How to Spruce up your Chicken or Tuna Salad

If you're in a whole "New Year New You" weight loss craze right now and are in a frenzy looking for light and tasty meals (or even if you're not; I'm not), this is one of them.  For some reason, I always see dieting people eating chicken or tuna salad, and not really enjoying it.

First of all, if you're trying to lose weight, watch how much mayo you use.  Everything else is on point for a healthy lifestyle.

Second, I use this same recipe for both my chicken and tuna salad with the exception of the boiled eggs.  Those generally only go in my tuna, but don't taste bad in the chicken.  Also, I do not have a problem with celery per se, but I do have a problem with it in things.  It is one of those weird texture things, and I can only eat it alone or with a nut butter.  Off topic.

Anyhow, this particular day I made chicken salad.  I took inspiration for this recipe from my friend after the first time I had chicken salad at her house, and I am never going back to the old ways.

What you'll need:

• 2 large (12.5oz for chicken; 9oz for tuna) cans of chicken or tuna (packed in water), drained
• 1 medium apple, diced
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1/3 cup natural sliced almonds
• 2 T mayo or Miracle Whip
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1 stalk celery, diced (optional)
• 2 boiled eggs, diced (optional)
• salt and pepper to taste

You can also sprinkle in some parsley and basil if you're feeling froggy, but I did not do that this time.

What to do:

In a medium size bowl, toss diced apple in lemon juice to completely coat and set aside to soak.  This will hinder the oxidation process and prevent your apples from turning an ugly brown color.  Also, you get a fresh lemon flavor in your salad.

In a separate bowl, finely shred your meat with two forks (seriously, why did I never think to do this??).  Add mayo and spices and stir until all of the meat coated with mayo.

Remove apple from lemon juice (or keep the juice if you want some added citrus flavor in your salad) and add to chicken/tuna along with the almonds, celery, and eggs.  Stir until you have a nice even mixture.

Serve with crackers, on a sandwich, or just eat it out of the bowl with a fork.

Enjoy!

Makes about 4 servings.

How to Make Delicious Mushroom Chicken from Frozen Chicken

Fun fact: I am notorious for not having anything thawed out when it comes time to start dinner.  It's kind of awful, really.  So a lot of the times I end up baking frozen chicken.  If you have ever done that, you have found that is it quite difficult to do without it drying out.

Well, I am here to tell you that I rarely ever thaw my chicken out ahead of time, and it always ends up juicy and tender.  In fact, dinner tonight was completely thrown together.  Something I have never made, but it sounded like it would all work out.

It did.  And it was not only yummy, but super easy. I even had a bag of mushrooms in the freezer that I had previously chopped up (from the Shepherd's Pie!), so that cut a few minutes off of my prep time.  Actually, it was so unplanned, I didn't even think to take a picture until I had my plate made.  Whoops.  You'll get the idea, though.

Side note: I have yet to research the benefits of using avocado oil instead of olive oil, but I have been using it a lot lately. You can still use olive oil where I call for avocado.

What you'll need:

• 4 large boneless skinless chicken breasts (frozen is okay)
• 1 cup chopped mushrooms
• 1 can (10,5 oz) cream of mushroom
• 1/4 can of water
• 1 T minced garlic
• 1 tsp thyme
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 T rosemary
• 1/4 cup dried minced onions
• avocado oil
• salt and pepper to taste

What to do: 

Preheat oven to 375°. Arrange chicken breasts in a square baking pan.  Drizzle with avocado oil, making sure to get some on the bottom of the pan.  Sprinkle all seasonings over the chicken, then the minced onions.

Heat oil in the bottom of a skillet over medium heat.  Add mushrooms and cook until brown, about 4 minutes.  Stir in garlic and cook an additional 30 seconds, or until fragrant.

Add cream of mushroom soup.  Put a tiny bit of water in the can, about 1/4 of the way full, and add it to the skillet.  Stir and let warm completely through until the entire mixture is an even consistency.

Pour mushroom sauce evenly over and in between the chicken.  Bake for 40-45 minutes if you used frozen chicken (25 minutes if thawed), or until cooked through.  (According to the USDA, the safe internal temperature for poultry is 165°F.  I think it is perfect around 145-153°F because I absolutely hate dry chicken.  White meat is always so dry.  If you feel iffy about it, cut it in half to see how done it is, and make your own call.)

The pan will be full of juices that would be great for making a gravy.  Remove chicken from the juice and serve hot.

Enjoy.

Prep time: About 5 minutes

Cook time: 40-60 minutes (depending on if you use thawed or frozen chicken)

Serves: 4

Best Shepherd's Pie EVER

I've often wondered if anyone ever actually reads the long stories before recipes on blog posts.  I think I have read maybe one.  Ever.

