buffalo chicken salad

Now that I am finally back home and back into my routine it is time to get back into the kitchen! Recently I ordered a yummy buffalo chicken salad while out to dinner and thought it would be really easy meal to make at home. If you love spice this is a fun, easy and flavor filled salad to make.

First I started by making the buffalo sauce. There are all kinds of ways to create a yummy sauce but I kept it simple.

your favorite hot sauce- I used about 1/2 cup

about 2-3 tablespoons of butter

a sprinkle of salt and pepper

a little bit of minced garlic

and a dash of white vinegar

I combined everything in a sauce pan and warmed it on med/low temp. until the butter was completely melted.

I cut up some chicken breasts and then covered them with the sauce (I saved a little bit of sauce for later)

I placed the chicken in a baking dish and baked at about 350 degrees for around 10-12 minuted or until the chicken was cooked.

While the chicken was baking I made a batch of cornbread that would be turned into croutons.

Since I was in a hurry I used a box mix

and lined a shallow cookie pan with batter. I baked and then cut it up into cubes and baked the cubed cornbread again for about 5-7 minutes to get them a little more crispy.

Once the chicken was done, I removed it from the oven and tossed it with a little more of the buffalo sauce.

Next, I prepared the greens.

Because the chicken is spicy it is nice to have a something to cool things off- you could add your favorite cheese, blue cheese crumbles or even a creamy based dressing.

Last, I added the chicken and the cornbread croutons and tossed everything together.

The result is a yummy, easy meal with TONS of flavor!

quinoa salad

If you haven't tried quinoa, NOW IS THE TIME! Quinoa (pronounced keen-wah) is a seed that was considered a sacred food and a staple in the diets of the Incas. These days it is referred to as a supergrain because it loaded with twice the protein of regular cereal grains, lots of fiber, amino acids, vitamins, minerals, fewer carbohydrates, and even a dose of healthy fats. One cup of quinoa has 24 grams of complete protein, which provides 48% of the daily recommended value- AMAZING!

Quinoa comes comes in a variety of colors- white, red, black and for the most part it all has a mild flavor that will complement just about anything. While there are all kinds of recipes and ways to cook with it, I like incorporating it into a salad because the different ingredients and variations are endless!

I started by adding 1 cup of quinoa to 2 cups of boiling water and boiled for about 15 minutes.

Next, I prepped all my ingredients.

I picked some of my favorite vegetables but you could add quinoa to just about anything!

spinach, red pepper, green olives,

feta cheese, sweet potato, red onion,

quinoa, parsley, baby portabella mushrooms

I diced up the red onion,

the red pepper,

and sautéed them in a little bit of olive oil, garlic and then added the mushrooms.

I washed and cut up the spinach.

Chopped up green olives.

I added the cooked quinoa

to the spinach, olives, the sautéed vegis.

I added a baked sweet potato chopped into squares

and sprinkled a handful of chopped parsley

and feta cheese.

I mixed everything together

and filled up a bowl for myself :)

Serve as a side dish or even as a main dish- makes for a great lunch!

I've even started using it as a filling for wraps.

Use a whole grain tortilla and fill with quinoa salad.

Roll up.

Cut in half and quickly consume!

nori burritos

I am only an "occasional" meat eater and the rest of the time I love preparing tasty recipes that make use of simple pairings of vegis and different flavors. One of my recent favorites is nori burritos inspired by a recipe from The Kind Diet by Alicia Silverstone.

I LOVE this book and while it is a vegan cookbook, there is so much really great information on nutrition, inspiration for cooking and ways to "flirt" with vegan meals. These nori burritos are super easy to change up, use your favorite ingredients and put your own unique twist on- which is exactly what I did.

The key to this recipe are the nori wrappers. If you eat sushi you will recognize this edible seaweed wrapper- they are made from algae and feel like paper. They taste exactly as you would imagine- a nice light seaweed or grassy taste that is not all all over powering. If you haven't tried seaweed in some form at least once in your life then you haven't lived- it is quite delicious!

I prepped all kinds of different fillings.

basil leaves and shredded cabbage,

brown rice

sprouts

apples and carrots

arugula

cucumbers

and I decided to also grill up some fish with a little bit of sweet soy sauce.

Once my fillings were prepped I started making the burritos with different combinations of the fillings.

I laid out the nori

and added rice,

a big basil leaf,

a handful of sprouts,

some shredded carrots,

and a couple of apples.

Then I folded up the bottom,

rolled from one end to the next

and used a little water to dampen the edge to get the wrapper to stick to itself.

I used my different ingredients to create different combos- the variations and possible fillings are really endless- you could use ANYTHING!

And there you have it a plate full of healthy nori burritos that I proceeded to eat...like all eight of them- YUM!