I keep the ingredients to this salad on hand in the summer. It's a nice salad to eat on a hot summery day. I love the cucumbers and cashews in it. As you can see, it's not your Grandma's chicken salad!!! It's BETTER! Why it's practically slap your momma good!!! :)
Amy's Chicken Salad
3 chicken breasts
1/2 cup cucumber, peeled and seeded
1/3 cup mayonnaise
1/4 onion powder
1/2 cup chopped red apple
1/2 cup cashew halves
1/2 tsp. sugar
salt and pepper, to taste
Rinse chicken and place in a medium saucepan. Cover with water and sprinkle generously with lemon pepper. Cover and slowly simmer until tender. Remove from pan, cool, cube or shred and set aside.
Place mayonnaise in bowl. Place unpeeled, chopped apple in bowl and toss gently to coat all pieces with mayonnaise. Stir in sugar, onion powder, salt and pepper. Gently toss chicken into bowl. Cover and chill several hours.
JUST BEFORE SERVING: Stir in cucumbers and cashews. If you add them before this, the cucumbers will become mushy and the cashews will not stay crunchy.
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Creamy Cool Cucumber Soup
Here is another yummy summer chilled soup for the books. I love this soup.....cool as a CUCUMBER. Get it....he he....never mind. Anyway....it's cool and creamy (thus the name....geesh Amy....shut up already!). Ok, fine......on with the recipe:
Creamy Cool Cucumber Soup
3 cucumbers, peeled and seeded
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cups chicken broth
salt and pepper to taste
3 T white wine vinegar
1 clove garlic, chopped
2 cups sour cream
Combine the cucumbers, onion, and garlic in a food processor and blend until smooth. Adding a small amount of the chicken broth will help the vegetables blend more thoroughly. Pour pureed vegetables in a large bowl and add broth, sour cream, and viegar. Stir all ingredients together, mixing well. Cover and chill at least 3 hours or overnight. Season with salt and pepper, just prior to seerving.
Creamy Cool Cucumber Soup
3 cucumbers, peeled and seeded
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cups chicken broth
salt and pepper to taste
3 T white wine vinegar
1 clove garlic, chopped
2 cups sour cream
Combine the cucumbers, onion, and garlic in a food processor and blend until smooth. Adding a small amount of the chicken broth will help the vegetables blend more thoroughly. Pour pureed vegetables in a large bowl and add broth, sour cream, and viegar. Stir all ingredients together, mixing well. Cover and chill at least 3 hours or overnight. Season with salt and pepper, just prior to seerving.
Chilled Strawberry Soup
Yes, you read that right.....STRAWBERRY SOUP! Oh, this soup is devine. I look forward to Summer every year to make this soup. Of course you can make it anytime, but using fresh strawberries makes it that much better.
I have to admit....this is not my original recipe. *sigh* But WHO CARES??? LOL I received the recipe from the gal who ran a sweet little Tea Room in a local Amish community before she closed the doors and retired. If the house was burning I would run back inside for my recipe boxes and make sure this recipe was included. :) Delicious....sweet.....creamy........*sigh*
Oh yes, on to the recipe!!!! Here it is:
Strawberry Soup
(this recipe makes about 1 gallon of soup......feel free to cut it down if needed. Or eat it all. LOL)
2 1.2 lbs sour cream
2 1/2 pounds frozen strawberries
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup vanilla (yes seriously........1/2 cup! LOL)
1/2 cup grenadine syrup
1 1/2 quarts half and half
Pour the first five ingredients in a blender and puree. Pour above mixture in a large container, add the half and half and stir. That's it! SIMPLE!!! Serve nice and cold.
I have to admit....this is not my original recipe. *sigh* But WHO CARES??? LOL I received the recipe from the gal who ran a sweet little Tea Room in a local Amish community before she closed the doors and retired. If the house was burning I would run back inside for my recipe boxes and make sure this recipe was included. :) Delicious....sweet.....creamy........*sigh*
Oh yes, on to the recipe!!!! Here it is:
Strawberry Soup
(this recipe makes about 1 gallon of soup......feel free to cut it down if needed. Or eat it all. LOL)
2 1.2 lbs sour cream
2 1/2 pounds frozen strawberries
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup vanilla (yes seriously........1/2 cup! LOL)
1/2 cup grenadine syrup
1 1/2 quarts half and half
Pour the first five ingredients in a blender and puree. Pour above mixture in a large container, add the half and half and stir. That's it! SIMPLE!!! Serve nice and cold.
