We are not partakers of red meat very often.  When we do it is usually in the form of a roast or pork chops, sometimes  a stew . . . sausages.  Maybe we might have red meat about once every two weeks if that.  Todd does love a good chop and he adores this BBQ Pork that I make from time to time.  Its done in the oven, not on the BBQ, but it has a lovely spicy rub and I serve it with a zingy sauce for dipping!

 

I always seem to have leftover cooked chicken in the refrigerator.  Not a problem, because I have about a bazillion and a half ways to use it up. 

 I see myself as somewhat of an expert as using up leftovers.  I hate waste.

 

I read recently that about 1.9 million tonnes of food is wasted every year in the UK.  

That's pretty disgraceful when you consider that there are roughly 785 million people in the world suffering from malnourishment at any given time.  If you have three squares a day count yourself lucky! 

 

This is a recipe I adapted  to use up some leftover cooked chicken and some tortillas that I had leftover from the crispy tortilla eggs I cooked the other day. 

 The original recipe was for BBQ Chicken & Cheese Nachos which I found here.

 

Its basically pretty similar except that I used a bit of chipotle chili paste in the chicken mixture and I didn't use tortilla chips. 

 

Instead I toasted the leftover tortillas (brush with a tiny bit of oil) over the open gas flame of my stove.  If you have never done this, you really need to try it.  

Its a real game changer! 

 

They turn out lovely  . . . . crisp almost charred edges . . .  crisp bubbled bits covering the top.  They just taste magnificent! 

 

So anyways, I gas charred my tortillas and then I topped them with the chicken mixture  . . . 

 

Which is basically a mixture of leftover  shredded cooked/rotisserie chicken, BBQ sauce and the chipotle chili paste.  

Could not seriously be any easier. 

 

Just pile that mixture on top of your toasted tortillas and then scatter some grated cheese over the top.  You can use any kind of cheese you want.  

 

I used  a medium cheddar, but Jack would be good as well, or even a spicy Mexican cheese blend.  YUM!

 

I just used what I had, which was cheddar.  We always have that in the house.  When I first moved over here I used to go to the Market in town and buy cheese ends/crumbles. 

 The guy at the cheese stall used to sell them by the bag full.  They were really cheap and great for things like this, or mac and cheese.  You never really knew what kind of cheese they were, but they always tasted fab.

 

So anyways, you just bang these into a moderate oven and bake them until the cheese is all melted and they are heated through . . . 

 

Take them out of the oven and drizzle them with a bit more BBQ sauce.  (I used Jack Daniels because that is what I had, just use your favourite kind.)

  

Scatter on some spring onions and serve . . .  oh boy, these are really yummy nummy!  You could serve a salad, or coleslaw on the side.  Coleslaw is actually excellent with these.  You can find my recipe for Creamy Coleslaw here.

 

Oh boy, but these went down a real treat!  I think we have found a whole new favourite thing around here!  Nom Nom Nom! 

 

I am a salad lover.  I have always said that I have never met a salad I didn't fall in love with!  (Although I am sure there are probably some I might not like.)  Salads are fabulous meals, especially in the summer months when the temperatures are rising.

I could actually eat salad three meals a day, especially when you are talking about as delicious a salad as this Crispy Chicken Salad is!  Its fantastic! 

What you have here is a delicious mix of salad greens, topped with a mix of fruit and vegetables.  Spring and red onion.  Cucumber, carrot.  Radishes and sliced apple.

Add to that cubes of sharp cheddar cheese and sweet and tangy dried cranberries.

Now top it all off with scrumptious little bits of shredded chicken breast that have  been coated in a spice mixture and fried until crispy golden brown.

 

And lets not forget the toasted cashew nuts.   Have I captured your interest yet??? How about adding a drizzle of a lush sweet and tangy honey Dijon mustard dressing?  

Combine all of those things and you have a salad made in heaven!  Filled with plenty of taste, crunch and color!  Its phenomenal, and its sized for just two.  You can however double it to feed more.

