Cranberry and Pepita Topped Salad with Chicken and Roasted Cauliflower over Baby Arugula

My hubby has perfected the art of cooking the perfect cast iron pan grilled chicken breast! It comes out so fantastic like it's from a restaurant all juicy and tender and flavorful so it's a staple for us either on a salad like this with a roasted veggie (cauliflower tossed in olive oil, salt & pepper, and garlic powder roasted at 400 till tender), some (10g) dried reduced sugar cranberries, and (8g) pepitas or with a couple of veggie sides like asparagus and roasted cauliflower! It always feels so special to eat!

For this salad I dressed baby arugula with Trader Joe's Orange Muscat Champagne Vinegar/Olive Oil/Salt/Pepper! Simple and easy to whip up and toss to coat!  For one bag or small box Baby Arugula I add to a extra large bowl 2 Teaspoons Olive Oil, 2 Teaspoons Trader Joe's Orange Muscat Champagne Vinegar, a sprinkle of salt and pepper to taste and whisk together and add the Baby Arugula on top then toss to thoroughly coat each leaf.  I divide between 2 plates top with roasted veggie of choice, (cauliflower tossed in olive oil, salt & pepper, and garlic powder roasted at 400 till tender), (10g) dried reduced sugar cranberries, (8g) pepitas, and the chicken sliced up in the amount I want or need usually 2-4oz.

Perfect Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast you can make in a skillet so you can get the fond in the bottom of the pan or in a Cast-Iron Grill Pan.  (Add 1/2-1 Tsp. Olive Oil heat on medium high till hot add chicken loosely cover with aluminum foil to keep in heat and let out steam for 3 minutes and 30 seconds, flip recover and cook for a second 3 minutes and 30 seconds (or until cooked through that time is usually perfection for us).  Remove from pan and let chicken rest on a warmed plate covered with aluminum foil for at about 5 minutes.

For the Cast-Iron Grill Pan, heat on high till hot, spray with High Heat Pam, put the chicken in for 30 seconds then flip to the other side for 30 seconds.  Flip one more time and reduce heat to medium and loosely cover with aluminum foil to keep in heat and let out steam for 3 minutes, flip again and recover and let cook for 3 more minutes or until done, again it's usually perfect for us just like this.  Remove from pan and let chicken rest on a warmed plate covered with aluminum foil for at about 5 minutes.

Blue Apron: 4 Recipes This Week

This week we opted for the Vegetarian Options to be sent to us but I really wanted to try the Chicken Recipe for that week too so we bought the ingredients for it and made it as well!  Here's the results of what we made!

First we made the Japanese Okonomiyaki with Dressed Mizuna & Garlic-Lemon Sauce!  I was a bit worried about this recipe, I'm not fond of whole wheat flour and such and I was unsure about the cabbage as well.  But we loved it!  All of it!  The two sauces really made the whole thing taste amazing.  One sauce was sweeter and the other sauce was nice and garlic-y and the two played together really well!  As for the cabbage I didn't really notice it so it was a great combo of veggies, and the whole wheat flour you couldn't really tell that was there because the sauces were strong enough!  Also the Mizuna dressed with lemon really added a brightness that also played amazing with the sauces.  I had never had mizuna before or a Japanese Okonomiyaki and I loved it all!  We would make this again for sure!  It was one of those things we would never have tried or made on our own but did because of Blue Apron!  I really appreciate how many things I'm getting to make and try new and loving them!

Next we made the Fresh Cavatelli & Sun Gold Tomatoes with Basil Seed Ricotta & Opal Basil.  This one we really enjoyed the ricotta with basil seeds but the pasta was good but not our favorite and I put a bit too much red pepper flakes so it was a tad too hot for my tastes and for some reason I don't really care for those little cherry tomatoes.  I think it might be the skins on them are a bit too, what's the right word to describe maybe tough or too thick.  I also wish I had added a bit less of the basil.  I do like basil but if it's too strong it's not my favorite.  I could see lots of people really liking this, it's just not my preference is all.  Again really loved the ricotta with the basil seeds that was a really nice touch!  I could see stuffing some little tomatoes with that mixture for a little snack or appetizer!

