Chicken Curry Salad in Endive Boats

Happy MAY day! 

tulips

 

This is obviously not a MN scene but I think this is such a gorgeous photo and it makes me smile looking at this photo and thinking about the day when flowers will be popping up around here. Hopefully soon. For now, we are in a Winter Storm Warning. Yup…but anyway!

Some exciting news! Today is the last day you will see the old butcher block countertops in my photos because today we are getting NEW KITCHEN COUNTERTOPS! You know you are grown up when you get so incredibly excited about home improvements.

The butcher block countertops have been in the house for goodness knows how long, and they are terrible when it comes to stains and I don’t want to even think about any possible bacteria in the crevices.

banana pb

After much price shopping, stone shopping, and style shopping, we have decided on granite countertops. We went with a gray with specks of gold and red. It will be done by the time I get home this afternoon and I am ecstatic. I can’t wait to show you the refurbished kitchen later this week!

Lunch yesterday was a bunch of small meals throughout the span of 11:00 and 2:00. Here’s one of them…

egg

The afternoon included a lot of food prep time. In the morning I started two large chicken breasts (thawed) in the crock pot, seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder, and a cup or so of homemade chicken bone broth. I covered the pot, set it on low and the chicken was done in three hours.

On the dinner menu: Chicken Curry Salad in Endive Boats!

Once the chicken was cooled I pulled it apart and set it aside. I got started on my curry sauce experiment; adding a sprinkle of this, a touch of that, and tasting along the way. This was part of my other small lunch meal. After some time, I came up with what I think is a VERY delicious Chicken Curry Salad recipe!

The chicken and the curry sauce before it was mixed together (not the most appetizing photo). Later I mixed in cilantro, green onions, and raisins too.

curry chicken

The kitchen sure took a beating with all of this food prep!

Note the white backsplash next to the yellow paint–we removed the wooden backsplash to prepare for our new counters and the new backsplash of course. Also, Dana loosened the countertop in preparation of removal so that all we had to do last night was pull it up and out of there. This ended up being a bigger task than we were expecting, but we got it out of there nonetheless.

kitchen mess

After the chicken was mixed with the sauce, I covered the bowl with plastic wrap and let it sit in the fridge for 4-5 hours. This helps the flavors blend together and “get to know each other.”

Once dinner rolled around, I gave the chicken one last stir, added in the celery and almonds at the last minute because I didn’t want to risk them getting soggy, taste tested it one more time, and scooped it on to some beautiful endive leaves. We went super classy with the Dixie paper plates last night because of the kitchen demolition.

curry chicken salad curry chicken salad

You could enjoy this chicken salad on a whole grain wrap, in a lettuce cup, with endive boats, celery, zucchini, or on a lettuce salad. It was a really nice change of pace dinner!

Chicken Curry Salad
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Ingredients
  • 3 cups cooked chicken breast, shredded
  • 2 Tbsp. cilantro, chopped
  • 3 Tbsp. green onions, diced
  • ⅓ cup raisins
  • juice from ½ a lime
  • ¾ cup Greek yogurt
  • 3 Tbsp. Light Mayo
  • 2 tsp. apple cider vinegar
  • 1 tsp. mustard
  • 1½ tsp. honey
  • 1½ Tbsp. curry powder
  • ¼ tsp. garlic powder
  • ½ tsp. ginger powder
  • salt and pepper
  • ¼ cup celery, diced
  • 3 Tbsp. almonds, sliced
Instructions
  1. In a large bowl combine chicken, cilantro, onion, and raisins. Set aside
  2. In a small bowl mix together lime juice, yogurt, mayo, vinegar, mustard, honey, curry, garlic powder, ginger, and salt and pepper.
  3. Pour over chicken and stir until chicken is evenly covered in sauce. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 3-5 hours.
  4. Remove from fridge, add almonds and celery, stir, and test for seasonings. Adjust if needed.
  5. Serve in endive leaves, in a whole grain or gluten-free wrap, whole grain or gluten-free bread, in lettuce cups, or on top of a lettuce salad.

