For Janette

We were in charge of dessert for our family Easter picnic, and it was a completely gorgeous day out, so I thought something cool and easy was in order. I settled comfortably on Jell-O pretzel salad. I know it sounds like an odd combo if you've never had it before, but my husband (who was wary at first) was fighting my Mom last night for the leftovers! I think it's the perfect combination of sweet and salty.

I have a friend who is completely crazy for all things Jell-O, and I think my inspiration for dessert might be partly to blame because of the awesome Jelly article she had up on her blog. So this one's for you Janette! *MWAH!*

Strawberry Jell-O Pretzel Salad

2 cups crushed pretzels (crush them up to wee chunky bits, and measure them after crushing)
3 tablespoons sugar
3/4 cup butter, melted
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 (8 ounce) tub whipped topping (aka cool whip) thawed**
1 (6 ounce) package of strawberry Jell-O*
1 (16 ounce) bag frozen strawberries, or 16 ounces fresh sliced strawberries
1 small can crushed pineapple (optional)

~Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
~Mix together the pretzels, sugar and melted butter. Pour into the bottom of a 9x13 pan.
~Bake for 7 minutes.
~Remove from oven and let cool completely.
~Once the pretzel crust has cooled, mix the cream cheese and sugar together, then fold in the whipped topping until completely combined.
~Spread this mixture over the pretzel crust. Cover the pan and put in the fridge.
~In a bowl, mix together 2 cups boiling water with the Jell-O until completely dissolved (about 2 minutes).
~Chop the frozen strawberries (I put mine in the blender until they're coarse chunks) or slice fresh strawberries. Put them in the Jell-O. Add pineapple if desired.
~Put the Jell-O Mixture in the fridge until thickened, but not set. Pour the Jell-O mixture over the cream cheese layer.
~Refrigerate until set, about 2 hours. Top with additional whipped topping if desired.

Serves 12.

*Feel free to change Jell-O flavors to your liking. I think that lime with pineapple would be tasty. Or orange with mandarins! BigScottishJerk.com also brought up the fact that a chocolate pudding type topping might be completely awesome. I think he might be very right.
**I know I have friends who can't do the cool-whip. I'm sure you could substitute 2 cups of heavy whipped cream in lieu of this.

Salad Days

Todays recipe is for Chinese Chicken Salad. Just in time for the Beijing Olympics! (Although I'm sure it's not even close to real Chinese, but it's yummy.) If you buy your chicken pre-cooked, you don't even have to heat up your kitchen.

Now if BigScottishJerk.com would quit eating it all before I could take a picture of it...seriously, we eat an entire salad bowl of the stuff between us. It's SO good.

I'm sure you've all had some incarnation of this salad, but this has more veggies and you can swap out the noodles if you don't want them, but you will need the little flavoring packets that come with the noodles for the dressing. I did notice when I was shopping the other day that Nissin now makes a baked ramen noodle (called Choice Ramen) that has a lot less fat and sodium...and it still tastes pretty much the same...in fact they're slightly crunchier than the fatty ones.

Chinese Ramen Noodle Salad

1 12 ounce bag broccoli slaw mix (Mann's is good)
1/2 head shredded green cabbage
2 packages chicken flavored ramen noodles
2/3 cup roasted sliced almonds (optional)
1/4 cup canola oil
1/2 cup white or rice vinegar
1/2 cup sugar (I sometimes use 1/4 cup sugar and 1/4 cup splenda)
1/8 teaspoon onion powder
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
pepper to taste
green onions, finely sliced (optional)
rotisserie chicken, cooled and shredded

1-Open the ramen noodles, set the seasoning packets aside. Put the noodles in a bag and crush them.
2-In a bowl whisk together the oil, vinegar, sugar, onion powder, ginger, pepper and both flavoring packets from the noodles until everything is dissolved.
3-Mix together the slaw mix, cabbage, crushed noodles, almonds and green onions (if using) and shredded chicken in a large bowl.
4-Pour the dressing over the top and toss to coat.
5-Refrigerate 4-6 hours to let the flavors blend (we never make it that long!) Stir again before serving.

It's Been a While!

Welcome back everyone...we're up and running. :)

Ina Garten (aka "The Barefoot Contessa") is somewhat a folk hero among Food Network devotees. I happen to be one (because really? It's food porn.) and even though I don't have as much time as I used to, I still try to catch Ina when I can. She lives in a gorgeous home in the Hamptons and has parties with all her adorable gay friends. She puts exhorbitant amounts of butter, mayonnaise or alcohol in everything she makes. And there's always a homey recipe underneath all the glitz and glamour of chocolate ganache and candied violets.

I have a few of her other recipes here on Spoon!...namely her lemon cake, orange chocolate bundt and the insanely dreamy coconut cupcakes.

