Thai Chicken Salad

I never liked those traditional chicken salads. They always were drowning in mayo and the chicken never had any flavor because it was poached. Yuck! However, I was so impressed with how well the flavors combined in my crab cakes, I decided to try something like this with chicken salad. It was AMAZING! So flavorful and fresh! My fiance' and I practically ate the whole thing with pita chips. I barely put any mayo in it so it really wasn't very bad for me. I still have some Greek chicken left over, so I just took the skin off of the chicken breast and used that.

Now, there is one little pain in the butt about this salad: the veggies must be cut really small. This is where your knife skills come in really handy. I came up with a few easy ways to chop the vegetables to make them small and most importantly get it done fast!

*Clearly you can tell from this blog that I am no longer in my vegetarian mode. However, I will try to make this dish with firm tofu next time. The chicken really didn't give it that much flavor, more texture if anything. Plus, the protein in tofu is much better!*

Thai Chicken Salad

1 chicken breast (grilled, leftover, rotisserie, poached etc)
1/2 red onion, small dice
1 small red pepper, small dice
1 small yellow pepper, small dice
1 handful cilantro, finely chopped
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon fish sauce
1/4 teaspoon chili garlic paste
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
salt and pepper to taste


1. Chop up all your veggies.
Here is the best way to chop any type of pepper.
-Make sure that you flatten out the pepper with the back of your knife. The flatter it is, the easier it will be to make nice thin

-Slice nice thin strips.

-Turn the strips the other way and cut into dice.

There! Now we can move onto step 2.
2. Chop your chicken finely. Slice it in half first so that it is thin and then repeat the same steps as above to get the chicken small.
3. Combine all ingredients in a bowl.
4. Season to taste and serve with your favorite roll, chips or crackers!

*See this stuff is good even our kitty Mika wants some :) *

Pork Stir-Fry

I absolutely love this dish, for 2 reasons:
1. I was finally able to finish off the Asian Pulled Pork!
2. I was able to use some of my short-cut secrets from my favorite store Trader Joes!

Now a very important side note. Trader Joes is probablly one of the best stores I have ever found! It was the one store that actually made me feel ok about buying premade sauces. I have tasted every single one of their jarred sauces and they all taste as good as homemade. I know that there are never any additional preservatives in there and I can feel good and healthy serving it up to my family and friends. It also has some of the best tasting frozen veggies. Yes thats right a culinary grad uses frozen veggies. Look sometimes it is more economical and smarter to buy frozen. All my favorite veggies are not always in season and are very expensive. So frozen is the best option. I have bought their asparagus, Asian veggie medley, corn, peas, tri-color pepper medley and even the grilled veggies! All of them tasted perfect once cooked! I am all about saving time without compromising flavor and quality of food! If you don't have one near you then email them immidately and make sure they open one up ASAP!

This stir fry is extremely satisfying and easy to make. If you have 10 minutes you can make it!

Pork Stir-Fry


-1 cup of shredded Asian Pulled Pork (finally I'm using the last of it...)
-1 packet of Trader Joe's frozen pre cooked brown rice.
*This product is fabulous! Each packet holds about 3 ounces of pre-cooked rice. All you have to do is cut a vent in the top, stick it in the microwave for 3 minutes and you have perfect rice! It's great for a quick starch when there's no time for anything else*
-1/2 cup Trader Joe's frozen tri-color pepper medley (includes red, green and yellow chopped peppers)
-1 cup Trader Joe's Asian Stir Fry Mix *This stuff has it all! Water chestnuts, mushrooms, soybeans, peapods, carrots, the works!*
-10 Trader Joe's Frozen Asparagus Spears, cut in half
-3 garlic cloves, finely minced *See hint below*
-2 tsp of ginger, minced
-1 whole medium onion in large dice
-2 scallions sliced on the bias
-1 egg
-1/4 cup of tamari sauce *Tamari sauce is a deeper colored and flavored soy sauce. It is fermented for longer and therefore has a stronger more pronounced taste*
-1 tsp sesame sauce
-1 tbsp lemon juice
-1 tsp garlic chilli paste *CAREFUL this stuff is very spicy*
-Olive oil for sauteeing

