Quick Chicken Trick

You might think I grew up eating gourmet food, but the truth is, my childhood food experience was just like the vast majority of my generation.  We had casseroles made with condensed soups, and lasagna came from the freezer.  That being said, Mom cooked dinner just about every evening, and I don’t remember having a lot of complaints.  So where did I learn to cook without mixes and canned stuff?  Well, a lot of it has come from trial and error… and there have been plenty of errors.  There have been many flat cookies or broken cream sauces.  For a while, the phrase, “I don’t know what happened”, was a running joke in our house.  So don’t be afraid to try new things.  Worst case scenario, you have a mess in your oven and you’re eating pizza for dinner.  But next time, maybe you’ll have perfection!  The other part of learning has been picking up tricks wherever I can find them.  I’m not ashamed to say I totally stole this trick from my friend Elise Logan.  I was telling her about how much I love Trader Joe’s Healthy 8 Chopped Veggie Mix. 

Seriously guys, if you have a Trader Joe’s nearby, (I say nearby, but mine is 63 miles away.  Fortunately there is also a Whole Foods and an amazing barbecue place down there, so we go every Sunday.) you have to try this stuff.  Toss it with a bit of your favorite salad dressing, and it makes a fabulous side, snack, or even lunch.  It’s a mixture of broccoli, carrots, green cabbage, red cabbage, jicama, green bell pepper, radish, and celery.   

Well, Elise said she uses it for chicken salad.  Holy crap!  I’m pretty sure the woman is a genius.  Chicken salad is one of my favorite things, so I wasn’t going to pass up on that trick.  Now I pass the trick onto all of you.  Pile some of the veggie mix on a cutting board.

Chop it down to whatever size you like.  I prefer mine to be fairly small. 

Now, in my world, chicken salad isn’t chicken salad without green onions, so those go into the bowl along with the veg and chicken.  I like about a 1 to 1 ratio of chicken and veggies.  Btw, trick #2, rotisseries chickens are fabulous for this, but if you can get your hands on a smoked chicken, they’re even better.  I don’t know if they do in other places, but in my area, Whole Foods has amazing smoked chickens.   

Add whatever dressing you like.  For me, it’s homemade, low fat ranch.  What, you want that recipe as well?  Alright, I’ll post it soon, but if you need it in the meantime, comment below or use the request form on the right and I’ll be happy to share it with you. 

Mix that all together and you’re almost to chicken salad perfection.  Look at all those fabulous colors!

I say almost because in my world, pistachios are a requirement for chicken salad.  They go soft rather quickly, though, so remove whatever you’re not going to eat now to a storage container and then add them to your portion. 

You have now reached chicken salad heaven, and it took like 10 minutes or less. 

What are you favorite kitchen tricks?  Post them in the comments below so we can all add them to our repertoire.   

Nuke the Mess!

As I’m sure you saw last week, Seeley has decided to take a bit of a break from blogging so she can focus on school.  It was either that, or she might soon find herself in a madhouse.  While she’s away, I’ve decided to create Tuesday’s Tips, Tricks, and Treats.  Basically, I’ll be posting tidbits I think you might find handy.  They may not always be cooking related, but they’ll always be kitchen related in some way.  Today’s tip is how to clean your dirty microwave quickly and easily, and with no chemicals. 

All you’ll need is 2 cups of hot water and a lemon. 

To be honest, I’m quite embarrassed to show a picture of my dirty microwave.  I don’t use it all that often, and when I do I’m slightly anal about making sure everything is covered.  Hubby on the other hand…  Yeah, I know, I about fainted when I saw how bad it was, but I’m putting my shame aside and baring all.  Consider it a sacrifice for the greater good. 

Now, cut your lemon in half and drop it into the hot water. 

Place that in the center of your microwave. 

Set it on high for 5 minutes. 

After it beeps, allow it to just sit for an additional 2 minutes or so.  When you open the door you’ll think I’ve completely conned you, and what a waste that was.  But it’s been doing work, trust me. 

Look what you can do with just a dry paper towel.  That is somehow really gross and really satisfying at the same time.

With just a quick wipe with the paper towel, you can get the majority of the gunk off. 

Now take your washcloth and dip it into the hot lemon water.  Be very careful.  The water was just boiling a few minutes ago and is still really hot.  Allow the rag to cool long enough so you can handle it, then use it to wipe down the entire microwave, including the turntable. 

Only a few minutes from start to finish and with hardly any effort invested, and your microwave will be sparkling clean, inside,

And out.

As an added bonus, you can cut the cooked lemon into pieces and put it down your garbage disposal. 

With it still running, pour the remaining hot, lemon water down, as well. 

Have any cleaning tips you’d like to see posted or questions?  Post in the comments below or contact us using our new form on the right hand side of the page.  No, your other right.  Over there -->