Greek Chickpea Chicken Salad

Ambitious Kitchen

Greek Chickpea Chicken Salad

Healthy Greek Chickpea Chicken Salad loaded with chickpeas, grilled chicken, feta, kalamata olives, red onion, tomato and a homemade light greek dressing. This light and simple salad includes mediterranean flavors that infuse beautifully together. Toss it all together in a bowl, layer in a mason jar or put in meal prep containers for the week! [...]

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Cookie and Kate

Loaded Veggie Nachos

Are you enjoying these Mexican-ish recipes as much as I am? I could really eat fresh Mexican food all day, every day.

I’m sharing these fully loaded veggie nachos with you today, to serve at Cinco de Mayo or your next get-together, or to appease your weeknight nacho craving (been there, often).

My ideal nachos are topped with golden, bubbling cheese, not drizzled with nacho cheese sauce that often goes cold in three minutes. I prefer a mix of cheddar, for max flavor and golden edges, and Monterey Jack, for its more melty, creamy texture.

I like to layer in beans for extra protein and fiber, and pinto beans are perfect for that. They’re creamy and hefty enough not to dry out in the oven like black beans do, as long as you layer them underneath the cheese. You could spread refried beans on each chip instead, but I feel like making nachos should be more throw-together than tedious. Right?

Continue to the recipe...

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A Sweet Pea Chef

Quinoa Lentil Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette

Need a reset?  This tasty, detox Quinoa Lentil Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette Dressing is packed with fiber, protein, and lots of healthy goodness – a real treat for lunch or dinner!

A few years ago, we went to California for a few weeks to enjoy the beach, hit up Disneyland for the kiddos, and just enjoy one of our most beloved places to visit.

One of our favorite things to do — on trips and in general — is to find new restaurants to try and test them out.

There’s just something about being on a trip that makes it feel like you can put more effort into trying new things, at least it feels that way for us.  Is it that way for you, too?

On one of our first days after arriving in Los Angeles, we met some good friends in Laguna Beach <— LOVE BTW.  They suggested we meet at this place called Active Culture that is a mix between vegan bowls and frozen yogurt.  It’s a small little cafe on the corner of the main street and is right by Laguna Beach’s breathtaking ocean.

That was definitely a good call.

I ordered the Quinoa and Lentil Bowl and anxiously awaited it. We had just traveled for 2 1/2 days with the kiddos in the car across the country so I was very much excited to get some healthy FRESH food.

When my salad bowl came out, it was piled high to the sky.  I made a comment like, “Wow, that’s a lot of food – I’ll never finish this.”

To which I immediately regretted saying because that pretty much guaranteed I’d be licking the bottom of the bowl after devouring it.

So I took a bite.  And another one.  And several more.  It was SO good.

The flavors were vibrant and complimentary.  It was crunchy, chewy, and tender, all at the same time.  The kick of the lemon vinaigrette was amazing and really made everything pop.

It was everything I wanted.

We wound up driving back out to Laguna Niguel a second time on our trip to grab another salad for me so I could take note of everything in the salad to recreate it later.  And to see that amazing ocean.  Swoon.

Once we got back home to Austin, I took a shot at it and made a very comparable salad that is so easy to make at home.  Yay.  While it’s not the exact same because it doesn’t have the original “slammin’ sauce” like the original, it is still incredibly yummy and like detox in a bowl.  I’ve made it a ton already and it never gets old.

Quinoa Lentil Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette

Is Quinoa Good for You?

Quinoa is an amazingly healthy addition to this salad because it is packed full of yummy goodness, like protein, fiber, vitamins, and all nine essential amino acids, which most other grains lack. Combined with leafy greens and iron-and-magnesium-rich lentils, this quinoa lentil salad is seriously one of my favorite things to eat right now.  It’s so tasty, filling, and good for you.

What To Season Quinoa With

Just like with most grains, quinoa can taste quite bland without the right seasonings. That’s where this recipe comes in, which shows you how to make a lemon vinaigrette that goes great with the textures in this salad.

How To Make A Lemon Vinaigrette Dressing

Can we please talk about this lemon vinaigrette dressing?  Tangy, versatile, and so easy to make, it is JUST what you need to make all those grains and veggies pop.  All you need is a bit of freshly squeezed lemon juice, lemon zest, raw honey, Dijon mustard, sea salt, ground black pepper, and olive oil.  It’s salad making gold.

