Chicken Salad

With spring fast approaching, I am longing for the picnics and cookouts of warmer weather, instead of the bitter cold and snow we've been seeing.  So I decided I would have a little indoor "picnic" and make myself some chicken salad!  It's so simple, but so dang delicious!!

This recipe is really straightforward, and there is room to make it your own.  Adam hate anything mayo related, so I always make his with greek yogurt, but I like mine with the tanginess of miracle whip light.  Plus, the ingredients are all healthy and good for you!

Recipe

-  Two fully cooked chicken breasts

-  1/4 cup dried cranberries

-  1/3 cup walnuts

-  1/2 cup of celery

-  1/2 tsp of lemon juice

-  1/2 tsp of salt 

-  1/2 tsp pepper

-  1/2 cup of Miracle Whip Light or Greek Yogurt

1)  Roughly chop up cranberries, walnuts, and celery.  Set aside in large mixing bowl

2)  Cut chicken breasts into 1/4-1/2 inch pieces (whatever size you would like for your salad)

3)  Put chicken into mixing bowl with dried ingredients.  Add the rest of the ingredients and mix until thoroughly coated.

4)  Chill and enjoy!

List a Week No. 1

One of my New Year's resolutions was to be more thankful for what I have in my life.  Sometimes I'm a little too hard on myself (I think we all are) and I wanted to put forth an effort to record the good things I take for granted so I could have a tangible reminder.  Low and behold, I came across a wonderful project by Moorea Seal called "52 Lists."  Each week, there's a different list to write, and at the end of the year you can put them in a book or just look over them and reminisce.  What a great idea!  It's perfect!

I'm obviously coming to the game a little late, so you'll probably be getting a few lists here and there throughout the weeks.  It was really fun to get started.  The first week was "Words That Touch Your Soul."  Here mine are:

What do you guys think? Would you make a weekly list?  Do you already?  Have a great Thursday!

What I'm Listening To

I love Bon Iver.  His music is so peaceful and calming.  Have you heard the cover of Skinny Love by Birdy?  I'm quite infatuated with this song...I could literally listen to it five times a day!  And can you believe she is only 16?!  So jealous!

Benson First Friday: March Edition

Last Friday was March 1st, so it was once again time for Benson First Friday!  As always, it did not disappoint, and the night was filled with laughter and awesome art.  Seriously, my cheeks hurt the next day!

I walked by a wonderful new antique/thrift shop on the southwest side of Benson.  I don't know the name of it, but it had the cutest window collections!

I mean, don't you want this chair?!

Then I made my way down to the Benson Theater to see what creativity was going on there.  They painted over an old mural and added this guy.  I think it's fairly accurate :)

A friend of mine, Bailey Ferguson, recently lived in Copenhagan, and her art was a reflection of her stay there.

I ran into a couple fools at Burke's and enjoyed their company for the night!  How can you not love this face?

Ladies to the green light, please!

The BFF masterminds, enjoying the end of the night!

Capped off the evening closing up the Sweatshop, which had boxing as their main event.

Pow! Smash! Bang!  Hope you had a great weekend and have a wonderful week!!

The Corky Canvas

Friday night before Benson First Friday, I headed to The Corky Canvas with Kelley and her friend Julie for a little wine and painting.  It's such a clever little idea!  Warm me up with a glass of vino, and of course I can paint!  Well, not really... as you can see my umbrella ended up a little wonky!  But it was really fun, and I would definitely go back (actually, I will go back, because I won a free class in a drawing!)

As you can see, they have a lot of different options for the classes.  

I wanted to steal this owl.  He's so cute!

Julie decided that the easel wasn't letting her paint to her fullest :)

My table got a little messy!

The finished product

A little Bob and Mona?

Have any of you guys gone to something like this?  Would you consider a night out at the art studio?

Pinned It, Tried It, And...

I've been craving soups lately, so I decided to try Thai Chicken Noodle Soup.  I made it during my weekend snowed in, and it made a deliciously huge pot of soup!  I'm still eating the leftovers.

As usual, I made some chef's changes on a few things, and it worked out wonderfully.I added red bell peppers, along carrots and a lot of extra cabbage.

I always recommend measuring everything out before you start the cooking.  Once you get started, it gets stressful to read and do everything on time!

Here is my altered version of the recipe:

       Thai Chicken Noodle

          1
 tablespoon sesame oil

            4
 cloves garlic, minced

            2
 teaspoons minced ginger

            1
 pound boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into 1-inch pieces

            1/2 
cup better than peanut butter (from Trader Joe's)

            1 
cup fire roasted tomatoes

            6
 cups vegetable broth (Better Than Bouillon)

            1
 tablespoon fish sauce (I would probably cut back on this next time)

            6
 ounces rice noodles

            2 1/2 
cups shredded green cabbage

            1 red bell pepper

            1 cup shredded carrots

- In three separate containers, mix vegetable broth, tomatoes and peanut butter, and ginger and garlic.  Cut up bell peppers and shred carrots

- In a soup pot, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the garlic, ginger and chicken. Cook 2 to 3 minutes, stirring occasionally, until chicken is no longer pink on the outside.

- Add tomato/peanut butter mixture to the soup pot along with the vegetable broth and fish sauce and bring to a boil.

- Add the noodles; reduce heat to a gentle simmer and cook 5 minutes. Stir in the cabbage, carrots and bell pepper and cook another 5 minutes.

Pinned it, Tried it, And...

In honor of snow-magedon coming our way, I stocked up at the the store and got ready for round two of Pinned it, Tried it, And...  I originally sent Adam to the store for a lot of the Asian things, but they can be difficult to find, and some things needed substitutions.  The first recipe I tried out was Coconut Chicken Curry.  As I said, I made some changes, so I can't say whether the exact recipe was fantastic or not.

I had a head of cauliflower, so I used that instead of broccoli, and my store was out of red curry paste, so I mixed a Thai sauce with tomato paste.

Not the clearest picture, but this is the chicken coated in the curry powder.

My altered recipe:

• 2 (about 1 pound) boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into 1" pieces
• 1 tablespoon curry powder
• 1 tablespoon peanut oil
• 1 head of cauliflower, broken up
• 3 cloves garlic, minced (I use the small jar)
• 1 teaspoon fresh ginger, grated
• 1 can light coconut milk
• 2 ½ tablespoons Thai Sauce
• 1 ½ tablespoons tomato paste
• ½ tablespoon cornstarch dissolved in 2 tablespoons cold water
• ½ teaspoon salt

1.     Heat peanut oil in a medium sauce pan, then add chicken pieces and curry powder.  Cook fully, about 5-8 minutes.  Set aside.

2.     Add a little more peanut oil to pan, and add cauliflower, garlic and ginger.  Mix for a few minutes, then add coconut milk and simmer for 5-8 minutes.  Then add Thai sauce, tomato paste, and salt, mixing it all with the coconut paste.  

3.     Add the chicken, bring to a boil, then simmer for a few minutes.  Finally, mix in the cornstarch mix and cook for a few more minutes to thicken the curry.  

Serve with some brown or white rice and enjoy!  

Adam and I added a lot of sriracha (we're spice fiends) and some parmesan (because we're weird).  It was tasty!  Adam said that he might have preferred it with the broccoli, because the cauliflower was a little bland, and I would say that adding the salt is necessary.  Next time I'll probably add more variety of vegetables (maybe some bell pepper and carrots) and a bit more curry paste mix.  And if you like spicy, I would put sriracha in when you add the curry mix.  Otherwise, it's a winner!