Chicken, Squash, and Walnut Salad

January can be tough going. The holidays are over, so there’s not much to distract us from the cold, rainy weather between now and spring. So what to do to stave off the winter blues? Cooking is one way. And it doesn’t have to be complicated. Here, you cook some chicken and squash, whisk together a quick lemon vinaigrette, chop an apple, and  throw it all together with spinach, feta, and walnuts. I know you’re *supposed* to toast the walnuts, for better flavor, but I left it off. The point here is simplicity (and I promise, it still tastes great). A winter salad will break up the monotony of soup, and will hopefully keep you distracted, even just for a while, from bad weather and cold. There are good things in these later winter months, and luckily we can find many of them in the kitchen.

Chicken, Squash, and Walnut Salad
Adapted from Gourmet

1 butternut squash, peeled and cubed
2 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for the squash
1 pound chicken breast, cubed
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 ½ teaspoons honey
5 ounces spinach
1 apple, diced
6 ounces crumbled feta cheese
½ cup walnut pieces

1. Heat oven to 450 degrees. Spread the squash on a baking sheet and toss with a little olive oil (the squash should be lightly coated). Evenly spread the squash in the pan. Bake for 30 minutes, or until the squash is tender.
2. In a medium-sized skillet, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium heat. Add the chicken and cook, stirring occasionally, until the chicken is cooked through.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together the lemon juice, honey, and 1 tablespoon olive oil.
4. In a large bowl, combine the spinach, apple, feta, walnut pieces, squash, and chicken. Drizzle the dressing on top and gently toss to coat.

When a Snack Becomes a Meal: Kale, Chicken, and Sweet Potato Sauté with Apples and Cheese

How was I unaware of eating apples with cheese for so long? I didn’t discover this snack—so good, and so obvious—until at least middle school. The scene: a house in Seattle, where I’d been recruited, along with my brother, to support a marketing initiative at the company my dad worked for, something about cooking with kids. Apples and cheese were on the menu. Things were never the same again.

Since then, eating an apple with cheese has held as one of my favorite snacks, though I’ve eschewed melting the cheese (as they were originally served to me) in favor of simple slices, usually a sharp cheddar on a granny smith. Like anyone else, I’m always scheming ways to get more of my favorite foods, and when I saw a recipe for a salad that called for apples and cheese, there was no turning it down. Here was a way to have one of my favorite snacks for dinner, or at least as part of my dinner. I decided to sub gouda (it’s never been my favorite) for sharp white cheddar.

I didn’t stop there. I removed celery and pecans (graciously accommodating Thomas’s tastes, for once) and added cubed sweet potato to keep a wintry theme. Have you ever had sharp cheddar with sweet potato? Amazing. I kept the chicken but subbed the salad greens with kale, again to make the most of winter produce. Fresh kale is often a tough sell for me—that bitter, brassica taste can get overwhelming—but I love it lightly sautéed, so into the pan with the chicken it went. I didn’t create a particular dressing for this salad; I think just a touch of balsamic vinegar would do nicely.

Since the greens are slightly cooked, I guess this is more of a sauté than a salad, but whatever you call it, it’s just the thing for winter. True, it’s not a big dish of mac and cheese, but it’s a kind of comfort food, something to make when you want to be healthy, but not terribly restrictive. There is cheese, after all. Having just returned from a trip to New Zealand, where it is summer (and it’s warm even when it rains), this salad/sauté helped me ease back into the northern hemisphere winter. Well, as much as one can while still daydreaming about sandy beaches and wearing a t-shirt every day.

It’s been many years since the apples and cheese discovery, though I’ve probably more than made up for the lost time. And now I have a salad that’s my favorite snack surrounded by more of my favorite foods. It’s something to help me forget the cold, even just for dinner time.

Kale, Chicken, and Sweet Potato Sauté with Apples and Cheese

1 large sweet potato, peeled and cubed
Olive oil
1.25 pounds chicken breast, cut into bite-size pieces
1 large bunch kale, leaves coarsely torn, stems discarded
6 ounces sharp white cheddar cheese, sliced into small cubes
1 large apple, diced (I used Braeburn)
Salad dressing of your choice

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees. Spread the sweet potato cubes on a baking sheet and toss with about a tablespoon of olive oil. Bake for 20 minutes or until tender.
2. In a large skillet, heat a little olive oil over medium heat. Add the chicken and cook, stirring occasionally, until just cooked. Add the kale leaves, reduce heat to low, and let cook until the kale leaves are just wilted.
3. Stir in the sweet potato cubes, cheddar cubes, and diced apple. Serve with salad dressing, if desired.