The last recipe we made from the shipment was Rose Romaine & Painted Oak Lettuce Salad with Plums, Cucumber & Toasted Brie Baguettes!  This was a real winner!  We will make this again for sure!  One note the instructions say to peel the cucumber and I say DON'T!  I kept the peel on for the nutritional benefits and it was still amazing!  The new delectable treat I got to try for the first time was BRIE!!!  Oh my goodness I've been missing out!  LOL  I also loved making the vinaigrette it was fun and I loved the flavor of it too.  It was sweeter using the sherry vinegar and honey as well as the shallots being sweeter, it was a nice tangy-sweet dressing!  It pairs so perfectly with the flavor of the Brie!  The plums really made the sweetness stand out and the cucumbers went well too.  We'll make this dish again.  We've already bought some Brie and I plan on making baguettes from the Artisan Bread in 5 Master Dough.  For the lettuce I'll just buy a baby lettuce mix, it's easy to substitute since it's simply a leafy lettuce and a romaine so any combo of those types will work.  Also I'll probably up the size of the salad and lower the size of the bread and use only 1 serving of cheese next time.  I do so love my salads!  LOL

Here's the bonus meal we made!  And it's for sure a winner-winner-chicken-dinner!!! LOL  It's the Chicken & Snow Pea-Radish Sauté with Candied Pistachios!  This is OMG!!!  We made sure we bought chicken breasts with the bone in and skin on and I'm so glad we did because it was so juicy and flavorful!  It's simply seasoned with salt and pepper but oh wow it was like eating at a restaurant!  You use the fond and juices from the chicken left in the pan to saute the potatoes, radishes and snow peas and it's just amazing!  I've never had cooked radishes before and I have to say I liked them that way too!  They mellow out and aren't spicy like they normally are raw.  All the flavors worked together so well like the sweetness of the snow peas and the candied pistachios were out of this world good and went with all the flavors really well too!  They were so easy to make I was so surprised and we will make them again just on their own as a special little treat!
The only difference we had to make was that I can't find fresh tarragon locally so I had to settle for adding a quarter teaspoon of dried tarragon when I added the shallots to the saute pan.  It worked, but of course the fresh herbs make a huge difference.  I'm now dreaming of an herb garden with tarragon as one of the new herbs I have fallen in love with that is used a lot in Blue Apron meals!
Have you any doubt that we will be making this one again?!! LOL  This is one I would say you HAVE to try and make yourself even if you normally wouldn't!
And for this meal we tried out Kendall-Jackson's Vintner's Reserve Sauvingon Blanc 2012 the brightness of the lime and crispness of this wine went well with this meal as well as the nice mineral finish and it had a sweetness too!  It just really worked.  It reminded me of an unoaked chardonnay.

Baby Kale Maitake Mushroom Salad

I tried out Baby Kale for the first time and found that I really enjoy the taste of it!  So for lunch one day I dressed some Baby Kale in a serving of Panera's Balsamic Vinaigrette and topped it with a serving of Shredded Mozzarella Cheese (28g) and then topped it with some Sauteed Maitake Mushrooms (about 3oz).  It all tasted really good together the brightness of the balsamic really contrasted nice with the earthy flavors of the baby kale, mozz and maitake mushrooms.

Juilienned Cucumber-Radish-Carrot Salad with Garlic Yogurt Dressing

Cucumber-Radish-Carrot Salad with Garlic Yogurt Dressing! I made This Recipe from Diethood Blog but with a few changes!  I juilienned everything instead of slicing.  Julienning made it better to me, I can taste the radish better cut this way whereas when it was sliced they seemed to lose their flavor weirdly enough!  I added carrot into it for fun, and I used a regular cucumber and scooped out the seeds with a spoon.  It's the same dressing in the recipe though.  I could also see spiralizing all the ingredients and it working well too in noodle form!

Peach Salsa Spicy Chicken Baby Arugula Salad

Ever since making the Peach Salsa for our Blue Apron Meal last week, which I really loved, I was inspired to use the Peach Salsa in other ways like as a layer in a salad!  My idea worked beautifully and it has the Sweet, Sour, and Spicy Trifecta that works so amazingly for your taste-buds!

