Chicken and Napa Cabbage Salad

My father-in-law- is a great person: he loves people and always goes out of the way for them. He might not eat a lot himself but he still cooks (and he is a great cook, too) - not for himself but for others. Every Sunday afternoon he gets together with his friends to watch a movie (he knows everything about movies, and he is the biggest Jayne Mansfield fan I've even known), and of course, he makes some snacks or lunch for his movie group.

The other day he came across a great recipe and he ran it by his movie group. Everyone loved his Chicken and Napa Cabbage Salad! I was curious, and eventually I got a newspaper article with this recipe (not sure which one it was otherwise I would credit it) and a almost full bottle of sesame oil. Thank you Pappa Robin!

My husband loves Chinese Chicken Salad, and I was going to spoil him a little bit (as if he is not spoilt enough) and make him this Chicken and Napa Cabbage Salad for dinner (followed by some other food, of course). All I can tell you it was a success! Easy to make, colorful and very delicious. The ingredient are pretty basic but it is the sesame oil based dressing that makes a difference. And it is a Weight Watchers recipe too! Here you go:

Ingredients (serves 4):

• 2 tbsp fresh lime juice
• 2 tsp sesame oil
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 5 cups thinly sliced Napa cabbage
• 2 cups shredded cooked skinless chicken beasts
• 1 cup matchstick-cut carrots
• 1 green bell pepper thinly sliced
• 2 scallions thinly sliced on diagonal

Directions:

1. Whisk together lime juice, sesame oil, salt and black pepper in large serving bowl
2. Add cabbage, chicken, carrots, bell pepper and scallions and toss to coat.

Serve immediately and enjoy! 

The Joy of Bread Making

I procrastinate. A lot. As you can see it goes for this blog, and almost everything else in my life. Even shopping. I've been procrastinating for years to buy a bread maker. Friends would talk about their machines, the idea of freshly made bread would bring smile to my face, and still, I would not go and buy it. The good thing, my procrastination does end. The time has come, and with just one click (thank you, Amazon and Jeff Bezos!) I became a proud bread maker owner.

I went for a Hamilton Beach. Why? First, several people whose cooking skills are way better than mine recommended this one. Second, I have a Hamilton Beach food steamer and I am very happy with it. Last but not least, the price was hard to beat.

The machine came with a nice little book featuring several recipes. I was also pretty surprised to learn that you can use your bread maker also to make jam. The bread maker has 12 different cycles (from basic white bread to French to gluten-free), 3 different crust types (light, medium and dark) and allows to make a 1.5 lb or 2 lb loaf.

My bread making experience started with making basic white bread. I turned out to be no-brainer! Just add all the ingredients (water, salt, sugar, butter, flour and yeast - yes, no milk or eggs), select cycle and press 'Start'. In 3 hours I opened the lid to find a perfectly baked loaf of bread that smelled totally awesome! And the taste... OMG... it has been a while since I had such great tasting bread. Winning!

Next time I tried to make French bread. I think I messed up on the flour measurement, that's why my loaf turned out to be not the most beautiful one but it tasted fantastic!

In a little bit over a week I made 4 loafs, and everyone who tried my bread loved it.

Easy, no-mess and almost no-clean up bread making seemed like a dream. Now I have it in the comfort of my kitchen. What have been I waiting for? I should have gotten this wonder machine long time ago. Procrastination, procrastination...