Poppy Seed Chicken Salad

A few weeks ago I went to lunch with my sister Summer. We ate at the Apple Cake Tea Room in Farragut. It’s one of our favorite places for “girl time”. My favorite dish there is the Tea Room Medley which includes delicious chicken salad with poppy seeds. I was inspired and started my recipe search for this type of chicken salad. I found a great recipe online. The only thing I changed was the mayo. I used egg-free and all natural Vegenaise ®. Rather than using regular bread, which I’m trying to avoid btw, I used Wasa Multigrain Crispbread. the golden raisins added the perfect sweetness. The salad turned out to be a delicious, healthier version of the inspired chicken salad; even the kids gobbled it down. Enjoy!

What You Need

~2 c. cooked chicken I shredded mine

~¼ c. Vegenaise

good squirt Dijon mustard

~1 Tbs. poppy seeds

~1/3 c. celery, small dice

~½ c.golden raisins

salt

black pepper

Directions

After you cook and shred the chicken combine all the ingredients in a large bowl and serve how you wish.

You can find the original recipe here at girlichef.com. <-----for some reason I can't get that link to go to the right page. Anyhow, search Chicken Salad w/ Poppyseeds & Yellow Raisins on the website girlichef.com.

ENJOY!

Shawna

My Favorite Pick-Me-Up Snack

My favorite summer time snack is an apple. I love Gala, Braeburn, and Sonya apples the best right now. I'm sure that if I stopped by a farmer's market that I could find a new favorite. My kids love apples too. I can rarely eat an apple to myself because the kids come over for their bites. And what can beat an apple with fresh homemade peanut butter. Apples with peanut butter remind me of those delicious peanut caramel apples I would get at the fair as a kid. Homemade peanut butter is one of the easiest things to make in the kitchen. I was really happy when my husband told me that my peanut butter is better than any store bought peanut butter.

Homemade Peanut Butter

2 1/2 cups of unsalted peanuts
4 tablespoons of peanut oil. You can use whatever type of oil you have on hand.
2 tablespoons of honey
1 tablespoon of brown sugar
salt to taste

Directions
Place peanuts into a food processor. Turn on and let run until the peanuts are well ground. I leave mine with a little crunch. Pour in the oil. Stop, scrape down the sides of the bowl and replace the lid. You will probably have to do that step several times With the food processor still on add the honey and brown sugar. Season with salt according to your taste.  Store the peanut butter in an airtight jar in the fridge.

One apple and about 2 tablespoons of peanut butter is a great pick-me-up snack; especially between meals when I'm hungry.It gives me just the amount of energy I need.

Happy Summer! :-)

Sweet Potato Veggie Burgers

I've learned that I love to dabble in the kitchen when I have time. I'm a little obsessed with photography so photographing food is fun. I've been trying cook mostly fresh foods this summer, but I know that when school starts back it will be a challenge. Well, I searched high and low for a good veggie burger. I don't like the frozen ones that taste bland and heavy, and are filled with unnecessary  ingredients. I found a veggie burger recipe using sweet potatoes! I changed it up a bit and it turned out fabulous. Enjoy!

Sweet Potato Veggie Burgers
makes 7-8 large patties

2 cans cannellini white beans, drained
1 large sweet potato, baked/peeled/mashed (about 2 cups)
1 tbsp of hummus or tahini
2 tsp honey
1 tsp of mequite seasoning or any kind of "burger" seasoning you have
1 tsp of cumin
1 tsp of black pepper
1/4 cup wheat flour

salt to taste if needed

plentiful bread crumbs or Panko crumbs
oil for pan- you can use whatever kind you prefer

Directions:

1. Bake or cook sweet potato in microwave. Peel, place in large mixing bowl.
2. Add drained beans to mixing bowl. Use a hand mixer to combine beans and potato together.
3. Add all te oter ingredients and blend until tey are mixed together well.
4. Heat 1 Tbsp oil in a pan over high heat.
5. Form a patty from mixture and coat in breadcrumbs. Then drop the patty in the pan. Repeat until the pan is filled. Cook until browned on both sides.
6. Transfer cooked patties to paper towel. Cool for a few minutes.
7. Serve on a toasted English muffin.  I added Vegenaise®, fresh spinach, tomato slices, onions, and avocado. It was simply delicious...well 'simply' is probably not the best word to use because there are so many flavors going on with this sandwich.

This recipe is adapted from Healthy Happy Life.
You can bake this too. Bake at 375 until golden brown. I think you will need to flip it.

First bite! :-)

Honestly I didn't need or want anything else to go with this veggie burger. No sides. It was filling by itself.

Baked Spinach and Rice Parmesan

• 12 ounces frozen spinach,
• 4  servings of cooked white or brown rice
• 1/2 cup low-fat cottage cheese  + I usually add just ¼ cup more to get the perfect creamy texture but you don’t have to
• 1/2 cup finely shredded or shaved Parmesan cheese, plus more for garnishing on top
• 2 eggs beaten ( I use Ener-G Egg Replacer)
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon salt or to your liking
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper or to your liking
• ¼ tsp of nutmeg (you can omit this if you like but I enjoy the flavor)
• 2 tablespoons of flaxseed (omit if you wish)

1. Preheat oven to 375°F.
2. In a pot cook spinach on your stove top. Drain all excess water and place back in pot.
3. Add cottage cheese, Parmesan, eggs or egg replacer, garlic, salt, and pepper. Stir to combine.
4. Spray or butter a small baking pan. Pour in mixture.
5. Bake for about 20 minutes.
6. Let it sit for a few minutes. I transfer mine to a presentable bowl or plate, stir, and place on the table with the other food.
7. Serve warm, sprinkled with Parmesan cheese.