I like to make this quinoa lentil salad with lemon vinaigrette in bulk so I can grab it as a lunch or side to a dinner.  It’s packed full of protein, fiber, and other yummy healthy goodness and one of my favorite things to devour, especially when I’m feeling like I need a detox.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

P.S. If you can’t get enough lentils, you can also check out my yummy Cold Lentil Salad, too! 🙂

Quinoa Lentil Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette

This tasty, detox Quinoa Lentil Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette is packed with fiber, protein, and lots of healthy goodness – a real treat for lunch or dinner!

For the Quinoa Lentil Salad 1/2 cup cooked quinoa* 1/2 cup cooked lentils** 1/4 cup kale, (packed) 1/4 cup cooked garbanzo beans, (drained and rinsed) 1/4 cup cucumber, (peeled and diced) 1/4 cup carrot, (1/2 carrot, diced) 1/4 cup grape tomatoes, (quartered) 1 tbsp red onion, (finely diced) 1/2 tbsp raw sunflower seeds For the Lemon Vinaigrette 1/2 tsp lemon zest 2 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice 2 tsp raw honey 1/2 tsp Dijon mustard 1/4 tsp sea salt 1/8 tsp ground black pepper 3 tbsp olive oil

If cooking the quinoa and lentils, see notes for how to cook. To prep the kale, remove the leaves from the spine and then break the kale into bite size pieces. Toss the kale with a little olive oil and rub all over the kale, massaging it until the kale reduces in volume and becomes less stiff. (This makes a huge difference in the texture of the kale.) To make the lemon vinaigrette, combine the freshly squeezed lemon juice, lemon zest, raw honey, dijon mustard, sea salt, ground black pepper, and olive oil in a small mixing bowl, and whisk together until well combined. To assemble the salad, combine the cooked quinoa, cooked lentils, kale, garbanzo beans, diced cucumber, diced carrot, quartered grape tomatoes, finely diced red onion, and raw sunflower seeds in a large mixing bowl. Toss to combine. Drizzle over a few tablespoons of the lemon vinaigrette, and toss once more. For garnish, sprinkle a few more sunflower seeds over the top.

*To cook the quinoa, combine 1 cup uncooked quinoa with 2 cups water, bring to boil, then simmer, covered for 20 minutes. Once all the water is absorbed, fluff with a fork and set aside to cool as well.
**To cook the lentils, combine 1 cup dry lentils with 3 cups water, bring to boil, then simmer, covered for 30 minutes until tender. Once they’re cooked drain and set aside to cool.
***Cook time does not include cooked lentils or quinoa. Add 35 minutes if cooking.

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Celebrate! 9 European Festivals Worth Traveling For

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See the Sights in the Southwest and California Like a Rock Star

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Best BBQ Chicken Pizza

A Sweet Pea Chef

Best BBQ Chicken Pizza

Combine a whole wheat pizza crust, homemade clean BBQ sauce, shredded chicken, sliced red onions, and fresh cilantro for the Best BBQ Chicken Pizza ever! This post is sponsored by Bob’s Red Mill.

Is there anyone out there who doesn’t like pizza?

Is there…really? If so, I’ve certainly never met that person.

Pizza is simply the best. There are so many different styles, from Neapolitan, thin-crusted, deep dish, and so on.  I love that, when it comes to toppings, you can put WHATEVER you want: meats, veggies, fruits, seafood… and your favorite cheese and sauce!

By now, you probably already know that I love combining two (or more) of my favorite things into one flavorful combo. Duh.

So, I decided to give it a go one more time.  What better way to do it than to experiment with pizza toppings, right?

I’ve always really liked the combo of chicken and barbecue sauce so I figured I’d try it out on my own homemade pizza recipe and make a barbecue chicken pizza using homemade clean barbecue sauce.  Problem with most store-bought barbecue sauces is they all have TONS of sugar and unnecessary processed ingredients — I’m looking at you, high fructose corn syrup.  Sigh.

Is Pizza Crust Bad For You?

It’s probably not a surprise that the most unhealthy part of most pizzas is the crust.  That’s because most pizza crust is made from refined flour so you’re really just eating a bunch of highly refined, low protein, low fiber, high carb flour.  No thanks.

Now, you could make your own cauliflower crust if you’d like, but I also love a wheat crust.  I made this super simple whole wheat pizza crust using Bob’s Red Mill’s Whole Wheat Pastry Flour.  More on this later in this post!

Guys, this homemade pizza crust is redonk easy — it just takes about 15 minutes to prep and doesn’t require any yeast.  Just add all the ingredients together and bake to pizza crust perfection.

I said all of that to now say this: Get ready for the best BBQ Chicken Pizza recipe everrrr!

What Goes on a BBQ Chicken Pizza?

