Yvette's Chicken Salad

I saw a recipe for a chicken salad and decided I wanted to make one. After much discussion with my friend Yvette, this is what I ended up doing. And since most of it was her ideas, she gets the credit!

First, I made the Chicken Salad....
3/4 cup red/purple grapes, sliced in half or third
2/3 cup cashews sliced to tiny bits
1 12.5 oz canned chicken, drained, rinsed and cut finer than it comes
1/2 large granny smith apple, diced
2 stalks celery, sliced tiny
2 heaping spoonfuls miracle whip (a little more than 1/3 cup)
few grinds of black pepper

Then, I shredded some iceburg lettuce to bite size pieces in a bowl and drizzled with a mixture of olive oil and lemon juice. I mixed it in a measuring cup and by using more juice than oil, I had about 1/4 cup liquid, and with enough lettuce to serve three of us, I used maybe half the liquid. I mixed the lettuce and dressing together and put it on the plate, then a scoop of the chicken salad on top of that. Served it with a slice of cornbread and there was dinner! mmmmmmm!

(sorry for the lousy picture- it was late and dark...)

6/12/18 ETA: Most of the time we eat it on toasted bread as a sandwich and it is delicious!

Healthy little snacky-lunch!

ETA: I made it again and this time I took pictures!

I recently became a facebook "fan" of Walmart's Meal Solutions. This means that once a day they post some kind of budget-stretcher kind of meal. The other day they posted a snack that I had for lunch today! If this works, you can see the picture HERE. (altho you may need to scroll back to September 14)

You'll need 2 tortillas (whole wheat would taste better...), peanut butter, honey, and either a pear or granny smith apple*. That's it!

Spread the peanut butter all over the tortilla. Chop your apple or pear like french fries...long and thin, not slices. Lay them across the tortilla, running long ways, but sort of along a side. Drizzle with honey, wrap it up and ENJOY!

The recipe said to serve it with yogurt so I had a cup of yogurt with the apple wraps and water for lunch. It was just the right amount of food and so tasty!

*I used a granny smith apple because that's what I had. The recipe calls for pears. I don't think it matters much. :)

Banana Cake

Earlier this summer our neighborhood had a potluck dinner and our neighbor Jordan brought this cake. My husband had to work that night, but I saved him a little food since that was our dinner! We both loved this cake and had to get the recipe...but should a family of four eat a whole sheet cake?? Family reunions are great places to share good food, so this was our dessert contribution:

Banana Cake:
2 1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 cup sour cream
3/4 cup margarine
3 eggs
3 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 1/4 cup mashed bananas (around 3-5)
3 cups flour

Combine all ingredients and pour into an un-greased* sheet pan. Bake at 375* for 20 minutes. Cool completely and frost with the following:

Cream Cheese Frosting:
       (with a note that she doubles this, so I did too!)
1/2 stick margarine
4 oz cream cheese, softened
1 tsp vanilla
powdered sugar

Combine all ingredients, beat until creamy. Add enough powdered sugar to make the consistency of frosting. (I used about 3 cups) Cut cake into bars and serve!

It was a hit at the potluck, it was a hit at the reunion! YUM!

* I had a hard time believing it would come out of an un-greased sheet pan, so I went ahead and greased the pan with crisco. As the cake baked it pulled away from the sides of the pan, and you can see very, very little stuck. I'm sure it would come out of an un-greased pan, but do what you like.
** If you travel with it, frost it after you arrive!

ETA: 
- This makes a lot of batter. It's too much for my large mixing bowl and it is a bit too much even for my mixer. Also, maybe mix the butter with the sugar first because otherwise you end up with a block of butter thudding around the mixture... 

- I also added 6-7 minutes to the baking time in 2024. 

Summer Salad!

When I got married, my MIL gave me a few recipes. One was labeled "Favorite Summer Salad". The thing is, I am allergic to half the ingredients and hey, my husband loves to cook. So I had never made this until Sunday. We decided to make it because it feeds a lot of people and a family reunion lunch is a great time to feed a lot of people, lol. And since the kids don't like it and I can't eat it, he doesn't get it very often. This time he got to keep what was left.

Ingredients: (for this batch)
1 head cabbage, diced?
2 cucumbers, cut into 6ths and sliced thinly (about 6 inches long, about 1.5 inches diameter)
2 green bell peppers diced
6 roma tomatoes, diced
1 onion, finely chopped
1 cup miracle whip (approx)
salt & pepper

First, you cut the cabbage into very small pieces, put it all in a big bowl and use about 2 tsp salt and let it rest for half an hour or so, while you cut the other ingredients. After the veggies are all cut, mix it up, add the miracle whip and a little freshly ground black pepper and mix completely. Chill and let the flavors blend- enJOY!