Tarragon Chicken Salad & a Tasty Tangy Neighbor Gift for Christmas

This summer I started a project that will be completed this weekend. My family will be giving out bottles of tarragon vinegar as neighbor gifts, a small reminder of this beautiful Christmas season and how much we appreciate their friendship.

The vinegar wasn’t difficult to make, I quite enjoyed the process of harvesting the fragrant herb from a generous neighbor with a terrific green thumb. After stewing the vinegar with fresh herbs of tarragon, chives and a bit of oregano the liquid steppes for two to three weeks in a cool dark place. Put it into bottles, add a fresh sprig of tarragon, seal jars with wax and add a label. The result is simply delightful.

One of my favorite ways to use tarragon vinegar is in a chicken salad with a tart apple and grapes. The recipe comes from The Foster Market Cookbook that was pointed out to me by a dear friend. It has just the right mix of flavors and is worth the effort it takes to make the tarragon mayonnaise. I’ve eaten a similar salad at a local eatery, Pinon for years- maybe you have a favorite cafe' that has a similar salad?

Wishing each of you a memorable, meaningful holiday that’s filled with delicious things to eat and time to enjoy them with your loved ones.

How to Pound Meat and Poultery without Making a Mess

Often when I’m making a meat or poultry dish I choose to pound it out, for a variety of reasons. Many times it is because I want it to be thinner so it will cook evenly and quickly. Other times it is because I want the meat to become more tender. No matter the reason I have often become frustrated over the MESS it can cause on my counter. I really do not like working with meat all that much . . .

Not long ago I read a comment in a Cooks Illustrated magazine from a reader about the way she had solved the problem. It’s brilliant.

Inside a box of cereal or crackers the product is usually inside a bag. The bag is tuff as nails and hard to open. Turns out they make great bags for pounding meat in. It works like a charm.

· Prepare all meat by trimming and washing if necessary

· Place one piece of meat inside of empty cereal bag

· Fold open edge under or place a small strip of plastic wrap on the edge to seal it

· Pound meat with hammer until the meat is at the desired thickness for your recipe

· Remove it from the bag, set on prepared cutting board or plate and repeat with additional pieces of meat until you have finished them all

The cereal bags that I have used have held up for up to 12 chicken breasts each or more. That is one tuff bag. I have pounded more than I need for the recipe at hand, placed the extras in between butcher paper and then in a freezer zip lock bag and frozen it for later use. It’s a wonderful time saver.

We just don’t really eat much cereal and few if any crackers so my bags are precious (who thought I would ever be saying that!).

If you have any extra bags, send them my way.

Chicken with Jalapeño Popper Sauce, A Good Use of Garden Produce

Trying to use vegetables from the garden can be a fun challenge. This Sunday I wanted to use my jalapeño peppers and remembered seeing a wonderful dish on Kim’s blog, Stirring The Pot. When I checked out the recipe for Mexican Chicken with Jalapeno Popper Sauce it had originated on Julie’s blog, Mommie Cooks. If you have jalapeño peppers as well, I can recommend this recipe highly. I can recommend both of these blogs to you as well!

I did make a few changes to the recipe to suit our family’s tastes that will reflect in my printable recipe below. The jalapeño popper sauce is just fabulous; we were eating it with chips before the meal was over.

What vegetables are you using from your garden right now?

Greek Pasta Salad, and the Salt Lake Greek Festival!

Everyone has something they look forward to as school begins and September rolls around.One of the things on my list is the Greek Festival in downtown Salt Lake City. Years ago my dear friend Jill introduced me to this energetic event and I have been in love with it ever since.Where else can you go to see dancing, live music and eat the best Greek food in town? Well, the best food might be in your own kitchen . . . but the entertainment is really worth the cost of the entrance price. If you go here you can print up a free ticket to get in and save your dollars for the goodies inside.

