Paleo Chicken Salad: So easy a Neanderthal could do it!

When you think chicken salad, you probably think of the mayo heavy variety. I've got no beef with mayo. I love me some mayo, but store bought chicken salad is always heavy on the mayo and light on the chicken. Not to mention the store bought variety is full of all kinds of things you can't pronounce.

This is my version of chicken salad. It's based on the awesome chicken salad I had years ago at the Brown Bag Deli in Louisville. I like texture, so this has lots of chunky stuff. This recipe uses chicken thighs which are economical and superior in dark meat flavor. Normally I like my chicken with the skin on and bone in but cold chicken skin is not near as good as hot crispy chicken skin (that just made my mouth water). Since I prefer cold chicken for this recipe, we go skinless.

This feeds about 4 people (or yourself depending on how hungry you are).
Here's what you need.

1 package of chicken thighs (8 generally to a package)
Cajun seasoning (I love Slap Ya Mama)
3 medium celery stalks chopped fine
1/2 cup crushed walnuts (just use your hands for this)
1 cup large sweet red grapes halved
extra virgin olive oil
sea salt & pepper
couple sprigs fresh parsley coarsely chopped

*Optional seasonal greens

Preheat oven to 350.
Place chicken thighs on a foil lined baking sheet. Season with Cajun spice or salt, pepper and Cayenne.
Bake for about 35-40 minutes until the juice runs clear and the tops are light brown.
Cool chicken for at least 2 hours in the fridge.

Once the chicken has cooled cut it into bite sized pieces.
Chop the celery fine, cut the grapes lengthwise, and crush the walnuts. Combine the chicken, celery, grapes and walnuts. Give it a light toss. Drizzle the mix with olive oil. Divide out the chicken mixture evenly into bowls before sprinkling with parsley. Salt and pepper to taste.

You could also serve this on a bed of fresh greens and add a drizzle of balsamic vinegar along with the olive oil. Adding warm bacon grease instead of olive oil and topping with the crispy bacon would also be fabulous. You don't have to follow this recipe to the T. Add anything you like in the amounts you like. What's important is that you want to actually eat what you cook.

I was halfway through eating this when I realized something...this would have been even better with BACON! Tasty, tasty bacon!

A few notes about ingredients. 

I know Weston A. Price advocates soaking and drying nuts. I just didn't have time for this step. Most people probably won't. That being said, I don't eat walnuts everyday so I doubt this is gonna kill me. 

Fort Wayne is lucky to have an outstanding Co-op, Three Rivers Natural Grocery and Deli. They carry local and organic produce for very affordable prices. There are several fruits and vegetables I refuse to buy unless they're organic. Celery and grapes are among them. If you buy them when they're in season, organic grapes are comparable in price to conventionally grown grapes without the pesticide residue. They are also more likely to be USA not South American grown. Celery can usually be found organically for a reasonable price year round at most groceries. 

I also buy the best possible chicken I can afford. Chicken thighs and whole chickens are usually cheaper per pound than cut-up chicken or chicken breasts. We have a chain of local meat markets, Jamison's Specialty Meats, that carry Indiana based Miller Poultry. It's not organic, but it's way better than Tyson. I can't heap enough praise on the staff of the N. Anthony Jamison's. The people are so friendly I feel like I'm in Kentucky again. If you're in the area stop in and check them out, they really are outstanding. Did I mention they have great bacon and they make their own fresh sausages?! Psst, they make their own fresh sausage.

So, happy cooking, and if you do try this recipe, I'm interested to know how it comes out. What might you do differently? Drop me a comment and let me know. 

Ozymandias

What is going through your dogs mind?
This is what Ozzie is thinking...

"My name is Ozymandias, King of kings:

Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"

(And also I want a biscuit...please.)

From Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley

Autumn

It’s not up for discussion, my absolute favorite season is autumn.

I’m not a fan of hot summer weather unless I can be stretched out on the sand listening to the ocean waves and smell the salty air. Unfortunately Fort Wayne got the shaft when Mother Nature passed out the coastline.

There is one wonderful aspect of living in Northeast Indiana? The seasons. 

Well I guess that’s four wonderful things. Every season is distinct, and I love that. Currently it’s windy and overcast and a bit on the nippy side. On a perfect fall day though, the sky is cloudless deep blue, the sun is warm, and the red, orange, and gold leaves contrast perfectly with the intense green of the grass. It’s a sensory heaven really. Often, even in the city, you will also catch the smoky scent of burning leaves or a wood stove. Doesn’t that sound like heaven?

