Simple Chicken Salad

Chicken salad can be a great picnic or party food item, and having a simple go-to recipe is a must!  The chicken you use is up to you...as is you can either:

• Make your own (recipe to follow soon!)
• Buy a pre-cooked rotisserie chicken from your local grocery store

Once you have your chicken cooked (or purchased from the store), take it off the bone.  You can also take the skin off, or you can leave it on for added flavor.  Next, dice the chicken into small pieces, a bit smaller than the tip of your pinky finger, and place it into a bowl or reusable storage container.  The other ingredients you need are:

• Mayonnaise
• Relish (I prefer the dill pickle flavor)
• Salt & pepper to taste

Now, grab a spoon and mix together!  Be sure that you taste for salt & pepper levels in case you need to add more.

Since this recipe is so basic & simple, you can add whatever you like!  Here are some ideas:

• Hard boiled eggs
• Cayenne pepper
• Minced jalapeno
• Celery

My favorite way to eat chicken salad is between two pieces of toasted bread, but the sky is the limit with this simple & delicious recipe!  Enjoy!

Juicy Hamburgers

I had to come up with a quick dinner idea the other night, so naturally I stood in the meat section of the grocery store pondering my options.  And sure enough, ground beef was on sale...so, it was settled...hamburgers!  The great thing about hamburgers is their versatility.  By this I mean you can make them out of ground turkey, beef, chicken, and even vegetarian options...literally so many options.  And just think of the many toppings you can have on them!  My point is, I rarely have a burger that I don't like, and it's really easy to make them at home.

Ingredients:

• Ground meat of your choice
• Worcestershire sauce
• Garlic salt
• Dried minced onion
• Fresh ground black pepper

Add the ground meat, garlic salt, ground pepper, minced onion, and Worcestershire sauce to the bowl.  I don't really have measurements...b/c I don't measure unless I bake...so I just make sure to put enough in for flavor.  But remember...you can always add more, but you can't take out ingredients.

This is where it gets messy...take your *clean* hands and mix everything together.  Once this is done, grab a fair handful (depending on the size you want to make) and shape them into a ball...like you are making huge meatballs.  Then, smoosh (is that a word?) them flat, rounding out the edges.

When you're finished, place them on a plate and heat up your pan...or grill.   I used about 2 lbs. of meat, so I made fairly decent sized burgers.

Easy peasy to do this on a pan indoors, but feel free to do these on the grill!  I crank the burner to just over medium & put them right into the pan.

When they have just browned on the first side, flip them over and let them brown on the other side.  Then, cover them with the lid and let them steam in their own juicy goodness.  Check & flip them every so often so they don't burn though.

Andddddd yum!  When you insert a knife in the burgers and they do not ooze pink liquid, they are done.  Slap a piece of cheese on when hot, take a fork to them, and eat right away...at least that's how I eat them!  But again, feel free to enjoy any way you would like!

Homemade Tomato Soup

I'm all about comfort food...and tomato soup is just that!  This is a quick, homemade soup that you can make with ingredients that are probably in your pantry already.  This makes a decent batch of soup...probably 6-10 servings, so you can always increase or decrease the amount depending on how many stomachs...or Tupperware containers you need to fill! 

Ingredients:

• Onion
• Garlic
• Splash of oil
• Tomato sauce
• Chicken stock
• Diced tomatoes
• Cannellini beans
• Mini version of a noodle (i.e., ditalini, mini shells, orzo, pastina, etc.)
• Spices (optional)

Add a splash of oil in a large pot and turn the burner on medium to medium-high.  Chop the onion while the oil heats.

Add the onion, salt and pepper, and stir periodically.

When the onion turns translucent, add minced garlic.  This should be done just before you add the rest of the ingredients so that it does not burn.

In the meantime, boil some water in a small pot and add about a handful of pasta until it is tender to the bite.

Once the garlic has married with the onion, add your tomato sauce (I used a whole jar).  Also, add the cannellini beans (I used one can, rinsed & drained) as well as a can of diced tomatoes (I did not drain the juice).  Keep the burner on the same heat as you will need to simmer the soup. 

Once you drain the cooked noodles, add them to the rest of the ingredients.

Now, it's time for the chicken stock.  However much you use is solely up to you.  If you like a chunky soup, add less...if you like it soupier, add more.  Just kind of gauge it by the consistency you like.  Simmer for about 10 minutes to let everything get happy together.

Now here's my little secret...I like this soup to be a bit on the spicy side, so I add in crushed red pepper.  Totally up to you, but let me just say, this soup is so versatile you can easily make it your own.

I eat this soup as is...but dang if a warm, ooey gooey grilled cheese wouldn't be tasty to dip into it!  Hope y'all enjoy!

