Salad Vinaigrette

When I was a kid, we never bought salad dressing. My Mom always made the same vinaigrette and we all loved it. I've tweaked it just a little to suit my tastes, but it's still my favorite and what I use most of the time on my salads.

Salad Vinaigrette

1 tablespoon Gourmet Salad Vinegar
2 tablespoons water
salt and pepper to taste
2 dashes Salad Supreme

You can whisk all the ingredients together if you want to, or just do like me and add them one at a time and toss your salad. There's no oil in this vinaigrette, so there's really no need to whisk if you don't want to. Note: The picture makes it look like the vinegar is clear. It's actually amber; the bottle's just mostly empty! :)

Salad Tip

Ever want a salad and are too busy or tired to make one so you end up not having one? Yeah, me too. I just recently learned of this tip and thought I'd pass it on. Why didn't I think of this before? Duh!

Rinse and spin (or dry) your lettuce or spinach. Put whatever amount you want in a ziplock bag. Cut up some tomatoes and add to bags. Peel and cut some cucumbers and add to bags. Add whatever else you always have in your salad (except the dressing or anything that will get soggy, like croutons). Roll up the baggie and squeeze all the air out then zip closed. Refrigerate, and when you want a salad, voila, it's all ready for you to add dressing and eat!

Chicken Packets

Here's a great idea I read about a long time ago on a wls forum and forgot about until last week. I made some up Saturday and cooked one today. Oh yummy! I did some packets with fish too!

Chicken Packets

Chicken tenderloins or breast pieces (no need to defrost if frozen)
Vegetables (onions, peppers, squash, carrots, etc.)
Salt and pepper to taste
Other seasonings to taste
Heavy duty aluminum foil

Lay a sheet of aluminum foil on the counter. Place a chicken tenderloin and your vegetables in the middle. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and/or whatever other seasoning you want to use. I used Montreal Chicken on some, dry Italian dressing mix on some, and Southwest Sweet and Smoky Chicken on others. Fold aluminum foil over on all four sides and label. Put your packets in the freezer. To cook, just throw on the grill until done. I put mine on indirect heat until almost done then moved it over to direct heat for a couple of minutes. I also used one of those baskets that you put hamburger patties in, close the basket and then flip the basket instead of the burgers. That worked really well. I was able to remove it from the grill to check for doneness. Hey! You could also make a packet of just vegetables (hmmm...marinated veggies!) ready to throw on the grill! This is not necessarily fast, but it sure is easy...like when you get home from the gym and don't feel like cooking!

15 minutes from frozen packet to cooked and ready to eat! I cooked the fish on direct heat and high.

Chicken & "Rice" Soup

I remember on cold days (well, as cold as it gets in Louisiana anyway) my Mom would sometimes heat up a can of Campbell's Chicken & Rice soup. As a kid, I loved it! And as an adult that didn't think about how much sodium was in there, I loved it. I tried eating some a couple of years ago and...YUCK! Way too salty! And what's with the grease in there anyway? So what to do? Panic? Who me? Noooooo...I played around with it until I hit on the perfect chicken and rice soup!

Chicken & "Rice" Soup

Chicken:
1 bag frozen boneless, skinless chicken breast pieces, defrosted
1 teaspoon olive oil
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon marjoram
1 teaspoon thyme
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 350F. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray. Combine the olive oil, lemon juice, and the herbs and spices into a paste. Rub well onto the chicken then place chicken on baking sheet. Bake for about 15-20 minutes until chicken temperature reaches 165F. (FYI: If you're not making soup, this is terrific baked chicken; just make sure you don't over-bake so that your pouch won't tolerate it). Remove from oven and let cool.

Soup:
1 bag carrots, peeled and sliced
6-8 stalks celery, sliced
2 quarts chicken stock
1 envelope beef bouillon
1/2 teaspoon marjoram
1/2 teaspoon thyme
salt and pepper to taste
garlic powder to taste

Place all the vegetables in a Dutch oven. Cut the cooled chicken into cubes and add to the vegetables. Add the herbs and spices and finally the chicken stock. Bring to a boil, cover and lower heat to simmer. Cook until the vegetables are tender and the chicken starts to shred a little when you stir.

"Rice"
3/4 cup medium barley
4 cups water
dash salt

Cook barley according to package directions. Drain if there's water left in the barley. Add barley to soup and stir. The longer the barley sits in the soup, the less you can tell it's barley. It begins to feel like rice.

Note: Don't try to save time by throwing the barley into the soup to cook it. It will just absorb up all that lovely chicken stock!