Looking for what the heck goes on a BBQ chicken pizza?  The answer is quite simple, really.  Let’s go over the pieces:

Your favorite BBQ sauce (thank me later for the homemade clean BBQ sauce in this recipe) <– seriously this is seriously the best BBQ sauce for a BBQ chicken pizza Chicken (I like mine shredded, but any chicken will do) Cheese (you can make a combo of two (or more) different types of cheese, but I prefer just fresh mozzarella – if going non-dairy, you can leave the cheese out easily) Thinly sliced red onions (for texture, flavor, and color) Chopped cilantro (for a little bit of freshness)

If you want to spice things up a bit, add some jalapeños as well!

How To Make Healthy Pizza Crust

To make a healthy pizza crust, you can make it out of cauliflower rice like this cauliflower pizza crust or you can choose higher nutrient value flour, like whole wheat pastry flour.

Whole wheat pastry flour is high in fiber, unrefined, and has a lighter texture than whole wheat flour so it’s perfect for this pizza crust.  Plus there’s no need to use yeast with this easy pizza crust recipe so you can make it within less than 20 minutes – no excuses!  You can grab a bag and see for yourself here.

Do You Have to Cook Chicken Before Putting it on a Pizza?

I strongly recommend you cook your meats before putting them on the pizza. The time the pizza is in the oven isn’t typically enough time for the chicken to become fully cooked on its own so it’s a good idea to cook it through before adding it to the pizza.  This also avoids cross contamination of raw meat with the other ingredients.  I season and cook my chicken and then shred it before adding to the BBQ chicken pizza – it doesn’t taste tough at all and works perfectly on this pizza.

What’s The Best Cheese For BBQ Chicken Pizza?

Your favorite one, of course! Duh.  That’s the whole point of making your own pizza, right?

If you’re looking for the common cheese options for BBQ chicken pizza, one is always gonna be mozzarella. Mozzarella is the perfect cheese for pizza. Its high water content allows the proteins to break apart in the short amount while the pizza is cooking which results in stretchy, gooey deliciousness that we all love so much. Mozzarella melts, bubbles and browns better than any other cheese out there and adding it on top of your pizza is a must. P.S. Have you tried fresh mozzarella – try it and you’ll never go back to the other stuff.  It’s amazingly good.

If you’d like to mix the mozzarella with a different cheese, you could also try cheddar to give your homemade pizza a tasty kick.

Best BBQ Chicken Pizza

Best BBQ Chicken Pizza

Combine whole wheat pizza crust, homemade clean BBQ sauce, seasoned chicken, sliced red onions, and fresh cilantro for the Best BBQ Chicken Pizza ever!

For the Easy Whole Wheat Pizza Crust: 2 1/2 cups Bob's Red Mill Whole Wheat Pastry Flour 1 tbsp baking powder 1 tsp sea salt 1 cup water 1 tbsp olive oil For the Clean Barbecue Sauce: 1 tbsp olive oil 2 cloves garlic, (minced) 1 8 oz can tomato sauce 1/2 tsp granulated onion 2 tbsp tomato paste 2 tbsp molasses 1 1/2 tbsp raw honey 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar 1/4 tsp sea salt 1/4 tsp ground black pepper For the Best BBQ Chicken Pizza: 1/2 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast ((1 large chicken breast)) 1/2 tsp sea salt 1/4 tsp ground black pepper 1/8 tsp garlic powder 1/2 red onion, (thinly sliced) 2 tbsp olive oil, (to coat the dough) 6 oz fresh mozzarella, (grated/chopped/sliced) 1/4 cup cilantro, (chopped (optional))

Line either a baking sheet or prep your pizza stone and start pre-heating your oven to 400 degrees F. In a large mixing bowl, combine Bob’s Red Mill whole wheat pastry flour, baking powder and sea salt, and whisk together until thoroughly combined. In a separate bowl, combine water and olive oil in and stir to combine. Slowly add water mixture to the flour mixture, stirring to incorporate.

Slowly mix together until a dough forms. The dough should be soft, but not sticky.  You can add a little more water if it’s too dry, a tablespoon at a time. If it’s too sticky, just add a little more flour.

Once the dough has formed into a ball, knead the dough for 5 minutes.

Roll the dough out into a large circle using a rolling pin, and then place onto your prepared baking dish or pizza stone. 

Lightly brush the dough with olive oil, and then transfer it to the oven for 10 minutes, or until very lightly browned. While the crust is in the oven, we can prep our chicken and bbq sauce.

To cook the chicken, heat olive oil over medium-high heat in a skillet and add the boneless, skinless chicken breasts,

Season the chicken breasts with a little sea salt, ground black pepper, and granulated garlic. Cook the chicken for 4-6 minutes per side, until cooked through and browned on both sides. Then, remove from heat and shred into small, bite-size pieces. Then, set aside.