I ran across this Greek Pasta Salad on two of my favorite blogs last week, Pam at For the Love of Cooking and Cathy at Wives with Knives. I made it up and it’s just delicious. Tomorrow I’m serving this salad at a ladies lunch and I’ve added greens. I’ll report back on how it was received. This can be made with or without the chicken and I recommend eating it within 24 hours after you’ve mixed it together. Printable recipe below.

Do you have a Greek Festival in your community?

Lemon Basil Chicken, Perfect for a BBQ or Large Group

Have you ever been in a situation where you need to have a main dish prepared ahead of time, say for a vacation or a large group? It seems like I’m often finding myself in those kinds of predicaments for one reason or another and it’s nice to have a failsafe dish you can turn to that will allow room for flexibility.

A few years ago, my sister Kathy stumbled across a recipe for just such an occasion. It can be made in advance, stored in the freezer or refrigerator until you need it and the flavor of this basil lemon chicken is quite lovely. While the basil is out and plentiful in gardens and markets it’s a great time to pop a batch into your freezer if you have the extra space or consider making it for your Labor Day gathering this weekend. Printable Recipe below.

What will you be serving on Labor Day?

picture credit: CodeFin

Tuscan Turkey Panini with Artisan Bread from Harmons

Anytime my daughter Marianne and her husband Joe are in charge of a meal we are in for a treat and this weekend was no exception. We had started our weekend early and fled to our favorite spot on earth, Bear Lake, for the last time of the season and the cooking duo whipped us up some delicious Panini sandwiches. With the right tools, ingredients and a little know-how you can have yourself a fabulous dinner or lunch in short order.

They bought their ingredients at a favorite local market, Harmons. Boar’s Head Tuscan Turkey, Gossner Provolone cheese, and a lovely artisan bread from their specialty bread counter called “asiago green onion cheese bread”. They had it sliced into thicker slices, 9 slices per loaf (not counting the small end pieces), to allow for the weight of the Panini press. Throw in a homegrown tomato and you have a delicious sandwich.

The equipment. I have wished to have a Panini press of my own, but so far have gotten along with my George Forman Grill. Marianne and Joe use a Cuisinart Panini Press and have nothing but high marks for it. As you can see in the picture, it makes wonderful grill marks and a lovely melt on the sandwich. Check Panini Happy out for more ideas for alternative equipment as well as recipes, it’s a wonderful blog on panini’s from savory to sweet.

We’ve made grilled sandwiches a plenty over the years, and I can recommend Joe and Marianne’s combination whole-heartedly. Follow the instructions in the recipe and you’ll have a dinner in 15 minutes that you’ll be very happy with.

If you live in Utah check out Harmon’s Grocery Stores and don’t forget to look at their artisan bread counter, you won’t be sorry. I can’t wait for a Harmon’s to come into my neighborhood. It’s taking over the space where Emigration Market was and keeping the name, Harmons Emigration Market. It plans to open late this year or early in 2011. Yippy!

picture credit : http://www.flickr.com/photos/codefin/

Gardening & 20 Minutes to Dinner

I grew up thinking that growing a vegetable garden was part of life. My mother always had a piece of earth that she tended which enabled us to have tomatoes, squash, beans and more as part of our summer and fall meals. This year I have successfully cared for my square foot garden and seen for the first time great results from my own backyard garden. The taste of success is so sweet, literally.

I have had a couple of rules this year that have been different from years past, maybe they made the difference:

• · Garden, not weed (so much more joy in gardening)
• · Water individual plants, not with the sprinkling system

Making salads and dinner from fresh ingredients just picked from your own garden is very rewarding. Filling a basket of vegetables is just as good as getting a manicure . . . no much better.

We had a delicious dinner made from a zucchini, tomato and the perfect piece of cheese in 20 minutes. The printable recipe follows. It’s simple but bursting with fresh garden flavor.

How does your garden grow? If you don’t have a garden,

where do you go to get your fresh produce?

