Since I’m going to need a little thematic organization to survive blogging every day in May, I’m hereby declaring Tuesdays as “How to Ignore a Recipe” day, where I’ll take a recipe I’ve found and do what I do best in the kitchen: liberally swap ingredients and ignore measurements entirely.
For my first victim, I’ve chosen “The Salad.” Considering the goofy title of my blog, this seemed like a fitting place to start the series. I found this recipe at Parenting by Trial & Error, Sarah Ludwig’s heartfelt and amusing account of raising four children and accidentally mutilating one of them like Vincent van Gogh.
Chicken Spinach Salad
(Click here for Ludwig’s original recipe and post)
5 cups Some cubed, cooked chicken (about 3 whole breasts) pulled pork
2 cups handfuls green red grapes, halved
1 cup Some snow green peas
2 cups handfuls packed, torn spinach
2-1/2 cups celery Some grated carrot (celery was too wilted—threw it out)
7 oz. corkscrew pasta, cooked and drained Leftover steamed white rice
2 jars (6 oz.) marinated artichoke hearts, drained and quartered Several sliced cremini mushrooms
1/2 large cucumber, sliced diced
3 green onions with tops, diced
DRESSING:
1/2 cup Some vegetable olive oil
1/4 cup Some sugar
2 tbsp. Some white wine Apricot Chardonnay vinegar
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. dried, minced onion Some garlic salt
1 tsp. lemon juice from one small lemon
2 tbsp. Fistful minced fresh or dried parsley
In a large bowl, toss the chicken pork, grapes, peas, spinach, celery carrots, pasta rice, artichoke hearts mushrooms, cucumber and green onions. Cover and refrigerate. Combine all dressing ingredients (except the lemon juice, which you squeeze inexplicably directly onto the salad) in a jar or small bowl; mix well and refrigerate. Just before serving, pour dressing over salad and toss. If desired, serve on a spinach leaf and garnish with oranges sweet and sour chicken wings.
FINAL RESULTS: My two year old wouldn’t eat much of it, but loved most of the ingredients when separated on her little cafeteria-style tray. My wife gave it two thumbs up. I loved the recipe because I was able to mostly ignore it and still not create a disaster. A very odd combination that turns out tasty! A+
Wow, Ron, you *really* changed this recipe up! It’s pretty much unrecognizable. =) It sounds pretty good though and hey, your wife enjoyed it, so you must have done a pretty good job.
Glad I could help you out on your “How to Ignore a Recipe” post for this week. I’m honored that you chose my recipe as your first victim.
I’ll be checking back here often!
It’s not really “how to ignore a recipe,” it’s “how to use a recipe as a jumping off point for your own creatvity!”
Oh wait — that doesn’t have nearly the same ring to it. “How to ignore a recipe” it is.
Jenny