Visions of Salad: Peanut Chicken with Kale

Most people probably wouldn’t look at a recipe for chicken kebabs and immediately think, I could turn that into a salad! But where’s the fun in being like most people? I’d been hankering for a salad with chicken and a peanut-based sauce,  and no fear of being different was going to stop me.

As often happens, it all started in a very different place from where it ended. I saw a recipe in Bon Appetit for a stir-fry with chicken, greens, and peanuts. Before looking at the recipe in depth, my imagination skipped ahead to a peanut sauce covering dark green kale. The contrast of a smooth peanut sauce and a slightly bitter green seemed irresistible (kale is always so fun to dress up). Then I actually looked at the recipe and didn’t see what I wanted. So, like the persistent cook that I am, I took the kale base idea and went searching for a peanut sauce and chicken recipe to top it.

It wasn’t long before I found a potential recipe in What to Cook and How to Cook It. It was for chicken kebabs, but the sauce was what got me. I already have a peanut sauce recipe in my repertoire, but why not try another one? This sauce uses the food processor for the first part, but then the mixture gets sautéed in a pan for a bit (you can use the pan you sautéed the kale in, so this extra step isn’t going to create more dishes). Then you add the peanut butter, water, and fish sauce, and let heat do its magic, melting the peanut butter into a sauce flavored with garlic, jalapeno (seeds removed, unless you want it extra hot), garlic, and cumin.

I know this begs the question: which sauce is better? Well, they’re both great. This peanut sauce is thicker than my previous one, which makes it perfect for coating diced chicken (the other sauce, used in a chicken and cabbage salad, seems better as a salad dressing, since it’s runnier).  The just-wilted kale takes well to both the chicken and the sauce, as I knew it would. A couple extra, not-too-difficult steps are totally worth it here. I’m all about simplifying, so I do not make this statement lightly.

So the next time you look at a recipe and see that it could be something completely different, trust yourself and know you’re not alone. It’s how some of the best things get made.

Peanut Chicken with Kale
Adapted from What to Cook and How to Cook It

1 bunch kale, leaves coarsely chopped (discard stems)
2 large chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
1 small jalepeno chile, seeds removed, coarsely chopped
1 onion, coarsely chopped
2 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
½ teaspoon cumin
1 tablespoon safflower oil, plus more for cooking
4 heaping tablespoons smooth peanut butter
1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon fish sauce

1. Heat a little oil in a large skillet over medium-low heat. Add the kale leaves and cook, stir occasionally, until just wilted. Transfer wilted kale to a large bowl. Set aside the pan to use for the peanut sauce.
2. In a separate skillet, heat a little oil over medium heat. Add the chicken and cook, stirring occasionally, until the chicken is cooked through.
3. Combine the chile, onion, garlic, cumin, and 1 tablespoon oil in a food processor. Blend until the mixture is smooth with tiny bits of onion still visible.
4. Heat a little oil over medium-low heat in the same skillet you wilted the kale in. Add the onion mixture and let cook and thicken, stirring often, for 4 minutes. Stir in the peanut butter, water, and the fish sauce (a whisk is great for this part, to make sure everything is well combined).
5. Add the chicken to the skillet, stirring to coat in the peanut sauce. Serve the chicken over the kale for individual servings, or add all the chicken to the bowl with the kale to make a salad.

Bring On Summer: Strawberry, Chicken, and Pecan Salad

Is it summer yet? June  in the Pacific Northwest is sending mixed messages—sunny and warm one day, pouring rain the next. I know it’s not officially summer until June 20 (here in the northern hemisphere, that is), but after the dismal weather of winter and most of spring here, I’m itching for summertime, which is one of the reasons I turned to a summer salad for dinner.

The strawberries are what make this salad suitable for summer. We don’t have a strawberry patch, and good strawberries can be hard to find at our local grocery. I looked at several of the plastic containers, trying to find one that didn’t contain more than one bruised or suspicious-looking (read: going to rot soon) berry. The reason is, I think, that these berries are shipped up from California, and I should probably go to a farmer’s market instead. Sigh. I probably should do a lot of things, but this time I settled on a decent plastic box of strawberries and headed home.

