Chicken Poppyseed Pasta Salad

This is my absolute favorite summer salad. It's my first choice to bring to potlucks or picnics because it is easy to make and it's just different enough to make it special. The first time I ate it was at a potluck for our department at grad school. I scooped myself a small portion because sometimes that's the safest thing to do at a potluck and ate a bite and went back for more. And more. And more. Finally when it was embarrassing how often I was re-visiting the food table I made it my mission to find out the recipe so I could make my own and eat as much as I wanted in the privacy of my own home. And oh boy, have I ever.

The salad uses your favorite pasta shape, in my case farfalle, cooked and strained. I usually rinse the pasta with some cold water to cool it down faster and keep it from sticking together.

While the pasta is cooking, chop up some green onions . . .

. . . and some cooked chicken and almonds.

Add those to the pasta bowl with dried cranberries.

Then, add some poppyseed dressing. If you have a favorite poppyseed dressing recipe, by all means make it and use it here. I still haven't found a recipe I like as much as this:

It's sweet and oniony and creamy and works really well for this recipe. Add to taste in the pasta salad. I use about a whole 12 oz. bottle. If you are making it ahead of time, you might want to reserve a little bit to add right at the end because the pasta soaks up some of the extra liquid and makes it less creamy if it sits in the fridge for more than a few hours. 

Stir it up and serve.

Chicken Poppyseed Chicken Pasta Salad

Ingredients:

1 box (12-16 oz) pasta

2 cups chopped cooked chicken

1/4 cup chopped green onion

1/2 cup chopped almonds

1 (6 oz) package dried cranberries

1 1/2 cups creamy poppyseed salad dressing

Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and rinse under cold water to cool. Add remaining ingredients and stir.

Peanut Buster Parfait Ice Cream Cake

About 4 years ago, Nicole and I decided to have a "Dessert Cook-off" with all of our closest friends. We chose 4 un-biased judges and we arranged for everyone bring their "dessert of choice". Well the desserts were absolutely decadent but the first place winner was Nicole's dessert--a Peanut Buster Parfait Ice Cream Cake. Well as it turns out my husband comes from a family that does NOT mess around with your average cakes (bless their hearts, but I'll always love a good yellow cake with thick butter-cream chocolate frosting!!). No for birthdays they only have icecream cakes. Well, I don't know if any of you have bought an icecream cake lately, but they are EXPENSIVE! AND unless if you get the new Blizzard cakes (yes we are speaking of Dairy Queen) they are really quite bland--with the exception of that yummy thin layer of chocolate cookie crumbs and chocolate syrup. SO when my father-in-law had a birthday yesterday I wanted to bring an icecream cake and Nicole's award winning Peanut Buster Parfait cake came to mind. However, I didn't have her exact recipe on hand so I searched online and found one that was very similar--(taken from cooks.com). Update: Nicole says this is the award winning recipe.

Peanut Buster Parfait--

1 lb Oreo Cookies (crushed. Don't crush these in a blender because if they are too fine they freeze into a solid mass that is hard to cut.)

1/2 cup Butter (melted)

1/2 gallon Vanilla Icecream

1 1/2 cups Peanuts (get the salted, for that really yummy salty sweet combo)

1 cup semi-sweet Chocolate Chips

1 cup Powdered Sugar

1/2 cup Butter

1 can evaporated Milk

1. Take your icecream out of the freezer and let it sit out until it is really melty but not quite liquid.

2. Mix your crushed (I just throw the whole package into my food processor and pulse away)cookies and melted butter.

3. Press into a 9x13 pan. (Or 10 inch springform pan)

4. Slice ice cream into 1 inch thick pieces and layer on top, cutting into smaller pieces and smooshing with your hands to fill in any gaps. (Yes, smooshing is a real word.)

5. Sprinkle peanuts over icecream and put in freezer.

6. Just before the the icecream is again frozen, start the sauce-you have to let the sauce totally cool which also takes about 30-45 minutes.

7. In a medium saucepan add chocolate chips. butter, evaporated milk, and powdered sugar. Mix well and bring to a boil. Once sauce comes to a boil, stir constantly for 8 minutes. Take off burner and let cool, completely. (I pour the sauce into a chilled bowl for a speedier cool-down).

8. Once your sauce is cooled down, pour over frozen icecream and put back in freezer for dessert to set. Let freeze for 2-3 hours.

