Chicken Salad

The Occasion: Various. I love making this. It's easy and perfect to keep in the fridge for lunch all week. It's especially wonderful on homemade bread.

The Recipe: Improvised

How it Went: Don't be afraid to do this your own way. It's not a science. I usually eyeball it and it comes out fine.

What You Need:
3-4 C cooked chicken (about 2 breasts)
1 C pecan halves
2 C grapes
4 stalks celery, ends chopped off
ranch dressing
mayonnaise

Your Turn:
Cook 2 chicken breasts (or more). Again, my favorite way is in the crock pot. Cook it all day with some mixed herbs (basil, pepper, thyme) just enough broth to cover it. When it's done, while it's still warm, put it immediately in a large stand-up mixer and turn it on low for just a few passes of the paddle. The chicken will be perfectly shredded. (I describe this on my recipe for chicken pot pie.)

Wash the 1 C grapes. Quarter each one into tiny wedges.

Wash the 4 stalks celery. Cut each stalk lengthwise into three or four strips, then dice each strip into small pieces.

Even a little smaller than this would be good.

Heat a small skillet over low heat until warm. Toss in 1 C pecan halves. Let them roast a few minutes, then stir with a wooden spoon and roast a few more minutes, just until you hear them sizzle or smell that wonderful roasted nut aroma. When they're done, dump them onto a paper towel to cool for a few minutes, then chop them small.

In a large mixing bowl, combine:

• shredded chicken
• quartered grapes
• diced celery
• chopped pecans

Now add:

• 1/4 C mayonnaise
• 3/4 C ranch dressing

These are approximate, so go light at first, then add more as you need it. If you prefer a more mayo-y chicken salad, you might like to use less ranch dressing. I think the ranch makes it so flavorful!

Serve on homemade white bread, 12-grain bread, soft rolls, or eat plain.

Suggestions for adaptations:

• add diced water chestnuts
• use slivered almonds instead of the pecans
• try another kind of dressing, maybe sweet vidalia onion or caesar?

Be adventurous and let me know what you think!

Crescent Calzones

The Date: 23 January 2012

The Occasion: I thought Husband would like these and they looked like a fun challenge.

The Recipe: From a birthday gift, a Pillsbury Cookbook from Mom.

How it Went:
We both really liked these! The instructions weren't quite detailed enough for me, in terms of how you closed and sealed up the calzones, but I figured it out. I thought these looked mighty small and was worried about 4 of them being enough. But we each had just one! The other two were lunches for the next day. I'd definitely make these again.

What You Need:
sausage
bell pepper
onion
Italian seasoning
crescent rolls
tomato sauce
mozzerella or Italian blend shredded cheese
pepperoni
egg

Your Turn:
Preheat the oven to 375 and spray a cookie sheet with PAM. Set aside.

Slice two sweet Italian sausage links down the side and peel off the casing. Break up the sausage meat and cook it in a medium skillet with 1 bell pepper, chopped (any color) and 1/2 a yellow onion, chopped. Sprinkle with Italian seasoning. Cook until meat is no longer pink, stirring occasionally to break up sausage.

I bought a lb of the sweet Italian sausage links which was 5 links. The recipe asked for a 1/2 lb, but the two links were actually more than enough! I used a yellow bell pepper because it's what I had, but green would be good too, if not better. You could put mushrooms in also, if you like that. 

On greased cookie sheet, open one 8 oz package of crescent rolls. Unroll the dough and separate it into four 7" x 4" rectangles. (Each rectangle will be made of two triangles. Press together at the seam to seal.)

Spread about 1 T of tomato sauce (4 T tomato sauce in total) on each rectangle. Then top each with about 2 T shredded mozzarella or Italian blend cheese (1/2 C shredded Italian cheese in total).

These could have had a bit more cheese on them.

On each rectangle, place a few pepperoni slices. I had room for three on each. Then top half of each rectangle with a spoonful of the sausage/onion/pepper mixture. Not too much, or you'll never get the calzone to close!

This is actually a little too much filling. You have to fold the calzones in half next, so don't pack it too full!

