Chicken and Orange Salad with Colby Cheese

This salad is a variation of the Chicken and Mango Salad posted recently. The same recipe for balsamic vinaigrette is used as the dressing. Only difference between the two salad is the orange being used in place of the mango and the cubed Colby cheese added in for this one. My only consternation was I realized that I forgot to add toasted almonds only when I almost finished the salad :(. One other variation from the previous salad was the seasoning used to marinade the chicken. It was done by my hubby using a mixture of dark and light soy sauce and some sesame oil. I do not know the exact amounts of soy sauced used as my hubby is unable to recall what his magic chef hands put into the marinade. But I have to say that it smells and tastes absolutely fabulous! However, feel free to marinade the chicken your favourite way for this refreshing summer salad!

Pan Fried Salmon with Mushroom Butter Sauce

This recipe serves 2.

For the salmon:

2 salmon steaks

1-2 tbsp dried dill

1/2 tsp salt

Crushed black pepper to taste

1-2 tbsp vegetable oil

1. Season salmon steaks evenly with the dried dill, salt and crushed black pepper.

2. Heat a pan with the oil. Place salmon steaks skin side down on the hot pan to cook. Flip salmon steaks halfway and cook salmon all the way through. Place cooked salmon aside.

For the mushroom butter sauce:

2 packs of brown crab mushroom

1/2 cup cream

1/2 cup butter

5-6 cloves of garlic

salt and pepper to taste

1. In a medium-large pan, sautee garlic in butter until fragrant. Add crab mushrooms and stir fry till cooked. Set aside in a bowl.

2. Add cream to hot pan and stir in the mushroom, butter and garlic mixture. Stir until cream is evenly distributed. Season with salt and pepper.

Serve.

Peanut Butter and Toblerone No Bake Cheesecake

This cheesecake is inspired by a recipe printed on a philly cheese packaging. This recipe does not require baking so you could still make it if you do not own an oven and happen to have a very bad cheesecake craving. Mind you this is a very rich cheesecake.

Ingredients

Digestive biscuit base: you could double it, if you, like me, love to have more of the biscuit crumb base.

1 cup digestive biscuit crumbs

1/3 cup butter, melted

1. Mix biscuit crumbs with melted butter and press into base of a 8 inch round springform pan. Set aside in the refrigerator to chill.

Cream cheese filling

500g cream cheese of choice (i used philly's), softened at room temperature.

3 tsp gelatine (dissolved in 1/2 cup of boiling water)

150g caster sugar

50g toblerone dark chocolate, melted

1/2 cup cream

approx. 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

Garnish

Additional toblerone pieces

cocoa powder

1. Prepare gelatin mixture (i.e. dissolve gelatin in boiling water) and leave to cool.

2. Melt toblerone chocolate in a bowl over a pot of simmering water.

2.Beat cream cheese with an electric mixer until soft. If you do not have an electric mixer, use a fork or potato masher to mash the cream cheese and beat till creamy and smooth using a wooden spoon.

3. Add gelatin mixture, caster sugar and cream and blend until smooth.

4. Divide cream cheese mixture into 2 equal parts. Mix one part of the cream cheese mixture with the melted toblerone chocolate until smooth. Mix the remaining cream cheese mixture with the peanut butter until evenly distributed.

5. Drop random dollops of the chocolate and peanut butter cream cheese mixture on to the crumb base to create the marbled effect.

6. Place pieces of toblerone chocolate round the edges of the cheesecake and dust some cocoa powder on the top to decorate. Chill the cheesecake in refrigerator for 2-3 hours or overnight.

Serves 8.

Chicken and Mango Salad

This has got to be one of my fav salads! Great easy to prepare with low fat and low carbs! This recipe serves 2.

Balsamic Vinaigrette

1 tsp mustard

2 tsp balsamic vinegar

1 tsp honey

2-3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Salad components

6-8 cherry tomatoes

romane lettuce (add as much as you want you could also use other vegetables instead)

1 ripe medium mango

1-2 chicken breast (already cooked)

1-2 tbsp grated parmesan cheese

2-3 tbsp toasted slivered almonds

1. To make balsamic vinaigrette, mix all the vinaigrette ingredients in a bowl, whisking till combined. (You could use your fav brand of ready made balsamic vinaigrette from the supermarkets if you prefer).

2. For the salad, place washed salad greens into a large bowl. Add cheery tomatoes (sliced into halves), chopped mangoes, shredded chicken breast, toasted almonds and parmesan cheese into the bowl. Pour over the prepared balsamic vinaigrette and serve.

Cajun Chicken, Panfried Halibut with Cherry Tomatoes and Mango Sides

This is an easy to prepare low carb meal! All you need is a small oven, a non-stick pan and viola! one meal in 30-40 mins (depending on how fast your speed is). This recipe serves 2.

