Chicken Salad Sandwiches

Slow Cooker Saturday!

I've been making this recipe for years.  It's good for just our family or for feeding a whole crowd of people, which I've done many times.  I must have gotten the Fix It And Forget It cook book as a wedding gift (and crock pot of course) because I remember making Cranberry Chicken from it when we were first married and I was working full time.  I think if I got the book today I would have passed by this recipe because it's kind of funny and not something I would gravitate to now.  But  I'm glad I made it when I didn't know any better because it rocks!  At some point I made the chicken into chicken salad and it stuck.  I hope you like it too:)

Begin a day ahead by slow cooking the cranberry chicken.  

Place an onion and about 3 stalks of celery in the crock pot.  You can leave these cut pretty big, you won't use them in the final dish.

On top of that add 1 can whole cranberry sauce, 1 cup bbq sauce, salt & pepper.

Add in chicken, stirring to coat chicken in sauce.  Set heat to low and cook 4-6 hours.

When chicken is done place it in a bowl with some cooking liquid, cover and refrigerate overnight.

In the morning chop the cooled chicken...

add in chopped celery and craisins...

mayo, mustard plus more salt & pepper. Mix well.

This is what it'll look like, kind of a messy job:-/  Stick it back in the fridge until mealtime.  Before serving taste and adjust seasonings.

Cranberry Chicken

from Fix It And Forget It

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1 onion, chopped

3-4 celery stalks, chopped

1 can whole cranberry sauce

1 c bbq sauce

salt & pepper

Place onion & celery in the crock pot.  On top of that add cranberry & bbq sauces, salt & pepper.  Mix well.  Add in chicken and stir, making sure chicken is fully coated & submerged in sauce.  Set to low and cook for 4-6 hours.

Remove the chicken to a bowl along with some of the cooking liquid.  Cover and refrigerate over night.

In the morning take out your chicken and chop, place it back in the bowl.  Add to it 3-4 stalks of chopped celery, 1/2'ish cup craisins (to your liking) mayo, mustard, salt and pepper.  Using a wooden spoon (I have actually broken one of those soft spatulas trying to mix this thoroughly! You'll need some elbow grease here;) ) mix until the chicken is shredded and ingredients are thoroughly incorporated.  Place back in the fridge until meal time.  Before serving give it a taste.  I usually need to add a bit more mayo, salt & pepper.  You don't want it to taste like salt and pepper, but if seasoned right then you'll really just taste all the different flavors in the salad.

I like to serve this in a pita pocket with shredded lettuce, some cut up fruit and veggies on the side:)  Enjoy!

Asian Chicken Salad

Another chicken salad tonight for dinner? Yes!  I found this recipe through the tastespotting website (such a good resource if you haven't seen it yet).  The blog is from Donal Skehan, an irish blogger, photographer and cook.   He has beautiful pics, go check him out:)

Begin by gathering the ingredients to make marinade and dressing.  I use a produce bag for all the waste scraps, making cleanup much easier.

The chicken marinades while you assemble the salad, so get that together first, place the chicken in and set aside for about 20 minutes.  Finish the dressing, stir well and refrigerate til the salad is ready.  This salad has Napa Cabbage which you want to slice very thin.  Cut carrots into match sticks and cut sugar snap peas on an angle.

I'm grilling my chicken with a grill pan.  Brush it with canola oil and heat to medium high.  You know it's hot enough when a drop of water pops on the pan.  If your pan is too cold the chicken won't brown and it'll be very dry, but at the right temp it'll be moist inside and have lovely grill marks.

You can tell when it's ready to turn over when it releases easily from the pan, look at those grill marks:)

Remove to a plate and let it rest a minute or two before chopping it up.  Layer your salad with cabbage, carrots and peas on the bottom, a little dressing, chicken, chopped peanuts and chopped cilantro on top...yum!


Asian Chicken Salad
adapted from Donal Skehan

Marinade:
2 T soy sauce
juice of 1/2 lime
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 red chili, minced
1/2 thumb ginger, minced

Dressing:
3 T canola oil
1 T soy sauce
1 T peanut butter
juice of 1/2 lime
2 t honey
1 t sesame oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 red chili, minced
1/2 thumb ginger, minced

Salad:
2-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 head napa cabbage, washed and shredded
3 carrots, cut into matchsticks
1 c sugar snap peas, cut at angle
1/2 c peanuts, chopped
garnish with chopped cilantro

Combine ingredients for the marinade in a medium bowl and marinate the chicken while you prep and assemble the dressing and salad.  Combine dressing ingredients in a small bowl (I double this recipe) and stir well.  Refrigerate til ready to use.  Prep salad ingredients and toss in a large bowl, refrigerate.  Chop peanuts and cilantro and place in 2 small bowls, set aside.  Heat grill pan on stove top over medium-high heat, brush with canola oil.  Grill chicken 3-4 minutes on each side, or til cooked through, rest on a platter for a few minutes before chopping for salad.  Layer cabbage, carrots, peas, dressing, chicken, peanuts and cilantro and enjoy!

Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Last night we had chicken lettuce wraps for dinner.  We don't go out nearly enough to eat these as often as I like (which is a lot!) so after some google searching and combining of recipes to suit our tastes here's what I've come up with.  I hope you like it too:)


I begin with the lettuce.  It's the easiest to prep and can just chill in the fridge til dinner is ready.  Let me show you how easy it is to get the core out and wash it whole.

After harvesting a head of iceberg lettuce out of your organic garden (ahem), but before removing any of the outside leaves, with the core facing down give it a good solid slam on the counter.  It may take a couple times.

Turn the lettuce over and the core should easily pluck out.  Now remove the outside leaves that are tattered.

With the head of lettuce in tact and the core facing up run cold water into the lettuce, filling it up with water.  Turn over to drain, do this several times until any dust is flushed out.

Place in a bowl upside down in the fridge while you make the chicken filling.  Water will continue to drain and the cold air will crisp up the lettuce a bit.

Now that that's taken care of, move on to the filling ingredients.  As with any stir fry dish, you want to have all the ingredients prepped and ready to go once you begin cooking.  I have 1 small onion finely chopped, 1 small can water chestnuts drained and chopped, 2 cloves garlic minced, 1/3 cup of cashews chopped, and the stir fry sauce mixed and waiting.  On a separate plate I've diced 2 diced chicken breasts, no cross-contamination here please!

Add about 2 tablespoons of canola oil to a med-high heat saute pan with just a splash of sesame oil.  Once the oil is hot brown the chicken, then move to a clean plate.

Add a bit more oil to the pan along with the onions and a splash of soy sauce.  I love the smell of the soy sauce when it hits the hot pan as well as the instant color it gives to the onions, yum.  I'm already getting excited to eat!

After the onions cook down a couple minutes add in the garlic and stir just til it becomes very fragrant.  Not too long though, burned garlic is not good:(

Next stir in the chicken and stir fry sauce, and last the water chestnuts and cashews.  They don't need to cook, just warm through and combine with everything else.  I like to serve this with rice and lettuce, of course.


Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Chicken Filling:
2 chicken breasts, diced
1 head of iceberg lettuce
3 T canola oil
1 t sesame oil
1 c onion, diced
1 can water chestnuts, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 t soy sauce
1/3 c cashews, chopped

Stir Fry Sauce:
2 T soy sauce
1 T rice vinegar
1 T brown sugar
1" ginger, minced
1/8 t red pepper (1/4 for more heat)
1 t sesame oil

Combine ingredients for stir fry sauce in a small bowl, set aside.  Over medium high-heat brown chicken in 2 T canola oil and 1 t sesame oil, remove to a plate and set aside.  Add remaining 1 T canola oil to pan along with the onion and 1 t soy sauce.  Cook onions down a bit, then add garlic stirring for about 30 seconds.  Add back into the pan the browned chicken along with the stir fry sauce, water chestnuts and cashews.  Stir well and warm through.  Serve with whole lettuce leaves and sticky rice.  Enjoy!

Waldorf Salad

I'm so excited to share this salad with you!  It's definitely one of my favorite dinners.  I must be inspired by the HOT weather we've had over the weekend and this salad is at the top of the list!  A while back my husband and I were at California Pizza Kitchen and he ordered the Waldorf Salad.  It was so good that every time we went one - or both - of us would get it.  Now I make it pretty regularly and we all love it.  Here goes...

I started by making the candied walnuts.  If you haven't done this at home don't be afraid to try, it's not hard.  In a cold saute pan start with some white sugar, maybe 1/4-1/3 cup.  Place the pan over medium heat.  Stir occasionally with a silicone spatula.  While the sugar is going roughly chop some, 1/2 cup, walnuts and set aside in a bowl.

After a few minutes the sugar will melt and look like this.

Turn off the heat and quickly stir in the walnuts til they're completely coated in the sugar.

Before the candied sugar cools down pour the nuts on a silicone mat to harden.  If you don't have a silicone mat you can use wax paper, or even parchment paper on a cookie sheet.

Let the walnuts cool completely then break into pieces for your salad.

All that's left is assembling the salad, so easy and yummy on this hot, hot day:) Enjoy!

Waldorf Salad

roasted chicken in bite sized pieces
mixed greens
green apple, sliced
celery, sliced
red grapes cut in half
candied walnuts
blue cheese crumbles

Dressing

1 c mayonaise
3 T sugar
2 T apple cider vinegar

Whisk ingredients in a small bowl.  Refrigerate for 1 hour or til chilled.