9. Get your taste buds ready for a dessert that explodes in your mouth with yumminess.

Chipotle Chicken Taco Salad

As Trisha mentioned earlier, I just love salads. I don't know what it is about them, but the mixture of tastes and textures is just wonderful to me. I especially love this chicken taco salad because 1) I just can't master eating tacos out of a shell without spilling food all over myself and 2) chipotle chiles are delicious. If you haven't had a chance to use them before, they are a hot, smoked pepper that you can get canned in a yummy adobo sauce. They are in most supermarkets near the enchilada sauce and canned jalepenos. If you are unlike me and can actually eat hot food without turning red and sweat pouring down the side of your face, you could probably increase the amount of chipotle peppers in this recipe. Me, I always chop up the full amount and add it in slowly so I don't make it too hot to eat. I also cut open the peppers and remove the seeds because I'm just the wimpy. They have a great flavor, though, and help balance out the cilantro so I don't suggest skipping them altogether, even if you are a wimp like me.

The recipe goes together pretty fast. Chop up your chipotle peppers.

 

Mix the peppers with light sour cream, cilantro, cumin, chile powder, lime juice and salt.

Stir together.

In a large bowl combine romain lettuce, cooked chicken, tomatoes, corn, black beans and avocado.

Mix the dressing in with the salad and serve immediately. I like to serve mine with chips, and sometimes even break up the chips and mix them right into the salad. If you are feeling naughty, a cup of shredded cheddar cheese also tastes great in here, too.

Dressing amounts:

1/3 cup chopped cilantro
2/3 cup light sour cream
1 T minched chipotle chiles in adobo sauce
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp chile powder
4 tsp fresh lime juice
1/4 tsp salt

Salad amounts:
1 head of romaine lettuce, shredded
2 cups chopped grilled chopped chicken
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
1 avocado, diced
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can yellow corn, rinsed and drained

Root Beer Float Cookies

I love baking cookies. I love it so much that once when my husband's aunt asked me to make 500 of them for her daughter's wedding, by end of the conversation it was me who was thanking her. I have a good sized collection of my absolute favorites that I make most of the time, but sometimes I want something a little different from the normal chocolate chip cookie or snickerdoodle. That's where these cookies come in. I saw some root beer extract in my cupboard one day and thought, "What would that do in a cookie?" The answer, an hour or so later, was that it would make a yummy root beer float flavored cookie that I couldn't eat just one of. It's a fun recipe for a picnic or potluck or any time you want a root beer float without the brain freeze. It also makes some killer ice cream sandwiches.

Anyway, you start by creaming a couple sticks of unsalted butter with white and brown sugar. Add an egg and mix until fluffy.

Add in a couple tablespoons of milk, oil, vanilla, and the secret (but not really that secret) ingredient . . .

Root Beer concentrate. You can find this in the spice and flavorings section of most grocery stores. If you get yourself some dry ice and sugar at the same time you can make root beer with the leftover concentrate. Or you can just save it for more cookies, or go crazy and make some root beer cupcakes. Hmmm.....

Mix in some flour, baking soda, salt and cream of tartar.

Stir in some white chocolate chips

Drop by rounded tablespoonful on a cookie sheet and bake about 10 minutes at 350.

Then try not to eat them all at once. . .

They also make some killer ice cream sandwiches.

Root Beer Float Cookies

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup packed light brown sugar

1 large egg

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 T milk

1 tsp vanilla

1 T plus 2 tsp root beer concentrate

3 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp cream of tartar

1 tsp baking soda

1/8 tsp salt

1 1/2 cup white chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350. Place butter and sugars in large bowl. Using electric mixer at medium speed, cream. Beat in egg. Continue to beat until mixture is fluffy. Beat in oil, milk, vanilla and root beer concentrate.

2. In a large bowl whisk together flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt. Add to butter mixture and mix until combined. Fold in vanilla chips.