Another draw was the pecans, which admittedly are more of a winter thing. But how could I resist when they were toasted in a pan with butter, and sprinkled with salt and pepper? On their own, these pecans make a great snack, or you could serve them as an appetizer. In the salad, they add a crunchy texture and sweet-salty taste. Pecans are adaptable; they play nice with strawberries, chicken, spinach—all the elements of this salad. I stowed away a little supply for myself and sprinkled them on my lunch salads throughout the week. I highly recommend doing this.

The dressing is a combination of balsamic vinegar (always a good choice, when it comes to strawberries), olive oil, and orange juice. I was a bit skeptical of the orange juice, at first. Would it be too strong a flavor? Would it clash with the feta cheese I decided to use in place of the Swiss recommended by the original recipe (Swiss cheese is one of the few cheeses I don’t like)? But I went ahead anyways, and was happy to find that the orange flavor is at the perfect level, subtle rather than overwhelming. As usual, I omitted the sugar from the dressing, and didn’t miss it. Some online commenters on the original recipe found the dressing too oily, but that never came up for me. The balsamic is what I noticed, and loved, the most.

Summer may still be coming in fits and starts here, but that’s no reason to hold off on summer cooking. So I encourage you to make this salad and serve it with something summery, like corn on the cob—even if you end up eating inside.

Strawberry, Chicken, and Pecan Salad
Adapted from Taste of Home

About 1.5 pounds chicken breast, cubed
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 heaping cup pecan halves
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon ground pepper
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons olive oil, plus extra for cooking the chicken
1 tablespoon orange juice
5 ounces spinach
1 pound strawberries, hulled and sliced
6 ounces crumbled feta cheese

1. Heat a little olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add cubed chicken and cook, stirring occasionally, until cooked through.
2. In a separate skillet, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the pecan halves, stirring to coat in the butter. Let the pecans toast for about 2 minutes (watch carefully, as they can burn quickly). Stir in the salt and 1/8 teaspoon ground pepper. Transfer pecans to a bowl to cool.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together the balsamic vinegar, olive oil, orange juice, and 1/8 teaspoon ground pepper.
4. In a large bowl, combine the spinach, chicken, strawberries, and feta. Pour the dressing over and toss to coat. Serve the salad with pecans sprinkled on each serving (or toss them in the salad bowl as well).

Accessible, Adaptable, Delicious: Yam, Chicken, and Spinach Salad

A lot of salads fall into the trap of being boring. We’re encouraged to eat more salads, and yet a pile of greens can be less than inspiring (and not very filling, to be honest). But there is hope! There are substantial salads out there, kinds that can make full meals, taste delicious, and are still healthy.

Maybe you’re way ahead on this and already have a shortlist of your favorite meal salads. I certainly have my own, but I feel it’s worth bringing up routinely that salad doesn’t have to be a maligned side, or a pile of kale with the most conservative sprinkling of grated parmesan. Part of the push to get people to eat healthier should involve ways to make healthy eating accessible. That’s what I think of for this salad: It involves ingredients, like chicken and yams and cheese, that are readily available. Plus, like all good meals, it’s adaptable, all ingredients swappable with what you have on hand.

It started out as a boring salad, though. The original called for yams, red onion, and chicken on spinach. All good things, but even good things together aren’t complete if other good things are missing. Even two tablespoons of lime juice didn’t provide enough pizzazz. Plus, I was still getting over a bad run-in with some red onions from a recent crostini recipe. But when a dish fails, or just isn’t very interesting, there’s an opportunity to assess its potential for another try. With this salad, I saw that with a few more additions, it could surpass being “meh.”

Naturally, one of these additions was cheese—feta, to be precise. Its sharp flavor and crumbly texture add a lot of good to most any dish. Next came sundried tomatoes, another favorite that goes so well with chicken, and, I discovered, roasted yams. Suddenly, the salad had much more going for it in the flavor department. I omitted the lime juice, but the additions brought enough that it wasn’t missed. (I also subtracted the red onions.) For a bigger spread, this salad would do well as a side. The yams make me think it would fit in at Thanksgiving—take note.

My theory with salads—really, home-cooked food in general—is that you shouldn’t have to sacrifice health, flavor, or accessibility. You should end up with something far from boring.