Alfredo Sauce
My friend Lisa loves Fettucini Alfredo, but listen to this............she gets her sauce FROM A JAR!!!! *SHOCK..............HORROR.............DISMAY* I know right???? How positively sinful. So, this is for you Lisa. LOL A homemade SIMPLE recipe for the best alfredo sauce (albeit NOT healthy) you have ever had. YUM!
This is a great multi-purpose sauce. Use it over pasta (YUM!), steamed vegetables, grilled chicken or shrmip, etc. I could eat this sauce all by itself with a spoon. LOL This sauce is so yummy, it will stick to your ribs (and possibly your thighs too).
Alfredo Sauce
1/4 cup butter
1 cup whole milk
1/2 tsp. basil
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. freshly cracked black pepper
1/3 cup Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup flour
2T parsley
1/2 to 1 tsp. minced garlic
1 cup half and half
Melt butter in a medium saucepan. Add flour, and cook slowly for 4 minutes;whisk constantly. Add milk, parsley, basil, garlic, salt and pepper. Cook over low heat, stirring often. When sauce begins to thicken, add half and half, Parmesan cheese and cracked pepper. Stir together adn cook 5 to 10 minutes to allow flavors to blend.
This is a great multi-purpose sauce. Use it over pasta (YUM!), steamed vegetables, grilled chicken or shrmip, etc. I could eat this sauce all by itself with a spoon. LOL This sauce is so yummy, it will stick to your ribs (and possibly your thighs too).
Alfredo Sauce
1/4 cup butter
1 cup whole milk
1/2 tsp. basil
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. freshly cracked black pepper
1/3 cup Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup flour
2T parsley
1/2 to 1 tsp. minced garlic
1 cup half and half
Melt butter in a medium saucepan. Add flour, and cook slowly for 4 minutes;whisk constantly. Add milk, parsley, basil, garlic, salt and pepper. Cook over low heat, stirring often. When sauce begins to thicken, add half and half, Parmesan cheese and cracked pepper. Stir together adn cook 5 to 10 minutes to allow flavors to blend.
Friday, March 18, 2011
Prescription Strength Brownies
I received this recipe from a friend, who got it from a friend, who got it....well who knows! Who cares. Don't they sound yummo??? LOL
I think I am going to make some of these with my kitchen helper, Noah, real soon!!! Noah will turn 5 next month. Where, oh, where has the time gone???? I am thankful he loves to cook in the kitchen like I do. Sure, sure, he loves to play with dad, and tinker in the garage, and such. But one of the ways Noah and Mommy bond is by cooking. Cookies, brownies, cobblers, or putting dinner in the old crockpot, he is there beside me helping me measure, stir and of course, the most important job of all..............TASTE TESTER!!! I think he is going to love these brownies!!
Prescription Strength Brownies
12 T butter
3/4 cup dry cocoa
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 tsp salt
2 large eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup flour
Melt butter in a saucepan and whisk in all of the cocoa. Add sugar and salt, and whisk some more. Add in the vanilla and then blend in the flour. Sprinkle in some chocolate chips (yum), or nuts (oh yeah) if you want. Pour into a greased pan and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.
Test with a toothpick. They should be kinda gooey. DO NOT OVERBAKE!!!
Wouldn't these be even better warm with some vanilla icecream on top. Oh yeah, that's how I want mine. I may have to walk 3 miles tomorrow to burn off the extra calories, but sooooo worth it. LOL
I think I am going to make some of these with my kitchen helper, Noah, real soon!!! Noah will turn 5 next month. Where, oh, where has the time gone???? I am thankful he loves to cook in the kitchen like I do. Sure, sure, he loves to play with dad, and tinker in the garage, and such. But one of the ways Noah and Mommy bond is by cooking. Cookies, brownies, cobblers, or putting dinner in the old crockpot, he is there beside me helping me measure, stir and of course, the most important job of all..............TASTE TESTER!!! I think he is going to love these brownies!!
