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| Recipe of the week... ... Clucking and Avocado Salad |
Ingredients: One handful of frozen Quorn ‘chicken’ pieces,
one avocado, half a pepper, a dozen cherry tomatoes, a stalk of celery, a
drizzle of your favourite dressing, and a plateful of salad leaves.
Time taken: Not long at all! Maybe quarter of an hour.
Serves: One mammoth plateful.
Hi readers,
How’s it going?? How are things today? Are you well? And
having a great Sunday? Up to much or jusss chillin'? However you’re spending
your Sunday, I hope you’re having a fab time! I’m taking it easy this Sunday.
Not heading anywhere in particular. I made it out on a blustery run and am
considering baking something to take to work tomorrow. Potentially a banana
bread, we shall see.
As I write, I’m sat in Sheffield’s Mr Bubbles coffee bar. Watching
people battling the wind outside. Listening to the coffee machines steaming,
and people chatting while they do their laundry. It smells like coffee and
detergent. Outside, it’s beginning to look like rain.
I had intended to share with you this week, readers, a
selection of very interesting posts from other bloggers for you to read. But,
not to be down on other bloggers, there seem to be many posts this week asking somewhat silly
questions (e.g. What’s Your Best Advice
for Small Appliance Repairs?, or Why
Does My Wine Taste Funny When I Sip It with Asparagus & Artichokes?, or
I Avoided All These Foods While Pregnant.
Was It Worth It?, or Is It Bad To
Stay Inside For An Entire Day?). Yeah… see what I mean?
And then there are a whole other load of posts which are,
for lack of a better word, commanding
people about what they should be doing with their time (e.g. Did You Just Get a New Range? 5 Things to Do
Right Away, or How To Conquer Your
Fears, or The One-Touch Method: The
Ultimate Productivity Rule, or 12
Things You Should Do Every Morning Before Work – this includes things as
basic as ‘let the light in’ and ‘make the bed’, and things as far-fetched as ‘tidy
your toiletries’ and ‘add a fragrance to the room’).
I am not putting other bloggers down. These people behind
these articles often post interesting content and they write about it really
well – I enjoy reading their articles and it’s great that they’re blogging! And
there is, of course, no right way to blog. But sometimes I wonder… how can
people be so sure of themselves? So sure that other people should follow their
advice (/commands)? And then their lives will be better as a result.
I’m not so certain about anything! But one blog post I did
read this week, which I found to be thought provoking, is 10 Little Things to
Remember When Life No Longer Excites You by Marc Chernoff, which you can read here. Without commanding you to give it a go… may I
quietly suggest reading this? Relevant for anyone who finds themselves bored at times by their everyday routine. I related as I have a killer commute to
work at the moment, which bores me on a daily basis. My highlight is the line: “There is good reason why you should
wake each morning and mindfully consider what and who you will give your day
to.” Think about this.
SO… on to food food food. My recipe of the week, this week, for Clucking
and Avocado Salad, comes entirely from inside my own brain. It comes about
following an alarming number of lunchtime panini runs that I’ve been making for
colleagues at work. These are somewhat stressful times at my work, readers, and
the team’s coming to heavily rely upon panini-power to get through an
afternoon.
The farm shop near to my work serves up an ever changing
array of eccentric lunchtime flavour combos (green bean and orange?! Does. Not.
Work.). The food there is never the same, never ever boring, and not always
wisely thought through. But they do
have some staples on their printed menu, which you can more or less count on to
be there every day.
One of which is their chicken and avocado panini, which is
fast becoming a favourite among the team. I’ve been quietly bemused, having:
a)
Never eaten a panini without cheese in it before
(isn’t that the best part?!).
b)
Never tried chicken and avocado together (as I
gave up meat 9 ½ years ago, when avocados were still yet to wash up on the
English shore).
But these paninis are just getting more and more popular in
the office. They’re like the Prom Queen of paninis. And, ever curious, I’ve been pondering
the flavour combo. So, whilst scheming up a new salad recipe this week, to jazz
up my regular old plateful of leaves, I decided to go for it! Of course, on the
ChefBeHere blog we like our chickens to be clucking and roaming free, so no
chickens were harmed in the making of this recipe.
I just made a salad, chopped up an avocado, grilled some
Quorn ‘chicken’, and slung these on top. And it tasted good. I can’t complain!
Not raving yet – I think maybe I need to give this combo a try together in some other recipes first – but it was a fine plateful of food. Want me to talk you
through it?? Here’s how to whip up your own Clucking and Avocado Salad, in just
eight simple steps…
1.
Pour a cool drink and, if it isn’t blowing a
gale outside, open a window for some fresh air. Clear your mind, take a few deep
breaths, and set some summery music playing.
ChefBeHere Top
Tip: This week I’ve been listening to the track ‘Barcelona’, from Ed Sheeran’s
new album, on my morning walk. Never mind what you think of Ed Sheeran – this is
a really feel good, upbeat tune. It puts me in a good mood.
2.
Turn on the George Foreman or, if you don’t have
one of these, your regular grill.
3.
While the grill heats up, take out a plate and
cover this with your favourite salad leaves.
4.
Drizzle your leaves with a salad dressing of
your choice – I went for a balsamic vinaigrette.
5.
Set a handful of Quorn ‘chicken’ pieces
grilling.
ChefBeHere Top
Tip: If you’re using a regular grill, you might want to pop your Quorn in a
little boat fashioned out of tin foil.
6.
Time for veg prep! Use a sharp knife to halve a
dozen cherry tomatoes, cut up half a pepper into bite-sized pieces, chop your
stalk of celery up into chunks, and cut your avocado up into chunks, too.
7.
Arrange your veg artistically over the leaves on
your plate.
8.
Top with ‘chicken’ pieces fresh from the grill…
et voila!
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| Clucking and Avocado Salad |
And that, readers, is all there is to it. What do you think??
Have you tried avocado and chicken together before? Or avocado and a meat-free ‘chicken’?
Do you like this taste combo?? Would you top a salad with these two? Do you
have any other recipe suggestions where I can try them together? (Besides
paninis… which I see far too many of these days!)
I’m intrigued to hear whether there’s anything to dislike
about this pairing of ingredients. Is it controversial or a totally safe bet? Could
I serve this to friends and count on people liking their food? Would anyone not
be up for avocado and chicken?? In the office, it’s everyone’s favourite
flavour, but step out the door and… who knows! What do you think, readers?
I shall leave you to ponder this, obviously, LIFE-CHANGING
conundrum. And enjoy the rest of your wonderful Sunday.
Salad safely,
Hayley
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| And cheers to the Irish! Happy St. Patricks! There was Baileys in my cocktail this week :) |
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