Chicken Salad

So I've been wanting chicken salad for the last month, and I've been too lazy to make it, but all the pre-made stuff at the store seems to have crispy noodles of some sort in it these days. (!?) So this is what I came up with.

2 cooked chicken breasts (Sunrise brand if you're in Alberta is my favorite free-range chicken company right now)
4 ribs of celery
1/4 cup of sunflower seeds without shells - you could also use sliced almonds. I was planning to use sliced almonds but then I didn't have any.
juice of 1 whole lemon
1 tsp Lowry's seasoning salt (or just salt and pepper, maybe some onion powder and sage too)
3/4 cup Hellman's Balsamic Mayonnaise (it won't seem like a lot, but you've already got lemon juice in there, so don't overdo it - if you mix it in and you want to add more, you can, but start small so you don't have a mayonnaise pile)
You could also add some chopped green onion or chives, but I didn't have any

Mix everything together. Makes about 3 cups. Let it sit in the fridge for at least an hour or so to let the flavors blend.

Red Beans and Corn

Hi. After over a year of nothing (ie I was in clerkship), I am going to start posting recipes again. I've been eating a lot of vegetarian things lately, so I'm going to write some of them up and schedule them to post once a week.

This is a think I kind of made up one night and it ended up being good and I've made it about 6 times now.

Ingredients
1 can of drained red kidney beans (or equivalent amount of rehydrated dried beans)
1 can of drained corn (or equivalent amount of fresh or frozen corn)
1 onion, cut in half and then sliced
As much garlic as you want
About half a pound of chopped tomatoes or cherry tomatoes cut in half
Optional: small amount of chopped celery and/or chopped red pepper
Optional: 1-2 tablespoons of white wine
About a cup and a half of vegetable broth
Salt and pepper
Cooking oil or butter
2-3 oz of queso duro, chopped into small pieces (if you can't find queso duro, you can use feta. The flavor will be different, but still good. Just use a smaller amount because it's a bit more overpowering. If you can't eat dairy, you can leave the cheese out or try dairy free cheese - Daiya havarti would be a good choice).

Directions
Heat butter or oil in a large, deep frying pan over medium heat. Add onions and garlic, sprinkle with salt and pepper, cover, and cook until onions are soft. At this point, add the celery and/or red pepper if using, cover, and cook for a few more minutes. Add the white wine if using. Uncover and add the tomatoes, corn, beans, and veggie broth. Cook over medium-high heat for about 20 minutes. The broth should reduce and the end result should only be a bit liquidy. Stir in the cheese at the very end. Makes about 3-4 main dish size servings. Goes well with rice or potatoes and some steamed vegetables or salad.

Homemade Gluten Free Granola

You know how you can get gluten free granola at the store and it costs like $20 for a tiny bag of it? Yeah, well, it turns out that it's very easy and cheap to make your own. Just choose from the list of ingredient suggestions below, and mix it up in a ziplock bag. Keep it in the freezer for long-term storage. Traditionally granola seems to be mixed with some kind of sweetener and then baked in the oven, but that is certainly not necessary and just mixing the ingredients together and eating them raw is easier and has a lot less sugar. You can throw in some cinnamon for flavor if you like cinnamon. Eat it with milk like you would eat cereal, or sprinkle it on top of yogurt. Or just eat it plain.

Ingredients suggestions:
GF rolled oats
Toasted quinoa or millet
Puffed quinoa, millet, or rice
Dried cranberries
Raisins
Dried apples
Chopped dates
Broken up banana chips
Dried mango
Dried pineapple
Dried apricots
Pumpkin seeds
Sunflower seeds
Hemp seeds
Sesame seeds
Shredded coconut
Flax seeds
Chia seeds
Peanuts
Sliced almonds
Chopped walnuts
Chopped pecans
Chopped cashews
Mini chocolate chips