Now, fold half of the calzone over onto the part with the filling. Seal the edges together with a fork. You might need to do some extra pressing on the seam too. Mine were splitting open. Poke some holes in the top with a fork too.

Beat one egg with a fork. Brush egg on top of each calzone and sprinkle the top with some Italian seasoning.

They look pretty messy at this stage...

Bake at 375 for 15 to 20 minutes, until golden brown on top.

Serve with salad.

Just like the pizza shop makes!

Peppered Pork Sandwiches

The Date: 11 January 2012

The Occasion: Nothing special, just an easy dinner for a Wednesday night.

The Recipe: From this Betty Crocker book. The recipe calls this Peppered Pork Pitas, but I use sandwich rolls instead of pitas.

How it Went: I mentioned this recipe briefly several months ago on my other blog, and I've made it a couple times since then. It's very easy, and the only successful way I've found to make pork. It would be great with sliced cucumbers, but tonight we just had it with a little salad. There's an optional dressing (described below) that you can make, or it would be good with sour cream.

What You Need:
pork chops
olive oil
red bell pepper
rolls
for dressing
mayonnaise
milk
garlic

Your Turn:
Chop 1/2 of a red bell pepper into strips.

Trim the fat from 1 lb boneless pork loin chops, then cut them into narrow strips.

In a bowl, toss the pork and the peppers with 2 T olive oil and 1/2 tsp black pepper. In the meantime, warm up a medium-sized skillet on the stove.

Dump the pork and peppers into the skillet and cook, stirring occasionally, until pork is cooked through, about 10 minutes.

In the meantime, mix up your dressing.

• about 1/3 C mayonnaise
• about 2 T milk
• 1 fresh garlic clove, minced

Also, take a minute to toast your rolls just slightly. Since you'll be topping them with hot pork, they will be apt to turn mushy if you haven't firmed them up a bit.

When the pork is ready, spread one side of the roll with dressing (or sour cream, if you don't feel like making the dressing) then top that with the pork and peppers, and serve! Cucumbers, carrot sticks, or grapes would be a fitting side with this. Or a fresh green salad. 

Enjoy!

Turkey Soup and Pesto Olive Grilled Cheese

The Date: 28 November 2011, but we ate the leftovers tonight.

The Occasion: Nabbed some leftover turkey from Aunt Ruth's on Thanksgiving.

The Recipe: From foodnetwork.com, this recipe for Turkey Soup with Egg Noodles and Vegetables.

How it Went:
I thought it was a success. I love anything made with thyme and bay leaves, so this was a sure winner for me. Soup is so easy and flexible. This one is definitely worth making again.

What You Need:
cooked turkey (or chicken), shredded
olive oil
onions or leeks
carrots
celery
garlic
bay leaves
thyme
salt
pepper
chicken broth
egg noodles

Your Turn:
Heat about 2 tsp olive oil in a large soup pot. Saute in the oil

• 2 leeks (or 2 small yellow onions), chopped
• 2 carrots (or a handful of baby carrots), chopped
• 2 stalks of celery, chopped
• 1 garlic clove, minced

until they are soft.

Add

• 3-4 C cooked leftover turkey (I added some chicken I had too)
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 tsp dried thyme
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 6-8 C vegetable or chicken broth 

and stir to mix well.

Bring to a boil.

Reduce heat to medium-low and let simmer 10 minutes, partially covered.

Return to a boil and add 6 oz of egg noodles.

Let simmer just until egg noodles are tender, about 5 minutes.

Remove from heat and discard bay leaves.

Enjoy!

This is quite good with sandwiches. Tonight I made Pesto Olive Grilled Cheese.

Butter one side of each slice of bread, as for normal grilled cheese. 

Place bread butter-side-down and spread a bit of pesto sauce on one slice.

Place a piece of provolone cheese on each slice of bread.

On one, spread a layer of thinly sliced olive pieces. 

Now, put the slices together. Your sandwich should be stacked: butter, bread, pesto, cheese, olives, cheese, bread, butter. 

Grill over medium heat in a skillet for a few minutes on each side. Slice to serve.