3. Drop ~2 T of dough at a time onto ungreased cookies sheets. Bake 10 min. Let cool five minutes on the cookie sheet and them remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

Recipe Source: HeatOvenTo350

Raspberry Walnut Salad

So last time that I posted, I mentioned that one of my favorite things about summer is the fresh fruit (namely blueberries). Well I'd like to add on to that list of favorite things, and no I'm not going to start singing about rain drops on roses and blue satin sashes (although I do love those things too ;o) ). No, I'm going to add fresh salads to my list of summer favorites. Now, if you are like Nicole (the other author of this blog) you eat and love salads year around, every day, 360 days a year! I'm not kidding folks, Nicole is one of the healthiest people you'll ever meet! She's actually been a huge influence on my loving salads! Mostly because like many of you, she's discovered that salads aren't just iceburg lettuce, a few tomatoes, and your choice of dressing. No, no, no. Salads can be anything that you love on a bed of your favorite greens. Did you know that there are at least a dozen different kinds of lettuce sold at each of your local grocery store (and don't even ask how many there are at your local farmers' market because let me just say, LOTS!). Anyway, after I had my baby almost a year ago I got addicted to one salad in particular--it's delightful and light (I was able to skim off a bunch of the extra baby pounds eating it for lunch every day) and there several different ways you can change it up to your liking. But the variation that I'm going to give you today is Raspberry Walnut salad over a bed of spinach. Also you can serve it up side some chicken or pork for dinner, or you can eat it alone for lunch because it really is quite filling. So here you are:

Raspberry Walnut Salad

(Serves 4-6 depending on the size of portions you give to each person)

4 cups Spinach leaves

1/2 cup Walnuts, roasted

1 small Red Onion, thinly sliced

1 small can Mandarin oranges

1/2 cup Feta Cheese (or your favorite goat cheese, crumbled)

Wishbone Light Raspberry Walnut Vinaigrette Dressing--drizzle to taste

1. Clean and dry 4 cups of packed fresh spinach leaves (Do NOT use frozen spinach for this salad). I've also tried this salad with Romaine lettuce (which I actually used for the pictures) and it is still jam packed with delicious flavors. Put greens in a salad bowl.

2. Chop 1 cup of walnuts. In a skillet over low heat, pour about 1 tsp of olive oil and allow to heat up. Then pour walnuts into skillet and cook until they are warmed up. A good way to test when they are done is just when they are fragrant--be careful though b/c they can burn super fast so just keep a close eye on the nuts. Take off the heat and pour into the spinach.

3. Crumble your feta and pour into greens and nuts.

4. Drain mandarin oranges and pour into your feta, greens, and nuts.

5. Wash, peel, and thinly slice 1 small red onion. Put into oranges, feta, greens, and nuts. (Is any particular nursery rhyme coming to anyone's mind yet? I'm sorry, I can't help myself ;o) )

6. Toss ingredients and drizzle the vinagairette over the top. If you are wondering why I didn't put an amount it's because you just drizzle to taste. If you like your salad saturated, pour it on heavy. If you like the dressing to be more of a background taste, then go light on the drizzle.

Enjoy!

Avocado Chicken Salad Sandwiches

Despite being the longest spring ever (we had snow just two weeks ago!) summer arrived this week with a bang. It suddenly went from chilly, wet weather to dry, hot summer days. Along with the change in seasons went my desire to bake things in the oven. It could be that my mom has drilled this idea in my head ever since I was little. We didn't have air conditioning growing up and I remember her making a big deal of not using the oven in the summer because she didn't want to heat up the kitchen. I don't know if it is because of that or just a natural occurrence, but when summer rolls around I crave fresh foods that require very little baking. Avocado chicken salad sandwiches fit that description perfectly. I don't think you can go wrong when you add avocado to anything, and I think cilantro makes everything taste fresh. Throw in a side of fresh fruit, some lemonade and a sunny day and you've got yourself a perfect summer lunch or dinner.

Start with cubed, cooked chicken and add some chopped cilantro.

Mix in cup mayo, (go ahead and use light mayo if you prefer.) salt and pepper to taste.

Add in one avocado, cubed in 1/2 pieces. If you are feeling really crazy, you could mix in some chopped fresh mango at this point if you wanted. I know, crazy. But a good kind of crazy.

Build sandwiches with lettuce on one bread slice, topped with 1/4 of the chicken salad mixture and the other slice of bread.

Avocado Chicken Salad Sandwiches
From Cooking Light

3 cups cubed cooked chicken
1/4 cup mayonnaise
2 T chopped fresh cilantro
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp black pepper
1 avocado, cubed
4 lettuce leaves
8 bread slices, toasted

1. Combine the first five ingredients in a medium bowl. Add salt and pepper to taste. Gently stir in avocado until combined.

