Chicken, Mango & Avocado Summer Salad

 You might notice that my blog design is changing. It's a work in progress. I'm getting great feedback and help from my friends and I'm about to peer pressure a certain graphic artist friend (who actually understands things like blog layouts) to help me make things more awesome. My husband also told me today that my blog wasn't "pretty" enough. So eventually maybe we'll end up with awesome and a side of pretty. 

Today instead of talking more and more about me and the weird ways I view food and childhood obesity, we are back to actually cooking food. This is one of my fav summer salads, but in Texas it's so damn hot it's more like a spring/summer/fall salad. This post is taking a few steps ahead in some things I wanted to be more detailed on, but later on we'll come back to more detailed blogs about "Grilling for Girls" and making your own salad dressings. I also have a special "Ode to the Salad Spinner" blog planned. All things to look forward to. Let's get back on task with this amazing salad...

I love this salad because it is a wonderful mix of flavors. The easy factor is that you can grill you chicken ahead of time, or simply use chicken that was left over from a previous meal. And if you want to get REALLY easy, buy a rotisserie chicken at the store. 

After I fed L I took her outside to help me grill the chicken breasts. WAY too many women are afraid of the grill. The grill is the BEST. You don't have to scrub pans... and if you hate doing dishes like I do, that's the only reason you need to learn how to grill. Ask your husband to teach you. He'll pee his pants with excitement. 

Here is where I start. I took my chicken breasts out of the fridge and brought them to room temp. Then I placed them in zip lock bags and pounded them until they were nice and thin. This is how I prefer them. A little olive oil, some kosher salt and some fresh ground pepper and you're ready to go! 

I had my grill on high with all three burners running for about 10 minutes to get it nice and hot. Then I took my baby and my breasts outside to get grilling. Once you put the breasts on, close the top of the grill and give them 3-5 minutes depending on the size.  Then check them out.  There are some tell tale signs of readiness.  You will notice that the sides are cooked and the breasts will come away from the grill grates easily when you go to flip them. If they are sticking, give them more time.

The sides are starting to cook on these, but they aren't ready to be flipped yet.

After some commentary on my technique, my assistant has had enough and quits.

When you have flipped the breasts, cover the grill again and give it a couple of minutes before you check in. A silly but easy guide I use to check my chicken is the "meat/chicken to face readiness test". I think you'll like this one. I always look like a huge idiot when I do it... Your earlobe has the same consistency as raw chicken or raw meat, your cheek is medium rare (not how you want your chicken), the side of your nostril is medium (again, not how you want your chicken), and the front bulb of your nose is well or ready or great for chicken. So after you wash all of the meat/chicken grease off of your face, take your chickens and go back inside. Also, take your hands off of your face, I know you are trying it out right now.

This chicken is bulb of the nose/done!

If you are still pretty scared of the grill, this dinner can be a great combo. Have your boyfriend/husband/grill confident friend take on the chicken while you start chopping for the salad inside. When you are back inside, set the chicken aside to cool to room temp and get started on the salad portion. We get a farm delivery of veggies and fruits every two weeks that I love. Yet another post for the future. We happened to get some fresh arugula and that is my favorite for this salad, but really you could use whatever you have on hand that is green and leafy. 

Arugula fresh from the farm with my salad spinner standing by.

After trimming the ends off I wash the arugula in the salad spinner and then drain the water to start spinning.

Action shot.

And now you have clean, dry arugula with minimal dirty dishes and no constant patting of tiny lettuce leaves with paper towels. Put this aside while we get started on the rest.

We are going to use the mango and the avocado. We had a fresh tomato that we sliced and served separately on the side.

Mangoes have funky almond shaped seeds that cling to the fruit, so I don't have any handy tips about cutting a mango. I will say I find this way easier than peeling the entire thing ahead of time. Start slicing portions off.

Then cut those portions into nice sections.

And I take my knife iron chef style and run it underneath the sections to remove the skin. Be careful. And buy good knives. It's worth it.

L - R: Mango seed/core, mango skin, chopped up mango for salad.

This is how I cut my avocados, slicing in half around the seed and then twisting the sides to pull them apart.

Then I do something really bad.... I stab the seed with my knife (shown above) and twist to remove the seed. Safety experts will advise against this method.

After I remove the seed I slice the avocado while it's still in the skin. This is a really easy way to do it when you are tossing it in a salad and it doesn't have to be super pretty. When you are ready to put it in the bowl you just take a large spoon and scoop the presliced chunks out.