I made her Curried Chicken Salad last weekend for the Scottish Festival picnic and it was SO good. In fact one person said "I think this is good and then every bite I take it just gets better and better." So here it is in all it's glory.
(The amounts in the dressing have been adapted a bit from her recipe in the cookbook because it makes TONS of curry dressing. Way more than you'll ever need unless you're going to cook a lot of chicken.)

Ina's *FABULOUS!* Curried Chicken Salad

2 and 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts
olive oil
salt
fresh ground pepper
1 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
1/4 cup Major Grey's Chutney (I couldn't find this ANYWHERE, so I used Patak's Sweet Mango Chutney, which I believe is the same thing.)
2 tablespoons curry powder
1/2-3/4 teaspoon salt, to taste
1 cup medium diced celery
1/4 cup finely chopped onion or chopped green onions
1/4 cup golden raisins
1 cup roasted, salted cashews (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Place the chicken breasts on a foil lined pan and rub with olive oil.
3. Sprinkle to taste with salt and pepper.
4. Roast for 30-40 minutes until the chicken is just cooked through.
5. Remove from the oven and set aside until cool enough to handle.
6. Once it's cool, dice the chicken into bite size pieces.
7. For the dressing, combine the mayonnaise, vinegar, chutney, curry powder and salt in a blender or food processor fitted with the steel blade.
8. Process until smooth.
9. Combine the chicken with just enough dressing to moisten. Add the celery, onions and raisins and mix well.
10. Refrigerate for a few hours (or overnight) to let the flavors blend.
11. Add the cashews just before serving if you're using them. It's lovely on a croissant! Serves about 10? It makes a lot. :)

************************

I was thinking about ways to change this up, since curries are as numerous and different as the stars...so I think next time I make it I'm going to swap out the vinegar for coconut milk and the chutney for apricot or mango preserves. I might cut back on the curry powder to maybe 1 tablespoon as well to make it a bit milder. My hope is it would be more like Korma...YUM! I've also heard that you can use plain yogurt in place of the mayonnaise to lighten it up with great results. Another time I'll try changing the curry powder for Garam Masala...so many possibilites!

Not Quite Death By Chocolate...

Having a hard time being in the kitchen? Me too. :( Here's an easy recipe from things you'll probably have in your pantry.

Stupid Easy Vegetarian Taco Salad

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can sweet corn
1 14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes in juice
1 can vegetarian chili (I like Nalley)
1/2 teaspoon parsley
1/2 teaspoon taco seasoning (I use a mixture of chili powder, cumin, onion powder and red pepper)
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 medium yellow onion, grated
Corn chips
shredded lettuce
shredded cheddar cheese
sour cream

-In a saucepan combine the black beans, sweet corn, tomatoes, chili, parsley and taco seasoning.
-Bring to a boil over medium high heat, stirring occasionally.
-Lower heat and simmer for 4 minutes.
-Stir in grated onion and simmer for 4 more minutes.
-Add salt and pepper to taste if needed.
-On a plate put down a layer of corn chips.
-Top the chips with lettuce, then a layer of the bean mixture.
-Top the beans with cheese and a good dollop of sour cream.

Mostly Alive...

Seeing as I've got morning sickness, I thought this might be a nice chance to post some of my favorite tried and true recipes from my files. Although I can't guarantee I'll always be in the mood to do so, so I apologize in advance for rather infrequent updates in the next few months.

The other night I just HAD to have sloppy joes. I don't know why, but nothing else would do. And where can you actually just go buy a sloppy joe? So I dug out my favorite recipe and sent my poor husband into the kitchen to make them for me. And they came out as good as ever. We also had some wonderful, summery cucumber salad (vegan!) to go with it that I finished eating for lunch the other day when nothing else sounded good, so I'll post that recipe too. They're both easy and good and perfect for the finicky pregnant lady...and even those who are not.

Dana's Sloppy Joes

(6-8 servings)

1 and 1/2 lbs. ground beef (93% lean or leaner)
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup ketchup
1 tablespoon mustard
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 teaspoons worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon salt
pepper to taste

-Brown ground beef with onion in a skillet.
-Add remaining ingredients and stir well.
-Simmer on low to medium low for 30-40 minutes, stirring occasionally.
-If mixture becomes too dry before this point, add 1/4 cup of water and continue simmering
-Serve on hamburger buns.

Cucumber Salad with Dill

2 english cucumbers (2 lbs total)
1 small red onion
1 and 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon white or red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar
2 teaspoons dried dill or 2 tablespoons fresh dill

-Slice the cucumbers lengthwise, scoop out the seeds with a spoon and slice about 1/4 inch thick.
-Thinly slice the onion.
-Put the onion and cucumber in a colander and toss it with the salt.
-Let them sit and drain for 20 minutes. (Don't leave it much longer than that or you will have salty veggies.)
-Press the liquid out of the cucumbers and onions and rinse to remove the extra salt.
-Combine the vinegar and sugar, stir well.
-Put the cucumbers and onions in a bowl and pour the vinegar mixture over them. Toss to coat.
-Stir in the dill.