Let's Talk Salad for a Minute...

Salad...we should have at least one a day. Two would even be better. Even eating a simple salad made with lettuce & tomatoes is better than not eating salad at all.

Eating a simple salad can get to be monotonous, so let's jazz it up with plenty of colors, flavors, textures and extra vitamins.

Iceberg seems to be the most popular lettuce to use in salads but it is also the least nutritious. Check this link for some good information about lettuce: "Top Five Lettuce Types by Order of Nutritional Value."

Below is a salad made with a colorful assortment of vegetables. Did I go overboard? Yes. As I was building it, I said to myself: "I think we're going to need a bigger bowl!"

Here's what we ended up with in this salad: The base was Romaine lettuce and Kale.

Then the rest of the veggie gang marched in to join the fun: Turnips, stem of broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, red onion, red bell pepper, cucumber, tomato and avocado.

I wanted to share this salad with you because I feel that sometimes people feel limited when deciding to make a salad...you know, like you HAVE to have only certain veggies or you'll be breaking a rule and the Salad Police will be beating your door down and calling for your arrest.

Not so! Never be afraid to throw different veggies in a salad--ones that aren't in "conventional" salads.

It certainly breaks the monotony and you get a lot of fun flavors and textures. If you're not a big fan of cutting vegetables up for salad, invest in a "Salad Shooter," or equivalent. Those things can greatly reduce preparation time. They're small and easy to clean, unlike a food processor.

Here's to healthy eating! BOOYAH!!!!

I started out trying to be neat about it but the vegetables got a little out of hand. There's actually quite a bit of the base under there. It just got buried.

Salad Gone Wild

This was the base: Kale & Romaine

More Fun with Sriracha: The Sriracha Chicken Sandwich

These Sriracha chicken tenders would make an excellent po' boy sandwich. I didn't have any baguettes on hand so I made a regular sandwich with them the day after I enjoyed the successful Spicy Sriracha Chicken Tenders recipe.

This sandwich is served graced with tomatoes, lettuce, black olives and spicy ranch. If I'd had some sliced avocado, it would have been the perfect finishing touch.

I think it would be worth it to butterfly the breast, then follow the recipe as usual. Use the butterflied breasts to make a sandwich using regular bread, ciabatta bread or toasted hamburger buns. Yum!!

Beats any chicken sandwich from any fast food joint any day of the week! 

Sriracha Chicken Sandwich

Spicy Sriracha Chicken Tenders

Chicken tenders marinated in Sriracha, then tossed in a spicy coating. Unlike the Colonel, I will share my recipe. There's no junk in it to hide from the public. Like, you know, msg and other bad crap you shouldn't be putting in your body.

Served with celery, avocado slices and spicy ranch dressing.

Most of the time spent for this dish is the preparation time. The cooking time is minimal.

Stay tuned for this recipe, I'll post it as soon as I can.

Spicy Sriracha Chicken Tenders

Spicy Sriracha Chicken Tenders

Fish doesn't have to be boring...

Fish is a healthier alternative to meat, unless of course, it's battered and fried or baked and covered with a rich, creamy topping.

Well, you want to keep it light, right? Fish doesn't have to be boring. Toppings don't need to be made with butter & cream (though it is okay to do this on occasion).

The picture below is a fillet of swai. I would say it's like tilapia or cod, mild in flavor. The texture is more like tilapia, though.

This swai fillet was broiled 4-5 inches from the heat source for 7-8 minutes. You have to be careful with fish...it's just not as good when it's overcooked. 7-8 minutes is plenty of time (just watch your oven...temps can vary from oven to oven). Remember that there will be "carryover" cooking after the fillet is removed from the oven, too.

Back to the swai: the topping here is made from sauteed onions, bell peppers, mushrooms and romaine lettuce. The lettuce is added at the tail end of cooking. Cook for about 2-3 minutes after adding it, then cover and turn off the heat.

An herb-infused sauce was also used on the fillet. Not a lot. It wasn't drowning in it. I simply drizzled it over the filet before topping it and drizzled a bit more on top of that.

I'll post the full recipe as soon as I can. The swai and the topping went well together served with Jasmine rice pilaf and steamed duo of broccoli and cauliflower.

It was a healthy meal and tasty, too!

Fillet of Swai with Vegetable Topping

Al Parfait

Here is "Al Parfait," so named because the base is part of the remainder of Al's birthday cake, which was homemade angel food cake. It's easy and fun to throw things like this together when you have guests for dinner and you want to make a dessert for them that isn't too heavy.

No fresh fruit was available for garnish so I used...what else? Sprinkles!!!! Yes, they aren't good for you and all of that, but you should always keep some in the kitchen to cheer you up.

Al Parfait