Tag: salad

Shannon Magsam: Curry Chicken Salad {Foodie Friday}

You might call me an occasional cook.

I have good-cooker genes in spades, but I haven’t brought them to a complete boil yet. You might say my skills are blanched, at best. Or maybe parboiled?

I like to cook when I have time or if I’m in the mood for a specific dish (which is almost always this Creamy Tomato Bowtie Pasta for me). I like to cook when I want to serve up a big helping of love to my husband  and this when I want to make my picky tween-age daughter happy.

Even though I didn’t spend much time actually preparing food when I was a kid, I absorbed lots of cooking terminology while watching my mother, aunts and grandmothers flit about the kitchen, simultaneously sautéing while prepping homemade biscuits for the oven.  

Because of those amazing home cooks, I innately know what it means to fold, dredge, julienne and caramelize.

I also learned it’s not a big deal to keep measurements completely precise, unless you’re baking, that is. And for Heaven’s sake, if you don’t like an ingredient in your chicken salad (recipe below!) or chicken pot pie – or whatever you’re making — just leave it out, replace it with something you like better or use more (or fewer) of the called-for ingredients. It’s all about customization in your kitchen.

I remember my best friend in middle school marveling at how I could cook up a tasty pot of macaroni and cheese without measuring out the six cups of water as instructed on the box. And how did I know to add a splash of olive oil to the pot so the water wouldn’t boil over?!

As with most of the cooks in my family, I just “eyeball it” when it comes to measuring.

My mother is the Queen of the Kitchen. She can pull together the most complicated meals at top speed. It ain’t no big thing for her to whip up some chicken and dumplings while making a from-scratch blackberry pie with the fruit her granddaughter just picked from the bushes up by the horse barn (that happened several times this summer).

Compared to my relatives, I’m not the Master of my Kitchen yet, but I’m becoming more advanced the older I get.

I prefer to cook a little more simply, though. Maybe it’s because I’m woefully inept at getting all the food on the table while everything’s still hot. I still don’t know how my mom does it.

One of my favorite (simplest, yet delicious) recipes right now is fall-inspired chicken salad.

I first made this fruited chicken salad recipe for a nautical-themed baby shower (link:http://nwamotherlode.com/archives/42840) at my house in Fayetteville back in May. Here’s a shot of the cute “crabs” I served:

Crab chicken salad

This recipe has become a go-to for me. I found it on the All Recipes website, but adapted it, i.e. added extra ingredients I liked and took out the ones I didn’t.  Like I said, super easy to make:.

Curry Chicken Salad
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Ingredients
  1. 4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts (cooked, diced)
  2. 1 small red apple (cored, diced)
  3. 1 small Bartlett pear (cored, diced)
  4. 1/3 cup raisins
  5. 1/3 cup halved green grapes
  6. ½ teaspoon curry powder
  7. ½ teaspoon onion powder
  8. 1 cup mayonnaise (less if you like your chicken salad drier)
  9. Salt (to taste)
  10. Pepper (to taste)
Instructions
  1. Mix diced, cooked chicken with mayonnaise.
  2. Then add curry powder, onion powder, salt and pepper. Stir.
  3. Next, add fruits and gently stir until well mixed.
  4. You can serve immediately, but it always tastes better after it’s been in the fridge for an hour or two.
Arkansas Women Bloggers https://arkansaswomenbloggers.com/

You can serve this chicken salad on croissants, fancy flatbread (or any bread, really), atop a salad (if you’re making a salad, consider cutting the pear into larger pieces and adding to the top for pretty) or just as an entrée on the plate by itself.

Here, I just made a quick salad and added a dollop of the chicken salad on top (I didn’t have green grapes, so I used red):

Chicken salad salad, Shannon

 

I  hope you enjoy the crunch of this chicken salad and happy fall! Here’s to eating at tables brimming with your favorite foods, friends and family. Cheers!

 

 

shan-blue-dress-circle   Shannon Magsam is mama to one little lady(bug), is married to a long-time newspaperman, John, and co-founded    nwaMotherlode, a resource website devoted to entertaining and connecting moms and families in Northwest Arkansas. nwaMotherlode offers advice, health information, book reviews, local mom interviews, recipes and much more. 

Tasty 10-Minute Chicken Salad {Foodie Friday}

By Laurie Marshall of JunqueRethunque

Several years ago we began cutting wheat out of our son’s diet, so the typical sandwich solutions for lunches and snacks were right out. I wanted to come up with some quick and tasty options, and this chicken salad has become a favorite go-to. It’s even easy enough to whip up at the last minute before school in the mornings. (Especially if you take your kids to school while still in your p.j.s, like I do on occasion…) My son usually eats it with gluten-free pretzels like a dip, but it makes a tasty sandwich if gluten isn’t an issue for your family.

Foodie Friday chicken salad 4

Not only is this super easy to make, it’s also easy to be creative with the ingredients in this recipe. You can toss in your favorite ingredients to change up the flavor and texture. For example, my son likes the combination of apples, grapes and almonds, but you could substitute those for carrots, celery and pecans. I am a fan of the herbalicious flavor that is infused by the fresh thyme, but I know it might be a bit much for some. If you have suggestions for additional variations, share them in the comments section.