Yam, Chicken, and Spinach Salad
Adapted from Real Simple

2 yams (about 1 pound total), peeled and cubed
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 ½ pounds chicken breast, cut into bite-size pieces
5 ounces spinach leaves
6 ounces crumbled feta cheese
6.5 ounces sundried tomatoes, halved if large

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees. Place the yam cubes on a baking sheet and toss them with 2 tablespoons olive oil. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until tender.
2. Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil in a medium-sized skillet over medium heat. Add the chicken pieces and cook until cooked through, stirring occasionally.
3. Place the spinach in a large bowl. Add the cooked yams and chicken, tossing to combine. Add the feta cheese and sundried tomatoes, and toss again to fully combine.

Then and Now, the Best Tortilla Soup

In high school, I had a bit of an obsession with tortilla soup. It was a very focused obsession: one tortilla soup, one restaurant (which is kind of a feat considering the place I grew up, a small island near Seattle, has three Mexican restaurants). This tortilla soup, at Casa Rojas, with its chicken, strings of melted cheese, avocado slices, and flavorful broth, had me in its grasp for a while.

But then I moved out and went to college, graduated, moved back home, then out again to Seattle, and tortilla soup never came up. The last time I went to Casa Rojas, which was something like five years ago, my friends and I got burritos that were inexplicably filled with peas. I probably don’t have to tell you that peas did not go down well in these burritos. It occurs to me now that, even though it was a hot summer day, I should have ordered the tortilla soup. But like I said, it had fallen off the radar.

And then, when tortilla soup was as far from my mind as it could be, it returned to my life. As I flipped through one of my notebooks of recipes clipped from here and there, I saw one for tortilla soup. Suddenly, the memory for the soup flooded back, followed by the craving to have it as soon as I could. But I didn’t want to get on the ferry and go to Casa Rojas; goodness knows they’ve started putting peas in the soup, too. Instead, I wanted to make it myself. I know it’s a gamble to try to replicate a favorite restaurant dish in a home kitchen, especially when you haven’t had it in many years, allowing plenty of time for its deliciousness to build up in your memory.

Obviously, that didn’t stop me, and what I ended up with is, I think, even better than what I started with. I could easily replicate everything I loved about the restaurant’s soup. And this is one of the easiest soups I have ever made. There’s really nothing stopping me from making this as often as I please, and especially now, with winter’s end still a ways off, it’s absolutely necessary. I made only a few slight changes to the recipe, including keeping the tortilla chips whole instead of crushing them. I like the whole chips poking out of the broth and soaking it up, delicious even when they’re a little soggy. Somehow, that still works.

One reason I think this soup tastes even better to me than the version from the past is that I’m in a better, happier place. Life’s just more fun now, and after all, those past times are only going to get further away. Best to find new ways to enjoy the present.

Tortilla Soup
Adapted from Cooking Light

A little olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
3 cups chicken broth
About 1 ½ pounds chicken breast, cut into 1-inch strips
1 cup water
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 14-ounce can diced tomatoes (do not drain)
Tortilla chips
Grated cheddar cheese, for garnish
Chopped cilantro, for garnish
Avocado wedges, for garnish

1. Heat a little olive oil in a large saucepan or pot over medium-high heat. Add garlic and sauté for 1 minute. Add the broth, chicken pieces, water, chili powder, cumin, and diced tomatoes with their liquid. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium and let simmer 15 minutes.
2. Ladle the soup into bowls (make sure to leave room for all the garnishes!). Place a large handful of tortilla chips in the soup (adjust the amount to fit your preference and the size of the bowls). Garnish with cheese, chopped cilantro, and avocado wedges.

Cook to Feel Better: Chicken and Bread Salad with Tomatoes and Basil

Oftentimes, cooking is one way I express my joy in my life. But there are other times when cooking lifts me up out of a sad mood or a tough time, even if just for a little while, by giving me focus and purpose. It was with this latter mentality that I went into making this salad.

I won’t go into all the details—this is not a tell-all blog, and there isn’t much at all to tell. You know it: there’s just days when you don’t feel so great. So I took some time to lie down, talk to Thomas, and look at cute pictures on Instagram. It was my turn to cook dinner, but Thomas offered to order some Thai food instead (side note: he’s the best) and I was tempted to take him up on his offer. But something made me reconsider. “I want to cook,” I said.