Homemade Puka Dogs on the Beautiful Shores of Bear Lake

31 years ago my sister and I had a double wedding reception in our parents backyard and we’ve been marking time together with our husbands ever since. This year we went to the beautiful Hawaiian islands where we saw some of the most incredibly gorgeous places on the face of the earth in addition we ate our way through the trip on what has to be the freshest most delectable food I’ve ever experienced. I was snap happy and took way too many pictures of food, some day I’ll get to a post about specific places that are “must visits”, but for today I want to share a very simple mock up of a rather simple meal gone Hawaiian that we had at our recent family reunion at Bear Lake.

The Puka Dog is famous in the Islands for their wonderful sweet bun with a hole in the middle stuffed with fabulous sauces and mustards. If you haven’t had the opportunity to have one, plan to try one when you make it over on your dream vacation. I had heard about them on a food show and jumped at the chance to taste a Puka Dog for myself when I was over there. They are FABULOUS. FYI, if you aren't planning a trip to the land of paradise real soon you can purchase their sauces and mustards here if you think that far in advance - - - or you can do what my sister and I did. Check it out.

picture credit: Candace Little

Of course the dogs Kathy and I made last week weren’t exactly the same, no secret sauce here, but you know what, we did have the taste of Hawaii in them and the family did keep coming back for more. We also served two other options, the All American Hot Dog and a Bacon, Mushroom, Blue cheese Hot Dog, really with all three of those choices who couldn’t be happy?

I did learn a few things about making toppings for a hot dog bar. They need to be minced. Did I say minced, yes, minced. If you are interested in the recipes for the garlic lemon sauce, tropical relish, or the coconut sauce we used send me an email and I’ll shoot them off to you.

ALOHA!

For more hot dog bar ideas see this article by Valerie Phillips, food editor of the Deseret News.

Cabbage Salad with Cilantro Dressing & Michael Pollan's Food Rule # 22

If you haven’t picked up the quick easy Food Rules by Michael Pollan yet, grab it at the library or at your favorite bookstore and take a peek. His simple advise for eating healthy in short simple phrases stay in your brain. Take rule number 22:

EAT MOSTLY PLANTS, ESPECIALLY LEAVES.

Did you know that in countries where people eat a pound or more of vegetables and fruits a day, the rate of cancer is half what it is in the United Stated?

This tasty cabbage salad with cilantro dressing was introduced to me from my sister-in-law Deanna. She is a wonderful in the kitchen. Deanna found this recipe in The Whole Life Nutrition Cookbook. I loved the salad for it’s flavor, crunch factor and of course the vegetables!

How do you get vegetables into your diet?

The Perfect Salad for Summer Entertaining, Garden Tortellini Salad

Once in a while you run across a wonderful new recipe at a ladies luncheon or BBQ. This good fortune happened to me a bit ago and my good friend Jenny shared her recipe with me. There are a few changes from her original recipe. Garden Tortellini Salad is perfect for a gathering you’re bound to be going to sometime this summer. It makes a large bowl that will serve 25 or more depending on what you serve with it. It can be made ahead of time to free up hostess responsibilities on fussier items. The tortellini I've used is purchased at Costco, and the entire 3 pounds go into the salad. My daughter and son-in-law made it this past weekend for an event at their home and shared their pictures with me. Believe it or not it actually tastes even better than it looks, and it is beautiful!

What is your favorite summer salad?

picture credit codefin

Chutney 101, and a Tart

Last week on Heaven Housewife’s blog I fell in love with a chicken salad recipe that I had to make. Do recipes ever get stuck in your brain and you can’t move forward with regular life chores until you “make the food”? This should have been a simple recipe to make, except that I couldn’t find what I’ll term as the most important ingredient- CHUTNEY. After visiting three local stores, I determined to substitute a crazy homegrown concoction by mixing peach jam with vinegar (sounds strange, but it actually worked surprisingly well). The following day I made some wonderful homemade chutney so that I wouldn’t be found in this mess again.

