Tag Archives: easy

Taco Salad Recipe

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Easy Taco Salad Recipe. Throw all in a bowl. Done!

Easy Taco Salad Recipe. Throw all in a bowl. Ready for tossing. So easy and delicious.

This is a one of the staple recipes in our house. It’s an easy and delicious, no fail dinner recipe that our kids and their friends have always loved. And, this recipe is a great way to use up any kind of leftover taco meat or even chicken or turkey. In fact, I always make it after we’ve had homemade tacos and I just use up whatever is left over from that meal (meat, tomatoes, cheese, onions etc…)  I don’t measure the ingredients at all. I just throw whatever we have leftover in a large bowl, ( as shown in the photo, lettuce is on the bottom of the bowl). If you add a little less onion, or a little more cheese, it’s not big deal. Just throw it in! Make it easy! You’ll have plenty of time left to make an easy margarita.

 

  • 1/2 lb. Ground or Chopped Chicken or Turkey or Beef (if not using leftovers, cook in a pan with 2 teaspoons cumin, 1 teaspoons chili powder, and 1 teaspoon garlic powder, salt and pepper to taste). Or, leftover chicken or turkey pieces. 
  • 6 Cups of Chopped Lettuce (or so).
  • 1/2 Cup Shredded Cheese
  • 1/2 Cup Canned Kidney or Black or Pinto Beans 
  • 1/2 Cup Crushed up Tortilla Chips or Leftover Taco Shells
  • 1/2 Cup Chopped Tomatoes
  • 1/2 Cup Chopped Onion (any kind is fine)
  • 1/4 Cup Salsa (any kind) 
  • 2 Tablespoons Sour Cream
  • 2 Tablespoons Italian Dressing

 

If you are not using leftover chicken or turkey or beef, cook your meat with spices until completely cooked. Drain off the fat.

 

Put everything in a bowl and toss well. Done! When I worked in restaurants, I learned that many restaurant sauces and dressings are often mixtures of different dressings that they have on the line. This dressing using salsa, sour cream and Italian dressing is a good example. 

 

 

 

Chinese Cold Spicy Sesame Noodles – a la Shorty Tang’s recipe

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Pasta like Spaghetti can be used instead of the Noodles in most recipes.

Pasta like Spaghetti can be used instead of Chinese Noodles or Soba in many recipes.

There’s a restaurant in Manhattan Beach that serves a great spicy sesame noodle recipe topped with peanuts that I was seriously craving the other night. When I worked at Cheesecake Factory, we had a similar dish called the Peking Salad although I don’t believe it is on the menu any longer. As I pondered how to recreate either of the sweet, salty, nutty, tangy noodle dishes, I wondered if there were an authentic, original version for Spicy Cold Sesame Noodles. 

 

After some research, I learned that there is actually a guy named Tang Win Fat, nick-named Shorty Tang who legend has it, is responsible for the first cold, sesame noodle

Shorty Tang gets credit for inventing the Cold Spicy Noodle Recipe

Shorty Tang was a well known New York restauranteur who invented the Chinese Cold Spicy Noodle Recipe.

recipe. His story is featured on his grandson’s WordPress Blog RiceWineVinegar and he was also featured in a story about his historical New York restaurant and in the recipes section in the New York Times. Shorty Tang was born in 1926 in Sichuan’s Nianchang, worked in restaurants starting at the age of 12, and left China for Taiwan in 1946 where he worked as a street vendor before opening his first restaurant there. Then, he moved to Queens, NY in 1967 and opened a restaurant in Manhattan’s Chinatown which was famous for among other dishes, his Cold Sesame Noodles. This recipe is supposed to replicate Shorty’s but I’ve also listed Madame Wong’s recipe below it which I just happened to have found (strange coincidence) when making a version of her Chinese Lemon Chicken recipe. We served these noodles with a simple Pork Loin Roast and it was a great pairing. 

 

 

 

The easy way to add Fresh Ginger to any recipe. Freeze it, then grate it in.

The easy way to add Fresh Ginger to any recipe. Freeze it, then grate it in.

  • 8 ounces Chinese Egg Noodles or Soba or Spaghetti, cooked and cooled. 
  • 4 Tablespoons Soy Sauce or Tamari 
  • 2 Tablespoons Sesame Oil
  • 2 Tablespoons Rice Wine Vinegar
  • 1 Tablespoon Peanut Butter
  • 1 Tablespoon Sugar
  • 1 Tablespoon Red Chili Paste (or Chili and Garlic Paste or even Sriracha Sauce)
  • 1 Tablespoon Grated Fresh Ginger 
  • 1 Tablespoon Chopped Fresh Garlic
  • 2 Tablespoons Sesame Paste (I forgot this ingredient and it still tasted amazing!)
  • 1/2 Cup Chopped Peanuts
  • 4 Chopped Green Onions
  • 1/2 Red Bell Pepper, diced (my addition)
  • 2 Cups Spinach Leaves (my addition)
  • Feel free to add any other vegetables you like (like broccoli, bean sprouts, celery, cucumber etc…)
  • Feel free to add egg, tofu, leftover chicken, ham or turkey. 

 

Make noodles per package instructions. Drain and rinse in cold water. 

I add Spinach, Peppers and Grated Carrots to the mix.

I add Spinach, Peppers and Grated Carrots to the mix.

When cool, mix all ingredients with the sauce. Done.