I went into the kitchen and started slicing chicken, which I put in a skillet sizzling with olive oil. I cut half a baguette into cube-like pieces (it’s not as if any were perfect squares—let’s be realistic, people), tossed them with olive oil, and put them in the oven to toast. Just the smell of fresh bread and olive oil brought some peace—it reminded me of downtown Seattle restaurants where they serve good bread with olive oil and balsamic for dipping. What a revelation that was, the first time that simple delicacy was placed in front of me.

I mixed together a basic olive oil, garlic, and red wine vinegar dressing. Then I sliced basil, breathing in the familiar, delicious scent. I sliced little grape tomatoes in half, and alongside the basil, they looked like the jewels of summer. This combination goes beautifully with the toasted bread, crunchy and crisp (and now you have a recipe for homemade croutons!). The chicken makes this salad a dinner rather than a side, but it could easily be replaced by (or supplemented with) pieces of fresh mozzarella, to complete the caprese trio.

Once we sat down to dinner, I felt a sense of relief—not that my mood had changed completely, but I’d engaged my mind in something positive and, as a result, was reminded of one of the many good things in my life now. Being myself means being sad when I’m sad, but also enjoying everything that makes it great to be me.

Chicken and Bread Salad with Tomatoes and Basil
Adapted from Canal House Cooks Every Day

8 tablespoons olive oil
2 chicken breasts (about 1.5 pounds total), cut into bite-size pieces
Salt and pepper, to taste
4 cups bite-size baguette pieces (or other artisan bread)
1 large garlic clove, minced
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
0.6 ounces basil leaves, sliced thin
10 ounces grape or cherry tomatoes, halved

1. Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium heat in a medium skillet. Add the chicken and cook, stirring occasionally, until cooked through. Season with salt and pepper. Remove from heat.
2. While the chicken cooks, toast the bread: Heat oven to 400 degrees. Toss the bread pieces in a large bowl with 5 tablespoons olive oil. Spread in one layer on a baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes or until golden.
3. To make the dressing, combine the garlic, red wine vinegar, lemon juice, and 2 tablespoons olive oil in a small bowl. Whisk well to combine.
4. In the same bowl you tossed the bread in, combine the chicken, toasted bread pieces, basil, and cherry tomatoes. Pour the dressing over and toss well to coat.

Complacent Cook No More: Lettuce Wraps with Chicken and Eggplant

When I think of lettuce wraps, I think of P.F. Chang’s, which is probably the only place I’ve ever had them. This positive association stems partly from the tasty filling—a mix that includes chicken, water chestnuts, and green onions—and the fun of filling each lettuce cup yourself, instead of a chef doing it for you. That interactive aspect separates this appetizer from your typical finger food.

But it wasn’t until I was flipping through a cooking magazine and saw a recipe for lettuce wraps that it occurred to me that I could make them at home. This is so unlike me, as I’m usually planning from the first bite how I’m going to replicate restaurant food at home. Perhaps it was a case of complacency; why bother, when PFC did them so well? The magazine recipe (and enticing photo) snapped me out of it. I found a recipe I liked even better on The Kitchn, and soon got to work.

I made a switch that I wasn’t sure would work, but happily it did: I swapped mushrooms for eggplant, diced into small cubes and sautéed until soft. My taste for mushrooms ebbs and flows, and I’ve been on a serious ebb for a few years now. So out with mushrooms, in with eggplant, the vegetable that looks so humble but with heat becomes luxuriously silky and absorbs all flavors it meets. The swap actually wasn’t that unusual; mushrooms are also used for their flavor-absorbing abilities.

I’ve cooked plenty with chicken and eggplant, but aside from drizzling it over my pho, I’d never come across hoisin sauce much, although I’m sure it’s flavored many of the Asian dishes I’ve eaten. It seems like an Asian barbecue sauce—glossy and slightly sweet, with a deep flavor that enhances other ingredients (perfect for plain fare like chicken and eggplant). This sauce, which also includes rice wine vinegar and soy sauce, has many possibilities beyond this dish. In these lettuce wraps, it makes them absolutely addictive.

The lettuce leaves won’t all be cup-shaped (I think PFC selects only the best ones) but why waste a good lettuce leaf? If the leaf is flat, fold it around the filling taco-style. Experiment with different fillings; I’d love a tofu and/or shrimp version. And maybe with peanut sauce? Don’t waste time being complacent like me—this is your call to make this PFC staple your own.