 Foodie Friday chicken salad 5

Chicken Salad
Yields 3
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Ingredients
  1. 1 9.75 oz. can white-meat chicken (you can use leftover roasted chicken too!)
  2. 1 small apple, diced (I use Fuji apples for sweetness and crunch)
  3. 2/3 cup seedless grapes, any color
  4. 1/4 cup roasted almonds, chopped
  5. 1/4 cup mayo with olive oil
  6. 2 Tblsp fresh thyme (optional)
Instructions
  1. In a small mixing bowl, stir together all ingredients, taking care to distribute each ingredient evenly through the mixture. If you like a creamier chicken salad, just add a bit more mayo until it has reached the consistency you prefer.
  2. Boom! You’re done! Did I mention it was easy?
Arkansas Women Bloggers https://arkansaswomenbloggers.com/

LaurieMarshall

 

lLaurie is a writer and junque-hunter living in Springdale, Arkansas with her husband, son and three goofy cats. She raises kids and chickens and makes messes in her craft room. She loves to create good food, pretty gardens, and happy kids. But when that doesn’t happen as planned, she simply reads about them on Pinterest. You can follow Laurie at See Laurie Write.

 

 

 

Kumara Salad {Blogger of the Month}

By Ceri Wilkin, Miss August 2014

I moved away from the country in which I was born in my early 20’s. Along with a sense of adventure, fun and excitement, I felt a touch of homesickness, naturally for family, friends, and the familiar, but also for foods I had grown up with.

My friend and I were a bit of an oddity in Lake Charles, Louisiana, not only talking with a strong and unusual accent, but also using different and unusual words. The telephone line wasn’t busy, it was engaged and we filled our chilly bin with ice and drinks. My friend eventually moved back to New Zealand to be with her boyfriend, but as I had traveled half way around the world to see and experience the USA, I stayed – and moved up one whole state, but a world away, to Arkansas.

My first time back to New Zealand, I loaded up with cheese that squeezed out of a can, Oreo cookies and every imaginable peanut butter and chocolate combination, to the delight of my friends and family. While there, my mealtime desires would be satisfied for a time, and I returned bearing every food I was allowed within the bounds of traveling internationally. I even attempted to bring a Kumara, or native sweet potato, into the country, but my conscience insisted I declare it, and of course it was taken away by the customs officials.

Pumpkins that were familiar, which I would roast or turn into soup, not just decorate with around Fall and Halloween, recently started to appear at our local farmers market, and New Zealand wines are readily available at our local liquor store. Then to my great delight, I found in a supermarket right around the corner from where I live, disguised as a Japanese Sweet Potato, the staple vegetable of every roast dinner I had growing up, Kumara. It was wonderful to find locally, what I had been missing from across the globe.

Kumara

Kumara Salad

Kumara Salad

1 kg Kumara, peeled and chopped into 2 cm pieces

2 tablespoons olive oil

4 rashers of bacon

2 teaspoons honey

2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

1 tablespoon white wine vinegar

1/4 cup olive oil

4 spring onions, sliced

Heat the oven to 200C. Toss the Kumara in the olive oil and place in a single layer in a roasting dish. Cook for 30 to 35 minutes until kumara is golden and tender.

Meanwhile, heat a small frying pan over high heat and cook the bacon until crisp. Remove from heat and chop into pieces.

Place the honey, mustard and vinegar in a small bowl and whisk to combine. Add the olive oil in a slow, steady stream while continuing to whisk.

Toss the kumara, bacon, and spring onion together in a bowl, drizzle over the dressing and stir to combine.

Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from The Foodtown Magazine, April/May 2007

Kicky Avocado Kale Salad {Foodie Friday}

Kicky Avocado Kale Salad

Looking for a an easy salad with lots of taste? Try this easy Kicky Avocado Kale Salad. It’s healthy and the avocado’s natural oils are the base of your salad dressing. I can eat my weight in this salad.

 

Kicky Avacado Kale Salad Ingredients

Ingredients

5-6 leaves kale, chopped to bite size pieces
1 1/2 avocado, divided
1-3 garlic cloves minced
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1/8-1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
dash of salt
 
Wash the Kale really well and remove the center stem. Chop into bite size pieces and set aside.

Kicky Avocado Kale Salad

In a bowl, add 1 large avocado, garlic, lemon juice, cayenne pepper and salt.
 
In a bowl, mix the ingredients by hand or fork to make the dressing. (I do this with my hand.)
 
Kicky Avocado Kale Salad
 
With your hands fold in the avocado mixture into the kale. Keep folding until all the kale leaves are thoroughly coated.
Take half an avocado and slice. Garnish the salad with avocado slices and dash or two of cayenne pepper.
 
Avacado Salad Lake Chicot
 
Enjoy!
Kelly Jo at Delta Moxie
 
In 2007, Kellee Mayfield and her family moved to Lake Village. Kellee was quickly given the nicknamed “Kelly Jo” and the name stuck.

Pic 7 Kelly Jo and Delta Moxie

 

As an Oklahoma native, Kelly Jo writes about living in very southeast Arkansas and the Mississippi Delta which has been penned the most Southern place on earth. She also shares her art as well as the art of resourcefulness as being the key to really small town living. Kellee is a mother, wife and contract clinical specialist for a medical device company. And she has a southern drawl. Catch up with Kelly Jo at Delta Moxie