Talking to strangers...

See what it gets you - a good healthy recipe!

[Edit - apparently the below is a modified Waldorf Salad recipe.  Oops - here I thought it was so clever]

A week or so ago I happened to stand in line at Wegmans near a jolly couple.  They were obviously the kind of shoppers and cooks who paid attention to the ingredients they bought and were healthy eaters.  The conversation started when she was unloading her cart and told me some tips on cooking with less salt. 

It quickly segued into a recipe for a meal that she found in weight watchers which I believe may actually be vegan.  She recited it to me and lo and behold, I remembered it.  I made it today, finally.  It's actually quite good!

1 fuji apple
1 granny smith apple
1/2 c chopped red onion (I probably had more)
A few handfuls of cranberries - I bought dried raisin/cranberry mixed together.
A cup of chopped celery - again, that may have been a little more than the recipe but it was fine.

Mix the above, and toss with just a touch of mayo and then sprinkle lemon juice on top and toss some more.  The mayo in my fridge was about 10 months expired (oops) so no mayo for this chica.  I did use lemon juice though.

Finally, just before you dig in, sprinkle walnuts on top.  THIS is key - they definitely added to the taste.

This turned out very well!  I would not call it dinner per se, but, a good snack. It was a very late lunch (just finished it) so dinner may be take out, after all that.  But this was goooooood.

So you see, talking to strangers can be a good thing.

ps.  you want to be sure you have the right mix of onion and in fact I'd probably scale back on the onion.  Either make sure it's exactly 1/2 c or even less.  I had a second helping and this scoop had a lot more onion.  Almost took my breath away.

(NUMBER SIX in 2010)

I actually cooked something new tonight... Cranberry Chicken

Since my last posting, I have literally made ONE new thing - and that was chicken soup from a picked over rotisserie chicken. That was in June I think.

In August, for the heck of it, I actually tallied up what I spent on either groceries or restaurants in July. It totaled 775 bucks. Keep in mind I'm a single girl! I thought, whoa, I better start paying attention.

A month went by... and for the heck of it I totaled up my August grocery and restaurant expenses. Over 1100 bucks. Yes, over 1100 bucks. That's just insane - especially since I can't say I eat THAT well. (part of that was restaurant week with friends - who always know where to eat).

Gadzooks. OK, I'm going to really turn over a new leaf here. That is just ridiculous. If I were a gourmet cook, or could whip up a dinner party from scratch, I could completely understand 1100 bucks in one month. The problem too is that I buy WAY too much in one outing and if they are fresh veg, they invariable go bad before I'm able to get to them, and if they are "staples" I either forget about them in the pantry, or, I plain and simply don't use them all up. I'm not someone to buy ONE can of tomato paste, I have to buy 5. And maybe crack open one - or maybe not.




So tonight I pulled out my Savannah cookbook and made Cranberry Chicken. Very Easy.


It calls for

• Boneless chicken breast (6 pounds - I had 1.5 pounds)


• 1 oz pkg onion soup mix (I used about half that)


• 1 8 oz bottle of Catalina dressing - I used half a cup


• 1 16 oz can of cranberries - I used half a cup.

Mix up the ingredients, sans chicken of course.

Heat oven to 350, arrange chicken in a casserole dish (no top), pour mixture over it, pop in oven for one hour.

MMMMMMMM IT'S GOOD!

My amounts were clearly off - probably a little dressing and onion soup heavy - but it was VERY good and the chicken was really moist.

And would you look at that - I actually have lunch for tomorrow and either dinner again, or lunch the next day. I had an arugula, bufala mozz, and pine nut salad. With really good olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

I do think though part of the reason I waste so much food is because I am a really really bad leftover eater. I get bored easily.

Pssst - while it was cooking, I soaked in the tub and had a good German Weissbier. Shhhhh.