2. Place 1 lettuce leaf on a slice of bread. Top with a quarter of the chicken salad mixture. Top with another bread slice and repeat three times.

Chicken Enchiladas

My husband is a picky eater. He hid this from me when we were first dating and pretended he loved everything I cooked for him. Just about the time I was starting to feel lucky that I was dating someone who was adventurous with food as I was, he started to feel comfortable enough in the relationship to share his food quirks. His many, many food quirks. One of which is that he hates everything with tomatoes in it. No spaghetti sauce, no lasagna, no nothing. He loves Mexican food, though, so a while back I decided to try a chicken enchilada recipe I love with green enchilada sauce since it is made with tomatillas and not tomatoes. It turned out even better than with regular sauce and my husband loved it. In fact, I would venture to say this is his favorite dish that I make. Sometimes he's even been known to take seconds, which is a rarity. I love it because it's easy, makes use of leftover cooked chicken and can be made ahead of time and stuck in the fridge until baking.

Chicken Enchiladas

(modified from America's Test Kitchen)

Ingredients:

3 cup shredded cooked chicken

2 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

1 1/2 cups green enchilada sauce

1-2 cans chopped green chiles, drained

~15 (6 inch) soft corn tortillas

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees. Combine the chicken, 2 cups of the cheddar, 1/2 cup of enchilada sauce and chiles in a medium bowl. Add salt and pepper to taste.

2. Microwave stacked corn tortillas covered with a few layers of damp paper towels until pliable, 1-2 minutes.

3. Add 1/4 cup of filling to each tortilla, roll up tightly and place seam side down in a 9x13 inch baking pan coated with non-stick spary. 

4. Lightly spray the tops of the enchiladas with more non-stick spray, and pour remaining 1 cups enchilada sauce over the enchiladas. Sprinkle 1/2 cup cheddar cheese down the middle of each row of enchiladas and cover with foil.

5. Bake until enchiladas are heated through, 20-25 minutes. Remove foil and bake until cheese melts completely and starts to brown, about 5 minutes longer. Serve.

Big Beautiful Muffins

'Tis the season for fresh fruit! One of my favorite fresh fruits by FAR are blueberries, but they are soooo expensive that I typically wait for them to go on sale and then snatch up a whole bunch. I then come home, clean them all (my sink is usually half full) and then I eat them until my eyes turn blue and freeze the rest. That is the rest with the exception of a cup and half which I set aside for homemade Blueberry Muffins--YUM! Now, if you are a person that buys the box blueberry muffins that you open the canned blueberries that are the size of peas--you NEED to try these. Just trust me, once you've had a muffin with fresh plump, juicy blueberries, you'll never ever go back to the box ones. Plus, when you make muffins, they really shouldn't be the color of the berry ie: Blueberry muffins shouldn't be blue!! Only the actual berry is allowed to be blue! This recipe is from America's Test Kitchen (yes, 90% of my recipes are from this book because hey I really do agree that these people test tons of different ways to make a recipe until it's basically perfection).

Big Beautiful Muffins

3 cups All Purpose Flour

1 cup Sugar

1 tablespoon Baking Powder

1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda

1/2 teaspoon Salt

1 1/2 cups whole or low-fat yogurt (you can also use whole or low-fat sour cream)

2 large Eggs

8 tablespoons Butter, melted and cooled

1 1/2 cups your favorite Berry (I used blueberries this time)

1. Heat Oven 375 degrees and grease a 12 cup muffin tin

2. Whisk flour, sugar, baking powder,baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. In seperate bowl mix yogurt and eggs. Gently fold the yogurt/egg mixture into flour mixture. HUGE note here: with muffins, the less you mix the batter, the lighter and fluffier the muffin will be. Next mix in your melted butter.

3. In yet another bowl, mix cleaned berries with a tablespoon of flour. This is so that your berries don't all sink to the bottom. Once the berries are all flour coated, gently fold into your batter with as few turns as possible. Batter will be very thick--thicker than box muffins batter.

4. Using a greased 1/3 cup measuring cup (I used a greased big icecream scooper) fill muffin tins.

5. Here's an option, you can top muffins with a crumble or just a cinnamon/sugar mixture to make the muffin tops extra yummy. Just an option.

6. Bake muffins on 375 for 20-25 minutes. Then let cool in tins for 5 minutes and then for 10 minutes on some wire racks.

7. Eat, yummy yummy fresh blueberry muffins.