That being said, I don't need a reason to make shepherd's pie.  I just wanted it (and for once in my life had some ground beef thawed out).

Enough chit chat! Get to the recipe!

What you'll need:

Meat mixture

• 1 lb lean ground beef (I used 96%, but it's up to you)
• 1 cup finely diced mushrooms
• 2 cups mixed frozen veggies (peas, carrots, corn, green beans)
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1/2 onion, finely chopped (I actually completely forgot about the onion!! But it still turned out awesome)
• 2 T tomato paste
• 1 T minced garlic
• 2 T Worcestershire sauce
• 2 T parsley
• 1 tsp basil
• 1 tsp thyme
• 1/2 tsp rosemary
• 1-2 T avocado oil (or olive; whatever)
• salt and pepper to taste

Mashed potatoes

• 4-5 large red potatoes (peeled if you like, but I didn't)
• 1 1/2 sticks of butter
• 1/2 cup half and half (or milk)
• salt to taste
• paprika

What to do:

Dice potatoes into one inch cubes, and boil in salted water until tender (about 15 minutes).  Drain.  Mash in the pot with butter and half and half until desired consistency.  You can use a food processor for this step, but I personally don't like my potatoes super creamy.  Also, I don't own a food processor.  Ahem.  Taste and see if they need more butter, milk, or salt.  Don't worry about calories.  You're beautiful.

At the same time you start the potatoes, heat your oil on medium heat in the bottom of a large skillet. Saute onions about 4 minutes, then add ground beef.  Cook your ground beef, seasoned with salt and pepper, chopping it up into bitty bits with a wooden spoon until browned all the way through.  Drain.  Set aside.

Drop mushrooms into the skillet and cook until brown and fragrant, about 4 minutes.  Return meat to pan and add garlic.  Cook an additional 30 seconds, until fragrant.  Add flour and combine well into mixture.  Preheat oven to 400°F.

Add broth, veggies, tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, parsley, basil, thyme, and rosemary.  Mix them all together and let simmer, covered, for about 10 minutes.

Spray casserole dish with cooking spray.  Spread meat mixture on the bottom.  Spoon mashed potatoes on to the top of the meat and completely cover.  I ended up with some extra potatoes, but those can be reheated on leftover night.  Sprinkle the top with paprika and pop in the oven, uncovered.  

Bake for about 10 minutes, then broil until the top of the potatoes are a nice golden color.  Let cool for about 5 minutes before serving.

Enjoy.

Honesty factor:  The only things I actually measured were the frozen vegetables and the broth.  Everything else I pretty much eyeballed and guesstimated, which is what I love about cooking.  It's art, not science.

Prep time: about 10 minutes

Cook time: about an hour

Servings: about 6

Ground Beef and Lentil Soup

Oh, how I love fall.  For all of the normal reasons of course, but also because it is the best time to start bringing out those soup recipes, and of course for discovering more.

For this one, I had some ground beef thawed out for meatloaf, but then I remembered that I had lentils and really wanted to make a soup.  So, naturally, I went scrolling through Pinterest and found one that caught my fancy.  And then I made it my own.  If you're interested in the original recipe, you can find it here, but I did not agree with some of it, so I improved upon it.

I was actually unsure of how it would turn out at first, but it was a hit at my table.  Both kids and the husband ate every bite and loved it.  (Success!)

What you'll need:

• 1lb lean ground beef (I used 96/4)
• 1/2 an onion finely chopped
• 1 Tb minced garlic
• 1 Tb olive oil
• 1 Tb parsley
• 1 Tb thyme
• 1/2 tsp dill weed
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• approx. 50.7oz chicken stock (I used 3 16.9oz boxes)
• 1 crushed beef bullion cube
• 2/3 cup lentils
• 1/2 cup chopped carrots
• 1/2 cup uncooked rice (I used white rice)
• 2 Tb soy sauce

What to do:

Heat olive oil in the bottom of a large stock pot on medium heat.  Add onions and saute until translucent (about 4 minutes).  Add garlic and saute an additional 30 seconds or until fragrant.

Add ground beef and cook until it is all brown.  Add parsley, thyme, dill weed, cumin, and turmeric and cook for an additional 1-2 minutes.

Add lentils and carrots and mix into the ground beef.

Add chicken stock and beef bullion and stir it all together.  Bring soup to a boil (use high heat for this step).  Reduce to low heat and simmer for 25 minutes, covered, until carrots and lentils are soft.

Stir in the rice and bring to a boil (I used high heat again).  Reduce heat back to low and simmer for another 20 minutes, or until rice is thoroughly cooked.  Add soy sauce.  Salt and pepper to taste (be sure to taste before you add salt because of the soy sauce).

Serve it up hot with some crackers, and you've got yourself a hearty cold weather dish.

Yields about 6 hearty servings.

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 1 hour(ish)

Enjoy!