Copy-Cat La Casita Chicken Salad

La Casita Mexican Restaurant has a delicious yet simple chicken salad that I have duplicated here.

I've posted earlier about one of my favorite Mexican restaurants in Springville, Utah, La Casita. The restaurant is a quaint hole in the wall but the food is great. I have often ordered this salad. It is a simple salad, yet I love it.

Here is a rare instance where I will use a commercially prepared salad dressing.

This salad is super easy to make at home. I like to gently poach a batch of chicken breasts and then chill them in their poaching liquid. Then the chicken is ready for quick meals later.

A trick for tasty poached chicken is to season your poaching liquid. You can even brine your chicken first in this liquid before cooking it.

Here is another post where I write about poaching chicken that you might like: On-The-Go Grilled Chicken Strips



Copy-Cat La Casita Chicken Salad Recipe:

Serves: 1

1 Poached skinless, boneless chicken breast
1/2 head Chopped romaine lettuce (or mixed greens)
1 Diced fresh tomato
1/2 c. Shredded Jack and Cheddar cheese
House Dressing (Kraft Zesty Italian dressing & marinade)
Black olive, as a garnish


Method:

To poach chicken breasts:

Place chicken breasts into a large pot and pour enough cool water to cover the chicken breasts by at least a couple of inches.

Season the water with some salt, black pepper, garlic powder and onion powder, to your liking.

Place the pot on the stove and turn the heat to medium and bring up to a boil. As soon as it comes to a boil, turn down to a gentle simmer and simmer just until the meat is tender and no longer pink inside. Do not cook the chicken in boiling water or your chicken will become tough.

Let the chicken cool down a little bit before placing meat in a storage container. Pour warm poaching liquid over the chicken in the storage container, until the meat is fully immersed. Cover tightly and chill completely.


To make the salad:

When it is time to make the salad, pull out 1 poached chicken breast and dice it into bite sized pieces.

Pile the lettuce on a serving plate. Top with the diced tomatoes and chicken. Top with cheese.

To serve, drizzle the salad with the house dressing and top with an olive.



Note: The House dressing listed on La Casita's menu now is Ranch. The house dressing they served a few years ago, is what I prefer, and it is Kraft's Zesty Italian.


Here's a secret: 

La Casita restaurant drizzles just a hint of Zesty Italian Salad dressing on all their tacos too. This adds an extra flavor dimension that most restaurants don't have, and it is delicious.



Our recent visit to La Casita below:

My husband Ordered a chimi.

I ordered Chicken Taquitos with verde sauce

My husband enjoyed his Chimi!

Chips and salsa for the road...

Enjoy,

Leila

Easy Beef or Buffalo Mexican Taco Meat (No commercial flavor packet used!)

Favorite taco meat

Here is our family's favorite taco meat. it is incredibly easy to make and it tastes so much better than taco meat made with those commercial flavor packets you can buy at the store. I actually hate the taste of those flavor packets, but my mom always made hers from scratch...Yes, I know I'm spoiled.

You can make this taco meat with either organic ground beef, ground buffalo, or beefalo. Even ground turkey works.

At times, I have also added up to 30% of a soy protein meat substitute into the mix, to extend the meat. I pre-hydrate the meat substitute first before adding it to the rest of the meat. Then I add the onion, garlic, and seasonings and saute it all together. I do prefer the 100% meat version, but my family hasn't seemed to notice the difference.

I like to make a big batch of taco meat and keep the leftovers in the refrigerator for quick meals later in the week. This meat also freezes well.




Best Taco Meat Recipe:

2 pounds organic free-range ground beef or buffalo
2 onions, minced
8 cloves garlic, smashed with the salt
1 t. sea salt or BioSalt
1 t. onion salt
2 t. Ancho chili pepper powder
2 t. ground cumin
1/2 t. paprika
1 t. organic beef base
40 grinds black pepper
1/4 t. psyllium husk powder
1/4 c. purified water


Method:

Brown the meat with the onions and garlic over medium-high heat in a large skillet, until the onions are translucent and the meat is cooked through. Break the meat up as it cooks.

Add all of the seasonings, psyllium, and water and simmer until thickened.

Taste for seasoning and serve while hot.

Serve as a topping for a taco salad, inside organic corn tortillas, or gluten-free flour tortillas.

Saute the meat with the rest of the ingredients.

The finished taco meat- beef in this case.

This large grater is fun for shredding the cheddar cheese.

Heat deodorized coconut oil until a piece of corn tortilla sizzles and quickly browns.

A piece of corn tortilla sizzling away...

Fry your desired amount of corn tortillas.

Fry the tortillas until they start to brown. For stiff shells, bend in the center and fry a little longer.

Place tortillas between layers of paper towel.

Putting the taco fixings on the table.

Start putting on your taco fixings: first the meat, then cheese, then lettuce, tomatoes, salsa, sour cream, etc.