 

This was super tasty and what’s great about it is all of the prep can be done ahead of time so that once dinner rolls around, all you need to do is throw it on a wrap and eat it up! Also, research is showing that curry (namely the main ingredient turmeric) may have some health benefits such as aiding in alzheimer’s prevention, reducing inflammation, easing digestion, boosting immunity, and more.

Have a happy Wednesday my friends!

Do you ever cook with curry? How do you usually use it?

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Pina Colada for Breakfast

Last night was one of those nights where I was exhausted around 7:30 pm, struggling to keep my eyes open yet made myself stay awake so that I would be able to go to bed at a decent hour. At 9:45 pm, I crawled into bed, tired, read my book for 25 minutes, still tired, turned off the light but couldn’t turn off my brain. I don’t know what the deal was last night but I was thinking of everything under the sun and could not put my mind to rest. Usually I can read my book for 20 minutes and then be out, but last night was a casualty.

The book I’m reading is about healing your body through meditation. I like a lot of it, but I don’t like the idea of having to sit and do nothing accept focus on myself for 45 minutes. They do mention that meditation time can be done during yoga, which makes sense. I like that idea better.

The book talks a lot about focusing on your breathing, not only when you’re in mediation, but throughout the day. It is a reminder to live in the moment and grab a hold of yourself when daily activities become too chaotic. Why am I talking about this book so much? To put it into context, I tried focusing on my breathing last night to get me to fall asleep, and I think that may have been what helped me. I’m not quite sure, though.

But all in all I didn’t get enough sleep for my personal sleep needs last night. I am one of those people who needs a solid 8+ hours for highest functioning ability, and last night I probably only got 6. However looking on the bright side, I am fortunate to have a warm and comfortable bed to sleep in, a roof over my head, and clean water to have at the bedside. I will try and focus on the positives to get through the day!

How about a quick little run down of my eats yesterday? I have a smooth concoction to share with you all…

Anyone care for a Piña Colada for breakfast? Virgin of course.

I did my best to measure it out yesterday when I made it in the morning (the above photo was from my first trial a couple of days ago, it’s actually more voluminous than that), so that I could share it with you all.

Piña Colada Breakfast Smoothie

Ingredients

  • 1 cup frozen pineapple, cubed
  • 1 small banana
  • 1/2 cup coconut almond milk
  • 1 egg white
  • 1/4 cup (or small handful) of crushed ice
Directions
  1. Whirl all ingredients together in blender until smooth, pour into glass, serve with a straw.
I have been whipping this smoothie up before work and enjoying it on the drive.
For Lunch…
A fraternal twinsie from Tuesday’s salad. This one was chicken, grapes, and walnuts mixed with Ken’s Lite Poppy Seed dressing ,served on top a bed of romaine lettuce. The only thing missing this time around was feta cheese. I just wasn’t feeling it and was going for more of a “chicken salad” this time around.

Work was very busy and I came home exhausted. We had intentions of running errands after work but I put a big ol’ red x on that idea.

I knew I should be hungry for dinner but nothing was sounding too appetizing. I also knew I needed to increase my veggie intake for the day (mind you I did have some carrots with my lunch that I didn’t mention), so I threw a hodge-podge salad together.

In the mix: romaine lettuce (leftover lettuce still from last Saturday–we usually buy the dark greens for more vitamins and nutrients), tomato, green olives, muenster cheese, sunflower seeds, lima beans, and Newman’s Own Lite Honey Mustard dressing. Very random but pretty tasty. I always enjoy a sweet and salty salad. Olives always add a nice touch of salt.

After dinner we watched Modern Family which is definitely my favorite show on television right now, and I I stayed hunkered down on the couch until bed time.

I munched on some of these too…

I declared yesterday a rest day from working out. If only I could have actually “slept” on “rest” day. Oh well, I’ll get after it tonight.

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It is rainy here in Minnesota today and only 40° F as I write this morning. Yikes! That’s the kind of weather that makes you want to stay in and bake cookies. Anyone agree with that?

Have a fabulous day my friends. Let’s focus on the positives today!

Question of the Day: If you could stay home and inside on a rainy cold day, what would YOU want to do?

I would want to sleep in, drink coffee, catch up on blogs, do some yoga, bake cookies, and watch cooking shows all afternoon. 🙂

Continue Reading Pina Colada for Breakfast