Rosemary Chicken Salad Sandwiches

I know The Sexy Blonde sent out a link to the recipe she used for the lovely chicken salad sandwiches she and AKJ served us on croissants at Girls' Adventure Weekend, but I know I'll forget that and look on here for it. So, here it is! :) Thanks, TSB!

Rosemary Chicken Salad Sandwiches

Dinner Tonight

Randy Mayor

Yield:5 servings (serving size: 1 sandwich)

Ingredients:

• 3 cups chopped roasted skinless, boneless chicken breasts (about 3/4 pound)
• 1/3 cup chopped green onions
• 1/4 cup chopped smoked almonds
• 1/4 cup plain fat-free yogurt
• 1/4 cup light mayonnaise
• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 10 slices whole-grain bread

Preparation

Combine first 9 ingredients, stirring well. Spread about 2/3 cup of chicken mixture over each of 5 bread slices, and top with remaining bread slices. Cut sandwiches diagonally in half.

Nutritional Information

Calories: 360 (29% from fat)

Fat: 11.6g (sat 2.1g,mono 3.5g,poly 1.8g)

Protein: 33.6g

Carbohydrate: 29.9g

Fiber: 4.4g

Cholesterol: 76mg

Iron: 2.9mg

Sodium: 529mg

Calcium: 104mg

Brandy Long, Cooking Light, APRIL 2005

Wednesday Fun #89 - Introducing "Accidental Hedonist"

First of all, isn't that a great name? Accidental Hedonist. Awesome.

This is a more-than-just-recipes sort of blog. Kate Hopkins also writes about restaurants, beer, whiskey/whisky (her book, 99 Drams of Whiskey just came out!), and food politics. She also has guest bloggers who do extended (I want to say year or half year long) stints with (I think weekly) regular posts.

She's currently exploring more about beer, beer styles, beer judging, beer making - both industrial and home brewing, etc. and thinking about writing a second book, this time about beer.

While not as practical/useful as some other food blogs out there, Kate's is definitely one that makes me think. She talks about food politics, the FDA, foodie/gourmet, price v. quality, food snobbery, the food distribution system, Big Food, etc. Check her out; I think you might like Accidental Hedonist.

Wednesday Fun #88 - Banned Veggies!

I came across this tidbit from the NPR blog... "British Captain Bans 'Devil's Vegetable' From His Ship." Yeah, I guess he's got a thing against Brussels sprouts. Now, I'm not a huge fan of the mini-cabbage-y things myself, but, you know, they are allowed in my house. We even got some in our CSA last year!

How about you? Any veggies you'd ban from your abode?

It's CSA time again! Yay! (CSA Year 2, Week 1)

Hooray! Today was our first CSA box of the year and I was so excited all day about it. I know, geek, but yay! Here's what we got...


The newsletter said you could just eat the pea tendrils in salad, as lettuce on sandwiches, etc. So we had it with some baby spinach for supper. It was... good, and very much tasted like peas. The green garlic can be used like scallions or garlic, and I found out that apparently you can eat radish greens, too. Huh.

My favorite moment was when I held up the popcorn and asked the girls, "What's this?" Penguin immediately said, "Pop-toen!" while Pumpkin said, "Oh! It's Popallovercorn!" Then she had to make sure I remembered how much fun it was when we put last year's popcorn on a cob in the microwave without it being in a paper bag and watched it pop all over the place inside the microwave. Good fun, good fun!

Wednesday Fun #87 - Cheesecake Toppings?

Ok, so I kind of had an idea, but then I read Pusher's recipe for cheesecake that she just posted, and it completely went out of my head in a flurry of cheesecake fantasies. *drool*

So, um, how do you like your cheesecake? Plain and simple so you can enjoy its absolute perfection? Topped with strawberries? Raspberries? Everything's better with a little chocolate drizzled over the top? Chocolate and caramel? Got a strong crust preference - traditional graham cracker or vanilla wafers or that chocolatey graham cracker kind? Tell us!



(Me? Any/all of the above... now make it magically fat and calorie-free, but still real food and tasty!)