I used a bed of Baby Arugula dressed in a serving of Panera's Balsamic Vinaigrette that you can find in the cold section of the produce near the bagged salads of your grocery store.  I've found that with baby arugula it works best if you toss the leaves and get them thoroughly coated with the dressing before adding the rest of the layers of your salad first.  Then I added half of  Blue Apron's Peach Salsa which I made pretty much the same as how I learned from Blue Apron which is a Diced Large Peach or 2 smaller peaches (around 280g) and I add a couple Tablespoons of Small Diced Red Onion, about a Tbs. of Lime Zest, and the juice of the Lime, some Basil Chopped (I probably added a bit less Basil and chopped it a bit more than roughly) with salt added to taste and a small drizzle of Olive Oil.  On top of that I added some Sliced Spicy Chicken that was cooked up using seasonings to make it nice and spicy.

This makes 1 Serving and I assemble the salad on large dinner plates and just multiply it by how many people as needed.  The Peach Salsa makes 2 Servings.

Waldorf Inspired Salad with Rosemary Honey Lime Dressing

This weekend I made a Waldorf Inspired Salad.  The first time I had a salad like this was in one of those ready packaged ones you get at the grocery for a fast on the go meal.  That one had chicken, raisins, sunflower seeds, green apple and used a poppy seed dressing.  I had never came across a classic Waldorf Salad before so I had no idea what they were really like.  So mine is inspired from that one.  It seems that most Waldorf Salad variations have only grapes and walnuts in common!!! LOL

Mine is made using baby lettuce, and topped with 100g of red and green grapes.  You could get away with half that amount though, I will probably do 50g next time, and could use either red or green or do a mix as well.  I simply cut the small grapes in half and cut larger grapes into quarters.  I also topped it with 50g of Diced Green Apple, 14g of Chopped Walnuts and 7g of Sunflower Seeds.  I added sliced chicken too.
This makes one serving and I assemble the salad on large dinner plates and just multiply it by how many people as needed.

For the dressing I used about 2 tsp. of Lime Zest and then about 2 Tbs. of Lime Juice, I then added about a teaspoon sized pinch of Fresh Rosemary Minced and Bruised, 2 tsps. Honey, 2 tsps. Light Olive Oil, and added Salt to Taste.  This made 2 servings of Dressing that I split between 2 assembled salads!

I really love the play of sweet and tart mixed with the earthy nuttiness of the walnuts and sunflower seeds!  This is a salad I will make many times!

The BLT Salad

This salad is one of our favorites and for people we've made it for as well!  It's very easy to make simply a base layer of Sweet Butter Lettuce, Diced Tomato, Bolthouse Classic Ranch Dressing, 2oz. Chicken, and 1-2 Crumbled Pieces of Bacon.  This makes one serving and I assemble the salad on large dinner plates and just multiply it by how many people as needed.  It's also nice with Avocado too!

Simply Taco Salad

I had wanted to make a Taco Salad that was decent in the calorie department!  So I chopped up Iceberg Lettuce, added Diced Tomato, Kidney Beans, Shredded Cheddar Cheese, Bolthouse Salsa Ranch Dressing, Crumbled Tortilla Chips, and Taco Seasoned Ground Beef! So simple, but it satisfied my taco salad craving!
This makes one serving and I assemble the salad on large dinner plates and just multiply it by how many people as needed.

Asian Inspired Salad

One of my favorite new salad creations is this Asian Inspired Salad. It's so yummy! It tastes like a restaurant quality salad! My hubby loves it too! I added half an ounce of chopped cashews and 5-7 grams of toasted sesame seeds on top of 3 cups American Blend Lettuce (chose it for the firm crunchy lettuce and that it had radish/cabbage/carrot in it), half cup Spiralized Carrot, quarter cup Shredded Cabbage, 2oz. Ginger-Curry Spiced Chicken, and a serving of the Bolthouse Miso Ginger Dressing!  It's also really amazing with drops of Sriracha Sauce, I like about 20 drops, sprinkled throughout it too! It adds a nice spicy heat! Also about 5g of green onion adds a nice flair as well.

This makes one serving and I assemble the salad on large dinner plates and just multiply it by how many people as needed.

