Chicken Salad Wrap

Sorry for the sparse posts lately, y'all. It's been busy around here! And sadly I haven't been cooking too much...or I haven't been cooking things that you haven't already seen.

On a side note, that's something I never thought about much with food blogs when I read them rather than wrote them--the sheer number of new things you always have to make! Props to my hero Ree Drummond AKA The Pioneer Woman AKA Overachiever Extraordinaire who has been doing her food blog for something like 10 years! How does she do it? The world may never know!

Mine and Hubby's lunch today was chicken salad, but not like the leafy chicken salad I posted a couple weeks ago. This one's more of a chicken salad/tuna salad sandwich hybrid...minus the tuna and chicken. But it does have Quorn "chicken" in their place!

I was pleasantly surprised with how this turned out, and it made quite a tasty lunch today. I may have found another staple easy lunch/dinner for our house!

Let's get down to it.

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 3.5 minutes

Serves: 2

Ingredients:

2 Quorn "chicken" cutlets

1/2 red bell pepper

5-6 dill pickle slices

1/8 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon onion powder

4 heaping tablespoons mayonnaise

1- 1 1/2 teaspoons yellow mustard

2 spinach tortillas

1 cup kale or spinach, stems removed

Directions:

1. Follow the directions to cook the "chicken." Dice finely. (It doesn't shred very well!)

2. Finely dice your red pepper and throw that in with the cutlets.

3. Pickles next--wanna guess what to do with them? (Hint: finely dice, also.)

Normally chicken salad and tuna salad call for celery, too, but I don't much like celery most of the time and don't use it very often, so we virtually never have it in the house. It's mostly for the crunch factor, anyway, and we have that with the peppers!

4. Mix it all up and add in the garlic powder and onion powder. The measurements above are more of estimations than anything--it was mostly just brief sprinkling to get a little extra flavor.

5. Plop in the mayonnaise until the chicken is nice and moist. You can add more or less per your preference! We're a big mayo family, though.

6. Add in your little bit o' mustard and mix.

7. Grab a tortilla. A non-spinach tortilla works just fine, too. Also, if you want to just make this a chicken salad sandwich instead of a wrap, I won't be offended. Promise!

Plop on half of the chicken salad.

Layer on half of the kale (or spinach, if you don't like raw kale's semi-bitter flavor).

Roll 'er up.

And done!

Rinse and repeat step number 7 for the second wrap.

Enjoy!

Printable directions:

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 3.5 minutes

Serves: 2

Ingredients:

2 Quorn "chicken" cutlets

1/2 red bell pepper

5-6 dill pickle slices

1/8 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon onion powder

4 heaping tablespoons mayonnaise

1- 1 1/2 teaspoons yellow mustard

2 spinach tortillas

1 cup kale or spinach, stems removed

Directions:

1. Follow the directions to cook the "chicken." Dice finely.

2. Dice red peppers and pickles. Combine peppers, pickles and chicken in a bowl.

3. Add garlic powder, onion powder, mayonnaise and mustard and mix well.

4. On both tortillas, layer chicken salad and kale in the center. Roll each wrap like a burrito and cut in half, if desired.

Enjoy!

Berry-Coconut Popsicles

It always seems like if I make a recipe for a good, hot summer day, then the day that I actually post it is cold again. I've been wearing dresses for about two weeks straight, and today I'm back in jeans and a sweater.

Welcome to upstate NY.

In any case, the day we made and actually had these popsicles, it was very nice out! Too warm, actually, for an apartment with no AC. Hopefully you're reading this from somewhere that is still a little too warm and you could use something to cool you down.

Like these:

I found the actual popsicle molds at an outlet/discount mall for $2. $2! I had looked at several other stores with no luck--apparently there are few stores in NY that assume that we would have any need for popsicle molds.

But warm days are coming, again, and hopefully one of these days they'll stick around. It is May, after all.

Let's get down to it:

Prep time: 10 minutes

Freeze time: 6 hours + (overnight is best)

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

1/2 can coconut water
~1 - 1 1/2 cups frozen berry mix

Yup, that's it.

Directions:

1) Grab your popsicle molds.

Fill about 1/2 of the way with coconut water.

Those little floating white things are the "pulp," just little coconut chunks.

2) Plop in your berries--gently! Since they're frozen they like to stay together even after you initially break them apart, so they might need a helping hand settling. Meaning, be prepared to  shove them a little farther into the popsicle mold.

3) Fill just about to the end of the mold, and top off with a teensy bit more coconut water. Add the lids, making sure to fully seal them (or else the popsicle won't stick to them), and freeze.

4) When it's time to remove them, they can be awful stubborn. I always run the outsides of the popsicle molds under warm to medium-hot tap water to loosen them up a little, then rock the handles back and forth until the popsicles decide to come loose.

If you're too rough, the popsicle sticks might just dislodge and you won't have a popsicle at all -- just a very large berry ice cube that you have to fish out.

Aren't they pretty?

Since Hubby and I are trying to eat healthier, we didn't add any extra sugar (The coconut water already has a lot), so the berries can be a little sour. If you want a more traditional-tasting popsicle, I would recommend blending the berries with the coconut water and adding a little sugar or honey.

We liked these just fine, though.

They all look a little different, depending on how many berries you managed to convince to get in there.

Come on warm days! I want an excuse to make some more!

Enjoy!