Prescription Strength Brownies
12 T butter
3/4 cup dry cocoa
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 tsp salt
2 large eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup flour
Melt butter in a saucepan and whisk in all of the cocoa. Add sugar and salt, and whisk some more. Add in the vanilla and then blend in the flour. Sprinkle in some chocolate chips (yum), or nuts (oh yeah) if you want. Pour into a greased pan and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.
Test with a toothpick. They should be kinda gooey. DO NOT OVERBAKE!!!
Wouldn't these be even better warm with some vanilla icecream on top. Oh yeah, that's how I want mine. I may have to walk 3 miles tomorrow to burn off the extra calories, but sooooo worth it. LOL
Monday, March 14, 2011
My Weekend......and my Monday
It's Monday!!! UGH! LOL I want my weekend back. :) We had a good weekend here. saturday showed signs of warmer weather, in the 50's. So Matthew took Noah to Grandma's to play!!! Noah has been cooped up for far too long and enjoyed just running. It was so hilarious to see him run and talk like he was on a outdoor high. We laughed and laughed at him. Silly boy.
Joshua and I stayed home, and while he slept, I tackled Noah's room. I feel pretty good about decluttering it and storing the stuff he doesn't need anymore. Now there is room to move Joshua's crib and dresser in later this Spring (soon) and room for Noah's birthday presents he will surely receive in April. And he didn't even notice a thing was missing or moved when he got home. LOL I left the box in his room to see what I was taking to storage for Joshua to grow into one day and he was like...ok.
Last night we met up with my brother David and his wife, Tammy for dinner.....along with their daughter/my neice Megan and her two cuties Paisley, 1 year old, and Lane, just 1 month old. We all chatted and were well entertained by Paisley. She is a pistol and such great entertainment. LOL Lane slept through dinner but we peeked at him in his carseat, and Joshua decided there was no way he was sitting in his, so I or Matthew held him the whole time. LOL It was nice to see everyone and get together with them though, and I hope we can do it again real soon.
Today Grandma is coming over to pick up Noah for a while. She is a Speech teacher and has her own office. She has no clients for most of the day, so she is going to take Noah to her office to play and work on his letters and numbers some. He loves going up there because she has toys that he doesn't get to play with very often and lots of educational toys and puzzles, etc. He is so excited. LOL I think while she is here for a few, I will let her keep Joshua as well and go run across town to run a few errands instead of dragging him out in this cold weather.
Speaking of weather (we were weren't we?? LOL) It's supposed to snow 2-4 inches today. Wednesday it is supposed to be 60 and by Wendesday 70 degrees. UGH! I am ready for all the 70 days I can get. But snow??? I have had enough. I am ready for flowers and trees to bud!!! We want to go outside and play and run and have fun. Here in Missouri if you don't like the weather, just wait a day or two and it will likely change. I just wish it would make up it's mind and stick to SPRING! LOL
Joshua and I stayed home, and while he slept, I tackled Noah's room. I feel pretty good about decluttering it and storing the stuff he doesn't need anymore. Now there is room to move Joshua's crib and dresser in later this Spring (soon) and room for Noah's birthday presents he will surely receive in April. And he didn't even notice a thing was missing or moved when he got home. LOL I left the box in his room to see what I was taking to storage for Joshua to grow into one day and he was like...ok.
Last night we met up with my brother David and his wife, Tammy for dinner.....along with their daughter/my neice Megan and her two cuties Paisley, 1 year old, and Lane, just 1 month old. We all chatted and were well entertained by Paisley. She is a pistol and such great entertainment. LOL Lane slept through dinner but we peeked at him in his carseat, and Joshua decided there was no way he was sitting in his, so I or Matthew held him the whole time. LOL It was nice to see everyone and get together with them though, and I hope we can do it again real soon.
Today Grandma is coming over to pick up Noah for a while. She is a Speech teacher and has her own office. She has no clients for most of the day, so she is going to take Noah to her office to play and work on his letters and numbers some. He loves going up there because she has toys that he doesn't get to play with very often and lots of educational toys and puzzles, etc. He is so excited. LOL I think while she is here for a few, I will let her keep Joshua as well and go run across town to run a few errands instead of dragging him out in this cold weather.