1. Pour olive oil in a heavy bottomed pan and turn the heat up to med-high.
2. Toss in the onions and leave them alone. Watch them, but don't touch them. After five minutes one side of the onions should have some color, but they should still be crisp. (this is why the onions are cut in a large dice.)
3. Toss the onions a bit and cook for another 3 minutes on the other side.
4. In the meantime, take your bag of rice and stick it in the microwave for 30 seconds. You don't need the full 3 minutes because we are not cooking it all the way in the microwave, just enough to soften it.
*If you cannot get the Trader Joe's rice, just cook up some brown rice and use that instead.*
5. Add in all your veggies into the pan with the onions. Toss them around and let them cook for about 3-4 minutes or until visibly softened.
6. Crack your egg in another bowl and scramble it with a fork.
7. Make a well in your pan and pour the scrambled egg into it.















8. Let the egg settle for about 2 minutes. Then with a HEAT PROOF rubber spatuala start scrambling it. Stir it until all of it is cooked. Then combine egg with the rest of the veggies.
9. Add shredded pork and rice and combine with egg and veggie mixture.
10. Add in ginger, garlic, tamari, sesame oil, lemon juice and chilli paste.
11. Toss everything once more to make sure it's all combined and serve!


HINT: One of my favorite tools is the microplaner. It is mostly used for zesting fruits. However, i I discovered another wonderful way to use it: I grate my ginger and garlic on it! It's super fast and more effective then doing it by hand. Just be careful, those things are SHARP!

Asian Pulled Pork...In a Crock-Pot

This has to be by far the most resourceful dish I have ever made! I have literally used it in over 5 dishes!!! The dish could not have been simpler to make. Plus in the winter season it's nice to have something that cooked all day (or night) and melts in your mouth!

Asian Pulled Pork

1 (5 lb) pork butt,

1 cup soy sauce

1 tbsp sesame seed oil

*sesame seed oil is very powerful, a little will go a long way for you*
1/2 cup hoisin sauce
2 tablespoons of sliced ginger
7 whole garlic cloves

3 green scallions, roughly cut

2 tsp garlic powder

2 tsp onion powder

1 thai chili pepper

*if you do not like it hot, just leave the chili pepper out*

salt and pepper to taste

Enough water to cover the pork

-Rub down the pork with salt, pepper, onion powder and garlic powder.

-Place into your crockpot and place all the ingredients except the water into the pot.

-Add enough water to just cover the top of the pork.

-Turn on your crockpot to high and leave it alone for 8-10 hours, or until the pork shreds easily with a fork.

-That's it! You're done! Now just serve it with your favorite veggies and brown rice and you have a wonder meal.

*HINT: You can strain the remaining liquids into another pot and cool it. Once it has cooled, remove the fat from the top and reduce it until it reaches a thicker consistancy. This can be used as a sauce or as a dip for an Asian Pork Sandwich!

Lettuce Wraps

This dish was one of the Asian Pork creations! I was in the mood to make something simple and healthy for dinner. I had a bunch of veggies in my fridge and of coarse the Asian Pulled Pork.
My fiancee who rarely likes any of the "rabbit food" I make, gobbled it up in a heartbeat! The crunchiness of the lettuce combined with the smoothness of the pork will prove to be a satisfying meal for the pickiest of eaters!

Pork Lettuce Wraps
Serves 4, with 3 lettuce wraps each

12 leaves of Bibb or Butter Lettuce
*I only had iceberg lettuce, which did the job just fine.*
Asian Pork , shredded
2 medium carrots, cut into matchsticks
1/2 an English Cucumber, cut into matchsticks
3 tbsp of cilantro, roughly chopped
1 cup of bean sprouts
2 scallions, sliced on a bias
1/2 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp sesame seeds

Shredded Pork



-Combine all veggies in a bowl and toss with sesame oil and sesame seeds.
*This can also serve as a really great salad!

Place the pork and veggies onto lettuce leaf, roll it up. That's it!

Dipping Sauce

1/2 cup of soy sauce
1/2 tsp of garlic chili paste
1 tsp of honey
the zest and juice of one lime
*Use a microplaner to zest the lime. Do not get any white pith in, it's very bitter.

-Combine all ingredients and serve!


This dish is super simple and if you want something more heartier start out with a bowl of Udon noodles or better yet a bowl of soup! *Recipe to come soon*

Mind you mine weren't the neatest looking wraps, but I was in a hurry!
They tasted just as great!!