Gorgonzola Chicken Salad

I would love to be more of an innovator in the kitchen and invent my own recipes. I have a lot of respect for those that are. Most of my creations are at least inspired by recipes that I find in books or online. It's rare that I'm able to come up with anything on my own, and when I do, it's usually out of necessity. This was one of those times. Right before we moved I was desperate to eat every morsel out of our fridge before I took a trip to the grocery store. I didn't plan to move a bunch of food, and I absolutely hate to throw food away, I honestly lose sleep over wasted food. So with some leftover chicken and Gorgonzola cheese, this lighter and tasty salad was born. Protein seekers rejoice, with all the chicken, cheese and yogurt, this salad packs a serious punch!  

Gorgonzola Chicken Salad

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups shredded chicken
1 apple, peeled and chopped
1 celery stalk, chopped
1/4 cup almonds, chopped
1/4 cup dried cranberries
 2 green onions, or one shallot, chopped
3/4 cup fat-free greek yogurt
2 tablespoons low fat mayo
1 teaspoon worchestershire sauce
3 tablespoons blue or gorgonzola cheese (more or less to taste)
salt and pepper
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

Directions

In a medium sized bowl, combine chicken, apples, celery, almonds and dried cranberries, and onion.  In a small bowl combine remaining ingredients except salt, pepper and parsley.  Mix dressing into chicken mixture and combine.  Add salt and pepper to taste and fresh parsley.  Serve either chilled or at room temperature, as sandwiches, wraps, or on a bed of lettuce.

Energy Bites

Energy. Somehow there was a cosmic transfer providing my kids with endless energy, leaving me with little.

However, lately I've been working hard to conserve and produce as much energy as I can. I've been going to bed earlier, exercising regularly, drinking green tea and taking my vitamins. But, sometimes the weather is rainy, or my day is extra busy, and despite my best efforts I still hit that 2pm slump.

That's when you know you need a pick-me-up. I found these little energy bites on Pinterest. They were very quick to make and can be made tons of different ways. I made mine with almond butter and honey, and while I like almond butter, I think they would have been a lot better with salted peanut butter. I also wouldn't have used as much honey. You can add or subtract whatever nuts, grains, seeds or chocolate that you'd like. If you don't like it one way, be sure to try it another.




Energy Bites
From Fooddoodles.com

makes approximately 2 dozen depending on size

Ingredients

1/2 C nut butter(almond butter, peanut butter, sunflower seed butter or any other nut or seed butter. Anything will work here, but I would prefer peanut butter)
1/4-1/3 C honey(I believe brown rice syrup would also work. I’m not sure of thinner sweeteners such as maple syrup and agave though as they may not hold together as well)
1 C old fashioned rolled oats(you can toast for a nuttier flavor at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes)
1 C shredded unsweetened coconut(you can substitute any dry ingredients for this, wheat bran or germ, oat bran, some ground flax seed(I wouldn’t recommending using an entire cup!), any kind of ground nuts or seeds. For a cookie dough type bite try adding a few tablespoon of your favorite whole grain flour)
1-2 tsp vanilla
pinch of sea salt if using a natural nut butter with no added salt
1-2 tsp your favorite spices or spice combinations (optional) I used about 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1/2 C other addins(any kind of whole or roughly chopped nuts or seeds, dried fruit, good quality chocolate chips, etc)

Directions

In a large bowl add the nut butter, honey or other sweetener, vanilla and salt if needed. Use less vanilla if yours is very strong or more if you really enjoy the vanilla flavor and don’t buy an alcohol based kind. If all your ingredients are room temperature you should be able to stir to combine. If this is difficult you can warm in the microwave for a few seconds or even place the bowl in an inch or two hot water for a few minutes to soften everything. Once this is combined add the remaining ingredients.

In this case I used almond butter and for my addins I used equal parts sesame seeds, poppy seeds and mini chocolate chips. Mix well. Once it’s all combined place in the fridge for about 30 minutes. Then remove from the fridge, scoop out some dough and roll into a ball. I find it’s much easier, and works better to squeeze the handful together to compact it and then roll it into a ball.

If yours are too sticky you can considering adding more dry ingredients into them or rolling them in something like ground nuts, coconut, etc so they aren’t as sticky. Place the balls in an airtight container either in the fridge or freezer for quick and easy snacks.

