Tarragon Chicken Salad

This chicken salad was served at my wedding almost 7 years ago. The last 7 years have really flown by. They say that if a couple has been married for 7 years that their chances of staying together increases dramatically. I hope that is true for me and Greg. We have had a lot of ups and downs in our years of marriage, but I feel that we are always moving forward and for the most part, improving our lives together.

Last weekend Greg's parents, aunt, and uncle came into town for a short visit. The men were in charge of communicating and making the plans, and if you know men, you know that they are not good communicators and not great planners. I had planned on making everyone lunch on Sunday, but on Saturday afternoon I found out that the group wouldn't be able to do lunch.  I had already bought tons of croissants and other ingredients for chicken salad sandwiches, so I decided to make the chicken salad anyways. I chose to make the tarragon chicken salad because it looked easy and because I remembered how much I had liked it on my wedding day. It is hard to believe I haven't had it since then! This recipe is great to make for a crowd (or to make so you have lunch for a week straight - like we did) and you can serve it over lettuce or in a sandwich. We love it on croissants with some romaine lettuce. Enjoy! 

Recipe for Tarragon Chicken Salad

INGREDIENTS:
3 pounds of boneless chicken breasts

1 1/2 cups of heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup of Greek Yogurt (or sour cream)
1/2 cup of mayonnaise
3 stalks of celery, diced
2/3 cup of walnut pieces
1 Tbsp. plus 1/2 tsp. of dried tarragon leaves
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Arrange the chicken breasts into a casserole dish in a single layer and sprinkle with a little salt and pepper. Pour the cream over the chicken. Put the casserole dish into the oven and cook for 30 - 40 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through (cuts easily, no pinkness in the middle, internal temperature registers to 165 degrees on instant digital meat thermometer). Remove the chicken from the oven and allow it to cool.

Shred the chicken into bite-sized pieces and place into a large bowl. Mix together the Greek Yogurt (or sour cream) and mayonnaise in a small bowl and add into the chicken. Mix well with a fork. Add in the diced celery, walnuts, and tarragon. Season with salt and freshly ground pepper. Taste, and add in more tarragon, salt, and/or pepper, as desired.

Serve over lettuce, or make it into sandwiches. We love this chicken salad on croissants with a few leaves of romaine lettuce.

Recipe makes approximately 8 - 12 servings. 

Recipe from the Silver Palate Cookbook

"Not So Sloppy" Turkey Sloppy Joes

There were only a few meals that I did not like to eat when I was a kid. I was never fond of meatloaf or Sloppy Joes. Luckily, both these meals weren't something that were served frequently in my parent's home. I didn't mind singing about Sloppy Joes after Adam Sandler sang his Lunch Lady song on Saturday Night Live, but I still wasn't interested in eating them. It had been at least 25 years since I thought about eating a Sloppy Joe sandwich until I saw this Sloppy Joe recipe a couple months ago on a blog that I like. I read the author's writeup and apparently she wasn't crazy about the idea of  Sloppy Joes EITHER until trying them again with this recipe. So I thought I'd give it a try and  I'm glad I did. I don't like to cook with meat much, but this meal was so easy to make and helped me to overcome some of my meat preparation fears.

Greg is also not a Sloppy Joe person and he was really happy with these not so sloppy Sloppy Joes!
I call them "not so sloppy" because they aren't too saucy and the sandwich pretty much stays in tact. I omitted the tomato sauce from the recipe and used ketchup instead. This recipe uses ground turkey and the sauce combines things like root beer and apple cider vinegar. I will definitely be making this recipe again. Enjoy!

Recipe for "Not So Sloppy" Sloppy Joes

INGREDIENTS:
1 Tbsp. of olive oil
2 Tbsp. of dried onion flakes
1 pound of ground turkey meat
2 cloves garlic, pressed
1 tsp. dried mustard powder
1/4 tsp. cumin powder
2 Tbsp. of ketchup
1 Tbsp. of apple cider vinegar
2 tsp. of Tabasco sauce
3 ounces of root beer
3/4 Tbsp. of Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp. salt
freshly ground black pepper
4 hamburger buns, lightly toasted
Ketchup or other sauce, for serving

DIRECTIONS:
Put the olive oil in a large (nonstick) skillet over medium heat. Add in the dried onion flakes, stir, and cook for about 45 seconds. Add in the ground turkey and break the meat up as it cooks. Cook for about 4 - 5 minutes, or until it starts to brown. Stir in the pressed garlic, mustard powder, cumin, ketchup, and salt. Cook and stir until the mixture is fragrant, about 1 minute. Then stir in the apple cider vinegar, Tabasco sauce, root beer, and Worcestershire sauce. Bring the mixture to a simmer and cook for about 7 minutes, or until most of the liquid has evaporated. Season with some ground pepper.

Divide the meat amongst the 4 buns and serve. Serve with extra ketchup or other sauce (I used extra Tabasco on mine), if desired. Serve with your favorite sides. We had some tasty barbecue potato chips and a spinach salad!

Recipe Adapted from: Pink Parsley, originally from Cooking Light, September 2014

Bacon and Tomato Sandwiches with a Garlic Balsamic Mayo

Bacon and tomato sandwiches are pretty much the best thing ever. Seriously. There is nothing better than a big juicy tomato with crispy bacon and mayo in between two pieces of toasty white bread. Trust me. I have come across people in my life who had never had a bacon and tomato sandwich or even heard of one, so that is why I am doing this post today. It is for all of you out there who have never had the experience of the bacon and tomato sandwich, because I believe that everyone needs to have it.

Our tomatoes came very late this season. That means Greg and I were both craving these sandwiches for quite a long time. But now they are here and this is definitely our meal of choice! Serve the sandwich with a side of sauteed squash or your favorite chips. If you are not down with the balsamic mayo, just slather regular mayo on there instead. Enjoy!

Recipe for Bacon and Tomato Sandwiches with a Garlic Balsamic Mayo 

INGREDIENTS:

Bacon
White bread
Large tomatoes, such as Beefeaters
Salt and pepper
Fresh basil leaves

Garlic balsamic mayo

DIRECTIONS:

Cook the bacon according to package directions. Remove from oven and allow it to cool. While bacon is cooling, make the balsamic mayo (recipe below). Then very lightly toast the bread. While bread is toasting, cut the tomatoes into thick slices and sprinkle salt and pepper on each side of the tomato slices. Assemble the sandwiches. My recommendation is to slather on about a half tablespoon of the mayonnaise onto two slices of bread, top one of the slices with 2 pieces of bacon, put one very large or two large tomato slices on top of the bacon, add on the basil leaves, and sandwich it up with the other piece of bread. You can use as much mayonnaise, bacon, tomatoes, and basil as you like per sandwich though!

Garlic Balsamic Mayonnaise (enough for 4 sandwiches)
In a smallish bowl, mix together 4 tablespoons mayonnaise, 1/4 teaspoon of garlic powder, several grinds of freshly ground black pepper, and 1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar. Taste and then adjust to your liking.

Well there you have it! Now go make yourself one of these sandwiches. Yum!