A Leisurely Lunch

My class today is an evening class, so I decided to have some fruit for breakfast, make a hearty lunch and have my shake for dinner. I started with my newest cup of happy. Anyone who knows me knows I am a Grande soy no water chai girl. But chai has a lot of caffeine, and Starbucks does not have decaf chai. So I purchased a 10.00 milk frother from World Market, and I bought the decaf Tazo chai from the grocery store. This is the brand Starbucks uses but it is a bit more diluted then they get. I like it because it does not have refined sugar. So I filled half the mug with decaf chai and the other half with some heated soy milk with about an inch of foam, and cinnamon on top. Nummy stuff.

Ok so I had my nummy drink, Roxette playing on the Ihome, and started my lunch. I have 2 recipes for todays entry. I made a curry chicken salad for lunch, but I used homemade mayonnaise for it. So first is the Mayo recipe.

I have experimented with this mayo recipe several ways. I have used different tools and ingredients and amounts of eggs and oil and this is the best I have used.

Tools:
For me either an immersion hand blender, or just a plain old whisk (I used this, excellent arm work out.)
Ingredients:
2 Egg Yolks
2 tbsp of lemon juice
1 tbsp of white vinegar ( I used rice)
1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 c. Canola oil
(some people add a teaspoon of dijon mustard, or 1/2 tsp paprika, I did not for this purpose)

****ok the very most important thing with this recipe is to add all the ingredients together but NOT the canola oil.

1. Whisk the ingredients (NOT the oil) together to the consistency of really scrambled eggs.
2. Add the canola oil in just a few drops at a time. (this is much quicker with the hand blender. But be patient... you want the egg and oil to emulsify ( or come together and become creamy)
3. Keep doing this very slowly at least until you get about 1/3 of the oil added, then you can speed it up a bit.
4. When it is the consistency of mayo and a light yellow color you are good to go.

for other recipes you can add garlic, cayenne, chipotle, or whatever but we just want plain for the salad.

Ok onto the salad...



So this is pretty simple.

1. Brown a couple chicken breasts, or 6 chicken tenderloins... with some olive oil and salt and pepper.
2. Dice it up, it should be about 2 cups.
3. Add
2 cups chicken
1/2 cup onion
1/2 cup apple
1/2 cup celery
1/4 cup raisins
1/2 cup of the mayo
1 tbsp of good curry powder
1/4 tsp of Red pepper flakes (more if you like it spicy, you can also add chili oil or tabasco and add it to your taste)
1/3 tsp paprika
2 tsp ginger ( you could use fresh grated but I used dry)
Salt and pepper to taste.

throw it in a bowl and mix it together. And let it sit in the fridge for at least an hour to let all the flavors meld and the raisins plump a bit.



I ate this with some garlic onion brown rice snaps, but you could serve it on a piece of endive, or lettuce... or just eat it plain.

That is it today. Enjoy.