 

 

 

As an alternative, here is Madame Wong’s Easy Cold Spicy Noodles Sauce Recipe Ingredients (a quicker, easier version but both recipes are delicious):

 

  • 1 Tablespoon Red Chili Sauce (or Chili and Garlic or Sriracha Sauce)
  • 1/4 Cup Sesame Oil
  • 1/4 Cup Soy Sauce or Tamari
  • 1/4 Cup Rice or Regular Vinegar
  • Salt and pepper to taste

 

Either of these recipes work well for a kids’ lunch, or to bring to a picnic or a party although I would use Cashew or Almond Butter and Cashews instead of Peanuts as you never know who might be allergic if you’re sharing this dish with a crowd. Summer is over, but it is still warm in California. Jackson Brown just played at the Santa Monica Pier last weekend. So, I will eat these noodles until it starts to rain and think of Shorty and his lovely family and how even a single recipe can touch so many for years down the road.

 

  

Madame Wong’s Chinese Lemon Chicken – my easy healthier recipe

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Lemony, tangy, & sweet Chinese Lemon Chicken Recipe.

Lemony, tangy, & sweet Chinese Lemon Chicken Recipe.

My daughter loves Chinese Food that’s a little sweet like Orange Chicken, Lemon Chicken and the sweet Walnut Shrimp at Panda Express (I think I might be able to eat an entire bucket of those). This is my version of Madame Wong’s traditional Lemon Chicken but instead of using a flour batter and frying the chicken, I bread it in rice flour ( so it’s gluten free ) and then I bake it in the oven drizzled with a little coconut oil. I use this method to bake chicken now all the time – even when I’m not smothering it with a delicious, lemony, sweet and tangy sauce. This lemon sauce recipe is amazingly easy to make and you could also use it on pork or even on vegetables if you’re a vegetarian. 

 

Ingredients:

 

  • 2 to 4 Boneless, Skinless, Chicken Breasts, cut into scallops at an angle
  • Sweet Rice Flour (you can buy at any Asian market)
  • Coconut Oil (or any other type of cooking oil)

 

Slice the chicken into thinner, smaller pieces by cutting the breasts on a diagonal. ( Or, you could pound if you’d like. )

 

Drizzle oil on top before baking the rice flour covered chicken.

Drizzle oil on top before baking the rice flour covered chicken.

Place in a casserole dish and add enough rice flour (and a little salt and pepper) to cover the pieces entirely. Use your hands to move the chicken pieces around until they are covered completely with the rice flour. Shake the remaining flour out of the dish if there’s too much remaining. Drizzle the oil on top of the chicken and turn it over and drizzle it again so it’s mostly covered. 

 

 

Bake at 350 degrees F for about 25 minutes or until the chicken is slightly brown and cooked through. Meanwhile, make the sauce. 

 

Lemon Juice, Zest, Sugar.

Lemon Juice, Zest, Sugar.

 

 

Sauce Ingredients:

 

  • Grated lemon rind from 1-2 Lemons (always grate when lemons are dry).
  • 3/4 – 1 Cup Freshly Squeezed Lemon Juice 
  • 1/2 Cup Sugar
  • 3 Tablespoons Cornstarch mixed in 1 Tablespoon of Water
  • 1 Egg Yolk (alternatively, you can increase the cornstarch in the recipe, but the egg makes a lovely sheen in the sauce).

 

Place the lemon zest, juice and sugar in a pan and heat on low until sugar melts.

 

Add the cornstarch and egg mixture to thicken.

Add the cornstarch and egg mixture to thicken.

Add the egg to the cornstach and whisk together, then whisk the mixture into the lemon sauce slowly. The mixture will thicken. Strain (if you have to still remove the lemon seeds). Pour over the chicken. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Curried Lentil Salad

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Just had a great gig at a Concert in the Park in San Juan Capistrano. There were so many friendly families and kids and once the sun went down, a nice breeze came in

Great gig. Warm breezes. Summer in San Juan Capistrano, California.

Great gig. Warm breezes. Summer in San Juan Capistrano, California.

over the mountains.

I love Concerts in the Park, whether I’m singing or watching other bands play. It’s so fun to bring and share food and wine with friends. I am sad that Summer is almost over.

 

This is one of my “Picnic Basket” side dishes that is inspired by the Indian Dahl recipe. It is incredibly inexpensive to make and a little goes a long way. When I was in college, I’d make a huge pot when I was out of money and eat it on toast topped with sour cream. Sometimes, I’d eat it for a week until I had money for groceries again. Lentils have no fat, are low in calories and high in fiber and nutrients – even iron so if your’e anemic, lentils are a great staple to add to your diet. And as usual, this side dish recipe is incredibly easy to make. 

 

Easy Lentil Salad Recipe.

Easy Lentil Salad Recipe.

  • 1 Cup Dried Lentils
  • 2 Cups Water or Broth
  • Salt and Pepper to taste
  • 1/4 Diced Onion
  • 2 Tablespoons Red Wine or Apple Cider Vinegar
  • 1 Tablespoon Olive OIl
  • 1 Tablespoon Tamari or Soy Sauce (left it out of this batch as I had run out.)
  • 2 Tablespoons Curry Powder and/or Cumin
Lentils have no fat and are high in nutrients.

Lentils are high in nutrients.

 

Boil water (or broth) and add lentils.

 

 

Cook for 20-30 minutes until water is gone. (Drain if you have to). Remove from heat (don’t overcook.You want the lentils to have a bite to them and not be mushy).

 

 

Yummy Chilled Curried Lentil Salad. So easy.

Yummy Chilled Curried Lentil Salad. So easy.

Cool the lentils. Then add the rest of the ingredients. Done!