It's Good to Eat Color

I didn't intend to make yesterday's lunch from So Easy, but I had all the ingredients for Cheddar-Apple Quesadilla (pg 26), so figured I might as well. Technically, this is in the breakfast section, but whatever. I blame this recipe, with it's full page photograph that my book always seems to open up to, for being one of the primary reasons I so quickly disregarded the collection when I first scanned it. I mean, it's just cheddar and apple slices melted together in a whole wheat tortilla. This warrants a recipe?? Granted, I never would think to put an apple in a quesadilla, but still. It seems to take "easy" and turn it into "too easy to be taken seriously."

Since I had everything I needed to make it, I figured I should stop grumbling about the stupidity of this recipe and just make it, or else it would bother me for the entirety of the month.

Shock of shocks, it tastes like cheese and apple in a whole wheat tortilla. Nothing interesting going on.

It is what it is.

Conclusion: Just okay. Good in a pinch, if you're starving and have minimal groceries on hand. Can't imagine making it otherwise.

Dinner was Chicken with Warm Tomato-Corn Salad (pg 144). The chicken portion of this dish is a shame. Thin-cut breasts, seasoned only with salt and pepper, are browned and cooked through. That's it. COME ON.

The Tomato-Corn Salad, on the other hand, was perfect. Fresh corn, halved grape tomatoes, garlic, and the whites and greens of scallions are cooked briefly--just long enough for the tomatoes to release their juices and the corn to warm up, but not lose any of its crispness. You're supposed to serve the chicken on top of the salad, and then top that with avocado, lime juice, and cilantro. I did't realize until I saw my pan full of glorious color that not only was so much of the food I cooked from Best International Recipe vegetable-deprived, but it was brown, brown, and more brown. Just looking at this salad brightened my day considerably. Shoot, looking at it now is cheering me up.

I could have eaten a big bowl of the salad by itself. No chicken necessary. I don't understand why Ellie made this pairing. If this salad were served with some shrimp quick-cooked with garlic and oil (my suggestion) or with a grilled london broil (Matt's suggestion), it would have been great. Even if the chicken were seasoned with some southwest spices, it would have improved things. I don't understand the deliberate decision to serve bland chicken on something that doesn't have a sauce.

Conclusion: Since I didn't like the chicken and I loved the salad, I'll meet it halfway and say Liked It. I'll be making the salad again, often, and will never make the chicken again.