Grilled Chicken Salad with Mango

Grilled Chicken Salad with Mango

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For the marinade:
1/4 cup Soy Sauce
Juice of one medium Orange
3 cloves garlic, crushed
3/4 teaspoon chili powder
2 or 3 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

Vinaigrette:
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
Juice of one medium Orange
Juice of one Lime
2 tablespoons tequila
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons honey
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper
Dash of salt

Remaining ingredients:
1/2 teaspoon salt
½ Jicama, peeled and cut into julienne strips
1 medium mango, peeled and cubed
½ bag frozen shelled edamame
3 cups torn romaine lettuce
3 cup fresh spinach, trimmed

Chicken: combine first 5 ingredients in a large bowl, cover and marinate in refrigerator 2 hours, turning chicken once.

Vinaigrette: Whisk together all vinaigrette ingredients; slowly pour in oil in a steady stream, while whisking; Set aside until ready to use.

Cook Chicken: Prepare grill. Remove chicken from marinade, discarding marinade. Sprinkle chicken with salt. Place chicken on grill rack coated with cooking spray, and grill for 5 minutes on each side or until done. Cut into slices or chop.  Set aside.

Edamame: Steam or boil edamame according to package directions.  Rinse briefly with cold water.

Assemble salad: Toss lettuce and spinach together in a large serving bowl with ¾ of the dressing. Arrange chicken on greens in one corner; arrange jicama, mango, and edamame in each of the other corners.  Drizzle remaining dressing over top.

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Best served with baked, seasoned corn chips:  spritz corn chips with cooking spray, season to taste with some cumin, chili powder, some lime juice, and a dash of cayenne.  Bake at 350 for about 10 minutes.  Crush a few on top of salad, serve the rest on the side.

Yield: 6 servings

If I Had A Million Dollars

I love this song.  I really do.  I don’t know why.  Barenaked Ladies crack me up.

If I had a million dollars
(If I had a million dollars)
I’d buy you a house
(I would buy you a house)
If I had a million dollars
(If I had a million dollars)
I’d buy you furniture for your house
(Maybe a nice chesterfield or an ottoman)
And if I had a million dollars
(If I had a million dollars)
Well, I’d buy you a K-Car
(A nice Reliant automobile)
If I had a million dollars I’d buy your love

If I had a million dollars
I’d build a tree fort in our yard
If I had million dollars
You could help, it wouldn’t be that hard
If I had million dollars
Maybe we could put like a little tiny fridge in there somewhere
You know, we could just go up there and hang out
Like open the fridge and stuff
There would already be laid out foods for us
Like little pre-wrapped sausages and things

They have pre-wrapped sausages but they don’t have pre-wrapped bacon
Well, can you blame ’em
Uh, yeah

If I had a million dollars
(If I had a million dollars)
Well, I’d buy you a fur coat
(But not a real fur coat that’s cruel)
And if I had a million dollars
(If I had a million dollars)
Well, I’d buy you an exotic pet
(Yep, like a llama or an emu)
And if I had a million dollars
(If I had a a million dollars)
Well, I’d buy you John Merrick’s remains
(Ooh, all them crazy elephant bones)
And If I had a million dollars I’d buy your love

If I had a million dollars
We wouldn’t have to walk to the store
If I had a million dollars
Now, we’d take a limousine ’cause it costs more
If I had a million dollars
We wouldn’t have to eat Kraft Dinner
But we would eat Kraft Dinner
Of course we would, we’d just eat more
And buy really expensive ketchups with it
That’s right, all the fanciest ke… dijon ketchups!
Mmmmmm, Mmmm-Hmmm

If I had a million dollars
(If I had a million dollars)
Well, I’d buy you a green dress
(But not a real green dress, that’s cruel)
And if I had a million dollars
(If I had a million dollars)
Well, I’d buy you some art
(A Picasso or a Garfunkel)
If I had a million dollars
(If I had a million dollars)
Well, I’d buy you a monkey
(Haven’t you always wanted a monkey)

If I had a million dollars
I’d buy your love

If I had a million dollars, If I had a million dollars
If I had a million dollars, If I had a million dollars
If I had a million dollars
I’d be rich

Sleeeeeeepy…but well!

OK, so I AM well again.  And cooking, obviously.  My head has been spinning about lately, and when I take the time to explain it all, you’ll see exactly what I mean – and I’d explain it all now, since I’m bothering to take the time to explain that my head is spinning at all, only it isn’t something you explain when it is after midnight and you have to go to work the next day (see?  Can’t you just see my head spinning?).  So, I’m just going to say a quick hi ("hi!"), and throw in a gratuitous photo of my 9 month old, and go to sleep.

Feb081

Take care all,

Janene

Bowtie, Chicken, & Cannellini Bean Soup

Bowtiesoup

This cooked up in about 20 minutes, when I thought I had nothing to cook with.  This is a great way to use up any leftover cooked chicken, or even bacon (I had a couple slices left from going out to breakfast earlier).  Enjoy!

(I have photos, but they aren’t with me right now, so I’ll update the post when I can with a picture for you!)

Bowtie, Chicken, & Cannellini Bean Soup

1 T olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
½ red onion, diced finely
¼ – ½ tsp red pepper flakes
½ tsp dried or 1 T fresh Basil
¼ tsp dried oregano
4 cups good quality chicken broth
2 cups water
Salt & fresh ground pepper to taste
8 oz Bowtie pasta
1 can cannelloni beans, rinsed & drained
2 slices cooked bacon, crumbled or minced
1 cup cooked chicken, chopped
1 cup frozen spinach
½ cup whipping cream

1.  Heat olive oil over medium high heat.  Add garlic, cook 1 minute or until fragrance (careful not to burn).  Add onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 5 minutes.

2.  Add red pepper flakes, basil, and orgegano; cook, stirring, about 30 seconds.

3.  Add chicken broth and next 6 ingredients (through chicken), bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer until pasta is al dente, about 8 minutes.

4.  Stir in spinach and whipping cream, until heated through (do not boil).  Adjust seasonings, if necessary, the serve in heated bowls with garlic bread.  Yum!

Domestic Illness…again…

Well, believe it or not, I am sick again.  There must be some sort of unofficial rule that if you get the flu shot, you eventually have to get the flu.  I have the first case of Influenza B that my doctor has seen yet this year.  There we were enjoying ourselves at the Seattle gift show buying for the store, when bam!  I go and get a fever.  Which just goes up and up until we go to the doctor, and he gives me this q-tip thingy I have to jam up my nose until I cry, and he says I have the flu.  Now, four days of missed work later, my baby is sick too.  He’s never been really sick before.  I sat him in my lap most of yesterday evening after he got back from the doctor, and he just sat there and whimpered, poor thing, over and over.  What an awful feeling to have your child feel so rotten, and not understand why he feels that way nor why you don’t seem to be doing anything about it.  Even more pathetically cute were his attempts at cheerfulness.  Every now and then a slow grin would emerge under those puffy red droopy eyes.  Ah, I love my son.

So, we’re both home sick today.  And I’ve been watching a LOT of movies.  Chris came back from errands with a whole handful, a really interesting selection – The Golden Child, Sweet Home Alabama, A Fish Called Wanda, Memoirs of a Geisha, to name a few.  Today will be another day of movie watching, sleeping, and drinking ungodly amounts of liquid.  And reading up on some of my favorite blogs.  Its been a while, so that will be a treat!