I didn't have the heart to weed whack these rudbeckia trifolia a few months ago. They have rewarded me with almost a continuous month of beautiful yellow flowers. I just love weeds!

People who know me, know there's only one thing I love more than being elbow deep in dirt. I'll give you a hint...

Stripping out old plants means the end of the growing season, which is a bummer. This year I built a new compost bin (a tall one the dogs couldn't use as a buffet) so I'm basically starting over. Most of the old plant matter will end up in the bin, along with mulched maple leaves and grass clippings. Horse poo is on my 2013 Christmas list. I'm serious. It helps burn down the compost. Unfortunately, this means waiting until after next season to use it. So, to prepare awesome garden soil for next year I bought some green manure seed. 

Buckwheat, field peas, clover, vetch and rye. 

The buckwheat won't survive the winter but the mass of rotting plants will put nutrients (mainly calcium) in the soil in time for spring planting. The peas and rye will also be turned under in the spring.

Buckwheat.

This year was a booming garden year. It yielded more than I would have expected from such a small space.  I really struggled to get the hang of the growling season up here. My brain was stuck on Kentucky and Tennessee time and boy did I learn the hard way. The first year I nurtured heirloom tomato seedlings then set them out in early May. Eeek! That's a big no no here in NE Indiana. You can have frosts up until the end of May and spring can be very windy, snapping delicate seedlings right in half. My friend Barb offered a simple tip for hardening off tender seedlings. Place the them in front of a fan set on high for a few weeks before transplant. Pure genius.

In late spring, end of April, I set out my snow peas, peas, lettuces (those that don’t reseed themselves), and onion sets. I then wait until after May 30 to set out those delicate tomatoes and peppers.

A little trick for peppers is to start them at the end of summer in large perennial pots. I bring them inside during the winter and set them near a sunny window and water occasionally. Sometimes I will even get a pepper in the middle of winter! When June rolls around I plant the mature pepper plants right in the garden. You’ll have peppers from June to November.

I started these in August.

Companion planting is also very helpful. Peppers and okra like growing next to each other. The okra plants have sturdy stems and can get quite tall. They help shield the more delicate pepper plants from the wind. I started my okra right in the ground after the last frost and yielded about 3 dozen okra pods (from 3 plants) for making delicious gumbo! Soaking the okra seeds in warm water overnight helps speed germination.

I will write more come spring on companion planting. More tips are coming on how to get the most out of a Northeast Indiana garden.

One thing is certain though, my little garden in the city proves that it doesn't matter how much space you have. If you keep your soil happy you will have a nice garden that will provide delicious vegetables spring to fall. All it takes is a little effort and some help from Mother Nature, should she care to cooperate. Also, the glut of seed catalogues in the depths of a snowy February will do wonders for the winter blues.

Rainy Days

The dogs and I have had a serious case of cabin fever the last few days. It's been chilly, dreary and rainy. That means the little mosters have been trapped in the house with no outlet for energy. If I could just find a way to trap that terrier energy and power my home with it...I would never pay another electric bill!

This is what Ozzie thinks of the weather.

 I'm with ya buddy. On those dreary days, I would like nothing better than to plop on the couch and nap the day away. Unfortunately I'm a human and not a dog and with that comes the big R. Responsibility. Bummer.

I did, however, get some sewing done. I've just rediscovered my sewing machine. My mom loves to sew. She has a sewing room with enough material in it to start her own Hancock fabric store! She made most of my clothing as a child. One dress in particular, itchy grey wool, I will never forget. I would be hard pressed to find a picture of me under eight where I was wearing store bought clothing.

My great-grandma Rothman taught mom how to sew. Both machine sewing, hand sewing and embroidery. Great-grandma Rothman was of French ancestry you see. She taught my mom many of the gentle arts, in otherwords, all things "ladylike". Proper cooking (the trio, meat, vegetable, starch), how to set a table, sewing, knitting and general manners.

Sewing in my college years took a backseat to studies. Part of the problem for me was a lack of time and patience. Sewing is meticulous, requiring both patience and precison. This is especially true if you want the finished product to look good. You can't just start a dress in the morning and have it finished by evening if you want to do the job proper. So for me it was about maturing and gaining some patience before I started sewing again.

My finished Anniversary dinner dress.

You're never too old for motherly advice. I still call mom for sewing advice (thank Apple for facetime).  I still make stupid mistakes. At other points in my life I might have given up but now I just brush off and try again. Another aspect of maturing? Perhaps. Realizing that mistakes are an acceptable part of the learning curve is important. Perfectionism is not healthy. Not every project is going to WOW you, not every project will cooperate. There will be miserable failures. That's life.

