Lemon Curry Chicken Salad With The Rice Is Right

I had a vision of how this meal was suppose to go. The heavy curry offset with candied carrots and a healthy fried rice. Not so. This meal did not turn out well, at least the main course didn't. How do I know. My husband was being polite when he asked me to save the leftovers, then refused to eat them with me the next day for lunch. That's how I know.

The Lemon Curry Chicken Salad came from Fresenius Medical Care Dialysis center North Roanoke Branch. This is the second recipe I have tired from there. It was bland and had no kick. You would think lemonade with curry, chicken and grapes would have been the perfect combination. What was missing was not enough curry powder. The recipe only called for 1/4 teaspoon when it probably needed 1 tablespoon.

This recipe called for cooked diced chicken. I learned from Lonneyspoons how to poach chicken (see page 95) which I love to do because it is how I use up old wine. I poached the chicken the day before in Blacksnake Meadery's Bee Brew with Hops. I had an open bottle that I did not want to waste, so I used it for poaching. Since the Lemon Curry Chicken Salad did not have any greens or carbs I decided to pair it with The Rice is Right.

I have this cookbook called Looneyspoons. It is a great healthy cookbook. On page 130 is a recipe for vegetarian fried rice. Instead of using the "fat-free egg substitute" I used 3 eggs. The reason for the change is that Medium eggs are lower in sodium than egg substitute. This side dish turned out great. The ginger offset the soy sauce wonderfully. I have tired this recipe with both dried and fresh ginger. My suggestion, go for the fresh. It does liven up the dish. Without the fresh ginger the dish is a bit bland. The Rice is Right made great leftovers. For dinner we ended up mixing with the Lemon Curry Chicken Salad which helped kick up the dish. Just not enough.

I realized dinner did not have enough veggies so I also made Glazed and Confused Carrots. This is also from Looneyspoons cookbook on page 135. Let me clearly state, I do not like mustard. The smell makes my skin crawl and this recipe calls for Dijon mustard. I could not find peach jam so I used Apricot instead. When you mix the jam, orange zest, Dijon, and thyme together you get an amazing glaze. The Dijon mixed in beautifully with the other ingredients and was not what I thought. The carrots were the perfect addition to this meal and would be something I think anyone would like.

Total cook time from start to finish was about an hour. I spent 25 minutes the day before poaching the chicken. I find it easier to poach chicken, refrigerate it, then cut it as needed. The salad needed to chill so I combined all the ingredients together first and let them chill while I finished the other dishes.

If you do wine, I suggest pairing this with a cabernet sauvignon. The spices will bring the dishes to life.

Websites:

• Blacksnake Meadery - http://blacksnakemead.com/ 
• Perdue Chicken (The lowest sodium chicken I have found). I use their Fit & Easy products, not the prepackaged - www.perdue.com 
• Looneyspoons - http://janetandgreta.com/

Lemon Curry Chicken Salad Recipe

Ingredients

• 1/4 Cup Olive Oil
• 4 TBSP Frozen Lemonade Concentrate Thawed
• 1/4 TSP Ground Ginger
• 1/4 TSP Curry Powder
• 1/8 TSP Garlic Powder
• 1 1/2 Cups Cooked Diced Chicken
• 1 1/2 Cups Green Grapes, Halved
• 1/2 Cup Sliced Celery

Directions
   In a large bowl, combine oil, lemonade and spices. Add remaining ingredients and toss. Chill and service

Getting Started

One night I was watching Andrew Zimmern's Bizarre Foods and realized I was stuck. He was in Texas and had the opportunity to eat rattlesnake sausage. In that moment a light went off. I thought to myself that sounds delicious but I would not have tired it. I would have done something safe and familiar in this  or any other new restaurant.

A few days later, I watched Julia & Julia. The thought and concept of the movie plus the book struck home with me. How neat to work your way though an entire cookbook and blog your thoughts, concerns, successes and failures.

I have always had an affinity for books. I have lots of them, especially cookbook. Recently I realized I love to cook. I have never been a stereotypical Suzie Homemaker. I don’t have kids so I am not required to put something on the table for them every night and I enjoy dining out. My husband doesn't care if it is home cooked, store bought, or bought out. So I never had a motivation for learning to cook. It was when my husband was diagnosed with End Stage Renal Disease that all changed. We now needed to eat low sodium foods. How do you manage that? I started researching and realized home cooked meals was the best answer. I dug out all of my old cookbooks and started learning how to convert recipes into low sodium healthy alternatives.

All three of these events made me realize how much I had wasted on cookbooks. I buy cookbooks. Find one or two recipes too cook, then shelf the thing. No adventure. This is what made me decided to actually start using my cookbooks. My goal is to cook every recipe in my various cookbooks.

My husband and a few work colleagues suggested I share my cookbook experiences. That's how this blog came into being. I plan to blog about the recipes I cook, noting where I varied the ingredients. Then comment on the tastes and results. Think of this as my cooking revolution as I explore new foods to see if I can find some new favorites.