Asian Chicken Salad

Living in a small town has its good and bad. Depending upon who you ask, the bad is not always bad. Bad is perspective, see. This small town has most major fast food chains and not a single dine chain. Fine by me! Mom and Pop local eateries are the only place one here is going to get a salad, not a salad bar, a pre-formed grilled burger, not a robin burger, and dinner will be at home. I can not think of a single Mom and Pop that serves dinner. Breakfast starting at 4, lunch until 2, and home by 3. There are a couple of super fancy (serving to the out of town high end clientele) restaurants but none of the locals eat there. No TGIF wings except in the frozen section at Walmart, no PF Chang's egg rolls except in the frozen section at the local grocer, no Applebee's Oriental Chicken Salad.

Modifications Made:

Salad: Even with all the time in the world right now, using pre-made salads are the best. No waste with leftover unused heads of cabbage or lettuce, no shredding of cabbage or carrots. Just cut and pour. Almonds slivers were omitted for the same reason as when served on Eat Your Greens.

Tenders: Here is where the changes lie. Tenders were marinated as instructed in the Crispy Asian Chicken Tenders, battered in plain panko crumbs, but instead of baked, they were fried. Fried, just like they are served at Applebee's. The chicken tender version on this recipe was made by a health conscious minded eater. Not this table, we like fried foods.

Sauce: Low fat replaced nonfat Greek yogurt, two teaspoons of apple cider vinegar replaced rice vinegar, and whole milk replaced nonfat milk.

Scaled for Likability: Great

Not ever having been to an Applebee's I have no way to compare this recipe with the real deal. It doesn't matter really as this recipe, with the fried chicken tenders, was so good. It was very hard not to eat the tenders with the sauce as they came out of the fryer they were so good. I would make these tenders just to have tenders, no salad, no veggies, maybe not even sauce. Just chicken fried carb sticks. The absence of almond slivers went unnoticed and I cannot image they really bring much to the salad when the chicken is fried anyways. Definitely worth the effort of frying the chicken tenders. Definitely delish!

Papas a La Mexicana (Ranchera)

It is a crying shame that there are six hens and not a egg in sight. What am I supposed to do with homemade ranchero sauce? Thankfully with a few quick searches of the internet a recipe from my hometown newspaper was discovered: Papas Ranchera . Not once in the thirty years I lived in my hometown did I ever eat at a local food joint serving papas rancheras. No time like the present to remedy this cultural dish. Because this recipe is hidden behind a paywall (grrr...) I have included it here for you: Servings: 4-6 Ingredients: 1 pound potatoes, diced 1/4 cup vegetable oil 1/2 large onion 1 1/2 medium tomatoes 3 jalapenos 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup juice from canned tomatoes Instructions: Fry potatoes in vegetable oil until lightly browned (about 4-6 minutes). Saute onions, tomatoes, jalapenos until soft. Add garlic powder and salt. Add tomato juice until vegetables are covered (may need to add water). Bring to a boil and then add po...

Better Than Campbell's Old Fashion Vegetable Soup

Went to the store with the hopes of gathering fresh produce for soup. With more than 45 people in line for two packages of any meat product and the produce section containing only avocado, orange, and most randomly, strawberries, I settled upon canned soup. Well not canned soup since that section was still void of food, too. Instead soup made from canned goods as the canned vegetable section had been mostly restocked. Soups like this 15 Minute Vegetable Soup are ideal in dire food situations such as current times. Modifications Made: Plain petite diced tomatoes omitted, frozen carrots instead of canned, green beans and corn undrained, peas omitted (gross, nasty little pods), one cup celery, three cups diced potatoes, one can tomato sauce, two beef and two pollo de tomate bouillon cubes, six cups water. Once onions were softened, carrots/celery/potatoes/juice of green beans and corn, sauce, bouillon cubes, water were added and allowed to simmer until carrots almos...

Cold Corn Bean Salsa

Nothing says junk food like chips and salsa, chips and cheese dip, chips and guacamole. Over the years I have perfected my salsa. It's good on tacos, on nachos, on enchiladas, and of course on chips. Just because I have the best salsa doesn't mean I don't like to try new salsa's like this Best Black Bean and Corn Salsa. Modifications Made: Shoepeg corn was replaced with one can of standard yellow corn with no salt added. Petite diced tomatoes were reduced by half. Italian dressing was swapped for half teaspoon comino, half teaspoon of chili powder, and two tablespoon of fresh lime juice. Salsa was made and let rest for two hours before eating. Scaled for Likability: Good Salsa this was not. Good it was however. It was too much for chips by themselves but was great served over a soft beef taco.

Eating Waffles

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