CEiMB: Curried Chicken Salad


I think one of the best things about being in these food clubs is that it pushes me to make things that I would honestly never make on my own. This is a prime example of that, but I'm so glad I did! Curry and I aren't necessarily on bad terms, we just don't exactly see eye to eye. Every once and a while Curry and I will get together and have a decent enough interaction, but then it will be a long time before we get together again, making our next encounter fairly awkward. Luckily, we were both in a good mood yesterday and had an absolutely wonderful time.

I loved this salad! It made for such a perfect lunch and I can't wait to have it again. I made a few minor adjustments to the recipe. Rather than poaching my chicken in broth, I just roasted an entire chicken and chopped the breast meat. It came out so juicy and full of flavor. I also used a red curry paste rather then curry powder, since it's what I had. It had a slight spice and heat to it, but nothing overwhelming. The cilantro brightened the whole dish, the red grapes added a delicious sweetness with every bite, and the almonds brought in great crunch. I also squeezed lime juice over the whole thing for a bit of tang. I'm definitely a lot more sold on Curry, hopefully we'll be hanging out a lot more from now on.

Thanks to Sarah's Kitchen Adventures for hosting!

Curried Chicken Salad
Original Recipe by Ellie Krieger

Ingredients

1 cup low-sodium chicken broth
1 cup water
1 1/4 pounds boneless skinless chicken breast halves, no more than 3/4-inch thick
1/4 cup sliced almonds
1/2 cup nonfat plain yogurt
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 teaspoon curry powder
1 cup halved red grapes
1/4 cup chopped cilantro leaves
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
5 ounces mixed greens (about 5 cups lightly packed))
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon lemon juice

Directions


Bring the broth and water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Add chicken to broth and simmer, covered, for 8 minutes. Turn the heat off and let chicken stand in the cooking liquid, covered, until cooked through, about 20 minutes. Remove the chicken from the broth and cool completely in the refrigerator. Cut into 1/4-inch dice. Toast the almonds in a small dry skillet over medium-high heat until fragrant and beginning to turn golden, 2 to 3 minutes.

In a large bowl, stir together the yogurt, mayonnaise, and curry powder. Fold in the chicken, grapes and cilantro and season, to taste, with salt and pepper.

In a large bowl, toss the greens with the oil, lemon juice and salt and pepper, to taste. Arrange the greens on 4 individual plates, top with a scoop of the chicken salad and sprinkle with the almonds.

Serves 4: (serving size: 1 cup chicken salad and 1 1/4 cups greens)

Per Serving: Calories 325; Total Fat 14 g; (Sat Fat 2 g, Mono Fat 6 g, Poly Fat 5 g) ; Protein 37 g; Carb 13 g; Fiber 2 g; Cholesterol 85 mg; Sodium 175 mg

Points per Serving: 7

Almond Joy Cakeballs




Have you gotten sick of the cakeballs yet, because I sure haven't! I am so in love with these little treats that they've almost become the only dessert I want to make. I am constantly thinking of new combinations and ways to make them, and they are just so delicious!

These have been my favorite so far. I love the Almond Joy candy bar, I could eat one after every single meal and be happy. It turned out to be the perfect thing to copy in a cakeball, and it was just as delicious.

This was actually the first time that I preferred dark bittersweet chocolate to milk chocolate when dipping these. The coconut cake filling is so sweet and rich that the dark chocolate is a beautiful contrast.

And after making cakeballs as many times as I have, I would recommend making these the day before you actually plan to serve them. They seem to taste so much better the next day and especially right out of the fridge!

Almond Joy Cakeballs

Ingredients

1 coconut cake mix, prepared according to directions on the box
1 tub cream cheese frosting
1-2 teaspoons coconut extract
1 cup shredded coconut
1 cup sliced almonds, toasted (to toast almonds, place in dry saute pan, stir constantly on medium heat until browned)
2-3 cups preferred chocolate for dipping
1-2 tablespoons of Crisco, optional

Directions

Crumble cake mix into a large bowl, cutting off the sides of the cake if you don't want the brown spots of the sides. Stir coconut extract into tub of frosting until you reach a desirable strength. Stir into cake mix until evenly combined. Stir in coconuts and almonds until evenly combined. Freeze for an hour until hardened.

The Crisco helps to thin chocolate out, which makes it easier to dip, and hardens the chocolate shell, but is not necessary. Combine chocolate and Crisco and melt either in the microwave or over a double boiler. Dip each cake ball with two spoons, using the spoon to tap off any excess chocolate. Lay on wax paper to cool and harden. Store covered in the fridge.
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