Chicken Lettuce Wraps
Adapted from The Kitchn

3 tablespoons hoisin sauce
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
1 teaspoon vegetable oil, plus more for cooking
1 teaspoon cornstarch
13 ounces ground chicken
3 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
1 eggplant, diced small
¼ cup diced green onions
1 head of Bibb lettuce, leaves removed and stacked on a plate

1. In a small bowl, combine the hoisin sauce, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, 1 teaspoon vegetable oil, and cornstarch until well combined.
2. In a large skillet, heat a little vegetable oil over medium heat. Add the ground chicken and cook for about 8 minutes, or until done; as it cooks, use a large spoon to break up the meat into small crumbles. When done, transfer the chicken to a small bowl.
3. Heat a little vegetable oil over medium-low heat in the same skillet you cooked the chicken in. Add the garlic and eggplant and cook, stirring occasionally, until the eggplant has softened and cooked through.
4. Add the cooked chicken into the eggplant mixture, followed by the green onions and the sauce. Stir well to combine.
5. Fill the lettuce leaves with the filling, making as many as you want (or until the ingredients run out). With some of the flatter leaves, place the filling in the middle and fold them up, taco-style.

For your holiday enjoyment: Chicken, Brussels sprouts, and roasted potatoes with Dijon sauce

If you count yourself among the Brussels sprouts-hating cohort, prepare to change your stance (and if you already love them, prepare to love them more). Turns out, all you need is a little olive oil, butter, and a super Dijon mustard sauce. “Where have you been all my life?!” sums up how I feel about these particular Brussels sprouts.

Up until I made this dish, I’d always seen Brussels sprouts as more obligatory than anything, a side dish halfheartedly flecked with bacon (because the belief that if you put bacon on anything, people, at least non-vegetarians, will eat it, predates the bacon craze). But there I was, happily peeling off the little layers of the sautéed Brussels sprouts, hoping there would be enough left over for lunch the next day. Why don’t we sauté these little cabbages all the time?

Like big cabbages, Brussels sprouts get their bad reputation, I think, from being boiled rather than tenderly cooked in a bit of olive oil and butter. These aren’t boiled; instead, after sautéing, they are briefly simmered in a shallow pool of chicken broth. Also, though it seems like a small thing, these Brussels sprouts are served cut in half, so there are no tiny cabbages rolling around on your plate, always slipping out from underneath your fork. The Dijon sauce, which is cooked with the chicken in this recipe, is a combination of chicken broth, apple cider, Dijon mustard, and butter—a versatile sauce for poultry, fish, and a variety of hardy vegetables.

It helps, of course, to serve the Brussels sprouts with delicious accompaniments, and in this recipe, adapted from Cooking Light, that’s chicken that is pan-cooked, then baked, and finished simmering in the Dijon sauce; and roasted potatoes, perfectly crisp on the outside. For a big crowd, perhaps some bread and a small side salad (and a spectacular dessert to finish) would elevate this everyday chicken and potatoes dish to holiday status, or any occasion you need to cook for a crowd.

Wherever you are, and wherever you’re going this Christmas season, be it by plane, train, or automobile; over the hills and through the woods; or just staying at home sweet home, I wish you joy wherever you can find it. A few reliable recipes like this one just add to the spirit of the season.

Chicken, Brussels Sprouts, and Roasted Potatoes with Dijon Sauce
Adapted from Cooking Light

3 tablespoons olive oil
Chopped dried thyme, to taste
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 pound red potatoes, cubed
3 medium-sized chicken breasts, halved
¾ cup chicken broth
¼ cup unfiltered apple cider
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons butter
12 ounces Brussels sprouts, tough stems trimmed, sprouts halved

