Tag Archives: Salad

Mango Couscous Salad

Posted on August 4, 2010 | Leave a comment

This is a quick lunch I whipped up the other day. I really wanted something with mangoes in it but needed it to be quick and easy because I had other things to get to. I think this would pack really well for a boxed lunch at work or school as well. So easy to just have ready and tasty too! Very filling, hurray for couscous!

  • 1/2 cup uncooked couscous
  • 1 pkg chicken oxo
  • 1 mango, peeled and cubed
  • juice of 2 lime wedges
  • 1 tsp soy sauce
  • 1 green onion, sliced
  1. Combine the chicken oxo and couscous in a heat proof measuring cup. Add 3/4 cup boiling water and cover with plastic wrap. Allow to sit atleast 5 minutes.
  2. Combine the mango, green onion, lime juice, and soy sauce in a large bowl. Once the couscous is done sitting, add the couscous to the mango mixture. Mix thoroughly, serve!

This makes two lovely lunch servings. Each serving contains 182 calories, .5 grams of fat, and 3.6 grams of fibre. If you skip the chicken oxo ingredient this is a tasty vegetarian dish as well! A variation of this with strawberries instead of mangoes is sooo delicious. This can also be a great side dish for a tropical themed dinner.

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Posted in Lunch, Sidedish

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Shire Rations

Posted on July 12, 2010 | Leave a comment

I had fun with this hardcore hobbit attempt. In the game shire rations are made of marinated chicken cutlet, apple, and sharp cheese. The marinated chicken cutlet is made of chicken, green onion, and fine seasonings. This is really a double hardcore in one…and that sounds nasty hehe. Now I could see a hobbit being happy with just marinated chicken, some cut up apples and cheese BUT I think they would be much happier with my changes. I kept all the main ingredients like I usually do but changed it up. I approached this like an episode of ‘chopped’, on chopped just cutting up the ingredients and putting them on the plate just won’t fly…well they won’t here either. I fancied up the shire rations by making the apple portion an apple slaw, and the cheese portion a nice cheese sauce for the chicken. I served them on our camping plates though just to make them more ration like hehe. I think the hobbits would be pleased and would never leave their hole without these shire rations.

Apple Slaw:

  • 2 royal gala apples, sliced into matchsticks
  • 1 tsp lime juice
  • 4 tbl fat free plain yogurt
  • 2 tbl honey
  1. Combine, chill for 20 minutes and serve.

Marinated Chicken Cutlet:

  • 2 chicken breasts
  • 2 green onions, sliced
  • 1/4 cup white wine
  • 1 tbl steakhouse pepper spice
  1. Combine and marinate for atleast 4 hours.
  2. Grill the chicken until cooked using desired method.

Sharp Cheese Sauce:

  • 64 grams of light cheddar cheese, grated
  • 2 tbl flour
  • 2 tsp light cooking margarine
  • 2 tbl parmesan cheese, grated
  • 1 cup skim milk
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  1. Melt the margarine in a saucepan over medium heat and combine with the flour.
  2. Whisk in the milk and the salt slowly to prevent lumps.
  3. When the milk is heated stir in the cheeses. Do not allow to boil!
  4. Heat and stir until thickened. Serve on the chicken.

The apple slaw serves two, each serving contains 163 calories, .5 grams of fat, and 3.8 grams of fibre. The Chicken makes two servings, each serving contains 142 calories, 1.3 grams of fat, and .4 grams of fibre. The cheese sauce serves four (I like to save the extra to have cheese fries when I feel naughty), each serving contains 85 calories, 2.9 grams of fat and .1 grams of fibre. All together, just to make it simple, a serving of shire ration contains 390 calories, 4.7 grams of fat, and 4.3 grams of fibre.

*phew* That is a load of info. Definitely a tasty meal. This was how I celebrated the end of my first challenge. Definitely decadent seeming but not really in the end. The beauty of this success was that each of these recipes can stand alone and be used for other things…bringing them together is what makes a hobbit happy though. I have a feeling I could actually bring it together when camping. I would definitely give it a try, a fun challenge! I have a feeling that chicken over a fire would be to die for.

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Posted in Dinner, Ingredient, Sidedish, The Hardcore Hobbit

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Buffalo Chicken Salad

Posted on June 17, 2010 | Leave a comment

One of those guilty pleasure flavours for me is a nice bunch of buffalo chicken wings dipped in some blue cheese. Mmmm, goodtimes. So there had to be a way to make these flavours happen but in a healthy and easy way. I had at one point thought of chicken fingers but the coating got in the way. Then my husband suggested grilling. Tada! There it was. Ofcourse the blue cheese dip being a dressing, it was only natural to just make it a salad then. Nummy wing night flavours, far less naughty. Totally win win I say. There is a lot of salad there, I had to put it in my udon bowls!

Quickie Buffalo Style Sauce

  • 1/2 cup ketchup
  • 3 tbl honey
  • 2 tsp garlic powder
  • 1/2 or 1/4 cup frank’s red hot sauce (depends on your level of spicy)

Just combine those up and let them sit. Makes about 1 cup of sauce. Each 2 tbl serving is 49 calories, 0 grams of fat, and .1 gram fiber.

To assemble the Buffalo Chicken Salad:

  1. Glaze the chicken with the Buffalo sauce and grill or cook with desired method.
  2. Cool the chicken for 5 minutes, slice the chicken, and toss again in some more buffalo sauce if you like a saucy wing like I do.
  3. Toss a salad with some lettuce, grated carrots, and low fat blue cheese dressing. I use president’s choice blue menu blue cheese dressing. Very nummy and I don’t usually like diet salad dressings.
  4. Top with the chicken and serve!

Good times. So based on approximately 1 cup of salad, 1/4 cup of grated carrots, a couple of tablespoons of blue cheese dressing, a serving of buffalo sauce, and a chicken breast. Each serving of this salad is 258 calories, 7.6 grams of fat, and 1.8 grams of fiber. Not too bad for a wing night I say! Ofcourse, feel free to increase those lettuce and carrot portions they won’t hurt you one bit!

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Posted in Comfort Foods, Craving Buster, Dinner, Lunch

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Cherry Vinaigrette

Posted on June 14, 2010 | Leave a comment

A lovely easy to make dressing for your salad. In the summer I love making hearty salad entrees. There are so many things you can do with them and salad dressing is so easy to make! We made this one as part of our True Blood premier celebrations…I’m sure you can see why. So tasty and yet not so naughty!

  • 10 sweet cherries
  • 2 tbl balsamic vinegar
  • 1/2 tsp olive oil
  • 3 tbl water
  1. Remove the pits from the cherries. Put half of the cherries into a blender along with the vinegar, oil and water.
  2. Blend.
  3. Put the rest of the cherries into the blender and give a quick burst with the blender so that the cherries are just mostly chopped up. You can skip this step if you prefer a purely smooth dressing and just blend all the cherries in the first step. Serve!

This made enough for two people to generously cover their salads. Each generous serving contains 39 calories, 1.2 grams of fat and .7 grams of fiber. It is wonderfully full of flavour using only natural sugars. To recreate the salad in the picture we also used: butter lettuce, 1/2 cup of cherry pieces, and 4 ounces of grilled chicken that we had lightly hickory smoked and sliced. Num! Great for those warm summer days.

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Posted in Dinner, Ingredient, Lunch

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