HH emailed me a few pointers about chutney that I would love to pass along to my readers.First of all, in her part of the world (United Kingdom) no store would be complete without 5 to 10 brands of chutney (imagine that!). Her favorite brand is Waitrose, for those of us in America, Major Grey’s is the gold standard. The most common use for this fabulous sauce is a great sandwich made from cheddar cheese, chutney with lettuce and tomato. As if this wasn’t enough help, HH sent me to a sight with this fabulous tart. Of course I made it and tweaked it because I can’t ever leave a recipe alone. It is completely delicious, as is the strawberry and blackberry chutney that I made. I made the tart with the basic dough from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes A Day and it worked like a charm.

Chutney is a wonderful addition to anyone’s pantry and I recommend that before this season is over you preserve one of your favorite fruits into your very own chutney. Your friends and family will thank you all year long.

Thank you Heavenly Housewife for the help in understanding chutney a little better, you are the best!

P.S. Becky from Vintage Mixer has also made the chicken salad and has it it up on her blog in a little differnt version, you can never go wrong with anything she makes, check it out for a different twist.

Lemon Herb Marinade for Vegetables

Last Friday the women in my family hosted the women from dear family friends for a celebration of life. Jenny is having a baby, and we are so happy for her! It will be the first grandbaby in their family, and first great grandbaby as well. What joy! Candace was the brainstorm behind the event, with a twist on a nursery rhyme game that I’m certain has never been done before. We all had a wonderful time.

Our dinner was delicious. The menu conceived by the party planner and food produced by my wonderful daughters and daughter-in-law. My assignment was vegetable kabobs. I found this site helpful for determining how long to blanch some vegetables before grilling. When I chose my vegetables, I made certain that they would need the same amount of time on the grill—some I did have to pre cook (the sweet potatoes I baked in the oven for 20 minutes), others I blanched. It was lovely to have all the vegetables done just right. And the flavor on them was really quite delicious. I didn’t think to pass the remaining marinade with the kabobs until the very end, but I will not forget again. It was tangy and perfect, so much so we had kabob's again on Sunday, this time with chicken.

We're all waiting to hear the news of the new arrival. How do you celebrate a new baby coming to your family?

picture credit: joelens.blogspot.com

Hawaiian Haystacks with Homemade Chicken Broth

Remember the third recipe for life- baked chicken and broth? Hawaiian Haystacks is one of my go-to dinners where the baked chicken and broth come in handy. Pull from the freezer and in 30 minutes you have a made from scratch, feel good, healthy dinner and everyone is happy because each individual gets to decide what to put on top! At our house everything that is in the vegetable drawer goes into little bowls: peppers, onions, broccoli, asparagus, cucumbers, peas, tomatoes (you get the idea). And the fruit can be what ever is in season or open a can of mandarin oranges or pineapple, raisins, kiwi and then top with crunchy Chinese rice noodles or coconut. Honestly, this dinner can be made in the time it takes to cook the rice.

What does your family like on their haystacks?

Third Recipe for LIFE: Baked Chicken

Third Recipe For Life: Baked Chicken. How many things can you do with baked chicken? They cannot be counted, nor should they. From salads, to pizza, casseroles to soup it seems like there is always a need for baked chicken—at least at my house. Here is a simple, sure way to prepare chicken that will produce a quality product that you can freeze for later use, or use right away!

When I bake my chicken I use fresh vegetables to give it flavor, which also ends up giving me delicious broth when the process is complete. The broth is a bonus to cook with. It can be can be frozen in a zip lock bag or in an ice cube tray for smaller amounts.

What do you use baked chicken for?