Speaking of weather (we were weren't we?? LOL) It's supposed to snow 2-4 inches today. Wednesday it is supposed to be 60 and by Wendesday 70 degrees. UGH! I am ready for all the 70 days I can get. But snow??? I have had enough. I am ready for flowers and trees to bud!!! We want to go outside and play and run and have fun. Here in Missouri if you don't like the weather, just wait a day or two and it will likely change. I just wish it would make up it's mind and stick to SPRING! LOL
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Decluttering.............
Matthew and I have been trying to take control of the house this year. LOL As in decluttering what we don't want, need, and don't love and make room for the things that we do love and add to the peace of the house. This started with the biggest project in the house.....the sunroom. Before starting on the sunroom, me and my big mouth, decided we should clean out a HUGE closet upstairs and just pile it all in that one room and clean it all out at once. That was January..........it is now March.........and the sunroom, is still no cleaned out completely. We have made progress, and it is looking better. We took 25 boxes of stuff to the Thrift Shop by the time we had cleaned out just part of that room. We probably have 5 more to donate and several to store.
This weekend, I am hoping to get some more progress done on the decluttering of the home. Matthew has already told me there is no way he is working on that room this weekend. He just can't make himself do it. LOL And I have to agree with him. I have a few other projects I want done first. One being the living room. We are cleaning off the shelves (book shelves built into the wall) of Noah's toys and moving them to the closet of the toy/tv room where he likes to play. We will keep some puzzles and his library of books in the living room. But I am taking back the living room for adults. LOL So far I have a box of books to be donated to the Thrift store and the bookshelves look SO MUCH better.
The other project for this weekend was to clean out the toys in Noah's room. His birthday is coming up in April, and it is time for cleaning out the old and making room for the new. Some toys are being saved back for Joshua to grow into. Some toys that Noah never plays with are going to be donated to the Thrift Shop. I thought it would take FOREVER to get this done. Nope.....I was ruthless, and it took me a total of 20 minutes! I have a large black lawn and leaf bag of toys for the Thrift Shop (all are in good shape and none with missing pieces or broken), and a box of toys that are soon to be Joshua's when he grows into them. The room looks bigger somehow. LOL And it looks like a "big boys" room more now than a toddler/little boys room. Makes me a little sad. My boy will be 5 in April......so I better get used to it!!!
Well, as always.....I sit down to blog and Little Bit, AKA Baby Joshua, who is now 5 months old, stops giggling at the TV from the comfort of his Bumbo seat and starts crying for my attention. Oh it's ok.....I don't mind. I love being a mom. But don't get to sit still very often while doing it. LOL
This weekend, I am hoping to get some more progress done on the decluttering of the home. Matthew has already told me there is no way he is working on that room this weekend. He just can't make himself do it. LOL And I have to agree with him. I have a few other projects I want done first. One being the living room. We are cleaning off the shelves (book shelves built into the wall) of Noah's toys and moving them to the closet of the toy/tv room where he likes to play. We will keep some puzzles and his library of books in the living room. But I am taking back the living room for adults. LOL So far I have a box of books to be donated to the Thrift store and the bookshelves look SO MUCH better.
The other project for this weekend was to clean out the toys in Noah's room. His birthday is coming up in April, and it is time for cleaning out the old and making room for the new. Some toys are being saved back for Joshua to grow into. Some toys that Noah never plays with are going to be donated to the Thrift Shop. I thought it would take FOREVER to get this done. Nope.....I was ruthless, and it took me a total of 20 minutes! I have a large black lawn and leaf bag of toys for the Thrift Shop (all are in good shape and none with missing pieces or broken), and a box of toys that are soon to be Joshua's when he grows into them. The room looks bigger somehow. LOL And it looks like a "big boys" room more now than a toddler/little boys room. Makes me a little sad. My boy will be 5 in April......so I better get used to it!!!
Well, as always.....I sit down to blog and Little Bit, AKA Baby Joshua, who is now 5 months old, stops giggling at the TV from the comfort of his Bumbo seat and starts crying for my attention. Oh it's ok.....I don't mind. I love being a mom. But don't get to sit still very often while doing it. LOL
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