The Whole Wheat

This post won’t constitute recipes, but I know that often when a chicken has been roasted, produced from stock, or even purchased from a store already cooked – leftovers ensue.  So what to do with that chicken before you grow tired of just, umm, chicken?

1. Cut into bites or shred the chicken.  Use for salad over spinach or other greens.  Mix with your favorite veggies, dried fruit, nuts, and maybe a touch of cheese.  Sprinkle with vinegar & olive oil for a delicious lunch.
2. Shred the chicken then mix with salsa.  Serve in tortillas or over tostada shells with black beans, lettuce, cheddar cheese, guacamole, and of course, more salsa!  A little rice is a great touch too.
3. Alternatively use the chicken with salsa to make a quessadilla.
4. Cut the chicken into small cubes or chunks.  Make a fresh chicken salad with a little bit of mayo, celery, green onions – and to spice it up, add some curry powder & dried cranberries!  This is a favorite way of eating chicken for me.
5. Shred or cut the chicken and use on pizza.  It is much healthier than many sausages and with a bit of goat cheese and fresh tomatoes, it really cannot be beat.

There are few ideas to get you started!  If you have any, please share! 

Sorry to have been so scarce, but I am currently on vacation in Hawaii with family. Hard to beat Hawaii, even when it rains! On our first night here with everyone we made a run to the grocery store for dinner supplies. Steaks & chicken were on the menu for most, but I took a whirl down the veggie patty aisle and discovered Hawaii Taro Burgers – made in Maui. I figured, when in Hawaii, try Hawaiian veggie patties!

For dinner that night I put the patty in the oven while the steaks broiled, then Brad finished it under the broiler. I had it plain with an Okinawan Purple Sweet Potato (ahh, a post in and of itself!) and a big salad. Yesterday for lunch I heated a patty up on the stove top then ate it on whole wheat bread as a sandwich. Both options were equally good!

The ingredient list for these patties is amazing – entirely vegetables and spices. Check it out:

• Taro
• Luau Leaf
• Brown Rice
• Carrots
• Corn
• Onions
• Sunflower Seeds
• Oats
• Tomatoes
• Canola Oil
• Garlic,
• Sea Salt
• Natural Herbs & Spices

Currently it appears on their website that Bristol Farms and some Whole Foods carry these on the mainland. If you have access to either I would recommend checking them out!

Note: Brad asked me to add a reminder to all who were curious that just because these are in the shape of a burger, they don’t taste like beef.

I have a few “tricks” in the kitchen that help me preserve food longer, clean things easier, or simply make it easier to use certain foods. Here I’ve compiled a few. Please share your own also!

Freezer Tricks

• Onions: whenever you chop onions for a recipe, simply put the extra chopped onion in a ziploc baggie and freeze them. When you need to use chopped onions next time, throw those frozen ones directly into the sauté pan or pot!
• Leeks: the same as with onions, I often freeze baggies full of extra chopped leeks.
• Ginger: Two tricks for ginger! First of all, when you buy a piece of ginger, put it in a baggie in the freezer right away (after you clean it of course!). When you need ginger for a recipe, you can grate it frozen much more easily than raw. Additionally the ginger will not go bad in the freezer! Secondly, when you need to peel ginger, use a spoon to drag along the ginger – it removes the skin quickly and easily.
• Egg Whites: sometimes you need a yolk, so what to do with the white? Freeze it! They defrost perfectly for meringues, cakes, etc.

So why should you take Juice Plus+? Well, not only does Juice Plus+ provide a vital nutritional support system to complement an individual’s diet, but:

People take Juice Plus+ because

• it contains fruit and vegetable juice powder concentrates in a capsule
• it is convenient
• it is inexpensive
• it is backed by clinical research

Juice Plus+ is NOT a

• cure all
• one week health strategy
• multivitamin
• energy pill
• weight-loss product
• substitute for a healthy diet

Although many people enjoy benefits such as greater energy and weight control as they adopt a healthier lifestyle that includes Juice Plus+.

But Juice Plus+ is

• simply a way to get the nutritional elements you need from fruits and vegetables in a convenient capsule form including:
• the Vitamin C of four oranges,
• the beta-carotene of three raw carrots
• more Vitamin E than several servings of spinach and broccoli
• as well as the other phytonutrient components found in the fruits and vegetables Juice Plus+ is made from.

No I don’t mean Method Contraception, I mean Method – the cleaning products! This company makes my heart sing! Not only are the “People Against Dirty” but they are affordable, environmentally friendly, and just smell really nicely. (My favorite holiday scent (on sale now!) is shown here, peppermint and vanilla)

This is how Method describes their company:

At Method we call ourselves “People Against Dirty.” And for us “dirty” doesn’t just mean the stuff that gets between the tiles in your floor. It means the toxic chemicals that make up many household products, it means polluting our land with non-recyclable materials, it means testing products on innocent animals… these things are dirty, and we’re against that.

What are we for? We’re for home-love. …

Our premium home care products are highly effective, safe, and packaged with respect for both you design sensibilities and the environment.

I used to be a chemical purist – Clorox and PineSol only. But then I discovered Method products. I love the light scents, I love that they work as well or better than other more chemical-full products, and I love that they make me want to clean more often.

I typically just buy them at Target (I *told* you they were affordable!) but I have also ordered from their website directly. I most recently received the omop from Method directly – and oh baby I fell in love all over again. The omop has a wonderful curved handle that makes pushing it around on your hard floor much easier. And the “good for wood” almond scented hard wood floor cleanser smells like I am rubbing lotion into my lovely floors. Oh yes, it will also make you want to clean.

Please check the shop, I’ve added several Method products I love and recommend without hesitation. Happy ecologically friendly cleaning.

One of my favorite stalls at the San Francisco Ferry Building is Far West Fungi. Not only do the always fascinating mushrooms: pink oysters, lobster, cauliflower mushrooms, etc., but they have amazing specialty products that just blow your senses!

On one of my many visits to this lovely stall I discovered this gem of a product – Truffle Salt. Until we discovered this fantastic salt, we would accent dishes with truffle oil as desired. But let’s face it, you don’t always WANT to add oil to a dish, but you probably DO want to have some truffle flavor. This product solves that problem perfectly! All the earthy, scented delight of truffles in an easy to use form factor that will not add fat to your dish.

I have been using this like crazy since I got it. I love it in salad dressings, on eggs, steak, potatoes, roasted vegetables. Actually I have yet to meet a dish I don’t enjoy truffle salt on. So go forth and truffle, you will thank me for it! Just try to use your opened jar within six months to ensure you really get the full flavor.

Amazon sells this lovely product, check it out: Casina Rossa Truffle & Salt 3.5 oz. Jar