"If at first you don't succeed try, try again."

The important thing is that you try.

I'm a Feminist! I Don't Cook!

"Honey in this day and age, why would you want to slave away in the kitchen? Take it out of the box, put it in the microwave and stick a fork in it when it's done."

That doesn't sound very appetizing now does it?

I've been mocked for cooking from scratch. Oh, yeah. By a feminist who curled her lip at me and proudly proclaimed to everyone, "I don't cook. Cooking is a form of modern slavery."

Really?

Back in the dark days before the Internet, Direct TV, and iPhones there were three (other) basic everyday needs. Food, clothing, and shelter. No matter how advanced technology gets, we still have to eat! Everyone should learn how to cook at least a few meals, even if they're as simple as spaghetti and sauce. Being able to transform raw ingredients into a meal is not only a path to self-sufficiency but better overall health. Organic and conventional aside, taking whole foods and preparing them in your own kitchen means you have complete control of the method and the ingredients. I mean, have you looked at the ingredient list on a box of poptarts lately?

In my family, everyone cooks. My Dad, an avid outdoorsman, makes the best fried squirrel (no don't stop reading, it's really good!) and succotash and my Mom used to let my brother and I make animal shapes out of the rolled out dumpling dough. My brother is teaching his two girls the joy of cooking as well. My oldest niece won a third place ribbon at the 2013 Kentucky State Fair for her banana bread recipe and she's only 11! My Dad still thinks she would have won first place if only she had added the secret ingredient. Rum. (My Dad is from the old German school. Where the kids were given sips of beer as soon as they could walk and toddies of whiskey and lemon juice when they were sick.)

While my family wasn't wealthy, my Dad worked hard to provide for us and Mom always made sure we were fed a balanced meal. She always had meat or fish and several vegetables (one always green) and fruit. Rarely did we have dessert or bread with our meals. My relationship with food was always pretty healthy but it was when I started following the governments guidelines for healthy eating that the problems really began. As I got older I became more conscience of that "artery clogging saturated fat". I started eating boatloads of those recommended, "heart healthy whole grains". I never felt so awful in my life! After a few weeks eating grains at every meal and in between I started having headaches. They felt like borderline migraines and I felt famished and irritable all the time. I mean ALL the time, and I never really felt satisfied after eating.

After about six months later, I stubbled on a little book called Paleo Diet for Athletes and the Weston A. Price website. At the time I was running 6-10 miles every other day training for mini-marathons and working out pretty hard. That book, while flawed, got me thinking. Honestly it changed my life. I went back to basics. Both philosophies spoke to me for different reasons. At least the whole grain debacle unmasked a problem I had been battling for years. Gluten intolerance. So I mashed the two philosophies together and called it Paleo Price.

I threw out that tub of Country Crock, the boxes of processed crap and rediscovered those great family recipes and traditional foods. I rendered lard from pastured pig fat and made pie crust with it. I fried my soaked potatoes in beef tallow. I popped my popcorn in coconut oil and I made homemade broth from chicken and beef bones. Maybe our grandmothers really did know a thing or two about cooking. The older the cookbook the better the flavor. That's a fact! I also noticed that my urge to snack was obliterated! Eating dense meals with meat, fat, and vegetables meant I could go a good five or six hours without even feeling hungry.

I think Americans have a hard time sitting down for the food. We can sit for video games and TV and movies, but how often do we sit down for the sake enjoying delicious food? How often do we sit with our families, share a meal and make interesting conversation? I'm old enough to remember when Dad yelled, "Supper", you best get your butt home and quick. Sitting down together for dinner was a requirement in my family. I think that is why the kitchen is such an important room to me. There were many lessons learned in the kitchen and not all are about food. It's really about love. The smell of bacon and bisquits still remind me of my Great-grandmothers kitchen. Where I was allowed to sit on the counter while the adults talked and play cook with bouillon cubes. I know that stuff tasted horrible but Grammy ate it. That is love.

So last but not least, food should be a pleasure not just a focus on nutrients or calories. Counting and weighing everything completely negates the pleasure of eating a wonderful meal. Food should be a pleasure. Repeat this often. Not a bag of chips or Oreo cookies. That's short lived instant gratification. It's all about the difference between homemade with love and sticking a fork in the microwave dinner.

Making great food for the important people in your life...now that's love.