A beautiful plate of tacos!

YUM!

Enjoy,

Leila.

Crazy Good Vegetarian Taco Meat (Nut-Free, Gluten-Free)

Crazy Good Vegetarian Taco Meat

Meaty, savory, chewy & perfectly salty - that's what this taco meat is! This is a new favorite recipe of ours!

A couple of my daughters took a road trip to go visit my parents. Lucky them, they got to eat grandma's food! My mom created this terrific vegetarian meat substitute on the 25th of this month. Mom will flavor this meat various ways. This recipe is for a taco meat flavor, and it is SO GOOD.

My daughter Lexi has been a vegetarian for a few years. Lexi has recently introduced a little meat to her diet, but is still generally vegetarian. As long as she remains healthy, we support her in her choice. Grandma and Lexi created this recipe together, so it is now officially named "LexiBurger".

This meat is high protein from the tofu and egg, and high fiber due to the perfectly chewy brown rice. You do not need to tell your family that they are eating tofu, because you cant tell it's in there! Freezing extra-firm tofu is a trick our family has used for years. When you thaw it and press the excess water out, it has an awesome meaty texture when you crumble it. Just buy some extra-firm tofu and throw it in your freezer just for this purpose.

The egg helps to bind everything together perfectly, just so you know.

Are you wondering what the "Umami" is mentioned below??? It's another flavor profile that they know about in Japan. It gives amazing full-bodied, rich, complex flavors to savory foods. MSG enhances umami, for example. Umami flavors are found in slow-roasted stews, and sauces made with fond which have been reduced to concentrate the flavors, mushrooms, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, etc. It's a mysterious flavor that you can't quite put your finger on, but you really notice when it's there because the food tastes so amazing, you just want to stuff your face! Look "umami" up online for a more detailed description.

Put this delicious taco "meat" in tacos, burritos, with or without re-fried beans and cheese, on top of nachos, or on top of a taco salad. Lexi brought some of this meat to my house and we made nachos for a tasty filling treat. YUM. I have pictures of our nachos in this post.

 Look at this meat, it tastes even better than it looks!

Crazy good vegetarian taco meat nachos.

Vegetarian Lexi Burger:

1 package organic extra-firm tofu
1 1/4 to 1 1/3 c. chewy cooked organic short grain brown rice
1/4 to 1/3 c. soaked chopped dried onion
2 T. rice oil
1 T soy sauce (Tamari for gluten-free)
1 to 2 T. hot taco sauce, to taste
2 t. sunbutter (sunflower seed butter), up to 3 t., for richness
1 small beaten organic egg
2 t. organic paprika (or ground chili)
2 t. onion powder
1/2 t. garlic salt
1/2 t. mushroom powder (to add full-bodied complex "Umami" flavor)
1/4 to 1/2 t. cumin powder
Chipotle powder, to taste
1/2 c. or more deodorized coconut oil, for browning the mixture.
Fresh ground pepper, to taste
Seasonall seasoned salt, to taste
Garlic salt, to taste
1/2 c. more cooked rice, if needed


Method:

Do ahead of time:

1.  Slice and freeze the box of tofu for at least 24 hours. THAW. Press firm to remove excess water and crumble finely.

2.  Cook the short grain brown rice only until it's nice and chewy, then chill at least overnight for best results (over-cooking makes the rice mushy).


The day of making the Vegetarian Taco Meat:

Mix the crumbled tofu with the 1 1/4 to 1 1/3 c. cooked brown rice and soaked dried onion flakes in a medium mixing bowl.

Add the rice oil, soy sauce, hot sauce, and sunbutter, and toss well to combine.

Add the beaten egg and toss well to coat completely.

Toss with the paprika, onion powder, garlic salt, mushroom powder, cumin, and chipotle.

Heat 1/2 c. coconut oil in a large skillet, when starting to sizzle, dump in the tofu mixture and stir-fry it like you would fried rice. You want to brown it a little, but do not over-brown or it can get a little dry. Add more oil if needed.

Season to taste with pepper, Seasonall, garlic salt, etc.

If the vegetarian meat mixture turns out too rich and oily, just work in another 1/2 cup or so of cooked rice.

For the nachos, we melted cheddar and jack cheese over gluten-free tortilla chips. Topped the nachos with the warm "meat mixture, drizzled on salsa and topped with a dollop of sour cream. I was too lazy to go get a can of olives, but we would of loved some along with fresh guacamole!

Enjoy, 

Leila & Nancy.

Easy Chicken Chile Verde Soup (with 2 variations) PLUS How to Caramelize Onions Faster!

Here is another EASY pantry meal: Chicken Chile Verde Soup. Iv'e been doing a lot of sugar-free candy formulating lately (like marshmallows and caramel), so I have needed quick meals for the family, preferably ones that make great leftovers!