After chopping I get out my salad bowl to make a dressing. Making your own dressing is a big way to save calories at home. It's also a fun thing to experiment with. Start with some olive oil and a bit of vinegar, maybe some crushed garlic. I use honey and sriracha sauce with white wine vinegar, garlic, and extra virgin olive oil. Find the right combo for you. Something light and oil based is perfect for this salad. Of if you are married to store bough, pick up a balsamic vinaigrette.

After mixing my dressing together I dump on the arugula topped with the mango, avocado, and chopped chicken.

Post toss.

Ready to eat! Notice the tomatoes came back.

 This salad is really great and you can mix it up a few different ways. It would be great with some chopped almonds for extra crunch. I have also served it with chopped cilantro sprinkled on the top and lime wedges which really bring out an awesome flavor from the mango. Play around with it and make it your own. It's fresh and healthy and PERFECT for a nice summer dinner.

-RT

I Quit Fad Diets When Beyonce Ruined Lemonade

I have done a lot of fad dieting in my life... at one point I was a really smelly expert on the Cabbage Soup Diet. I actually liked the soup the first 4 days and worked hard to not vomit it up the last 3. After so many rounds of cabbage soup, just typing the name makes me want to gag. 

Look familiar? I can smell you from here.

Before cabbage soup the real metabolife was legal (the kind with the heart attack drug, ephedra, in it) and I stayed fit by being too busy to eat that much. Oh metabolife... thanks for all that focus in class and the straight A's senior year. 

Buy Ephedra... never sleep again!

 Post cabbage soup was the second half of college and the cult following of the Atkins diet, followed by the South Beach revolution. In retrospect, even if you are losing weight, you really shouldn't be eating bacon covered in melted cheese for every meal. (You know who you are, and I'm looking right at YOU). 

If any vegetarians were thinking about reading my blog, they just left.

 Where are we... OH, yes, the Hollywood juice diet you bought at drug stores. It came in a bottle and told you you could lose up to 10 pounds in 48 hours*. Then it didn't tell you that once you started eating solid food again you would put on 15lbs of bloat. I stopped fad dieting partially due to ridicule from my husband and partially because I COULD NOT do the lemon water, cayenne pepper, maple syrup Beyonce for Dream Girls diet. It was just too much. I believe in cleanses, but that was BEYOND. It was fasting. 

Here is my apology for saying anything bad about Bey. But really, this was disgusting.

So I took on the favorite annoying credo that people say and tried to start eating healthy for life. It did work out well. All of the weight that was always back and forth all of the sudden stabilized and although I still feel like I always have 5lbs to lose, I FEEL better. I don't feel like I'm starving myself or like I never get to eat what want. And I could be healthier, but that's fine. I would rather drink wine and have chocolate chip cookies and feel satisfied.

Now I want to talk about how much I love food. I love food. I love it so much I categorize it so I know how best to eat it. I don't have some filing system for food, this is mental categories. Also, I'm crazy, but whatever. Here are the categories:

HEALTHY for real: this is for vegetables and lettuces and things. Like you could literally eat your face off with these things when they are steamed or raw or boiled and actually lose weight. I also count certain proteins in here when prepared the healthiest way. Like steamed fish or other healthy sounding preparation ways.

Healthy for real.

Healthy Healthy: I put fruits into the healthy healthy category because they are really good for you, and you should definitely eat a lot of them, but some fruits just taste too good to be trusted. I'm not saying to ever not eat fruit, what I'm saying is when I am shoving an entire large mango into my mouth, I could just be eating raw spinach, so I could be healthier. Also in this category are the delicious non veggie vegetables: corn, potatoes, and any other vegetable that tastes a little too good. And your usual suspect lean meats, chicken breasts, fishes, pork, and Bambi. I also put triscuits in here because they have three ingredients and for health I would rather binge on them than lose a fat battle to a box of oreos.

Here is a giant mango for you to enjoy.

Healthier OPTION: I love this category. These are foods that might not be good for you, but they are better for you than what you could have eaten. I don't really believe in grains (although I eat enough of them) so my favs brown rice and whole wheat pasta go here. Because I really eat too much per serving for them to be healthy healthy. Also here is pretty much any casserole or recipe from cooking light. Because really those delish meals are just a substitute for the biscuits and honey covered in egg yolk that I was going to shove into my mouth. If I have ice cream after dinner you might consider this a "treat" (see below) but really it's a healthier option because it has less calories than the two large glasses of wine that I sacrificed to eat the ice cream. My peanut covered ice cream drumstick is a healthier OPTION. See where this is going? Most foods fit into this category.

Chicken tamale casserole from Cooking Light. See the salad, that's so health right there.

