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Jul 22

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Chicken Pasta Salad and Corny Chicken Pictures

My kitchen is unpacked and I have internet access again! Not quite ready to wow you with food from the new Kitchen Catwalk but I still have a summer salad to share from Molly and I can even throw in a couple of crazy chicken pictures.

The directions she emailed with the pictures went something like this: “I can tell you the ingredients for this salad and that it has become a family favorite but you really just judge the amounts by what you have available and what looks right.” She may not be including precise measurements, but as I’m about to start always saying – a picture is worth a thousand measuring cups.

Here’s what goes in the salad.

Start by cooking and draining a box of pasta.

Then you’ll need Cooked, cubed chicken breast (Often, we barbeque extra to use in the salad – any marinade or salt and pepper adds to the taste.)


Red grapes halved


Mandarin oranges drained


Diced Celery


and Diced Onion


Slivered almonds (toasted if ambitious)

Mayonnaise (Real Mayo…NO Miracle Whip at [Molly’s] house)

Salt and Pepper to taste

Mix and Chill….and there you have it!


I think I’m going to try this early next week. At our house it will have to be green onions and the celery probably won’t make the cut, but the combination of cold pasta, oranges, grapes, nuts and chicken sounds perfect in such hot weather.

I happen to have some chopped cooked chicken that I can use and even pictures.


None of you will be shocked that the first time I got out the camera in my new kitchen was because I was cracking up over how a couple of beheaded birds looked in the French oven! The commissary doesn’t have rotisserie chickens, which I routinely use in all sorts of recipes, so now I have to roast my own. In the past I’ve never had trouble fitting two into my beloved French roaster, but these guys were so big they had to sit on Coke cans – (thanks to Betsy for the tech line support on how that worked).

They looked so cute in their little boat and the spoons were right there, looking so much like oars!


Row, row, row your chicken, gently down the stream…merrily, merrily, merrily…

The tune has been stuck in my head for two days.

Okay, seriously I really think the left-over barbeque sounds better for the chicken salad!

Hope you’re all having a great summer and lots of fun in the kitchen!

Jul 12

Molly’s Summer Spinach and Rice Salad

I still don’t have a kitchen of my own, so I’m living vicariously through those who do and apparently, I’ve also been pestering my friend Molly about helping me with this blog for long enough that she got serious with the camera in the kitchen. She sent me some summer salad pictures and recipes that look great! As a moving special, I’ll share them with you before I try them out in my own new kitchen – which I will be occupying on Friday!

The first recipe looks delicious and I have another one up my sleeve for later in the week, so stay tuned.

Here’s Molly….

SPINACH RICE SALAD

“Random Notes” – I don’t know when I last followed the directions exactly for this salad. Usually I double or triple and add ingredients until it looks and tastes right but this is the recipe my mom gave me. Amend as needed.

We always make the Italian Good Seasoning Dressing for the Italian dressing… using red wine vinegar for both the vinegar and water portion. I am sure another Italian dressing would be fine. I just can’t guarantee it. 🙂 Usually, I use regular Soy Sauce but less sodium was all I had…worked out fine. I have never used Minute Rice either…always long grain or Jasmine.

1 c. rice

1 T. soy sauce

1/2 c. Italian dressing

1/2 t. sugar

2 c. fresh spinach, cut in thin strips

1/2 c. diced celery

1/2 c. sliced green onion

1/3 c. crumbled crisp bacon

Stage One:

Cook rice according to directions. Transfer rice to bowl. Cool slightly. – (No pictures, but they have directions on the bag!)

Combine dressing, soy sauce, and sugar (often left out).

Stir the dressings into the warm rice. Cover and chill.

Stage 2-

When the rice is cool and you’re about ready to serve…

Chop green onions,

bacon,

celery,

and spinach,

and toss it all into a bowl so that it looks pretty like this!

Fold the veggies into the rice just before serving. Enjoy!

Thanks, Molly! Can’t wait to try this myself. – Lisa

Jul 5

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First Ever Ku-Ki-Do Apron Awards

I am currently confined to a kitchenette in a military lodging facility which means it’s a perfect time to take care of some posts that don’t require me to cook…like recognizing a few up-and-coming Ku-Ki-Do Masters.

The first award is an Advanced White Apron to Holly Diccico. Holly came to my house and made Classic Chocolate Chip cookies with my equipment but I kept my hands completely out of the project. Her results were very good. She will have her Yellow Apron once she tells me she’s made a couple batched on her own and that will have to wait a few weeks, because she’s in South America at the moment.

Holly’s Apron – The black border around the picture shows it’s an “advanced” apron.

Holly scooping Ku-Ki-Do

The second award of Yellow Apron goes to Megan Tilton. Megan watched Holly make cookies and has since attempted multiple batches on her own and sent me text message pictures of her results. Megan has demonstrated appropriate discernment regarding problems with dough consistency and is troubleshooting her way to perfection. Keep the cookie pictures coming Megan and you’ll soon be a Green Apron.

Megan’s Apron

Megan making cupcakes

The third award, a pair of prestigious Green Aprons, goes to the team of Nathan and Kara Johnson. They came over to make a batch with me late last spring and they’ve been working at home with Darth Mixer’s predecessor, The Little Clone Trooper, ever since. They were doing some pretty advanced troubleshooting by the time I left Pullman, even researching different kinds of baking stones. They are well on their way to mastery and I have independent reports that they are very close with the Classic Chocolate Chip, if not there. They will go on to Blue Aprons when they try a couple more cookie varieties and send me some pictures – there are some Snicker Doodle and Oatmeal Cookie lovers in the U.COME.UNITY group too. I’m sure I’ll continue to hear great things about how it’s going.

Kara’s Apron

Nathan’s Apron

Kara and Nathan making Ku-Ki-Do eyes at each other.  Aren’t they sweet!

Congratulations, Guys!

If anyone else is out there making and baking great Ku-Ki-Do, let me know, and you too can have an apron award. Of course, I’m making up these awards as I go, so no one really knows what I’m talking about – least of all me, but these guys will be able to say they were the first to earn these colors! The colors are going to go like my old Tae-Kwon-Do class White-Yellow-Green-Blue-Brown-Black. I got a green belt in Tae-Kwon-Do and it was hard. I don’t think I’ll ever get a black one, but I gave myself Ku-Ki-Do Black Apron straight off because I invented the whole Ku-Ki-Do thing. It’s nice to invent something once in a while, even if it is corny.

If you don’t know what I’m talking about with all of the apron nonsense, please go to my very first blog post ever: (click here)

Oh, and it wouldn’t be right to leave out a few honorary Ku-Ki-Do black aprons that I happen to know of!  They are: My Mom, Tracie Addyman, Molly Sears and Mrs. Fields.

If you’re wondering what I’m doing in a lodge with a lowly kitchenette, click on the Nomadlibs link at the top.

Happy Ku-Ki Baking!

Lisa