfect scrambled eggs, their Creamy Dreamy Grits, and a giant and delicious Flying Biscuit and the French Toast.

The French Toast at the Flying Biscuit is worth the trip alone. It's made on giant fluffy wheat bread, but the kicker are the sauces. They top it with a stunning raspberry coulis and a honey creme anglaise. It is absolutely delicious and I love it more than I can express.

Stunt Guy went for the Hollywood Omelette, which was also pretty yummy and, of course, a biscuit.

The biscuits really are spectacular. They come with cranberry apple butter. I've tried to replicate them before at home, but they never come out. I don't know what they do, but you really need to go there to try out the real thing.

After our wonderful late breakfast,  it was off to the North Georgia Mountains, which is completely stunning all the time, but particularly this time of year when everything is green and gorgeous. We stayed in a little perfect cabin, and this was our view. We relaxed, we read, we went for a walk and watched the sun set over that lake. We ate dinner, which we had brought with us.

Ru Sans Sushi, home of the most perfect Miso Soup and some fairly decent yummy sushi. It's not horribly overpriced at all, and we decided that it would be perfect to take with us, since we wouldn't have to do any cooking in the cabin and we weren't sure of our supplies. We had a Spider Roll, Rainbow Roll and a Punk Rock and Roll. All were really good, but the miso soup was, of course, excellent.

The next day we hiked up Amicalola Falls, which is a really beautiful waterfall and state park up in the mountains. It's a mile hike, including a whole lot of stairs. The waterfall was really stunning.

Here's a little action video with a cameo from Stunt Guy. 

Once we hit the top it was time for a beer with a view. Then back to the city for a quick dinner and a movie.

Dinner at Taco Mac. John loves this place. He's been coming to one of it's several Atlanta locations for years. I have too, but for drinks, never the food. I have to say, I find the food here incredibly sub-par. No matter what I order, and I've tried tons of different things, I think the food is really bad. These were Fish Tacos with South western rice. The rice was dry and had been sitting out a while. The tacos had no flavor. Just unimpressive. I had a yummy Left Hand Milk Stout though. If you're going there, I'd stick to the beer list.

The next morning it was off to the airport, with a quick breakfast at Highland Bakery. I love Highland Bakery too. They make all their own bread in house and it really is spectacular. Their Sweet Potato Pancakes are to die for. If you're already them, you'll need to share because they are so rich and delicious. They have great Shrimp and Grits, and I love their cheese bagels. I often order the breakfast sandwich and then forget that I'm not keen on it. They don't tend to season the eggs and that doesn't work for me. I need to try better to remember to just order a bagel with some scrambled eggs on the side. 

Oh but their cinnamon rolls.... heaven. Light and fluffy with the most delicious cream cheese frosting you can imagine. We split a small one because, well, we would have eaten a large and then they would have had to roll me on to the plane. If you go here, regardless of what else you order, you really must order a cinnamon roll.

And then it was back to reality. Back to the desert and the circus. It was a completely whirlwind trip and I didn't have an opportunity to see most of my friends because the time there was so short, but I'm so glad I went. I needed a taste of home. I'm saying goodbye to my Stunt Guy for another 23 days, then I get him for two weeks. So it's back to the kitchen with me. New recipes are coming soon, and I've got so many ideas!

Leaving on a Jet Plane

It's a three day "weekend" for us at the circus and in about 18 hours I'm getting on a plane and heading out to spend a brief 67 hours with my Stunt Guy. It's probably going to fly by faster than I can blink, but it's necessary since we haven't seen each other since April 12th.

Living 2,000 miles apart is probably the dumbest idea he and I have had. All our ideas look good on paper but tend to devolve into a pile of poo. I think we need better paper.

So off I go. I've got a couple of recipes queued up for while I'm gone. I've got another trip planned in a couple of months so if anyone is interested in being a guest blogger, I'd love to have you!

While I'm gone, don't forget to enter my giveaway. You could win $5 to help turn your culinary dreams into a reality. Seriously, though, think of what your hourly wage would be if you spend 47 seconds and make $5.

Time to finish packing. I will remember my vitamins I will remember my vitamins......

A Brief Summary of Very Awesome Things

The Grand Canyon



Kissing the cheek of your Stunt Guy at the Grand Canyon



The way your two year old niece drinks milk



Being off work for 9 days so you can spend time with your Stunt Guy and aforementioned Niece

Discovering The Yardhouse

Craft services on a movie set when you are really tired and hungry



Hiking

Ignoring the laundry

Having your two year old niece insist every morning that she "lost you" the night before

Reading a very funny book in its entirety in less than a week because you have the time

Watching a two year old girl react to dolphins doing flips in front of her

Feeling like life, though very busy, is also really amazing

On San Diego, Gelato, and Polar Bears

I had a week off. I wanted to go somewhere. We needed to be able to drive there. John wanted to frolic in the sea. It all seemed like quite a simple thing to figure out, so we planned a little, packed up the car, and went to explore San Diego for three days.
I wasn't really sure what to expect from the town. I didn't know a whole lot about it, but I really liked what I found. It's filled with mountains overlooking lovely beaches and the place doesn't feel too new or too old. We had no shortage of things to do and see and explore and you could really really walk. Downtown and in the Gaslamp District, feet or pedicab was the best way to roam around. I loved it.

We saw a Polar Bear swim at the zoo.