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. In a large bowl, toss 1 tablespoon olive oil, dried thyme to taste, salt and pepper to taste, and potatoes until well combined. Spread potatoes on a cookie sheet and bake for 25 minutes, or until tender. Remove potatoes from oven, and keep oven on.
2. In a large skillet (choose one that can go in the oven, with no plastic bits), heat 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium-high heat. Sprinkle chicken breasts with salt and pepper to taste. Add to pan, and allow to cook for 3 minutes (do not turn the chicken during this time).
3. Turn the chicken so the browned sides are facing up. Transfer skillet with chicken to the oven. Bake for 9 minutes. Transfer the skillet with the chicken back to the stove.  Set burner to medium-high.  Add ½ cup chicken broth and ¼ cup apple cider. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and let simmer for 4 minutes; the sauce should thicken up a bit. Stir in mustard and 1 tablespoon butter (using a fork or small whisk works best for this; break up the butter into small pieces before putting it in the skillet).
4. In a separate large skillet, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil and 1 tablespoon butter over medium-high heat. Add Brussels sprouts and sauté for 2 minutes. Add ¼ cup chicken broth to the skillet. Cover and cook 4 minutes (the Brussels sprouts should soften a little, but still retain some crunch).

Takeout comes home: Thai rice salad

In Seattle, it seems like there’s a Thai place on every corner, and we’re spoiled rotten when it comes to takeout options. Seriously, what’s better than curling up on the couch with a paper carton of pad thai and the latest issue of The New Yorker (or whatever)? But sometimes Thomas and I feel ambitious, and in those moments we make some truly delightful Thai food—no small feat with Krittika Thai just a phone call away.

This rice dish gets some help from an unexpected ingredient: ketchup. Which is funny, because I recently decided I don’t have much fondness for ketchup. It’s too sweet, for one, and my taste leans toward spicy mustard, even with fries. But the recipe, from the Essential New York Times Cookbook, suggests using ketchup in place of tamarind, a basic ingredient in many cuisines but, sadly, absent from the local grocery chain. So it was ketchup or nothing.

Then I remembered that I’ve seen ketchup listed as an ingredient for pad thai, and I felt comforted, because even though it still seemed odd, at least other people were being crazy with me. The rest of the recipe isn’t so questionable; you cook some rice, scramble a couple of eggs, cook a little chicken and shrimp (or tofu), and whisk together a dressing. And maybe you aren’t as weirded out as I am about using ketchup in a stir-fry.

But then I took a bite, and became a fan. The dominant flavor is lime juice—perfect for lime lovers—and there’s another, quieter flavor there, something delicious that must be the ketchup’s doing. Or more likely, it’s the mix of the various ingredients in the dressing that makes this dish addictive. I have not made the tamarind version, but I don’t doubt it would be good too. There’s certainly plenty of room for substitutions: cashews for peanuts, tofu for chicken and shrimp, or noodles for rice.

If you’re looking to expand your skills in cooking Thai dishes, this is a good place to start. That’s not to say there won’t be times when you’ll be more excited about having dinner delivered. But it’s always nice to have the option of creating something wonderful in your own kitchen.

Thai Rice Salad
Adapted from The Essential New York Times Cookbook

2 cups Jasmine brown rice
5 tablespoons olive oil
2 eggs, lightly beaten
4 cloves garlic, minced
8-10 medium-sized frozen shrimp, defrosted
¼ pound chicken breast, chopped
4 scallions, chopped
2 tablespoons fish sauce
1 tablespoon plus 1 ½ teaspoons ketchup or tamarind (if using tamarind, add 2 teaspoons sugar)
2 tablespoons lime juice, fresh or bottled
¼ cup chopped peanuts or cashews
¼ cup chopped cilantro (or more, to taste)

1. Bring 6 cups water to boil in a medium-sized pot. Add rice and reduce heat to medium. Let simmer until rice is cooked and all of the water is absorbed. Transfer rice to a large salad or serving bowl.
2. In a large wok or skillet, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil. Add the beaten eggs and stir frequently until cooked. Cut any large pieces of egg into smaller pieces. Place cooked egg in the bowl with the rice.
3. Increase the heat to medium-high and add remaining 3 tablespoons of oil to the wok. Add the chicken and sauté, stirring often, until cooked. Add the garlic and shrimp, stirring often, until the shrimp is warmed through (this shouldn’t take long).  Add the scallions and stir-fry for 3 minutes. Transfer chicken and shrimp mixture to the bowl with the rice and egg. Leave the wok on the burner and the burner on.
4. In a small bowl, combine the fish sauce, ketchup, lime juice, and ¼ cup water. Transfer this mixture to the wok and allow it to heat through (this should happen quickly). Pour the warm dressing over the salad, stirring well to coat. Stir in peanuts and cilantro.