salads

There you are in your kitchen staring longingly into the refrigerator half trying to cool off and half wondering what that “science experiment” is still doing in the vegetable drawer. It is HOT outside, muggy enough that you can see birds swimming from tree to tree instead of flying and you have changed your shirt for the third time because of the heat. You may not be motivated enough to head to the grocery store so, what in the world can you do for dinner? I always say, “work with what you got!”

I was in this situation a couple of weeks ago and had to kind of wing it. Avoiding the “science experiment”, and actually throwing it away (To this day, I cannot figure out what it was.) I saw that I had a half bag of fresh spinach leaves, romaine lettuce leaves, a broccoli crown, two small red/yellow bell peppers, half a green bell pepper, a quarter bag of shredded carrots, 3 Roma tomatoes, and about 4 ounces of fresh mushrooms. From my freezer, 1.05 pounds of chicken tenders and, from the pantry, the magic elixir that pulled everything together, Brianna’s Special Request Lively Lemon Tarragon salad dressing. The result of this list of ingredients was a good dinner, using up some things that would not have been enough for a different recipe and avoiding another trip into the hot muggy South Carolina summer.

Super B Salad

Lemon Taragon Chicken Salad

Ingredients:

1 lb – Chicken tenders

1 bottle – Brianna’s Lemon Tarragon salad dressing

1/2 bag – Fresh spinach leaves

1 – Broccoli crown large, separated into florets

1/4 bag – Shredded carrots

2 – Small red or yellow bell peppers cut into thin rings

3 – Roma tomatoes, cut into thin wedges

4 oz – fresh mushroom slices

Dry aged red wine vinegar (to be used as a dressing in splashes to compliment the chicken)

Construction Instruction:

Take chicken and marinate in a full bottle of the Brianna’s salad dressing for an hour. In a non-stick skillet sprayed with Pam or other non caloric non-stick spray, bring your heat up to just under half way or low medium heat. Trying to keep as much of the marinade on the chicken, place the tenders in the skillet and begin to cook them. Make sure you are turning the chicken tenders often so that the dressing caramelizes on the outside of the chicken. This process will take about 15 to 20 minutes.

Since the chicken is going to cook fairly slow, arrange the vegetable ingredients on large plates to await the crowning achievement, the chicken.

This was a simple, easy meal that turned out great.

Enjoy!

The Well Fed Cyclist

Gary Bechard

Sorry, old Army PT running song was kind of in my head and I had to get it out and, yay, verily a title for this blog post was born. Before I get into the food part of this, I remember vividly when I was first in the Army, almost 40 years ago, and sometimes miss it terribly. Back then, the Army food used to get a bad rap but I met some soldiers who were the cooks that would match even some of the best chefs I see in this area.

Exciting things happening here on the old ranch especially when it comes to the way we are eating and possibly to the way I will do my future recipes. Now, as we ease into the Mediterranean inspired food and away from what we were eating on a regular basis (Pittsburgh “chunk-o-rama” type food), I feel a whole lot better. My son and daughter would say that we were “eating clean”, not quite paleo but good enough, and we should have done this much, much sooner. Besides having a ton more energy, the side benefit is the 5 pound drop in weight and one inch off the waist since starting this a week and a half ago. Climbing hills on the bike will be much easier without having a 3 year old strapped to my front. That is not to say that my other recipes are bad but they are not quite as clean as the ones we have been having lately. I am going to start today with a quick recipe for my version of cole slaw which uses three types of cabbage and NO, that’s right, NO mayonnaise. It is terrbly simple but oh so good.

My Way (mixed cabbage cole slaw)

Ingredients:

Slaw:

5 – Tuscan cabbage leaves, fine shred

1/2 – Savoy cabbage head (very small), fine shred

1/2 – Red cabbage head (very small), fine shred

1/2 – Sweet onion, sliced very thin

2 – Whole carrots, peeled and sliced very thin, or run them through the “spiralizer”

1/3 cup – White raisins

Dressing:

1/4 cup – Olive oil

1/8 cup -White balsamic vinegar

1 tsp – Thyme leaves

1/2 tsp – Coarse ground black pepper (or to taste)

1/2 tsp – Lemon peel

1/2 tsp – Soy Sauce or liquid aminos (the stuff that tastes like soy sauce but has no salt)

1 tsp – Toasted sesame seeds

Construction Instruction:

In a large bowl, combine the salad ingredients and fold them together so that everything is evenly distributed. In a separate bowl, combine the dressing ingredients and whisk together until smooth. Toss the slaw with the dressing until evenly coated and place in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes. The time in the fridge will help all the ingredients get to know each other and will help break down the Tuscan cabbage a bit.

Enjoy!

The Well Fed Cyclist

thewellfedcyclist

So…sometimes you’re stuck, it happens

Early in the morning, uh huh, before you eat your breakfast, uh huh…gotta run around, round, round