Be Still My "Beeting" Heart

Beets, who likes beets?!? I do. They come in different colors, did you know that? They range from deep red to pink. The golden beet is yellow on the inside and when cooked turns a beautiful orange. It has to make you smile. And if that isn't enough-- beets are full of good things for you: potassium, vitamin C, fiber, iron, antioxidants and betaines. Dave Lieberman recently said it may be nature's multivitamin, check his full article out here.

There are a few downsides to beet preparation. They bleed. When I made my recipe for Red Beet Buns from Healthy Bread in Five Minutes A Day I did take a few precautions and all went well and the red juice on my food processer was more than worth the delicious outcome.

I made heart shaped bread (sort of a pita type bread) and some tiny buns. The sandwiches were a complete hit, in fact we'll be dining on these for Valentine's Day. Who can resist a heart shaped sandwich that is truly good for you and your heart?

While the processor was out I made the fixings for wonderful chicken and beet dinner. I got my organic beets from Whole Foods and they actually had some great greens on them. The recipe comes from the Epicurious site and I followed it fairly closely and enjoyed every bite, including the leftovers the next day. Hard to "beet" a 20 minute dinner that cooks up in one cast iron pot.

Please stop in at Michelle's blog and see what other bakers in the HBin5 have done with this wonderful vegetable bread.

Organic Chicken & Wild Rice Soup

I've been trying to turn my kitchen into an organic kitchen for a few months now a bit at a time. Each time I run out of a spice I buy organic. When the sugar runs out or there is a sale I buy organic. What I have discovered, for the most part, is that if you buy in a general market, organic prices aren't much higher than conventional and the product is better- pesticide free, fresh, no preservatives. I like the way it makes me feel about the food I'm eating and serving.

On Halloween we had a completely organic, delicious chicken and wild rice soup. It was based on a recipe my friend Tami shared with me years ago, that used a product of Farm House 'Wild Rice Herb and Butter'. I tweaked her recipe by using ingredients that I picked up at Costco and Whole Foods, organic rice from a wonderful product (Harvest Medley, a blend of four rices), a great chicken broth (Pacific Organic Free Range Chicken Broth), a quality half and half (Horizon Organic Half & Half), and organic boneless skinless chicken breasts along with great vegetables to make a nice mellow soup that would be great for any fall night.

I've had some requests for this soup recipe, please let me know if you use it and how you like it!

Citrus Chicken Salad

A few blogs back a put up a recipe for Fresh Strawberry Dressing and promised to add the salad recipe that went along with it. Thank you Anjie for reminding me to follow through on getting this "go to" salad up here. Not only is this a salad, but the grilled Citrus Chicken can stand on it's own. Serve it with a baked potato and some grilled veggies and everyone will love you.

This salad has been served at family gatherings as well as to social events. It's perfect because you can make it in stages and then just throw it all together when the crowd arrives for the party. It is a perfect main course for a bridal or baby shower and it won't leave you drained and wilting because all the prep work is done in advance.

Image of citrus fruit are from http://tipnut.com

Image of salad is fromhttp://embracedinner.com

Fresh Strawberry Dressing

How many times have you gone to a wedding or baby shower and had the same old tired salad and wished for something fresh and new? This salad dressing is the invention of just such an occasion. I was in charge of the food for a bridal shower for a dear friend and wanted something unique and wonderful and this is the dressing that I came up with. I hope you enjoy it as much as it was the evening we served it. The rest of the recipe will appear shortly, but I've had too many requests for this dressing to wait any longer! The key ingredients here are FRESH BERRIES and oregano.

Cast Iron Orange Chicken Salad

One of the fastest ways to a delicious dinner is your cast iron skillet. It cookes up as quickly as it cleans up- who can complain about that? This salad is fresh and appealing with its crunchy nuts and lettuce and the dressing is dynamite. From beginning to end you can put this dinner together in 20 mintues, clean up an additional 3 minutes. Just think, if you choose this menu for dinner tonight you'll have time to do something else on your list . . . have I convinced you to try it yet? I originally found this base recipe in a magazine, Better Homes and Gardens.