We got a tour of the fantastic Stone Brewery.















We saw a stunning sandcastle and wished we had made it.















And we ate. A lot. We found a few really really lovely dishes that are certainly worth a look if you are in the area.















Lou and Mickey's Seafood and Steak
The view from the patio is lovely, as they are right by the convention center in the Gaslamp quarter. The service was great. This was the priciest meal that we had while we were there and honestly, I think it was worth it.
The Clam Chowder was quite delicious. It was rich and thick and unctuous, and the Sourdough Bread rolls that come with the table were delicious. The chowder was a little heavy on the bacon. They have a Crab Cake that, though I didn't try it, my friends who were with us found quite delightful. It was 98% crab, no mayonnaise.
The Grilled Swordfish with Lemon and Capers was just phenomenal. The swordfish was moist and tender and flaky with just the right amount of chew. The seasoning was balanced and perfect. It was topped with thinly diced tomatoes and it blew my socks off. It was perfect.

Chocolat
Hands down, the best Gelato I've ever had. I had the Dark Chocolate and Orange and it was stunning. Rich, creamy, deep. Their flavor selection was incredibly impressive, and it was a nice little bar too. I would love to have hit this place up again, but sadly we didn't get the chance. Next time though, I'll be there. Try and stop me.

Pacific Beach Alehouse
Pacific Beach is very heavy on the drunk college-age people scale. It's sad, but true. But it is a really pretty place to visit. We hung out at the beach a little, John played in the waves while I declared it too cold and overcast and promised to do so another day. We wandered around to find a likely place to eat and picked Pacific Beach Alehouse so that we could try some of their local fresh beer, which was quite good, and to sit on their roof and eat during sunset with a pretty view.
And oh man, their Lobster Bisque. It was divine. It wasn't too heavy at all, just a thin and tasty brothy soup with tomato and cream and itty bitty chunks of lobster. I'm now a bisque convert. Give me bisque, give me it now! It was fabulous. Really really worth it.

Stone Brewery
Visiting Stone Brewery was probably a highlight of the trip for me. We got to take a tour of the brewery, which is a regional craft brewery, and sample some of their great beers. We also had a fantastic tour guide, who made the experience even more awesome with both his knowledge and his sense of humor. It's a strange place, Stone Brewery. It's tucked out of the way and there are no signs for it, but it is gorgeous. Their restaurant is probably one of the loveliest places I've eaten in. It is light and airy and architecturally interesting and quite brilliant.
John ate the Duck Tacos, which he proclaimed astounding.
I had the Citrocado Salad, which was probably, and sadly, one of the worst salads I've ever had. It was touted as a spinach salad with goats cheese, mandarin and soft boiled eggs with a cilantro and avocado dressing. The first time it came out, it was literally spinach, two hard boiled eggs that had been cooked within an inch of their life, and raw onion on top. When I questioned the waiter, primarily on the eggs, first he told me they were soft boiled, then he tried to say that they were quail eggs. He wasn't terribly polite and I asked to order something else. He stalked off and then came back with a more representational salad that had the items described on it, but by that time I had lost my taste for it, and when I did start to eat it, the raw onion overwhelmed all other sense of flavor, even though I had picked them off. I couldn't find a hint of avocado anywhere. I was sorely disappointed. But, it was still a lovely visit and I really did enjoy the atmosphere. And, again, John's Duck Tacos made him deliriously happy so it worked out.

Pappalecco Cafe
We decided to wander around the harbor area and got a lot of walking in, a lot of sitting and watching yachts go by, and a lot of enjoying just being out in weather that wasn't trying to roast your lungs with every breath. We stopped for Gelato at a little cafe and it was quite nice, but we had been spoiled by Chocolat. It seemed like a really nice little place though, the kind that you would stop in for a cappucino and a dessert on a weekend afternoon when you want everything to feel slow and dreamy.

Todo Sushi
Since eating downtown is so pricey, we decided that we should grab a dinner up in Mira Mesa, where we were staying. We found a random sushi joint and were delighted to find that, even though it was a saturday, most things on the menu were half off. We gorged on four quite good rolls and walked out of there having spent around $50, including drinks. It was a nice little stopover and I was happy to have found it. John and I have a particular weakness for Sushi. I can't believe I didn't eat it until I was in my twenties.

Wired Bistro
One of the happiest accidents of all, was the little bistro we stopped out on our way out of town. We had been aiming for the Italian restaurant next to it, but it was closed so we hopped next door because it looked busy. Oh man. We had accidentally found a French Bistro. It was family run and the waitress introduced herself as Agatha in a thick French accent. I was delighted with my Brie Delice on a crusty baguette, and John's Tomato, Mozzarella and Pesto Panini was delightful. The crepe I ordered to go with it was light and yummy. Just perfect. I wish we had found it sooner. I want to eat at least half their menu. It was so nice to be somewhere that felt European not because it was trying too hard to be, but just because it had easily relaxed into it.

Mexico City
Our final stop was in LA, where we got to see some old friends, ate some really great enchiladas, and a delicious cheese dip type appetizer which I think I heard the beautiful Carolyn order as Fajita Queso but I could be wrong. Great Margaritas, nice vibe, nice area. But lets face it, we were there for the company and I confess to paying little attention to the food other than knowing I liked it.

And so, there we have that adventure. It was a lovely one and I look forward to the next, whenever that may be.