Creamy Chicken Chile Verde Soup

I felt like creating a new Mexican-style soup using the batch of home made chicken stock I just made. We like to buy rotisserie chickens from Costco for a quick meal. I then usually make chicken stock from what ever is left of the chicken. Having so much freshly made chicken stock on hand, I am always seeking new ways to use it because we like variety at our house.

Today I felt like Mexican, but I didn't want a black bean soup, or a tortilla soup, or even a red Mexican soup. So tomatillos came to mind, and roasted green chilies...and I was off!

The recipe posted here is what I came up with. I am pleased with the results, especially when my husband said it is now one of his top favorite soups ever. The rest of the family really enjoyed it too.

I like to stock my pantry with some Mexican staples, which makes putting this soup together very quick and easy.

This soup has a lot going on. It is loaded with goodies. It has a nice tang and brightness from the tomatillos and lime, and is accented with a touch of sweetness to balance out the flavor of the roasted peppers. It also has an appealing smoky depth from the chipotle and smoked paprika. And we always love what caramelized onions bring to the party, right?

Here is a tip about caramelizing onions more quickly and creating a more flavorful result: 
Add a pinch of baking soda, and for the best flavor a pinch of salt while you are sauteing the onions. They will brown faster and have superior flavor this way. The baking soda changes the pH in a way that affects something called the Maillard Reaction (the browning process). Now you know.

I created 2 soup varieties.: A dairy-free version and an extra creamy version. I served the extra creamy version.


Leila's Easy Chicken Chile Verde Soup (2 ways):

1-2 T. coconut oil and/or butter
A pinch of baking soda
4 large garlic cloves
1/2 t. smoked paprika
1/2 t. cumin
1/4 t. Mexican oregano
25 grinds black pepper, to taste
A pinch ground chipotle pepper, to taste
1/4 t. granulated garlic (or garlic powder)
1 4.25-ounce can chopped pitted black olives
1 7-ounce can Fire Roasted Diced Green Chilies  (La Victoria brand has the best roasted flavor)
1 15-ounce can crushed tomatillos (like Hatch brand)
1 15-ounce can Great Northern beans (white beans), undrained
1 28-ounce can green chile enchilada sauce (like El Paso brand)
1 29-ounce can Mexican Style Hominy (like Juanita's brand), drained
1 quart home made chicken stock, or organic boxed chicken stock
1/4 c. good quality white wine, optional
2 t. BioSalt or sea salt
1/2 t. onion salt
Shredded chicken meat (about a pound), to taste
1 lime, juiced
3 T. Brown Just Like Sugar and/or raw honey (I used 2 T just Like Sugar and 1 T. honey) *

1 block (8-ounces) Neufchatel or cream cheese, optional for the creamy version of this soup


Garnishes:

Minced cilantro
Avocado slices
Mexican cheese
Diced ripe tomatoes
Sour cream
Smoked paprika


Method:

Saute the onion in the oil, adding a pinch of baking soda and a pinch of BioSalt to caramelize the onions faster.

Smash the garlic with some of the salt called for and add to the almost finished onions. Saute.

Add the smoked paprika, cumin, Mexican oregano, garlic powder, fresh ground black pepper, and chipotle powder. Saute until fragrant to bloom the flavors of the spices.

Add all of the canned goods and chicken stock and let the soup simmer about 30 minutes or so. The soup will thicken slightly.

Add the cooked and shredded chicken meat.

To make the creamy version of this soup: Cut up the block of Neufchatel or cream cheese into cubes and stir into the soup, and let simmer a few minutes to let the cheese melt, stirring to speed the melting process. Turn down the heat so that the soup doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan.

Add the rest of the BioSalt called for and the juice of 1 lime.

Add the Just Like Sugar and/or raw honey. If using honey, add just before serving so that you don't boil the honey. Taste the soup and adjust seasonings if needed.

Serve hot with garnishes of choice.


Note: You may also use Lakanto's golden zero-calorie granular sweetener instead of Just Like Sugar.


Tip: I think a lovely appetizer would be my Chili"s Copy Cat Salsa recipe and corn chips!

Get your ingredients ready.

Caramelizing the onions.

Adding the canned ingredients to the soup.

The finished Dairy-Free Chicken Chile Verde Soup (not the creamy version).

The Dairy-Free Soup Version garnished and ready to eat.

The Creamy Chicken Chile Verde Soup is finished (with the cheese added).

The Creamy chicken Chile Verde Soup is served.

How I like to smash my garlic, releasing the maximum amount of flavor oils.

Brown Just Like Sugar (a healthy sugar-free brown sugar replacement).

Enjoy,

Leila.


P.S.   In case you were curious about how my sugar-free candy testing is coming out...

Sugar-Free Hand Wrapped Vanilla Caramels.

Fluffy Sugar-Free Vanilla Marshmallows.

Author, Leila.