Summertime Veggies and Hot Chicken Strips
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This recipe was thrown together one night specifically with my diabetic texture-defensive husband and hungry picky children in mind. The Summertime Veggies are seasoned with celery seed, which hits the same flavor notes on the palette as salt. Very flavorful with the zing of lemon juice, the snap of red bell pepper, and the warmth of black pepper. Having Germanic family roots I put black pepper into a lot of things! I add ginger to improve digestibility and because it tastes great!
There is plenty of flavor to go around so the salt is not really necessary.
Cut the watermelon ahead of time and put it in the fridge so that the wedges will be good and cold.
Hot Chicken Strips
1-2 lbs chicken tenders (frozen or fresh, not breaded)
olive oil
hot sauce (I use the store brand)
Cajun seasoning to taste (optional)
Heat oil in skillet, add tenders and shake liberal amounts of hot sauce over them, sprinkle with Cajun seasoning if desired (Cajun seasoning is fantastic, takes me right to my happy place). Sear both sides, cover and reduce temp to cook through.
Summertime Veggies
Small Zucchini, sliced or roughly chopped
Small yellow squash, sliced or roughly chopped
3-4 carrots, sliced (I used a crinkle cutter)
1 head broccoli florets
15 oz can corn, drained
½ red bell pepper
oil for stir frying (olive is okay, coconut stands up to the high heat better)
lemon juice, about three tablespoons or to taste
black pepper to taste
celery seed, generous sprinkle
ginger, generous sprinkle
sea salt (optional)
You may want to 'sweat' the zuke and squash by laying the pieces on a clean towel or cloth after you cut them then salting them a bit. Leave them for about 10 mins and then gather up the cloth and squeeze some of the excess water out. To me this improves the texture of the squash a lot. It isn't strictly necessary with this recipe as stir-fry zaps some of the moisture from the food anyway.
Heat oil in a large skillet, wok, or on a large griddle on high heat. Add carrots, corn, and red pepper, stirring often with a spatula for a few minutes. Add broccoli after the other veggies have a head start on cooking and season with lemon juice, black pepper, celery seed, ginger and salt if you want it, scraping up and turning with the spatula often. Cook until the carrots are tender and the corn is lightly caramelized.
Serve hot with Hot Chicken Strips, cold watermelon slices, and Fruited Sun Tea over ice. Serves 4-5 depending on the size of the appetites which can be considerable with all the swimming and biking there is to do in a day.
Ah, Summer!
Fajita, Glorious Fajita…
I know it is generally understood that Canadians live in igloos and eat whale blubber, usually keeping questionable company with beavers and polar bears while they do so. This is absurd. I'm only going to say it once. We do not eat whale blubber! In fact, we generally enjoy a wide variety of food. I've been surprised a couple times when I mentioned what I ate for dinner and someone has queried: "What's that?" What I'm going to express to you here is NOT one such exotic food. This morsel does not have its roots in the shady reaches of the Ukraine, or in the deep, dark corners of Italy. In fact, its birthplace is in the land of our friendly southern neighbors, the Mexicans! And it is quite familiar to pretty much everyone on this continent. It is known as the fajita.
My family and I got enchanted with fajitas probably the way many people do. We decided to try the fajita seasoning mix instead of the taco seasoning mix, followed the directions, and there we were. We instantly fell in love with them, going on a small fajita-binge until we ran out of seasoning. After a couple such binges, I got tired of this repetitive phenomenon of 'running out'. "This should not be. The fajita should live on from meal to meal!" I said. Thus, I did what I always do when I have a question. I asked Google.
The first hit landed me here. I prepped this in a little resealable bag and shook it up to mix it. It turned out even better than the packaged mix, and came with the added bonus of no MSG, BHT, artificial flavor or color, and so on and so forth. All just pure spices. You couldn't ask for better. Here's the recipe for my version of fajitas.
Ingredients:
- 2 tbsp cooking oil
- 3 boneless skinless chicken breasts, diced into cubes
- 8 regular mushrooms, sliced
- 1 onion (but only if you're into that...), chopped how you like
- 2 peppers (any color you like), chopped how you like
- 3 tbsp Fajita Mix
- 1/2 cup water
- 8 tortillas
- sour cream as needed
- grated cheese (any color you like) as needed
- chopped lettuce as needed
- salsa as needed
Procedure:
Place oil into a large skillet (a wok will also work for this), then insert chicken. Cook chicken on medium-high heat until no pink is visible on the outside. Add in mushrooms (and onions) and stir fry for two to three minutes. Add peppers and stir fry for two to three more minutes until peppers are warm. Add fajita mix and water and stir, cooking for another two to three minutes and stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Place out tortillas, lettuce, sour cream, and salsa. Allow the hungry horde to layer decorations on tortillas, and spoon fajita mix over top. Fold, roll, and enjoy. Serves a family of five.
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