Cheesecake

The anti-salad? Puck sent this recipe to his brother-in-law. Since he went to all the trouble of transferring it to electronic format, I thought I should post it up here as well. This is a lighter, fluffier cheesecake than is currently en vogue, but it's also pretty much my favorite ever. (Despite the fact that it never seems as good as when mom makes it.) It's originally out of the 1960-something Betty Crocker cookbook.

Mama B's Cheesecake

5 eggs, separated
1 cup sugar
1 lb cream cheese (room temp) in pieces
1 cup sour cream
2 Tbsp. Flour
1 tsp. vanilla

crust mix
1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs
1 Tbsp. sugar
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg

Butter 9" springform pan. Dust bottom and sides with crust mix then dump the rest.
Beat egg yolks until thick and lemon colored, gradually adding sugar.
Add cream cheese and beat until smooth.
Add sour cream, flour, and vanilla and beat until smooth.
Beat egg whites until stiff but not dry.
Gently fold whites into cheese mixture.
Pour into prepared pan.
Bake at 275 for 70 minutes, then turn off oven and leave in 1 hour without opening door (make sure it's done before you turn off oven).
Remove from oven and cool.
Remove cheese cake from pan just before serving.

Easy Pasta Salad

This is my favorite pasta salad - so easy and versatile.

1 package Wacky Mac
Salad Dressing - I'm partial to Newman's Own
Whatever looks good in the produce department
Whatever else you want to put in it

Cook the Wacky Mac in a dutch oven (big enough to cook the whole package at once). While the noodles are cooking, chop whatever vegetables, pepperoni, etc. that you want to put in it. When the noodles are done, run cold water over them to completely cool them before adding everything else. Pour salad dressing over everything and toss. Chill for at least an hour or so before serving. Or not.

Especially good in this salad:
Red, orange, and yellow peppers
Black olives
Parmesan cheese
Fresh green beans
Pea pods
Jicama

This salad is awesome to just have in the fridge, keeps for days, but never lasts that long.

Taco Salad Dip

This isn't really a salad, but the salad theme made me remember this. It always goes over very well at pot lucks, etc. Hope I'm remembering quantities right.

Mix together:
8 oz cream cheese
5-8 oz (small container or a bit less) sour cream
1/2 - 1 package taco seasoning (try using 1/2 the package first and add more if you think the flavor is too weak)

Place on bottom of 9" pie plate.

On top place aprox:
1 c. shredded lettuce
1/2 c shredded cheese (or to taste)
and about 1/4c-1/2 c salsa, scattered along the top.

Enjoy with tortilla chips.

Wednesday Fun #86 - Mooooo?

Yesterday, Pumpkin, Penguin and I went on a field trip with Pumpkin's 4K class. 'Cuz, you know, that's what you do during the last few days of school! (Pictures here.) We went to a local touristy farm where Pumpkin got to do something for the very first time! (And I'm pretty sure it was my first time, too...)

She got to milk a cow by hand!

Which leads me to my Wednesday Fun question (and poll, BTW)...

What's your favorite dairy product?

June Theme - Salads

Hellll-ooooo, springtime!

That's right - the days of sun and fun and frollicking in the grass are here! Who needs soups or stews or oven-cooked hot things now? We want easy-peasy dishes that we can just throw together from what's on hand after we come in from a few hours spent outside! Let's have nice, light, easy, yummy salads!

Ones like these!

• Quick Pickles from DiploWhat sound delicious and super-easy!
• Nectarine might call this Winter Salad, but I think it sounds yummy and substantial enough for a meal-salad.
• Her Easy, No-Prep Salad sounds perfect for when you've suddenly been invited to a BBQ and want to bring something more impressive than deli take-out...
• Looking for something a little Mediterranean? Try The Sexy Blonde's Roasted Bell Pepper Antipasto!
• Only 3 ingredients needed for DiploWhat's Tomato Snack. It makes me impatient for my garden tomatoes to start producing (in, like, what, weeks and weeks and weeks?!)!
• And while Diplowhat calls her Tahra's Tabbouleh "very yummy and filling," she does confess it will "leave you with bad breath." ;)

How 'bout you? What delicious salad-y sort of recipes do you have? Don't worry if it's a simple, not-a-real-recipe one - many salads are - we'd love to hear it!