Treats: I love treats. Potato salad, grilled corn and blue cheese salad, have you ever realized how many unhealthy things have the word "salad" after them? Dinner out is a treat all around. I mean seriously, I don't care what the biggest loser tries to tell you, who goes out to a nice meal and then tells the waiter to tell the chef how to boil their meat with no oil or seasoning and then steam their vegetables? Come to my house. I'll make that for you where it is supposed to be eaten... at a house. You should try to eat healthiest in every day life. Dinner out is a treat. It's something that you do every once and a while. Not a daily or even weekly part of your diet. Tortilla chips with a really amazing and fattening dip = treat. Fried chicken = treat. Chocolate Sheet Cake = treat. Greasy Cheese Enchiladas from Spanish Village = the best treat ever. And so on.

These are the real life Spanish Village Enchiladas. Now pass the margaritas.

Chemicals: I do enjoy chemicals every now and then, and I feel it's better to recognize them for what they are. Chemicals are things like skittles, cheesy/ranch/almost any Doritos, well really packaged chips in general, candy with color dye in it, squeeze cheese, cokes and most sodas, the cookies from the store with the fluffy frosting that taste like cupcakes.... best chemicals ever! Chemicals are good, but you have to see them for what they are. They shouldn't be a part of your every day diet. 

Needed to Survive: These fall into the categories above at times, but if I want them bad enough, I do it... because I have to. I  need these things. I also have a rotating spot on my need to survive that is my obsession of the moment. Right now it is ice cream drumsticks. Tonight I had figs and honey for dessert instead. It was really hard. Needed to survive: Most melty chocolate chip cookies, homemade bread and butter, gin and tonic in the summer time, champagne any time, peanut butter, and cheese. 

Doesn't everyone carry this wherever they go?

Maybe blogging is about exposing my crazy to the internet. Someone else please tell me you categorize your food and then send me your categories. 

-RT

Ladybug Food

I had a really hard time with my daughter transitioning through breast milk to formula to purees to real life food.  Mostly I had a hard time because common sense just seemed too obvious.  Thankfully I had some friends along the way to reassure me that common sense is usually the way to go.  In reality, when I needed it, I'm not sure it made it any easier.  I was constantly sitting around waiting for Landon to choke on something.  And she did, but never seriously, just little bits caught in her throat. It was her way of  learning how to chew and swallow properly. Now that I'm on the other side it all seems so easy.  But I know it's not and I always loved talking to moms and seeing what they were feeding their one year olds. 

A portion of my blog is going to be dedicated to what my little ladybug eats. And she can eat. I'm not sure where she gets her metabolism from.  I really work hard to make her diet healthy and varied. I always loved trying new foods and I want her to be the same way. I fed her goat cheese at 6 months old, which was probably against some cheese rule, but there are way too many rules about things anyway. You know your baby best, so act accordingly. I'm pretty sure French babies have Camembert with every meal and drink their breast milk exclusively in wine glasses.

French Baby. Oui.

I cook or slice fresh most of Landon's food and in addition she eats frozen veggies of all varieties (so easy to pop in the microwave and heat up), shredded cheese (baby crack), and cheerios. That sentence makes me sound really great, but in truth, it can be quick and easy to do. I have a life beyond Mommy. If I were that dedicated I would have made my own baby food.  I tried a few times... each time Landon threw it back up. Projectile. 

This is a Ladybug dinner from a few nights ago. Grilled chicken breast left over from our dinner, lima beans from the freezer, avocado sliced fresh from lunch, and sweet potato baked in the oven a few days prior.

Here is where I step on my soap box... maybe Americans are so fat because people don't know just how easy and inexpensive it can be to eat and cook healthy food. It can also be quick. The dinner above was all made in advance or leftovers of something else. Total prep time was about 5 minutes. So if I can do something to show how easy eating fresh and healthy is to the one to ten people reading this, then maybe that changes things for them AND for their kids. There are great little things you can do for yourself. The best way to teach your children how to take care of themselves is to take care of yourself. Show them by example. You don't have to be perfect. Lord knows I am far from it. I have a sugar addiction known well by family, friends, and certain waiters at restaurants around Houston. But I try to eat healthy most of the time and I hope my daughter will too.

If you can heat up a lean cuisine, you can heat up frozen vegetables. It really is that easy.

Oh, and one more French baby.

Oiu!!

-RT

Pasta = Easy = Healthy = Pasta

Pasta and easy are used together often.  Pasta and healthy... not so much.  BUT this is actually a great place to start when it comes to cooking healthy things that you AND your kids will love.  One great thing about pasta is that it's a crowd pleaser. Another is that you can make enough to feed an army and freeze it away in portions for lunch or for dinner when you would rather zone out to Real Housewives and let the microwave do the cooking. 

