Greek Salad with Chicken

You might see this and think to yourself: "yet another standard Greek Salad, ho hum", but I beg you to stop and look at this again! This salad is so delicious, it is fresh and zesty and tastes absolutely amazing! It was also really quick to make, which is always a huge bonus in my books.


I found this recipe on the Eating Well website last week when I was looking for a quick and tasty supper.  The original recipe can be found here.


For the chicken in this recipe, you can either use leftover chicken from another meal, bake, poach, or grill a couple plain chicken breasts, or leave the chicken out all together.  The dressing gives the chicken such an amazing flavor, so you really do not need to worry about seasoning or marinating beforehand.


I poached two chicken breasts because it is so cold and rainy out that grilling it was out of the question, and I also wanted to give this method a try.  All you do is place some lightly salted water in a sauce pan or non-stick frying pan, and then throw in your chicken (ensuring the water covers the meat).  Bring the water to a boil, and then turn it down to a simmer and let it cook, covered, for 10 to 15 minutes, or until the chicken is no longer pink on the inside.  This method cooks the chicken quite quickly, and leaves it really moist.


While my chicken was cooking, I made the salad dressing and prepared all of the vegetables.  By time the chicken was done, everything else was ready! I cut up my chicken into bite-size chunks, then lightly seasoned it with salt, pepper, and some garlic salt.  The chicken was then thrown into the bowl with the rest of the salad, everything was tossed together, and a delicious supper was ready!

Greek Salad with Chicken

• 1/3 cup red-wine vinegar
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp fresh dill, chopped 
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 5 - 6 cups romaine lettuce, chopped (or 1 bag of prepared romaine lettuce from the grocery store)
• 2 chicken breasts, cooked and cubed
• 2 tomatoes
• 1 cucumber
• 1/2 red bell pepper
• 1/2 red onion
• 1 small can sliced black olives, drained
• 1/2 cup feta cheese, crumbled

1. If you need to cook your chicken, throw it on the grill or poach it on the stove-top
2. In your salad bowl, whisk together the red-wine vinegar, olive oil, dill, garlic powder, salt and pepper
3. Chop up the tomatoes, cucumber, red bell pepper, and red onion
4. Add the lettuce, chopped vegetables, and black olives to the salad bowl that contains the salad dressing
5. Chop up the feta, and the cooked chicken
6. Add the feta and chicken to the salad bowl, and toss everything together
7. Enjoy!

Highlight of my day!

When I logged onto facebook today, I saw this posted on my wall by a friend:

What a way to make my day! I don't think I could possible describe how happy this has made me!


I hope you and your kids loved the recipe! And had a great time making it :)


And thank you for completely making my day!

Zucchini Loaves and Muffins

Right now everyone has an abundance of zucchini in their gardens, and I have managed to get my hands on a couple of nice large zucchini.  Over the last couple of weeks I have made some zucchini loaves and some zucchini muffins, both of which are great for breakfast and for snacking.  The original recipe was my grandmothers, and it has been a favorite as long as I can remember.

The first time I made the recipe, instead of 1 cup of oil I used 3/4 cup unsweetened apple sauce and 1/4 cup butter.  These loaves turned out amazing! I froze one loaf, and found that these freeze exceptionally well.  This substitution worked perfectly, and cut out the oil which is always a bonus. I finished these loaves in record timing, I think I ate some slices with just about every meal!


The second time I made this recipe, I made one loaf and a dozen muffins.  I tried using 2 cups of whole wheat flour and 1 cup of regular flour, instead of 3 cups of regular flour.  I didn't have any unsweetened apple sauce left, so I cut the oil down to 2/3 cup, and used about 2 1/2 cups of grated zucchini instead of 2 cups in order to maintain the moisture level.  These came out just as fluffy as the first batch (despite the addition of some whole wheat flour), but you could taste the addition of the whole wheat flour a little bit. I personally thought these were absolutely delicious, but I do know that some people do not enjoy whole wheat flour in their baking.  I think I will make these with whole wheat flour from now on because I really enjoyed them and I love the additional benefits of whole wheat flour.

Next time I make these, I will use both the unsweetened apple sauce substitution, and the whole wheat flour (in addition to regular flour).  This is such a delicious recipe, and the loaves or muffins are great for breakfast, lunches, or make an awesome snack!


I have included the original recipe, as well as the different variations I have tried so far.  Please feel free to play with recipes, you never know what you might discover! This recipes make 2 loaves.


Zucchini Loaf 

• 3 eggs, beaten
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 2 1/4 cups sugar
• 2 cups grated zucchini
• 1 tbsp vanilla
• 3 cups flour
• 1 tbsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 1/4 tbsp baking powder

1. Butter the two loaf pans, then dust with flour. Preheat your oven to 375 F
2. Combine the vegetable oil, sugar, zucchini, and vanilla, then beat well
3. Add the eggs and continue beating until fully mixed
4. Sift together the flour, cinnamon, salt, baking soda, and baking powder
5. Add the dry ingredients to the wet, and mix well
6. Pour into the two prepared loaf pans, and then bake for 45 - 55 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the center
7. Enjoy!

Variations/Options

• The cup of oil can be removed and substituted with unsweetened apple sauce (1:1 substitution), or a combination of unsweetened apple sauce and butter (to make up 1 cup)
• You can use 2 cups of whole wheat flour with 1 cup of regular flour, instead of 3 cups of regular flour
• You can also use less oil if you do not wish to substitute apple sauce, and use a larger amount of grated zucchini in the recipe.
• If you wish to make muffins instead of loaves, you can butter and flour your muffin tins, or use paper cupcake liners.  Bake for 20 - 25 minutes at 375 F; the muffins are done when a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the center of a muffin

Elmo and Grover (-ish)

Since the vegan chocolate cupcakes were for two little boys, I decided to try and create some sesame park cupcakes out of them.  I have never tried to make anything like this before, so it was completely new territory for me! I chose Elmo and Grover because they are two of the classic characters, and I think they are pretty awesome.

As I was decorating these cupcakes I kept hoping and hoping that they would resemble the two popular characters when they were finished.  For my first try, I think they came out alright!  Already I am coming up with ways to improve on them, and I can't wait to try and make Cookie Monster cupcakes, and Oscar the Grouch too!

Next time I make these I think I will try using rolled balls of white fondant for the eyes to make them larger.  Then they will stand out more, and look even more like original sesame street characters!  

Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes

This weekend we are heading out of town to visit with some friends and I can't wait! They have two ridiculously cute boys, one of which has a milk allergy.  Since I wanted to bring a treat that everyone can enjoy, I decided to try and make a batch of vegan cupcakes.  


The neat thing about vegan cupcakes is that they rely on the reaction between vinegar and baking soda to rise, instead of the traditional ingredients that you find in cupcakes.


These are very easy to make, and are perfect if you are going to a potluck because they cover some of the more common allergies (milk allergies and nut allergies).


This recipe is from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes, and they make 1 dozen regular cupcakes.


Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes

• 1 1/2 cups cake flour
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup cocoa
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup + 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 tbsp vinegar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 1/4 cups water

1. Preheat your oven to 350 and line your muffin pan with cupcake liners
2. Whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, and salt
3. With a hand held mixer (or in a stand mixer) mix the oil, vinegar, vanilla, and water on medium speed
4. Add the dry ingredients to the wet, and mix until completely combined
5. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into a cupcake.
6. These cupcakes freeze well in an airtight container or ziploc bag, so feel free to double or triple the recipe, and store some for later!