Fried Banana Peppers

Want a quick, tasty appetizer to serve at your next get together?  Try fried banana peppers!  Apart from the delicious, crunchy, vinegary bite...they take only about 5-10 minutes per batch!
Ingredients:

• Canola/vegetable oil
• Jar of banana peppers
• Salt/seasoning salt
• Flour

Mix flour and seasoning salt together in a bowl.  Add the banana peppers (get them out of the jar with a fork so you don't get a ton of juice in the flour) and coat them with the flour.

In a small skillet, add a shallow amount of oil and crank the heat to medium-high.  When the oil starts to ripple, it's probably ready.  To check, put a few sprinkles of flour in the oil and if it sizzles, it's ready.  DO NOT ADD WATER -- it could pop and spatter all over and potentially be very dangerous if you do.

Put a few banana peppers in the oil and watch them very closely.  Do not leave these unattended.  Flip them over every so often until they are golden brown.

When they are golden brown, fish them out of the oil with a fork (or a spider strainer) and place them on a paper towel lined plate.  Sprinkle with a pinch of salt for taste.  Serve alone or with a dipping sauce.  These are sure to please!

Ornaments

Well I've been quite absent from here since I was so busy with the holidays...sorry!  Anyways, I'm back now to let you in on my ornaments I did this year.  See, I've kind of made it "my thing" to do ornaments each year for friends and family.  It can be a super simple, easy gift.  This year, I tried a clay-ish dough ornament and then painted them.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup cornstarch
• 1 cup of baking soda
• 3/4 cup water

Mix the ingredients together in a sauce pan (it will look like milk) and stir constantly with the burner on medium heat.

Stir until it comes together into a ball of dough.

Put the hot dough into a mixing bowl and cover with a damp towel to cool.

When the dough is cool, put cornstarch on the counter and plop the dough out.  Knead it a bit (like bread dough) and roll out with a rolling pin about 1/4 of an inch thick.

Use cookie cutters to cut out your ornament shapes (or freehand with a knife!)  You can also use your scraps of dough again...just knead together, re-roll, and cut out more shapes.  You will also need to punch a hole out of the top (so they can hang from the tree).  You can use a straw...or improvise like I had to do and use the tip of a pen!

Place the cutouts on a parchment paper lined baking sheet or stone.

Bake them for one hour at 175 degrees.  30 Minutes in, turn them over.

Once your ornaments are cooled, you can leave them as is...or...you can paint them!  This is just basic acrylic paint (usually on sale for less than a dollar a bottle).  And...maybe don't paint on the couch -- lol.

Here's what my Christmas tree and ginger bread man looked like!

When you're finished painting them, go over them with a clear gloss.

Once dry, add a cute ribbon or ornament hooks.

Christmas Wreath

Christmas is my favorite time of the year.  I love everything about it, especially decorating.  This year, I decided to make my own wreath.  It was a whole lot easier than I thought it would be.  Here's what you'll need:

• Wire wreath (you can get a foam piece of tubing from a home improvement store as well)
• 9-12 ft. of garland
• Ribbon
• Decorative accents

I bought some small decorative red branches and miniature ornaments that had wire attached so you could wrap the wire around anything...I also bought the red ribbon above but changed it out later on.

Wrap the garland around the wreath.  If you have a wire one like I do, weave it through in a few spots to secure it.  Fluff out the garland as well if you find you are having gaps while wrapping it around.

Then, I tucked in the red branches in various spots.

Add the mini ornaments...I used the wire to wrap them around the garland to secure them even more.

Take wide ribbon and make a bow (I literally messed around with this  until I got big loops and it didn't become untied).  Attach it to the top, hang on a wreath hanger or suction cup and you've got yourself a homemade wreath!

You can make your wreath as small or large as you want/need.  You can also add whatever decorations to the wreath that you like.  It's almost like the wreath is a blank canvas, so let your creativity flow!

Taco Soup

I would like to share a wonderful recipe that my boyfriend and I cook often.  It's from his mom (she's such a good cook)!  It's taco soup, cheap to make, and super simple!  Here's what you will need:

• ground beef
• beef broth
• kidney beans
• navy beans (or any other beans you wish to use!)
• white corn (you can use yellow)
• diced tomatoes
• taco seasoning
• ranch seasoning

Brown the ground beef

Add all canned ingredients...drain all liquids first, but reserve the second can of tomatoes to see if you need more liquid (if doubling the recipe)...crank the heat so it can start getting warm

Drain ground beef and add taco seasoning and water (cook like you are having tacos)

Add the ranch seasoning to the soup...

Add the taco meat...

Viola!  Taco soup!

Serve as is, with cheese, sour cream, or anything else your heart desires!

You can make the recipe as small or large as you wish.  I did two cans of everything (except just one can of kidney beans).  You can serve right away, or even let it cool down and freeze a batch for later.  This is a great go-to meal, so I hope y'all enjoy it!