Step one in making this delicious is to find a great sauce that you love.  If you want to make your own sauce, I'm really happy for you.  That would change the title of this post to Pasta = kind of easy-ish = healthy = we'll save making your own pasta sauces for another time.  There are some pretty easy ones, but that is not what we are doing here.  We are jar searching. 

Back to the jar.... there really should not be any unrecognizable ingredients in your pasta sauce.  It's just not necessary. My current favorite is from a store we have called Central Market.  Central Market was my Mecca when I was pregnant. They offer their organic brands in the partner HEB stores in town.  Their Primavera Pasta Sauce is amazing and has lots of veggies. 

Central Market Organics Primavera on the right (my fav) and great stand by Newman's Own Tomato & Basil (used here)

Here is what the ingredient list looks like: Organic diced tomatoes, water, organic tomato paste, organic carrots, organic celery, sea salt, organic zucchini, organic red bell peppers, organic extra virgin olive oil, organic garlic, organic basil, organic dehydrated onion, organic black pepper. 

I am not do or die organic, but if I can get something organic at a reasonable price I will usually go for it. I'm somewhat aware of the dirty dozen and the clean fifteen. Something you should look out for on your pasta sauce ingredient list is sugar. I am not a hater of sugar, but it has its time and its place, and it doesn't need to be one of the first 3-5 ingredients in your pasta sauce. 

On a more nationwide scale, I love the Newman's Own pasta sauces. Their Tomato & Basil is a great basic and their Sockarooni tastes like it came out of an Italian kitchen. Once you have your sauce you pick your noodle. I like the mini penne or the rotini. I prefer almost all of my pasta to be 100% whole wheat.  There are lots of tricky labels out there that say "whole grain", "whole wheat blend" or don't say anything about wheat and pretend to be better for you.  If you are looking for Whole Wheat Pasta make sure the box or bag says "100% Whole Wheat".  That goes for pretty much anything if you are looking for the healthiest option. I do prefer my angel hair pasta to be straight up enriched white flour. 

100% Whole Grain - Not Whole Wheat, still probably more healthy than white

 

 

 

100% Whole Wheat - The Real Deal. Photo courtesy of Amazon where you can apparently buy a 12pack.

To make pasta into a hearty filling meal, I like to throw in some meat.  Either ground turkey or beef or S, my husband, will make meat balls.  Our daughter runs a little low on iron, so we try to add it whenever possible.  Lately we've been cooking our pasta with hormone free lean ground beef from HEB.

Here is the end of this story: if you have taken the steps above (1. find your sauce  2. pick your noodle  3. add some meat) you are pretty much done. 

You'll want to take your meat out of the fridge about 30 minutes before cooking to bring it to room temp.  We cook on stainless steel so about five minutes before I want to start cooking, I put my pan on the burner over medium to warm it up and open the pores. If you do this, when you add fat to the pan (olive oil, butter, etc) it will be absorbed into the pan.  If you add fat to a cold pan, it will be absorbed into the food you are cooking and then eating.  When I put my pan on to warm I also start a stock pot full of water for the pasta.  I throw in some sea salt and a little bit of olive oil.  Both can be cut out if you are looking to go as healthy as possible.  Follow the cooking directions on the pasta you purchased. 

Brown yo meat, girl

While the pasta is cooking, get your pan ready with enough olive oil to coat the pan and keep your food from sticking.  We do own Pam spray and a lot of health buffs believe in it, but I use it scarcely. Add your ground meat, cooking over medium and stirring often with a wooden spoon.  If you brought your meat to room temp and have a lean blend then you shouldn't have much if any moisture to drain off when you are finished.  If it is cooked and there is moisture, drain it over the sink.

Add your sauce straight to the pan

When my meat is ready I turn the burner off and add the sauce directly into the meat.  This way your sauce gets warm and mixed in and you save a pan and another mess.  As the pasta comes ready I strain it, leaving it plenty wet with pasta water and then add it into the pan with the meat and sauce.

Then add your pasta. I have no idea why this looks orange. I blame the iPhone.

Dinner is done and we have leftovers and lots of extra toddler meals too.  And it only took about 15 minutes.   Seriously, you can do this!  It's budget friendly, and reasonably easy.  And you know what is going into your food. THAT is huge.

Satisfied customer

Last - grated parm on top of anything pasta related just makes it that much better.

