Corn-Fusion Cooking

Wednesday night after work I was scrambling around the kitchen for a healthy meal to cook after I had text-suggested to Scott that we have pizza for dinner. I thought better of that suggestion when I got home and wanted to unwind from the day in the kitchen. Previously when gathering groceries, I envisioned making a Mexican type salad with roasted corn but I got hung up on what to use for dressing.

Can you picture me staring up at the selection of ready made dressings in Walmart? Scott had to circle back (twice) to retrieve me in the dressing aisle. I ended up selecting 3 bottles that I thought I could make do with...

So, anyway, I had some ground turkey, corn on the cob, spring salad and cilantro.  Once in the kitchen I decided to go Asian (it's in my blood!) and try to make something similar to Swiss Chicken Salad that's been in my repertoire since high school (something we served in the Frusen Gladje deli).

Swiss Chicken Salad

chicken breasts, chopped into small pieces
olive oil (back then we used spray Pam)
garlic minced or pressed (back then we used garlic powder)
soy sauce
apple, chopped into bite sized pieces
pecans
grapes
celery, chopped into bite sized pieces
sour cream

Saute the chicken breasts in olive oil and garlic and soy sauce. Once cooked, let the chicken and sauce cool in the fridge (or freezer) while you assemble the rest of the salad (this step can be done ahead and it's always a good thing to have swiss chicken at the ready in the fridge). Chop up the apples and celery and place into a big bowl, then add pecan halves and grapes and the cooled chicken with a dollop of sour cream. Mix well and serve with buttered bread (or not). Yummy! I have served this for friends and family for years and there are always suggestions on more ingredients to add (like pineapple). I have never deviated, actually, except for the subbing olive oil for Pam and real garlic for garlic powder (made it more healthy).

I didn't have any celery or grapes on hand so I couldn't make Swiss Turkey Salad (but that sounds delish too!) and I wanted roasted corn in the salad. So I coated the corn with toasted sesame oil and salt and put it in the oven and then started cooking the turkey in canola oil with garlic and soy sauce.



Asian Sesame Turkey Salad

ground turkey cooked in olive/canola oil, pressed garlic and soy sauce and cooled
sesame roasted corn cut/scraped from the cobs (I used all 5 cobs that I had on hand)
spring salad mix
pecans (from my back yard!)
carrot slivers
diced bell pepper
cilantro
ginger 
lemon juice
1 package of crunched up ramen noodles

Dressing: a mixture of Kraft's Asian Toasted Sesame Anything Dressing and Olde Cape Cod Toasted Sesame Ginger Soy (fat free) dressing plus I added some toasted sesame oil, pressed fresh ginger and the juice of a lemon to bring it all together.

[Note: I did not have any Annie's Naturals Shiitake & Sesame Vinaigrette on hand or I'd have gone with that - so good!]

Mix all ingredients together and enjoy to your heart's content. Crunchy, savory and healthy...