Margherita Chicken Salad 25 September 2009
Posted by heidikins in Appetizer, Poultry, Quick and Easy Meals, Side Dish.1 comment so far
The invention of this dish goes back to my craving for Margherita pizza and my absolute lack of desire to make the dough. That being said, I feel like this is one dish I will be whipping up for a quick dinner over and over again, it was delicious! This recipe is enough to use as a main dish for a quick dinner, although it would be a lovely side-dish for any Italian or garden meal.
Sweet Potato Mishmash with Balsamic Glaze 17 July 2009
Posted by heidikins in Poultry, Quick and Easy Meals, Side Dish.add a comment
I’m not quite sure where I initially found this recipe, I think it came from a magazine. Very vague, I realize. I had it written on a piece of lined paper floating around my “Recipes To Try” pile, and I wish I had tried this sooner. I don’t typically love sweet potatoes, but I love balsamic vinegar and any dish with a healthy dose of balsamic is good enough for me. The vinegar cuts the sweetness of the potatoes a bit, which I liked. The red onion tones down the balsamic a bit, which is also nice. The original recipe called for smoked tofu, but I’m not really a tofu-kind of girl, so I used chicken instead. I also added quite a bit more spice than the original recipe, including a bit of Emeril’s Essence–which is one of my favorite seasonings and will make just about anything taste better.
Zucchini Curry 15 July 2009
Posted by heidikins in Indian, Quick and Easy Meals.add a comment
One of my resolutions this year was to learn how to make Thai and Indian food–lofty, yes. I know. I am slowly building up the stock of required spices, and I am also learning how to shop for Thai and Indian ingredients (lemongrass stalk, I’m looking at you.) I have been really loving cooking zucchini lately, and when I saw this recipe for Zucchini Curry I was delighted to see I had all the spices required! If you need to make a trip to the store, please do–this is one curry you won’t want to miss.
I am publishing the recipe as I made it, which is adapted from the original recipe based on many of the reviewer’s comments–although I think I will be experimenting a bit with vegetables and spices as I go along, I think this will be my new, weeknight cookery project. If you don’t have, or can’t find a patty pan squash, you could use a yellow squash, potato, or another zucchini and you’d be good to go.
Mexican Chicky-Rice Soup 23 June 2009
Posted by heidikins in Family Specialties, Mexican, Quick and Easy Meals, Soup.add a comment
I don’t know about your part of the country–but where I live this has been the coolest, rainiest and generally delightful spring/early summer we’ve ever had. That being said, on one of our rainier days my sister & I were craving some warm soup. She checked her pantry and came up with this salsa-tasting soup in about 3 minutes flat, this is her recipe. The fresh lemon juice and cilantro give this salsa-soup a very light, bright, fresh flavor–perfect for summer. Also, the lemon cuts the sodium overtones from the chicken soup base, so don’t leave it out! (more…)
Veggie-Potato Soup with Bacon 11 March 2009
Posted by heidikins in Favorites, Quick and Easy Meals, Soup.add a comment
It is supposed to be spring, according to everyone but that damn Groundhog. Last week was lovely, sixty degrees and sunny…Ah, that’s the stuff dreamy spring’s are made of. Until Friday when we received 3 inches of snow. And the boiler in my apartment building broke. And apparently the closest replacement is in Chicago. And it’s snowing again and we still have no heat and the windows are leaky and the cold is seeping in from the floor and the walls and the windows and my landlord says there isn’t anything to be done.
Except make soup. After taking stock of what was in the fridge I decided that this would be Leftover Soup…but then I found the last of the bacon and after one bit I decided this dish needed a proper title. Leftover Soup with Bacon is a very nice and all, but it will have to wait for another day. I must say, I was thrilled with how fantastic this turned out, the bacon makes the veggies a bit smoky, the half-and-half and cheese make everything so creamy and delicious…I will definitely be making this again and again, hopefully without a side of freezing-cold apartment.
Artichoke Chicken Curry 7 March 2009
Posted by heidikins in Favorites, Indian, Quick and Easy Meals.add a comment
Lately I have had this habit of spending the last hour of work on Friday afternoon trying to find something fantastic to make over the weekend. Sometimes I spend the bulk of this hour trying to find a specific recipe, or rather, the best version of a specific recipe. However, there are times, like this afternoon, when I become obsessed with a recipe as soon as I read over the ingredients, like this one from Pinch My Salt. A quick trip to the grocery for Basmati rice and cumin seeds and I was set.
Artichokes, chicken curry, a bit of red pepper and delicious Basmati rice…heaven. Absolute heaven. The recipe calls for serving this salad cold, but I couldn’t help but gobble it up immediately. And I think you will too.
Vegetable Stir Fry with Ginger Shrimp 30 January 2009
Posted by heidikins in Chinese, Quick and Easy Meals.add a comment
I’ve been experimenting with veggies lately, and many of my attempts have been somewhat ho-hum. For the record, adding radicchio to anything is a bad idea. Radicchio is a pure, vegetable FAIL. This was actually a second attempt at dinner after radicchio ruined a perfectly lovely quiche. I basically just threw together some veggie left-overs from the week and Viola! The result was a fantastic stir-fry. I didn’t bother cooking rice although I’m sure it would have filled me up a bit more.
The fresh ginger gives this dish a delightful kick, add more if you are feeling gingery. Red pepper flakes or Thai Hot sauce would also be a tasty addition if you are feeling a bit spicy.
