under construction

well, it looks like my meal planning for this week will turn out to be quite great. most of it is based on cold foods, which may not suit the weather; but it will suit my schedule. no cooking involved!

truthfully there was some cooking involved, but it has already been completed. yesterday, after making two distinct trips to the grocery store, i assembled my newly adapted chipotle chicken salad recipe. it's hard to imagine slaving over something and then not getting to eat it when it's done, but that's the basic for cooking anything that will be served cold. you have to wait for it to reach maximum coolness.

the recipe turned out well, but it is missing something. i think i will definitely need to add that adobo sauce next time. and maybe some tomato paste to convert the flavor from mayo to chipotle! hahaha otherwise it's good. started with shredded chicken that was boiled in vegetable broth. i use plain old tap water and a tablespoon of vegetable bouillon from a jar. (it's less salty than the cubed stuff.) chopped onion (i used a yellow one, but i think red might be better. wf onion selection was depressing!), chopped bell pepper (for color and crunchiness), and a cup of corn kernels (frozen, thawed, and patted dry) complete the veggie selection. the "sauce" is equals parts sour cream and mayo, with a tablespoon of cajun seasoning thrown in. all of this came out quite nice. i served some for lunch today on a bed of salad greens. but the flavor needs to be more chipotle then cajun. i think the spice mix is good to get overall flavor but it needs some punchiness!

another good trick that turned out better was the "easy" pasta salad. it's pretty much open containers, mix them together, and you've got pasta salad! i boiled two and a quarter cups of pasta, according to the directions. (i went for small shells here, but longer pastas would work better.) stop the cooking right before it's truly al dente, so a couple of minutes shorter than the recommended cooking time. drain and then place in a cold water bath. drain again. this will keep the pasta al dente, even when the pasta absorbs the dressing. for the dressing on this pasta salad, i used a trick i stole from the internet. i bought a jar of quartered and marinated artichoke hearts. now i'm not a super fan of these things, but the trick called for a whole jar of them INCLUDING the marinade. brilliant right? they are often marinaded in olive oil plus awesome seasonings, why not take advantage of that! plus it isn't over-flavored like most salad dressings, and you don't have to make it yourself! oh but make sure you get the olive oil ones, apparently they are jarring these things in water now, and you don't want that. so in a bowl went the pasta, the marinade, and the artichoke hearts (some of which i had to cut down a little more). i also added a small can of sliced black olives (drained), cherry tomatoes (cut in half lengthwise), one zucchini (cut into 1/8 inch slices then quartered), and six thick slices of salami (you can use any dried sausage. i cut it into small bits). i tossed all of that with a decent helping of black pepper and a generous helping of grated parmesan. oh my was this delicious!!!! i had it at dinner tonight. mmhmm good!

other dinner offerings this week will be: bagels with homemade scallion cream cheese, fried pork cutlets (went excellently with the pasta salad tonight), a helping of some chicken tikka masala that i have in the freezer, and that chipotle chicken salad. not bad right? all of which (besides the masala) can be eaten on-the-go, namely at school. go me! i'll need to write this shit down for later.