Apple-Cranberry Chicken Salad

On Fridays, if I've been a fiscally-responsible young professional the rest of the week, I'll bop out to one of the many Union Square eateries and buy my lunch.  Two weeks ago, I went to Pret, a sandwich shop chain imported from the U.K. They have an amazing chicken salad sandwich (see my last post on chicken salad for more on my life-changing conversion to the cold-meat-salad camp), but it's over $3 for half a sandwich.  And since I really wanted to eat several, the only solution was to make it myself at home.

After a pilgrimage to Ditmas Park to secure a roast chicken last Sunday, I wound up with more chicken salad then I could ever possibly consume.  Word to the wise: Using an entire chicken for chicken salad will result in something like a dozen servings.  Suffice it to say that I ate chicken salad for almost every meal last week. It was delicious, but I'd definitely recommend inviting some friends for a picnic or something with this giant recipe.

You'll need:

1 roasted chicken
1 tart apple, like Granny Smith, peeled and sliced thinly
Juice of one-half lemon
3 ribs celery, chopped
1 bag Craisins or other dried cranberries
3 tbsp. mayonnaise

Dissect your chicken and chop roughly.  The yield will look something like this:

Slice the apple very thinly, squeezing the lemon juice over the sliced pieces (this will keep them from turning brown and mushy).  Mix together the chicken, celery, apples, and cranberries in a large bowl.  Then mix in the mayo (just enough to make it all stick together).

Your final product:

You have many options for what to do with this: Eat it plain, eat it with crackers (my preferred lunch mode), make a sandwich:

Go crazy.  And share with friends—I'm not kidding.  So much chicken salad.

Vegetarian Fried Rice

One of the best things about living in Brooklyn is the constant availability of cheap, greasy, and delicious Chinese food.  Since I have very little self-control in this area, I've been eating more than my fair share of egg rolls, sesame chicken, and the like.  For better or worse, this leaves me with plenty of leftover rice, which just isn't that good when reheated.  As a semi-broke denizen of the publishing world, the thought of wasting all that (already paid for) food is alarming, so repurposing the rice is crucial.  Here's my answer to that problem, which also stretches one leftover carton of white rice into three or four meals.

You'll need:

1 carton leftover steamed rice (cold)
2 tbsp. vegetable oil
1 bag frozen vegetables (I used peas and carrots)
1 can water chestnuts, sliced
3 eggs
1/2 cup soy sauce
Black pepper, to taste
Salt, to taste

Heat vegetable oil in a large pan.  Once the oil is warm, add the frozen vegetables, stirring until thawed.  Add water chestnuts and stir-fry for 1–2 minutes.

Meanwhile, crack your eggs into a small bowl and whisk them with a fork, folding in air.  This makes for nice and fluffy scrambled eggs.  Add salt and pepper to the raw eggs.

Scoot your veggies over to one half of the pan, making sure the other, empty half is still well-oiled.  Pour eggs into the empty half and proceed to scramble.  After the eggs are cooked, the veggies and eggs can be mixed, but keep them separated until the risk of salmonella has passed.

Add rice and soy sauce to the mixture, stirring well.  Cook for two to three more minutes, stirring constantly.

Delicious!  It looks even nicer when you put it in a bowl:

Protein, vegetables, and carbs: This is a pretty good all-in-one meal, which is not typically something I'm talented at making.  Plus, Rizi Bizi loves her some scrambled eggs (I put some aside before I added the soy sauce, don't worry), so everyone's happy.

The epitome of a happy, spoiled, well-fed feline sous chef.