FoodFash

Adventure Begins in the Kitchen

Cucumber & Cilantro Chicken Salad

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Cucumber Chicken Salad

Have you ever been such a busy bee that when you came home from the grocery store you realized, not only did you forget something, but you brought home another thing that already had fair representation in the fridge?  Like cilantro. I’ve purchased cilantro three times  in less than a week.  Not good.

Cubed Chicken Breast

Luckily my roommate’s gym schedule is about an hour behind my yoga schedule. And since we both go to the grocery store on a daily basis {I wish I was joking}, I knew he could pick up that onion that slipped my mind.  And as far as the boat loads of cilantro?  I’d just whip up a batch of super summery chicken salad and pretend the overstock was all on purpose.

Chicken Salad Ingredients

And then I’d be thankful.  Because chicken salad with cukes, red onions, cilantro, lime, and homemade mayo is such a darn good combo.  Season with salt, pepper, and a pinch of cayenne pepper and man oh man, you’ve got yourself something special.

Array

Nanner Pudding

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Nanner pudding is quite possibly my earliest memory of food obsession.  I can vividly remember my three year-old self sneaking into the fridge, removing plastic wrap, and dipping my little sneaky fingers into the dessert bowl.  I loved the sweetness of homemade vanilla pudding, the mushiness of the Nilla wafers, and how both flavors were tied together with nanner goodness.

So when I asked my friend Dickie what he wanted for his birthday dessert and he responded banana pudding…  It was on!

I whipped out a classic vanilla pudding recipe and got to work.  I forgot how much stirring was involved in the pudding process, but thankfully Instagram was there to keep me company.  It was techie baker multi-tasking at its finest.

And other than the 10 or so minutes that it took to pull the pudding together, the only other work required was slicing ripe bananas and opening a brand new box of Nilla wafers.  Oh and layering, a little bit of layering.

As I poured half of the warm vanilla pudding over the first nanner Nilla layer, I couldn’t help but think why nanner pudding doesn’t happen more often.  It’s light, cool, and simple – perfect for any and every summertime affair.

Mango Avocado Salsa

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I’ve been mass consuming avocados and mangos lately.  Partially because I love them, but mostly because they’re always on sale for a dollar around these parts.  It seems criminal to not pick up at least two of each when they’re only a dollar.  Just criminal.

Surprisingly, I haven’t made mango avocado salsa since I first started FoodFash (gasp!).  You can check out the original salsa post here and feel free to tease me about my sass and rough camera skillz.

Revamped FoodFash Mango Avocado Salsa

1 ripe, but firm, avocado, cubed

1 ripe mango, cubed

1/4 to 1/3 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

juice of two small limes

sprinkle of cayenne pepper

salt to taste

I created this mix to scoop atop scallops, but made an abundance for leftovers because it’s so, so delish.  The added kick of the cayenne was a total win.  Oh!  And the little lime green impulse buy pictured above was another win.  Citrus squeezer > citrus juicer, for sure!

Moroccan Mint & Elderflower Iced Tea

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I love elderflower.  If a cocktail menu has a French 75 or St. Germain anything listed, it’s as good as mine.  So when I was making Moroccan mint iced tea this morning and glanced over at the bar, my head tilted and I thought “why not?”.

As I filled a pot full of water, it dawned on me I didn’t technically know how to to make iced tea.  I usually make a single serving on the fly, but it’s been ages since I prepared a pitcher.  I turned to Savory Sweet Life for guidance as I had no time to mess around, I had a picnic to attend!

When the tea finished steeping, I removed the bags and poured over ice.

It was at that point that I added 1/4 cup St. Germain, 1/8 cup of pure maple syrup, and crossed my fingers.

Although this lightly sweet tea was uber refreshing, the green tea overpowered any trace of elderflower.  But this isn’t the end of elderflower iced tea for me, I’ll be testing out less potent teas with more quarter cups of St. Germain til I get it right.