California Chicken

It's Slow-Cooker Saturday!  Today I've made a dish called California Chicken that I found in a slow-cooker cook book that I have.  I haven't made it before, but it looked promising so I'm giving it a try.  The meat was tender and juicy, and the flavor a bit mild.  Mild is great for the kids (everything is too spicy for them it seems!) and the hubs asked for more peppers next time- not too bad for a first try though:)  I may kick up the flavors next time, hopefully the littles won't notice.

California Chicken
adapted from Fix It And Forget It Cook Book

3 lb chicken, quartered
1 c orange juice
1/3 c chili sauce
2 T soy sauce
1 T molasses
1 t dry mustard
1 t garlic salt
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 lg can mandarin oranges, drained
1 T apple cider vinegar
2 T corn starch

Place chicken in slow cooker.  In a bowl mix o.j, chili sauce, soy sauce, molasses, mustard and garlic salt.  Pour over chicken and cook on low for 8 hours.  Remove chicken to a bowl, cover and set aside.  Add in bell peppers, mandarin oranges and vinegar.  Make a water/corn starch slurry in a small bowl and add to the slow cooker, mix well.  Replace lid and set heat to high for 1/2 hour, till peppers are tender and sauce is thickened a bit.  Serve over white rice and enjoy:)

Baked Beans

One of my go to meals has to be hot dogs with baked beans.  As a kid I was not much of a hot dog fan, I mean processed mystery meat?  ewwww.  But then I had my first Hebrew National- yum.   And with a bowl of spicy, sweet baked beans you just can't go wrong.  This recipe comes from a good friend of mine.  She's a sweet lady who loves the Lord and her family, and her food shows it:)

Start with a good can of pre-made baked beans ( I use vegetarian- that goes back to my mystery meat aversion;) )

Add to it 1 finely chopped small onion along with the remaining ingredients.  Side note- chopped onions freeze well, so if you only have large onions save the remaining amount in a freezer bag for a later time.

Bake at 350F for 1 1/2 hours.  Served with a hot dog and some cut fruit and veggies and everyone in the family will be smiling.  I even got a big hug and "thank you mommy for the yummy dinner" from my littlest guy last night:)  Love it when that happens!

Baked Beans
from Geri Whelan


1 lg can baked beans
1/2 c ketchup
1 sm/med onion, finely chopped
1/4 t worcestershire (or more to taste)
1/2 t garlic salt
1/4 t pepper
1 c borwn sugar

Combine all ingredients in an oven safe dish.  Bake at 350F for 1 1/2 hours.  Enjoy!

Peach Crisp

Every summer I like to (have to) make some kind of peach pie or cobbler.  Where I live fresh peaches are available for most of the year, but in the summer they're big, juicy and super sweet!  I've tried slicing and freezing them for off season enjoyment, but it just wasn't the same.  I have canned them, but the work for the pay off wasn't really there for me (not to mention the amount of cuts on my hand trying to slice them after peeling the skins off).  So, I guess that leaves me to eat as much as possible while they're good.  Oh darn.

Today I made a peach crisp.  I was excited to try it since I'll normally make an apple crisp and use peaches in a cobbler.  I'm happy to say the peaches did not disappoint!

First, I made the crisp topping.  Place the flour, oatmeal, brown sugar and cold, cubed butter in a medium bowl.  Do you have this little guy in the back of your drawer and wonder what it's for?  Now's the time- cut the cold butter into the other ingredients.  If you're using an 8x8 pan you can easily double this topping recipe.

It should look like this when your done.  Set that aside.

Next, cube the peaches and place in a baking dish.  I used 5 peaches for this small dish, no need to remove the skins.  I left the cubes on the big size because they'll cook down a bit.  Once cubed add in sugar and corn starch.  Fold the sugar and cornstarch in gently since the peaches are super soft.  I like using cornstarch, rather than flour, in fruit dishes because it makes a really syrup-y consistency as it bakes.

And finally, add the crisp on top of the fruit.  Place in a 375F oven for about 30 minutes.

Look at that!  Fresh from the oven all brown and bubbly.  Delicious!

Fruit Crisp


topping:
1 c brown sugar
1 c oatmeal
1/2 c flour
1 stick cold butter, cubed

fruit:
8 peaches for 8x8 dish, cubed
1/2 c sugar (or less is your fruit is super juicy)
2 T cornstarch

Preheat oven to 375F.  Combine brown sugar, oatmeal and flour in a medium bowl.  Cut in butter til it resembles small peas.  Set aside.  Prepare fruit and place in baking dish.  Add in sugar and cornstarch, gently combine til sugar and cornstarch is evenly distributed.  Top with crisp and bake for 30-35 minutes.  ~Enjoy