 

Not only that but it is the perfect way to use up leftover cooked chicken, or you can cook chicken specifically to use in the salad.  I like to poach mine, and if you freeze your chicken breasts singularly its not that hard to do it from frozen.

I do it all the time and haven't killed myself yet.  I either poach the whole lot and freeze it that way, or I freeze the breasts individually so that I can take one out at a time to use.

 

This makes perfect sense when you are a singleton like myself or a couple of empty nesters.  You just take your chicken breast (and with this salad one breast is ample enough for two people) and pop it into a saucepan, cover it with water, or stock.

You can add a few peppercorns and a bit of salt if you want.  Bring to the boil, reduce to a simmer. Simmer for five minutes, then remove from the heat, cover and let sit until it cools down enough so that you can handle it. 

Presto chango!  Perfectly cooked, tender, juicy chicken breast meat. Ready to cube or shred and use in whatever dish you want to use it in. 

  

I love, LOVE the dressing for this salad.  It is a simple honey mustard vinaigrette and has only a few ingredients.

White wine vinegar, olive oil, honey, Dijon mustard and seasoning. That's it.  Whisked together and you have a scrumptious dressing that is sure to please.

 

It is so tasty that you may want to double it.  Just a suggestion.  Especially if you are making two salads.  

Its always nice to have a bit extra to drizzle over the salad a bit later on if you need to. 

 

 

You will be mixing a quantity of corn starch (corn flour) in a bowl along with some seasonings.  Salt, pepper, paprika, garlic and onion powders.  The chicken gets tossed in this and coated with it.

It is then fried in a tiny bit of hot oil in a skillet until it is golden brown and crispy.  You may want to do it in batches.  I did. That way you can control it a bit better and make sure every piece is perfectly crisp and golden brown.

 

Its so easy to do, I don't know why I don't do it more often!  (Yes, I do, its very naughty.  😋  But very nice.)

That's the hardest part of the salad, other than the chopping of the vegetables.  I have julienned my vegetables because I like the way they look. 

I like to do this by hand. You can use a mandolin if you want to, but for this small a quantity, a knife works just fine.

 

If your knifes are really sharp it doesn't take long, and is very easy to do.   I have never minded hand shredding vegetables. Its a kind of mindless job that  you don't really have to put a lot of thought into.

My mom always did her shredding by hand as well. Especially coleslaw. I like a thicker cut with coleslaw than you get with a grater.  I do grate the carrot on a grater for coleslaw however.

 

I used a mix of baby salad greens today. Again, there was a variety of colors and textures.  I love salad greens that come in a nice mix like that.

It makes salads much more interesting when you have some lettuces which are brilliantly green, and some read.  Some frilly and some smooth. Some slightly bitter and some sweet.

 

I used a strong cheddar for this because that is what I had. I can tell you a gruyere or a swiss also work very well with the chicken and the fruit.  Both have a nutty sweet flavor.

I have used toasted cashew nuts as well.  Easy to toast.  Just a few minutes on a tray in a hot oven does the trick beautifully.

 

Toasted pecan nuts would also be nice as would toasted pistachios.  You could also add smoked roasted almonds, which would add another layer of flavor.

To be honest, I think crisp bacon bits would also be a nice addition and I had thought to add them, but forgot completely.  That's me!  I get so excited when I am doing something like this, its a wonder I don't forget more!

Anyways, this is a truly delicious salad. Perfect for a lunch or a light supper, especially if you add some garlic bread or crusty rolls.  I am not sure how healthy it is with the fried chicken and the cheese, but meh!

Once in a while something like this really does the spirit good.

This was incredibly enjoyable. I highly recommend.  I hope that you will be inspired to want to make one for yourself!  Enjoy!

 

I am a HUGE fan of Hot Dogs.  Yes, I know they are not so good for you, and that I probably don't want to know what all goes into them.  I don't care.  Every once in a while I really need to/gotta have a hot dog! When I first moved over here to the UK, it was really difficult for me to find hotdogs. In fact I remember being really disappointed when we were in London and I saw a hot dog cart and the hotdog ended up being a sausage.  Bleh . . . thankfully things have improved greatly since then and you can find hotdogs all over the place. My favourites are the All Beef Hot Dogs you can buy at Costco.