Serves 4

This makes an excellent side dish accompaniment to chicken, fish, pork, or steak.

Or, like me, you can eat as a main dish. Served with green tea! :-)

 

Mother’s Day 2012

Me with the sweetest 2 kids in the world!!

What a great weekend it’s been! Tim surprised me with chocolate covered strawberries on Friday. They were so delicious. He knows I love chocolate covered fruit so this was an extra special gift. It was followed by BVGARI Jasmin Noir Eau de Parfum….in other words some really-good-smelling perfume! Man I haven’t used perfume in years because it usually gives me headaches but this one doesn’t. I remember several months ago I was flipping through a magazine while visiting Annabel and April. I came across a sample of this perfume tucked away within a page. I handed the sample card over to Tim and said, "Rmember this. It smells so good." Well evidently he kept the card in his wallet until it was time to get me a Mother’s Day gift. So sweet hon!

Later, as we usually do, we went over to see my Mom and celebrate the day with her. Then later we stopped by my mother-in-laws house to surprise her with a few special things I’d picked out at Kirklands. I love that store btw.

The day ended with some wonderful snuggles from my 2 awesome kids. I will have to say that being a mom myself is the best gift I could ever have. Makayla and Jackson are a handful for sure. This season of my life is filled with cat and mouse games, puzzles, books, play dough, diaper changes, potty training(1 kid down, 1 to go), late night comforting, fixing booboos, sweeping after every meal, load after load of laundry, a definite lack of sleep, dishes galore, ABC’s and 123’s (in English & Spanish), bike riding, and early morning strolls around the neighborhood. These are the things I dreamt of for so long and I thank my Lord Jesus Christ for allowing me to be a mom. I also thank God for my mom, a great woman whom I’ve learned a lot from and still learning from especially when I watch her cook. 

Me, Mom, Summer, and April

Sweetest little guy ever!

Cute Tootie

My mom with 2 of her granddaughters, MG and Annabel

My Little Kitchen Helper

Makayla loves to help me in the kitchen so I let her help cook and bake as often as possible. Here’s a few pics from our latest homemade pizzas. We made cheese and pepperoni with onions and a spinach with ricotta chunks.

Egg Free Chocolate Cream Cheese Chocolate Chip Cookies

Okay so I really need to blog more…between playing with the kids, laundry, devotional time, work, spending time with Tim, laundry, cleaning dishes, sweeping, cooking, exercising, laundry, and showering (haha! Gotta fit that in right!) I’ve been slacking on the blogging department. I will have to admit that I miss it. I just LOVE writing/blogging-it’s an awesome way to remember our sweet times that become memories too soon. Time is flying by!! Plus it’s just the way I sort my emotions. :-)

Well, I just made the best Egg Free Chocolate Cream Cheese Chocolate Chip Cookies with whole wheat flour! So I thought I would post the recipe real quick. Makayla rarely  gets special treats like this because they have to be egg free and because I like foods that are pretty healthy for my kids. Today, she was so excited cause I decided to splurge! Right now I'm watching MG & Jack eat their little cookie, and let me tell you it's so sweet to watch! Hopefully this will help all of us feel better cause we're feeling kinda yucky at our house...ugh. Oh, Oh did I mention that this dough is awesome when frozen (it's safe to eat raw because it's EGG FREE) :-) Enjoy…seriously, mix it, bake it, and sit for 5 minutes and indulge. You won’t regret it.

Much Love,

Shawna

Egg Free Chocolate Cream Cheese Chocolate Chip Cookies

You can skip the ‘adding the cocoa’ and they’ll be regular chocolate chip cookies. I’ve made them both ways and it’s so good. If I want a batch half and half (like the picture above) then I will just split the cookie batter and add half the cocoa to the one half.

1/2 C Butter (1 stick)
1/3 C Sugar
1/2 C Brown Sugar
1 1/2 C Flour (Whole wheat flour is great too)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt

3-4 tsp of real cocoa
2 ½  tsp Vanilla (better if you use real vanilla)
3 TBSP Vegetable Oil

1/3 C of whipped cream cheese
Chocolate Chips

Cream together the butter and sugars (usually around 2 to 3 minutes)
Slowly add in Flour, cocoa and baking soda (mix will be dry after this step)
Add in Vanilla and Oil and cream together for another 2 to 3 minutes or until dough consistency. I pat it wil my hands to get it formed into a big ball.

Add cream cheese and cream together for about 15 seconds.
Add Chocolate chips

Bake at 350 for 8 to 10 min max. Leave them on baking sheet for about 5 more minutes then transfer to cooling racks.

icecream topped with cookie dough balls.

Approval from the kiddos!! :-)