To make our homemade BBQ sauce, heat some olive oil over medium-high heat in a sauce pan and then add a couple cloves of minced garlic. Cook for one minute, until the garlic is fragrant, then add the tomato sauce, tomato paste, molasses, raw honey, apple cider vinegar, granulated onion, sea salt, and black pepper, and stir to combine. Cook, stirring frequently, for 5 minutes, until heated through.

To assemble our bbq chicken pizza, spread out our homemade bbq sauce over the pre-baked whole wheat pizza crust, leaving about 1/2 an inch for the outer crust. Then, add our shredded chicken breast, followed by shredded fresh mozzarella cheese, and thinly sliced red onion.

Place back into the oven for another 10-15 minutes, until the edges of the crust are golden brown, and the cheese is melted and bubbly. Top with fresh chopped cilantro, slice, and serve.

This post contains affiliate links for products I use regularly and highly recommend.  This post is sponsored by Bob’s Red Mill.

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Ambitious Kitchen

54 Seasonal Recipes to Make in May

I see you, May! I feel like May is the turning point in Spring where we can start talking about Summer. Yes, I’m currently getting my summery beach fix in Cabo this week, but I’m already pumped for all things Chicago summer. Morning walks, bike rides by the lakefront, cute patios on every corner – [...]

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Kitsune Udon きつねうどん

Kitsune Udon is a Japanese noodle soup in dashi broth, topped with seasoned fried tofu, narutomaki fish cake, and scallions.  This hearty Udon soup is one of the most popular, classic Japanese noodle dishes.

Whether you feel under the weather or just really cold from the weather, I can’t recommend enough cooking this bowl of hot Kitsune Udon (Noodle Soup) (きつねうどん).

The rich broth, the chewy noodles, the fried tofu – everything just comes together so nicely in the bowl that you just want to hold your face above it and let the aroma envelop you.  It’s the ultimate Japanese comfort dish.  And it’s quick to make, so there is no excuse not to try it!

Watch How to Make Kitsune Udon

Kitsune Udon is a Japanese noodle soup in dashi broth, topped with seasoned fried tofu, narutomaki fish cake, and scallions. This hearty Udon soup is one of the most popular, classic Japanese noodle dishes.

What is Kitsune Udon?

Kitsune literary means ‘fox’ in Japanese.  Why do we call the dish – fox udon?  There are a few theories about the origin of the name.

One theory says aburaage (deep fried tofu pouch) often appears as a fox’s favorite food in some old Japanese folktales, so people started to call the udon noodle soup topped with aburaage as “kitsune udon.”

Another theory is that people call aburaage by “kitsune” because the color of the deep fried tofu pouch is just like the color of a fox.  I think this makes the most sense since in Japanese cooking, we express “golden brown color” by saying “cook till fox color”.

So what is kitsune udon?  The noodle soup consists of chewy thick udon noodles, clear dashi broth, and aburaage seasoned well with soy sauce, mirin, and sugar.  Kitsune udon is served as a hot noodle soup, but in the steamy summer months, it is also served chilled with a little bit of dashi based sauce poured over the top.

3 Key Ingredients for Kitsune Udon

To make the perfect bowl of kitsune udon, you need high quality ingredients, starting with these three – dashi, udon, and aburaage.

1. Dashi Broth

I can’t stress enough about having a good quality dashi.  The dashi broth gives the dish that rich, umami flavor that will have you sipping up the last drops.
Dashi is so important, which is why I have previously shared three ways to make dashi – using dashi powder or a dashi packet, and making dashi from scratch.

For this kitsune udon recipe, I only recommend making dashi using a dashi packet or making it from scratch.  Making it with dashi powder doesn’t have the depth needed to make a flavorful enough broth for this dish.  Please don’t get intimidated with making dashi from scratch since it doesn’t take a lot of time compared to using dashi powder.  Spend the extra 20 minutes to make a super tasty broth – trust me, it’s worth your time, and it’s easy to make!

I recommend making awase dashi (kombu + katsuobushi/bonito flakes) or katsuo dashi (just bonito flakes) for udon noodle soup broth.

For vegetarian/vegan dashi, please continue reading below.

2. Udon Noodles

Udon noodles are getting very popular outside of Japan, so you can easily purchase the noodles in regular grocery stores in the U.S.

However, if your local Japanese or Asian grocery stores carry frozen udon noodles, or packaged udon noodles that say “Sanuki”, try one of those options.  They are more chewy, and won’t easily break into pieces, unlike refrigerated udon noodles that fall apart and just don’t have the right texture.