Cajun Chicken

2-3 tbsp of paprika (mild)

1 tbsp of lemon pepper blend

half tsp salt

crushed black pepper to taste

2 chicken breast

1. Preheat the oven to 190 degree celcius.

2. In a medium bowl, mix the paprika, lemon pepper blend, salt and crushed black pepper evenly to form the cajun spice mix.

3. Coat the chicken breast evenly with the Cajun spice mix.

4. Place the Cajun spice coated chicken breast onto a baking pan lined with aluminium foil. Bring the sides of the aluminium foil together wrapping the chicken in it. If the foil is not large enough, cover the opening with more foil.

5. Bake in the oven for 25-30 mins or until the chicken is cooked.

While the chicken is cooking, prepare the cherry tomato and mango sides.

Cherry Tomato and Mango Sides

1 small to medium mango

6-8 cherry tomatoes

2-3 tbsp of slivered almonds

2 tbsp of grated parmesan cheese

1. In a nonstick pan on low heat, lightly toast almonds till lightly brown and fragrant. Put aside in a small bowl.

2. Using the same nonstick pan, turn the heat to medium-high. Cut cherry tomatoes in half and "pan grill" them till slightly charred cut side down first before flipping over. Put on the sides of the serving plates.

3. Dice the mango and pan fry in the nonstick pan and add a dash of nutmeg. Remove the mango cubes after about 20-30 seconds or they'll turn to mush. Place mango on sides of the serving plates next to the tomatoes.

4. Sprinkle the cherry tomatoes and mango cubes with parmesan cheese can toasted almonds.

Wash the non stick pan and it to prepare for cooking the halibut.

Halibut

1 halibut steak

pinch of salt

crushed black pepper to taste

1 tbsp dried oregano leaves

1. Season halibut with the salt, pepper and dried oregano.

2. Heat the non stick pan on high heat and add a tbsp of cooking oil. Place Halibut steak on the hot pan and cook for 3-5 mins on each side or until halibut is golden brown and cooked through.

3. Place on serving plate with the cooked cajun chicken and serve.

Monkey Bread

No one really knows why it's called Monkey bread. According to some, the name comes from the bread's likeness to the prickly monkey-puzzle tree while others think it refers to the way it's normally eaten (i.e. using our hands to pull apart the sticky clumps of bread and stuffing them in our mouths). This recipe is from Cook's Country.

Ingredients

Dough

2 tbsp unsalted butter

2 tbsp butter melted

1 cup warm milk (110 degrees F)

1/2 cup water (110 degrees F)

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 package instant yeast

3 1/4 cups all purpose flour

2 tsp salt

Sugar Coating (the recipe called for brown sugar but I ran out of it so I used white sugar instead)

1 cup packed light brown sugar

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 stick unsalted butter melted

For the Dough:

1. Adjust an oven rack to the medium-low position and heat the oven to 200 degrees F (approx 100 deg celcius). When the oven reaches 200 degrees F, turn it off. Lightly grease a large bowl with cooking spray. Butter a Bundt pan with 2 tablespoons of softened butter. Set the bowl and pan aside.

2. Mix the milk, water, melted butter, granulated sugar and yeast together in a large measuring cup. Stir the flour and salt together in the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the dough hook. With the mixer on low, slowly add the milk mixture. After the dough comes together , increase the speed to medium and mix until the dough is shiny and smooth, 6-7mins.

3. Turn the dough to a slightly floured surface and knead briefly to form a smooth round ball. Place the dough in the greased bowl and coat the surface of the dough with cooking spray. Cover the bowl in plastic wrap and place in the warm turned-off oven until the dough is doubled in size, 50-60minutes.

For the Sugar Coating:

1. While the dough is rising, mix the brown sugar and cinnamon together in a bowl. Place the melted butter in a second bowl. Set aside.

To form bread:

1. Gently remove the dough from the bowl and flatten into a rough 8 inch square. Using a knife or bench scraper, cut the dough into 64 pieces.

2. Roll each dough piece into a ball and, working one at a time, dip the balls in the melted butter, allowing excess butter to drip back into the bowl. Roll in the brown sugar mixture, then layer the balls in the greased Bundt pan, staggering the seams where the dough balls meet as you build the layers.

3. Cover the Bundt pan tightly with plastic wrap and place in the runed off oven until the dough balls are puffy and have risen 1-2 inches above the top rim of the pan 50-70 mins.

4. Remove the pan from the oven and heat the oven to 350 degrees F (180 deg C). Remove plastic wrap from the pan and bake until the top is deep brown and caramel begins to bubble around the edges, 30-35 mins. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes then tuen out on a platter and let cool slightly, about 10 mins. Serve warm.