- RT

Smashed Potatoes

Tonight I tried to make smashed potatoes.When I say "tried" I mean that I didn't follow a recipe. I didn't even look at a picture. I pictured in my mind what I thought they should look like by referencing my memory bank of all things Pinterest.  Not that I have ever actually made anything from Pinterest, but one day... I will.  Maybe.  So I used my imagined picture of smashed potatoes to create what we will call a "recipe."  I am using the term very lightly. 

For reader reference, here is what I was picturing in my head.  Photo courtesy of The Pioneer Woman. 

I had five new potatoes left over from our farm delivery last weekend. Three small, 1 sm/med, and one large.  

Imagined recipe step 1:  boil the potatoes just enough, but not all the way. I put on a pot of water with sea salt and brought it to a boil. I cut the large potato in half becuse it just made better sense and threw them in. No timer.. I'm too professional for that.  

Imagined recipe step 2: Smash that potato. I removed the pot from the heat and got out a plate to smash on. First  I tried a fork. It wasn't going well, so obviously I got out my meat tenderizer. Then I realized the potato is so far from cooked that I needed to stop. I referenced step one and the pot went back on the burner.  

Imagined recipe step 2.1: Heat off, potato in tongs, potato on plate. Meat tenderizer in hand and.... well, SPLAT. The potatoes are definitely cooked. On number two I tried the fork again, but the flat side of the mallet just looked so much more appealing. Guess what?  I over smashed again... and then again. 3 potatoes down, 1 and two halves to go. Could a potato masher be the perfect instrument to smash with? By now, nothing can be worse than what I've already done, so I mash.  It's fine.  Let's just say these potatoes aren't going to win any beauty competitions. 

These are my smashing tools. The fork had already been re-purposed.

Imagined recipe step 3: Preheat oven to 400 degrees. I actually should have put this as step 1, right?  Why 400, you ask? (you do ask, trust me) I'm glad you asked. 400 degrees is for professionals like us. We are the real deal. 350 is for brownies and cookies and amateurs. (But seriously, I love 350)  Preheat to 400 is for my special smashed potatoes. By now, they are a little overly smashed. Just as a simple update, we are somewhere in between smashed and mashed. 

Not pretty.

Imagined recipe step 4: Scrape "smashed" pieces onto baking sheet. I sprayed (gasp!) mine with olive oil prior to placing them on there. I then formed them into piles that might have resembled the potatoes they once were. In order to assist in covering up my smashing mistakes and bring us back to our professional roots, I cut some fresh rosemary from our bush and sliced it with herb scissors over the potatoes. Then a little sprinkle of kosher sea salt. When in doubt: salt and herbs.  

Salt, rosemary, potato piles, and some roasted garlic to make it smell believable.

I put the potatoes in the oven at 400 but to continue with my bad choices, I decide once more to not use a timer. This isn't going where you think it is, but it could have very easily. No timer on the stove is one thing, but all I need is one good distraction (there are lots of options) and you've got little more than crispy black charcoal potatoes. Tonight I was lucky and focused. I looked in on them from time to time waiting for the brown crispy goodness to solidify evenly. It did and I took those suckers out.  It took about 30 minutes if you are actually keeping track of my "recipe" at this point.

So here is where I come clean. It would make a great story if they were awful, but they were SO GOOD.  Also, they were really, really ugly. They didn't come off of the baking sheet without falling completely apart so on the plates they became more like piles of potato pieces. The oven made the outsides completely crunch and crispy and salt and rosemary never fail me, especially in the oven.  Are you ready for the ugliness? Here you go:

This is not exactly what my imagination was working toward.

Here's the fun thing: It's great to get in the kitchen and just TRY to cook something. It doesn't matter if you know exactly what you are doing or not. Well it does sometimes, so don't do this kind of thing when you have company coming for dinner. Speaking of getting things right, next time I'll probably follow this recipe for Crash Hot Potatoes from The Pioneer Woman.

This is my first blog. I was inspired by a friend to help moms and wives and people in general see how easy it is go cook good things for you and for your family, toddlers included. Sometimes you have to get outside of your comfort zone, but that's good. 

I've under-cooked chicken, I strive for healthy 80% of the time, I believe in dessert, I forget to measure my oils and vinegars, I don't turn down fresh bread and butter, I sometimes under-season but I never over salt. I am constantly searching for the perfect chocolate chip cookie. I cook some amazing dishes and I have fun doing it. I love teaching my daughter how to enjoy good food. I'm not a chef,  but when I've had enough wine I pretend to be. I love food, I love wine, and I love my family. I'm Raising Texas.

- RT