EatingWell.com has got to become one of my regular stops on the internet. I ran across this recipe a couple of days ago and mentally filed it away. I was certain I had everything to make it, but soon after whisking together the dressing I realized that tuna, of which we usually have several cans at any given time, there was none. However, I did have some chicken thighs left over from a couple of nights ago, so I cut one into chunks and used that. The dressing was delicious and tasted just like the Chinese Chicken Salad I had at a restaurant once.

Tip on the fresh ginger:

I like to buy a knob and store it in a plastic bag in the freezer. Then when I want to use it, instead of messing around with peeling I just run the knob over the microplane.

http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/sesame_tuna_salad.html

Sesame Tuna Salad

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup rice vinegar or lemon juice
• 3 tablespoons canola oil
• 2 tablespoons reduced-sodium soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
• 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons minced fresh ginger
• 2 5- to 6-ounce cans water-packed chunk light tuna, drained
• 1 cup sliced sugar snap peas or snow peas
• 2 scallions, sliced
• 6 cups thinly sliced napa cabbage
• 4 radishes, julienne-cut or sliced
• 1/4 cup fresh cilantro leaves
• 1 tablespoon sesame seeds
• Freshly ground pepper to taste

Preparation

1. Whisk vinegar (or lemon juice), canola oil, soy sauce, sesame oil, sugar and ginger in a small bowl.
2. Combine 3 tablespoons of the dressing with tuna, peas and scallions in a medium bowl.
3. Divide cabbage among 4 plates. Mound one-fourth of the tuna mixture (about 1/2 cup) in the center of each plate and garnish with radishes, cilantro and sesame seeds. Drizzle with the remaining dressing (about 2 tablespoons per salad) and season with pepper.

Cat Fight!

HP recently posted the flap between NYT writer Mark Bittman and Alton Brown are having at it after Bittman's comment that food television has become "all competition, cleavage, nastiness."

 Love ya Alton, but there's no need to get all pissy about it. Bittman is right -- Food Network jumped the proverbial shark some time ago and in the wasteland that remains, your show and Anne Burrell's are about the only thing worth watching. FN's priorities are clearly big, loud personalities and cleavage hawking co-branded merchandise, which, sadly for FN, I have no interest in watching.

What originally drew me to Food Network was information and an interest in healthy eating. As a new gastric bypass patient, the food I was raised on would no longer work and I had to do something. George Stella and Juan Carlos Cruz had a lot of useful information. Sadly, they are long gone.

Easter Kitchen Projects

Oh, what's a girl to do? Mom got rolls from the store, so she doesn't need me to take anything to her place for dinner today. No need to take a veg, since Mom got spare guts on sale yesterday. I think I may whip up some Hollandaise, however.

I've been thinking the last few days about crumb cake. I had planned to slap one together this morning, and I did. But there were a couple of problems: I completely spaced on putting vanilla extract in the batter, along with the dried cranberries, and the crumbs came out way too moist. It tasted okay (if a bit oily), but need a re-do because I know it can be so much better.

The big success so far today was my Parmesan Roasted Brussels Sprouts. Couldn't be easier! I just took a bag of frozen sprouts and let them thaw out overnight. Then I cut them in half and doused them with a hit of olive oil, salt and pepper and grated about a half cup of grated Parmesan over the top. Baked at 350 for about a half hour. The came out with just the right hit of crispy brownness and the roasting mellowed them out nicely. I could see maybe the juice of a lemon over the top...if you really wanted to get fancy.