Spicy "Chicken" Salad

I would just like to point out, before I get started here, that this is the first leafy-lettuce salad I've ever posted on this blog--which I find comical since so many people who don't know many vegetarians assume that all we eat is salad.

Anyways.

This thing has become my new jam.

I love this salad.

It's pretty simple, too, considering that we use store-bought dressing. Maybe some time I'll make my own for this!

FYI: The dressing is quite spicy, at least for people who usually like mild and maybe a gentle medium once in a while, like me. Use at your own risk!

Let's get down to it:

Prep time: 5-10 minutes

Cook time: 5 minutes

Serves: 1

Ingredients:

1 Boca "Chicken" patty
1 cup romaine lettuce, chopped
1/2 medium tomato
1-2 tablespoons small onion, sliced
1/4 cup red pepper, chopped
2-3 tablespoons canned sweet corn
2-3 tablespoons House of Tsang Bangkok Peanut Sauce

1. Follow the directions to cook the Boca "chicken" in a skillet, to give it some nice crispiness. Chop and set aside.

2. Grab a bowl and throw in your lettuce.

3. Then your tomatoes.

4. Onions.

5. Red peppers.

6. And of course, the corn. (Look at all that color!)

7. In a separate bowl/tupperware, chuck in your chopped Boca patty.

Drizzle 1-2 tablespoons of the dipping sauce all over the "chicken."

Top with a small plate or the lid of your tupperware and shake the heck out of it to coat the chicken.

8. Throw that on top of your salad.

9. Top with the remainder of the dressing, to your taste.

That's it! Enjoy!

Mother's Day Brunch Ideas

Happy Mother's Day Eve-Eve! Err, happy two-days before Mother's Day! ...Uhh, happy-- Let's try this: Happy Early Mother's Day, since on actual Mother's Day I will be with my mom and my mom-in-law and not blogging!

No new recipe today, just some oldies but goodies that you could possibly use for Mother's Day Brunch, if you are planning one.

P.S., I had no idea how many breakfast recipes I actually had on here until I looked through to find stuff for this post!

Let's get down to it:

1) Strawberry Pancakes with Strawberry Syrup--for the mommas who like their foods pretty and classy, as well as tasty.

2) Banana Nut-butter Muffins--for the health-minded mommas out there, or gluten-intolerant ones. Mine is both!

3) Waffle Breakfast Sandwich--serve wisely, these things are dense! Not for the health-minded mommas mentioned above.

4) "Caprese" Breakfast Sandwich--for the Italian momma in your life. (Or just those that like Caprese salad)

5) Kale Scramble--Another for those health-minded and/or kale-lovin' mommas.

6) My Dad's French Toast--for the French mommas in your life. (Or just those that like French Toast.)

7) Egg and "Sausage" Biscuits--for the Southern momma in your life. (Or just those that like biscuits.)

8) Semi-Homemade Breakfast Pizza--for those mommas that love pizza in any form...and for those of you that like fast breakfasts!

9) Mini Quiches--for the mommas that like to add a little fancy to their mornings.

10) Egg & Cheese Breakfast sandwich--for the more traditional and/or bagel-lovin' mommas out there.

And now, for a few extras to add a little something to the brunch:

11) Semi-homemade mochas--for the coffeehouse connoisseur mommas.

12) Mini Heart-shaped Berry Pies--for the pie-loving mommas out there.

13) Homemade Reese's--for the peanut butter loving mommas.

14) Carrot-and-cucumber Tulips--for the mommas that love flowers and Spring!

Whatever your momma loves, Hubby and I wish her a Happy Mother's Day! Enjoy!

Potato Salad--and the First Picnic of the Season!

Sorry for the radio silence the past couple weeks, y'all. Things have been very busy in the Webb household, and work has been busy too--which, if you've read other posts, you'll know is the only place I have regular access to the internet. So, blogging can be a little tough when work is busy.

On the bright side, though, it has been super nice out this past week+, and Hubby and I were able to have our first picnic of the season this weekend!

On the menu:

-"Turkey" wraps (with tofurkey lunchmeat)

-Potato salad (with a twist)

-Fruit salad

and

-Sparkling lemonade

I'm only going to post the recipe for the potato salad today, though.

My ex's mom introduced me to this recipe, and she got it from a restaurant whose name I can't remember, but wherever the heck this recipe originated, I like it!

Let's get down to it:

Prep time: 5 minutes

Cook time: ~10 minutes

Serves: 5-6

Ingredients:

5-7 medium to large red potatoes
3/4-1 cup mayonnaise (as needed)
1 cup scallions
1 cup canned sweet corn, drained
Salt to taste

Directions:

1. Cube your potatoes and boil until tender, about 10 minutes. Add to a large mixing bowl.

2. Plop in your mayonnaise. Everyone is very different with how much mayo they like in salads like this, so it's up to you how much you want to add!

3. Toss in your scallions.

4. Throw in your corn.

5. Mix it all up! If you want to add in any extra salt, now's the time to do it.

Then, package it up and throw everything into a picnic basket and go.

Set down a towel in the bottom of the basket.

Load up the food.

And your best fish plates and lemon/lime glasses.

And the rest of the food, some napkins, the lemonade, and some ice packs/oversized ice cubes. (They do double-duty for the lemonade, too!)

Pad it all with a your picnic blanket, and it's good to go!

We found a nice sunny spot with a good shade tree and set up a big ol' comforter blanket.

Then we laid out the spread.

We ate, we drank, we watched the wildlife.

And all was well with the world.

Enjoy!