Recipe Swap

In the same spirit of the "If God gives you time" posts, I also thought it might be nice to help you and help myself. Ever get really, really sick of eating the same thing, week after week? I think I get this from my mom. She's a great cook, but she's also a great collector. She's got a cabinet in her kitchen which is filled with papers...stacks and stacks of papers. Some cut from magazines. Some printed off the internet. Some from friends. All recipes that she just knows she'll get to one day. She also loves to try new things which did mean that we had some "amazing" combinations as I was growing up. (Was that nice enough, Mom?!)

It's also one of my greatest joys in being at home with Mom that she lets me cook! What's so special about that? Well...1) Mom and Stan buy the ingredients and they really love good food. That means I get to cook cuts of meat that I never even see at HEB! 2) I get kitchen prep help. Well, that's what I call it. Mom and Paula (my baby sister!) call it slave labor. 3) I don't clean. And any day without cleaning a kitchen is a good day. Especially after I cook. (I tend to make a bit of a mess.)

So, here's what I was thinking...I'll share a recipe each week that our family loves and that's easy enough to make for a weeknight dinner or toss together for a quick lunch or whip up for dessert when company's coming. Many of these recipes are from y'all anyway! In return, though, I'd love to hear back with more from you.

I'm going to start with a chicken salad recipe that is similar to one I saw my sister-of-my-heart, Katharine, make when she hosted a luncheon in her home. The only thing that's missing is the YUMMY dressing that she drizzled on top of it. She served it with cornbread muffins and fresh strawberries. And served fresh Georgia peach ice cream for dessert. It was so pretty and delicious. We made it the night before and plated it in no time as they sat down.

So, Katharine, in between feeding Lauren, chasing Henry and running with Emma Kate everywhere, think you could share the honey, poppyseed stuff with us? Hugs to everyone in GA, by the way...we're working on coming back!

Lemony Chicken Salad

1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 sour cream
1 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
2 lbs. chicken breasts, cooked and chopped
3 to 4 cups fruit: red and white grapes, crisp apple
1 cup chopped pecans, toasted
1 bag salad greens

Stir together mayo with next 4 ingredients in a large bowl. Cut grapes in half and dice apple. Add chicken and fruit to sauce. Toss well, cover and chill 1 hour. Stir in toasted pecans just before serving. Serve over salad and drizzle with a light, sweet dressing (Hopefully Katharine's!) like a poppyseed dressing or honey based.

Notes: Light ingredients work well, too. Instead of using just cooked chicken breasts, I usually roast a whole chicken that's been basted with lemon juice and also stuff the cavity with the lemons. Salt and pepper liberally then bake at 350 for about 1 1/2 to 2 hours depending on how big the chicken is.

Got another salad recipe you'd like to share? Look to the right side of the blog. You'll see a heading that says "Contact Me". Use that address and once I have a few, I'll post them all together.