Chicken Mandarin Salad

This is my version of Wendy's Mandarin Chicken Salad. It's delicious! Very quick and easy too.

• Your favourite green lettuce (not iceberg) or baby spinach, cut or torn into bite-sized pieces
• Cooked chicken breast, sliced or cubed (I like the Lilydale Fully Cooked, Seasoned Sliced Chicken Breasts from Costco, and I keep 'em in the freezer for spur-of-the-moment salad making)
• Mandarin orange segments, drained (I keep the Del Monte individual bowls on hand for this)
• Toasted almonds and/or pecans, coursely chopped
  
• Lemon Garlic Renee's Gourmet Wellness dressing (my absolute favourite salad dressing of all time)
  

Steak & Rice Wraps

• Whole wheat tortillas
  
• Cooked brown rice
  
• Leftover steak (preferably seasoned with a Santa Fe-style rub and grilled to medium), sliced across the grain
  
• Cheddar cheese, shredded
  
• Lettuce, shredded
  
• Tomato, chopped
  
• Avocado, sliced and tossed with fresh lime or lemon juice
  
• Salsa
  

Make wraps. Enjoy!

Fabulous Frittata

This was so good, I had to write it down!

(All measurements are approximate.)

1 tablespoon butter
2 1/2 cups roughly chopped oven-roasted new potatoes and carrots* (combined)
1/2 cup chopped onion (red or yellow)
1/2 cup cubed or chopped ham
1/2 cup frozen peas
1/2 cup frozen corn
7 or 8 eggs
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

Melt butter in a 9 or 10-inch oven-proof skillet over medium heat. Cook onion in butter for a few minutes. Add potatoes and carrots, ham, peas, and corn (I like to put the frozen vegetables in a sieve and rinse them with cold running water first). Cook for a few more minutes, stirring frequently. Meanwhile, whisk together eggs, cheese, salt, and pepper. When the vegetables and ham are thoroughly heated through, pour egg mixture into the pan. Cook over medium heat for 6 to 8 minutes. Transfer skillet to preheated 350 degree oven and cook for another 8 to 10 minutes, until the centre is puffy and cooked through.

*Halve or quarter new potatoes and carrots. Toss with a little olive oil, salt, and fresh ground pepper. Roast in a shallow pan in 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes.

Variation: Use whatever vegetables you have on hand! That's what we did.

Taco Chicken Salad

This salad is delicious!!!

• Green leafy lettuce or Romaine - torn
  
• Chicken breasts - rubbed with taco spice (or any Mexican/southwestern spice), grilled, then sliced
  
• Red Sweetooth peppers (or red bell pepper) - stems and seeds removed, tossed with olive oil, salt, and pepper, grilled, then sliced
  
• Jalepeno (or plain) Monterey Jack cheese - shredded
  
• Cheddar cheese - shredded
  
• Corn - grilled in husk (30 minutes at 300 F), then cut off the cob
  
• Corn chips - crumbled
  
• Peppercorn Ranch salad dressing
  
• Salsa
  

Top lettuce with remaining ingredients.

Based on: Kraft Peppercorn Ranch Taco Chicken Salad

Crispy Crunchy Chickpea Salad

I wish I could put an actual recipe here, but I don't have one! We went to the 'Spring Free from Racism' Family Day today which is an annual multicultural event in Regina that coincides with the Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (March 21). For free admission, there are almost continuous dance and musical performances to enjoy and several ethnic food vendors to choose from. We sampled food from several places this year and there were two notable dishes--in addition to the always-great Ethiopian food and fantastic homemade perogies.

One of these awesome foods was from the Chilean table: a sandwich of roast pork and mashed avocado on a homemade bun with verde sauce (basically, finely chopped tomatoes, peppers, cilantro, lime juice...). Delicious!

Another excellent dish was from the Immigrant Women of Regina table. It was called Crispy Crunchy Chickpea Salad. It was so good, I asked the lady where the recipe came from and she said she just made it up--there's no recipe! She said she just tossed a bunch of stuff with lemon juice and a little oil. The salad was topped with a mixture of crunchy stuff that she made herself, and a couple of dressings. So here's what I think the salad was comprised of:

• chickpeas
  
• red onion
  
• cilantro
  
• potatoes
  
• cucumber
  
• strawberries (for sure)
  
• tomato (maybe)
  
• lemon juice
  
• oil
  
• topped with:
  
  
  • crispy crunchy stuff - puffed rice, homemade crackers, crispy noodles...
    
  • sweet & sour type sauce
    
  • creamy dressing
    
  
  

I wonder if I could make something that comes close!

Great Bison Recipes

On Good Morning Canada this weekend, CJ Katz (of Savourlife.ca, a great food and wine website; I really enjoy receiving the weekly newsletter) was cooking with bison at the Rocking C Ranch near Fort Qu'Appelle, Saskatchewan. They made Tatonka Torte and Bison Back Ribs, which looked really delicious. We tried the Torte today and it's awesome! I'm really looking forward to trying the ribs too.

The recipes are on this page, Good Morning Canada, but just in case they change that page with each show, here are the recipes:

Tatonka Torte - Rocking C Ranch
2 tbsp olive oil
1 lb (500 g) ground bison
1 cup green and red peppers, chopped
1 tbsp minced garlic
2 cups chopped onion
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 1/2 tbsp chili powder
1 1/2 tbsp ground cumin
1 tsp dried basil leaves
1-14 oz can kidney beans or corn
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
2-3 cups grated Monterey Jack cheese or cheddar cheese
1 1/2 cups rice, cooked according to package instructions
1 cup Pepperheads Wild Garlic Salsa & Pizza Sauce, or other salsa
5-10" flour tortillas, any flavour

Sauté onions in olive oil. Add pepper. Set aside. In a separate sauté pan, brown the bison; add herbs and spices. Add browned onions and peppers and kidney beans or corn. In a small bowl, combine 1/2 cup parmesan cheese with 2-3 cups grated Monterey Jack cheese or cheddar cheese, and set aside. In a separate bowl, mix together the salsa and cooked rice (we use 3 cups cooked brown rice), and set aside.

Spray a 10" springform pan. Lay one tortilla on the bottom of the pan. Alternate layers of meat, rice, cheese and tortilla wrap until there are 4 layers ending with a tortilla wrap on top. Cover with foil and bake in 350F oven for 50-90 minutes. Remove from oven, remove foil and let stand 10 minutes. Slice like a pie and serve with extra salsa, sour cream and a green salad. Freezes well.

***

Bison Back Ribs
2 racks Bison back ribs
salt and pepper
Montreal Steak spice

Sauce
1/2 cup molasses
1/2 cup Pepperheads Dark Secrets Gourmet BBQ sauce, or other good quality barbeque sauce
juice from one fresh orange

Cut racks into individual ribs. Transfer to greased shallow baking dish and rub with salt and pepper and Montreal Steak spice. Coat with sauce and bake, covered at 300F for 5-6 hours. Baste often.

Perfect Bison Tenderloin

A couple of weeks ago, Neil put a whole bison tenderloin on the barbeque rotisserie. It was probably the best meat we've ever eaten in this house--and we've had some killer steaks. He applied my favourite flavouring (Mustard & Herb) to the 2 lb. tenderloin, then cooked it on the rotisserie for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Perfection!