A Tale of Two Chickens

I have been meaning to paint my bedroom for a while now and took a couple days off of work to tackle the project.  Of course, in classic fashion, avoidance set in some time on Saturday.  As I mentioned earlier in the week, I am tying to make some room in my freezer for my February meat share pickup and came across two whole bone-in chicken breasts I hadn't used yet.  I have been craving green veggies like crazy lately and decided to use one of the chickens for a favorite recipe and the other for one I have been wanting to try.

Saturday

For lunch, I made Giada DeLaurentiis' Asian Chicken Salad from Giada at Home.  I was able to find some carrots, a Savoy cabbage and a head of greenhouse lettuce at the farmers market.  I had to raid the grocer's produce department for the rest of my ingredients.  Giada's recipe calls for Thai basil.  I only seem to find this herb when I don't need it for a recipe, and this was the case on Saturday as well.  Instead, I substituted mint for the Thai basil and it was delicious.  I also chose to add some snow peas, which are a particular favorite of mine.

Instead of using a store-bought rotisserie chicken, as she suggests, I was using my farm-fresh chicken.  I split the breast, drizzled a teeny bit of olive oil on them and sprinkled them with kosher salt and pepper.  I roasted the chicken at 375 degrees for about 20 - 25 minutes.  Once roasted and slightly cooled, I sliced the breast off the bone, removed the skin, cubed the meat and set it aside to cool completely.

 

 While the meat was cooling, I built the salad.  This makes a lot of salad, so grab the biggest bowl you've got!  Since I keep this in the fridge for a few days, I hold off on adding the almonds and sesame seeds until I am ready to dig in.  I also omit the chow mein noodles.  While I do like them, I just don't think they're necessary on this already crunchy and delicious salad.

Now, when it comes to the dressing, I mix a few batches of it and pour it into one of my favorite bottles I picked up at my friend's restaurant supply store. It's like a Grolsch beer bottle, but clear and taller.  It holds a lot of dressing! This dressing is light with a nutty and salty-sweet flavor.  It would be great on any salad.

 

I made a big plate of salad for lunch and savored the crunch and flavor of all the yummy veggies.  I have to say that cabbage was particularly delicious!

Sunday 

Sunday consisted of me sleeping in late, attempting to paint some more (I didn't get very far) and finally mustering up the energy to put together a dish for the annual Super Bowl Party. There were a few colleagues at the office asking for my Buffalo Chicken Macaroni and Cheese recipe, so I promised to post it for them, so there you go...  While I did get to enjoy some of it at this year's party, and it was nice and spicy just as I had hoped, I was really waiting to try this next recipe. 

Monday

I had found it on my new favorite blog site: The Pioneer Woman.  A friend of mine led me to her site, and I have become a fast fan. She's funny and very likable.  I enjoy her pictures, her wit and her "voice."  I had spied a recipe for Chicken Tortilla Soup about a week ago and had to give it a try.

I made a couple modifications: I used canned diced tomatoes and canned green chilies instead of Rotel, as she suggested.  I've never been a big fan of Rotel, so there you go.  There were a lot of steps and it took longer than I thought, but was well worth the wait!

A trick for those of you not accustomed to working with avocados, in order to get cubes, I halve the fruit (yes, it is a fruit) and gently run my paring knife through it making vertical and horizontal cuts.  You can use a small spoon and scoop out the cubes, or if you're handy, turn the skin out and slice the cubes off the skin.  You can do this with a mango, too!  Of course, you can scoop the entire half out and chop it up the old-fashioned way. Whatever blows your hair back.

The result was delicious!  I will be freezing a bunch of this for a rainy day, for sure. Give it a whirl--I dare ya.  Tomorrow is "touch-up" day on the bedroom and then I am hosting Tuesday Night Book Club.