 

Growing up we always had hot dogs for supper on Friday nights. My mom made the best hot dogs.  She had a special grill that she would do them on, and the hotdogs would get all crispy and browned on all sides. (Boiled hotdogs don't do it for me, I like 'em grilled!)  She also toasted the buns on the grill and they were fabulous. My favourites were when she split the wieners and they got all toasty brown in the middles also. YUM!   Yes, I am somewhat of a connoisseur when it comes to hotdogs!

 

Which is why when I found this recipe for Korean Slaw Dogs, I knew I had to make them!  I am also a HUGE fan of coleslaw so this was right up my alley.  Slaw and hotdogs, you can't get much better than that!

 

Oh yes you CAN!  Especially when the slaw has been infused with Korean flavours . . . Sriracha sauce, rice wine vinegar, toasted sesame oil, ginger, mustard and brown sugar . . .  seriously tasty and filled with lovely crunchy vegetables!   So good with the smokiness of the hotdog!

  

But that's not all . . .  there are two delicious homemade condiments as well  . . .  a rocking spicy tomato ketchup and a hot and spicy mustard . . .  Korean style!!

 

I like to toast the buns and I use a brioche bun because I really, really like Brioche Buns!

 

The grilled wiener gets laid in the bun on a bed of spicy Kimchi pickle . . .  and then topped with that gorgeous slaw  . . .

 

And drizzled with those fabulous condiments  . . .  which are really delicious in their own right.  Trust me on this.

 

So what did I serve them with?  Tater-Tots of course! MMMM . . .  a feast!

 

 

If you want to try a really really REALLY great hotdog, do yourself a favour and try these!  Magnifico!  Bon Appetit!   즐거운 식사

 

I had been eyeballing a recipe on Delish for a while now for Crack Chicken Tacos.  They looked fabulously tasty, but they also looked a bit faffy, with having to bread pieces of chicken breast etc.  The idea of that really kind of put me off.  I want my tacos to be quick and easy. 

 

Then I discovered these in the frozen food section at our local grocery shop.  Reasonably prices and 100% chicken, and with only green and amber lights, they are fairly healthy.  And so I picked up a couple packs to see if I could do something with them. 

 

 

The original recipe called for breading chicken breast chunks with egg, flour, panko, seasoning, etc.  You can certainly do all that faffing about if you want to, but I can tell you right now, it's not necessary.  You can have something just as tasty on the table in a fraction of the time and with a great deal less effort. 

 

The sauce is amazingly simple.  You just warm together some of your favourite BBQ sauce, brown sugar, lime juice and some garlic powder. 

 

I cut all the quantities of the original recipe in half and found that it was more than plenty! 

 

The original recipe called for simply rolling the finished chicken in the sauce before putting it into the tortillas.

 

That could be why they needed more sauce.  I coated the chicken chunks in it 5 minutes prior to the finished bake time and returned them to the oven to actually cook in the sauce for a few minutes, which really enhanced the flavours of the sauce, so you needed a lot less of it for a larger flavour impact. 

 

The original recipe also called for a simple bed of shredded cabbage to sit the chicken on in the tacos.  I felt I could do much better than that. 

 

I added a shredded carrot and some sliced spring onions and a couple TBS of Ranch dressing to make it into a coleslaw.

 

This worked beautifully as a wonderfully tasty bed for those delicious chunks of chicken.

 

All that needed to be done after that was to drizzle them lightly with some more ranch dressing and sprinkle some chopped coriander leaf on top! 

 

Oh boy but these were fabby do!

 

Really FABBY DO!!

 

The flavours were fantastic! 

 

They were quick and easy to make! 

  

And they provided us with at least one of our five a day!  You can't go wrong!

 

We both really enjoyed these tacos.  They fit the bill on all counts and fulfilled my kitchen motto, which is for most of what I cook to be quick, easy and delicious!  Love, Love, Love! Happy Weekend!