CEiMB: Curried Chicken Salad

I think one of the best things about being in these food clubs is that it pushes me to make things that I would honestly never make on my own. This is a prime example of that, but I'm so glad I did! Curry and I aren't necessarily on bad terms, we just don't exactly see eye to eye. Every once and a while Curry and I will get together and have a decent enough interaction, but then it will be a long time before we get together again, making our next encounter fairly awkward. Luckily, we were both in a good mood yesterday and had an absolutely wonderful time.

I loved this salad! It made for such a perfect lunch and I can't wait to have it again. I made a few minor adjustments to the recipe. Rather than poaching my chicken in broth, I just roasted an entire chicken and chopped the breast meat. It came out so juicy and full of flavor. I also used a red curry paste rather then curry powder, since it's what I had. It had a slight spice and heat to it, but nothing overwhelming. The cilantro brightened the whole dish, the red grapes added a delicious sweetness with every bite, and the almonds brought in great crunch. I also squeezed lime juice over the whole thing for a bit of tang. I'm definitely a lot more sold on Curry, hopefully we'll be hanging out a lot more from now on.

Thanks to Sarah's Kitchen Adventures for hosting!

Curried Chicken Salad
Original Recipe by Ellie Krieger

Ingredients

1 cup low-sodium chicken broth
1 cup water
1 1/4 pounds boneless skinless chicken breast halves, no more than 3/4-inch thick
1/4 cup sliced almonds
1/2 cup nonfat plain yogurt
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 teaspoon curry powder
1 cup halved red grapes
1/4 cup chopped cilantro leaves
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
5 ounces mixed greens (about 5 cups lightly packed))
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon lemon juice

Directions

Bring the broth and water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Add chicken to broth and simmer, covered, for 8 minutes. Turn the heat off and let chicken stand in the cooking liquid, covered, until cooked through, about 20 minutes. Remove the chicken from the broth and cool completely in the refrigerator. Cut into 1/4-inch dice. Toast the almonds in a small dry skillet over medium-high heat until fragrant and beginning to turn golden, 2 to 3 minutes.

In a large bowl, stir together the yogurt, mayonnaise, and curry powder. Fold in the chicken, grapes and cilantro and season, to taste, with salt and pepper.

In a large bowl, toss the greens with the oil, lemon juice and salt and pepper, to taste. Arrange the greens on 4 individual plates, top with a scoop of the chicken salad and sprinkle with the almonds.

Serves 4: (serving size: 1 cup chicken salad and 1 1/4 cups greens)

Per Serving: Calories 325; Total Fat 14 g; (Sat Fat 2 g, Mono Fat 6 g, Poly Fat 5 g) ; Protein 37 g; Carb 13 g; Fiber 2 g; Cholesterol 85 mg; Sodium 175 mg

Points per Serving: 7

Almond Joy Cakeballs

Have you gotten sick of the cakeballs yet, because I sure haven't! I am so in love with these little treats that they've almost become the only dessert I want to make. I am constantly thinking of new combinations and ways to make them, and they are just so delicious!

These have been my favorite so far. I love the Almond Joy candy bar, I could eat one after every single meal and be happy. It turned out to be the perfect thing to copy in a cakeball, and it was just as delicious.

This was actually the first time that I preferred dark bittersweet chocolate to milk chocolate when dipping these. The coconut cake filling is so sweet and rich that the dark chocolate is a beautiful contrast.

And after making cakeballs as many times as I have, I would recommend making these the day before you actually plan to serve them. They seem to taste so much better the next day and especially right out of the fridge!

Almond Joy Cakeballs

Ingredients

1 coconut cake mix, prepared according to directions on the box
1 tub cream cheese frosting
1-2 teaspoons coconut extract
1 cup shredded coconut
1 cup sliced almonds, toasted (to toast almonds, place in dry saute pan, stir constantly on medium heat until browned)
2-3 cups preferred chocolate for dipping
1-2 tablespoons of Crisco, optional

Directions

Crumble cake mix into a large bowl, cutting off the sides of the cake if you don't want the brown spots of the sides. Stir coconut extract into tub of frosting until you reach a desirable strength. Stir into cake mix until evenly combined. Stir in coconuts and almonds until evenly combined. Freeze for an hour until hardened.

The Crisco helps to thin chocolate out, which makes it easier to dip, and hardens the chocolate shell, but is not necessary. Combine chocolate and Crisco and melt either in the microwave or over a double boiler. Dip each cake ball with two spoons, using the spoon to tap off any excess chocolate. Lay on wax paper to cool and harden. Store covered in the fridge.