3. Packaged vs. Homemade Aburaage

Living abroad (outside of Japan), it’s interesting to realize that raw ingredients can be harder to find than prepackaged foods.

In this case, I’m talking about the aburaage (deep fried tofu pouch) and prepackaged inariage (seasoned aburaage shown below).  You can easily find inariage – packaged or canned – because we use inariage to make Inari Sushi/Inarizushi.

If you are the lucky one who can find aburaage, try making Homemade Inariage to top your udon noodle soup!

Vegetarian/Vegan-Friendly Kitsune Udon

There is a misconception that dashi is not vegetarian/vegan; however, that’s not completely true.  Most well-known dashi are made with bonito flakes and kombu, but in our daily Japanese cooking we also use Kombu Dashi, which is 100% vegetarian/vegan.

To make vegetarian/vegan kitsune udon, make kombu dashi and skip those spiral fish cakes as garnish.  And as simple as that, you have vegetarian/vegan kitsune udon!

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Kitsune Udon

• 2 pkgs Udon noodles ((I like sanuki udon, see Notes))

Dashi:

• 2 ½ cups water
• 1 kombu (dried kelp) ((2" x 5" or 5 cm x 12 cm))
• 1 ½ cups katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes) ((15 g = .5 oz) (skip if vegetarian/vegan))

Noodle Soup:

• 1 Tbsp mirin
• 1 tsp granulated sugar
• 1 Tbsp usukuchi Soy Sauce (light color) ((or regular soy sauce))
• ½ tsp Kosher salt

Toppings:

• 4 Inariage (seasoned fried tofu pouch) ((See Notes for homemade recipe))
• Narutomaki (fish cakes) ((skip for vegetarian/vegan))
• 1 green onion/scallion
• Shichimi Togarashi (Japanese Seven Spice)

1. Gather all the ingredients.

   

Make Dashi

1. Put the kombu and 2 ½ cup water in a measuring cup for at least 30 minutes. If you have time, soak for 3 hours or up to half day. Kombu’s flavor comes out naturally from soaking in water. If you don’t have time at all, skip soaking.

   

2. Transfer kombu and water to a saucepan.  Slowly bring to a boil over medium low heat. 

   

3. Just before boiling (you will see bubbles around the edges of the pan), remove the kombu. If you leave the kombu inside, the dashi will become slimy and bitter. Now this broth is Kombu Dashi (vegetarian/vegan). Add 1 ½ cups katsuobushi and bring it to a boil again. 

   

4. Once the dashi is boiling, reduce the heat, simmer for just 15 seconds, and turn off the heat.  Let the katsuobushi sink to the bottom, about 10-15 minutes. Strain the dashi through a fine mesh sieve set over a saucepan.

   

Make Udon Soup

1. In the saucepan that already has dashi, add 1 Tbsp mirin, 1 tsp sugar, 1 Tbsp soy sauce, and ½ tsp kosher salt and bring to boil.  Once boiling, turn off the heat and set aside.

   

Prepare Toppings

1. Squeeze excess liquid from the inariage (or you can keep it as it is).  Cut the green onion into thin slices.  Slice the Narutomaki fish cake into 1/8 inch (3 mm).

   

Prepare Udon Noodles

1. Bring a large pot of water to boil for udon noodles.  When everything is ready, start cooking udon noodles.  Frozen udon noodles (my favorite kind) takes only 1 minute from putting into boiling water.  If you use dry noodles, follow the package instructions.  Heat up the noodle soup.

   

2. Pick up the noodles in a strainer or drain hot water.  Make sure to remove excess water (which will end up diluting your soup).

   

Assemble

1. Serve udon noodles and soup in serving bowls and top with inariage, narutomaki, green onion and sprinkles of shichimi togarashi.

   

Dashi: It’s really important to have good flavorful dashi for this recipe.  Although you can make dashi easily with dashi powder or dashi packet, I encourage you to make your own dashi because the broth tastes so much better and it only takes less than 30 minutes to make.  For vegetarian/vegan, please use Kombu Dashi.

 

Udon noodles: You can use any kind of udon, but I like frozen sanuki udon from Asian/Japanese supermarkets. If you use frozen udon, you don’t have to defrost prior to cooking.

 

Inariage: Homemade inariage recipe, click here.

 

Recipe by Namiko Chen of Just One Cookbook. All images and content on this site are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without my permission. If you’d like to share this recipe on your site, please re-write the recipe in your own words and link to this post as the original source. Thank you.

Editor’s Note: The post was originally published on May 25, 2011. Pictures were updated in November 2017.  The new video was added in April 2018.

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