The flavors were exciting with the bold miso ginger taste and nuttiness from the toasted sesame and the cashews. The different textures played well together too varying from light and crunchy from the lettuce and nuts to the softer spiralized carrot with the silky dressing. (You can always use shredded carrot or julienned if you don't have a spiralizer.)  It was very filling and satisfying! Eating it reminded me of my favorite Thai salad at Panera Bread or like something we had for dinner at a Thai Restaurant.

It pairs well with a fruity Chardonnay too.  My favorite Chardonnay is Tobin James 2012 James Gang Reserve Chardonnay.  Another pairing that we really enjoyed was the Fancy Pants Sauvignon Blanc that we found at Target.  It was a very light crisp fruity wine!

Heirloom Tomato Salad with Tarragon

The other day I was watching the Barefoot Contessa on Food Network and she visited a guy who grew heirloom tomatoes and she had him share a recipe for an Heirloom Tomato Salad that I just thought looked awesome! SO when I saw some heirloom tomatoes at the grocery store, and having just seen that and hoped to find some, I snatched a few varieties right up! As soon as we got home I made the salad for me and my hubby. The recipe calls for tarragon but I couldn't find any in my store so I had to settle for dried tarragon.

Slice up each variety slightly different. Sprinkle with salt, drizzle with red wine vinegar, and sprinkle with tarragon! Mix it all up and adjust as needed. Then you let it sit and do it's thing. They said no oil because the vinegar does something special with the juices of the tomato making it really sweet. AND IT DOES! It was so good! And each kind of heirloom tomato had a slightly different taste to it too. And I've not really had tarragon before so it's an unusual flavor to me, kinda like a minty taste and a tea type taste to me. Hubby said he thought it tasted a bit like caraway. And it looks like he was right since looking it up right now both have an anise flavor to them! Ina says she usually pairs basil with tomatoes so I think that would probably work well with this idea too. I hope I find some more heirloom tomatoes!

Looking at the recipe just now I see that I didn't add any pepper to mine, I think that would have been nice too. I'll have to do that next time.

Food Adventure...the results are in on the Garden Greens Chopped Eggs and Whole Herbs Recipe!

I saw some really cool looking salads in the Martha Stewart Living Magazine and decided to take a risk and try one. So I picked this Garden Greens Chopped Eggs and Whole Herbs Recipe first. We couldn't find any fresh tarragon so I just skipped it. Also after putting together the dressing and I tasted it...it was awful!!! So we tossed it and just used the Bolthouse Mango Chipotle dressing instead which ended up tasting great with it. I'm pretty sure it was the anchovies that ruined it, but not sure why, they are supposed to taste like a nice salty umami flavor that you can't tell what it is...but these ones tasted like citric acid which is like a vitamin C tablet! EW! So not sure if it was the brand or what the deal was, but seriously I don't think it was what it was supposed to be like!

Other than that I blanched for the first time! I liked how the green beans (called haricots verts in the recipe) and the snap peas came out that way. I also salted the water tons so that it tasted like sea water. I've seen that tip tons on Food Network from Iron Chef Zakarian to Anne Burrell!!! So I made sure it was strong! I really liked the results and I think I will do it again. I especially liked the Snap Peas done that way and would try it again for another recipe idea in the future! The green beans were okay in the salad but not my favorite part of it either.

I also found that I really enjoyed the egg in the salad too and I have an idea to try and create something that has the flavors of a deviled egg but in salad form. Not sure how it will work up yet but I have it percolating in the back of my mind!

Another thing I found out from this foodie adventure is that I really, really, really, really, really dislike the flavor of parsley!!! I have never really liked it but I thought just give it a chance but it was SO strong in this recipe. I tried eating it anyway but it was so bitter and unpleasant that I ended up picking out what was left half way through my salad and it was so much better without it! So if you really love parsley you might really love this recipe, but if you don't either skip it or skip the parsley! LOL

So I'm 50/50 on this adventure, I liked some things but hated others. The nice thing is that it's a learning experience! Now I'll be able to try other things and maybe have a better idea going in of what I will like or not.

If I was to make it again, I would completely change it!!! LOL I would do a bed of baby arugula instead of the baby spinach, I just prefer the peppery flavor of the baby arugula better.  What I would do again would be the blanched snap peas, the chopped egg, and the Bolthouse Mango Chipotle Dressing with some salt and pepper on top. Everything else I would skip.