Chicken & Fruit Salad

Oooooh, chicken salad.  I've eaten this more times than I can count, and every time I think, "I should make this more often!"  This recipe was courtesy of Ginger, a patient of mine.  She started selling Pampered Chef for a bit, and I had a party for her.  This was one of the recipes she suggested; apparently it's an old Pampered Chef recipe that is sort of passed from consultant to consultant because it's so tasty! (It also highlights several of their products; a chopper and an apple corer/slicer make this recipe a whole lot easier).

Even though the ingredients sound really odd together, I've had requests for the recipe every time I've taken this dish anywhere, which has been often because it's a great potluck recipe. Arby's even had a similar sandwich recently- theirs was on bread, although this would also be great in a tortilla, in a bread bowl, served with crackers, or- as I eat it- just with a fork!  Thankfully there are leftovers in my fridge because now I'm really craving this, and I may just go have a bite or two.

I've always added more pecans when I make this; can you add too many nuts to recipes?  When I made this yesterday, I used the KitchenAid trick to shred the chicken- not the best choice for this recipe; it really should be chopped, not shredded.  Although it still tasted delish, it just didn't seem to me to have the right texture.  Personal preference, I suppose. 


Chicken & Fruit Salad

1&1/2 lbs cooked, cubed chicken breast
4 ribs celery, chopped
1/2 red onion, chopped
1&1/2C mayonnaise
2 cloves garlic, pressed
1&1/2C red seedless grapes, cut in half
1/2C pecans, chopped
2 Granny Smith apples, cored and chopped
2t dill weed
1 small wedge Parmesan, grated

Combine all ingredients, and refrigerate several hours before serving

Joel starts preschool today.  Oh good Lord....    ..............does his teacher have ANY idea what she's in for?  The medicine is helping, but not enough, in my opinion.  He still doesn't want to do anything anyone else's way, and he's even more emotional on the meds.  He'll cry and get upset when they tell him it's time to stop playing with the toys.  I think there's a chance, though, that he'll sit still and work if he's told to.  He's SO excited; I hope he's good and doesn't out himself as the problem kid on the first day.

Last night he got up around midnight to go to the bathroom.  He came in and told me that he didn't have anything to get to preschool on and asked if I could take him in my car.  As always, I would really love to know what goes on in that little brain of his.

Pistachio-crusted Chicken

I love this recipe.  It's amazingly good and super easy! I'm quite sure I found it in a magazine as an ad.  You know how Campbells has those full-page ads of recipes using their soups- I'm pretty sure it was something like that.  Although what would they be advertising?  Pistachios, I guess.  Hmm.  I found it shortly after David and I got married, and it's always been a favorite.

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1/3C shelled pistachio nuts, finely ground
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 Tbs olive oil

Preheat oven to 400.  In shallow dish, combine nuts, salt, and pepper.  Press smooth side of chicken into nut mixture.  Heat oil in nonstick skillet. Add chicken, nut-side down, and cook over med-high heat until golden, 2 minutes per side.  Transfer chicken to baking dish.  Bake 12-15 minutes.

And now for the tweaks, because- rest assured- if I'm making it, there's probably a change or two.  I use way more nuts than called for.  I put pistachios on both sides of the chicken.  And I put any leftover pistachios in the skillet so they get a little crunchy and toasted, and then I add them to the top of the chicken when I bake it.  In my opinion, the more pistachios, the better!  And the obvious shreds of parmesan in the picture- they're just from the parmesan roasted potatoes we had with the chicken.  No cheese is involved to mess up the scrumptious pistachios.

Little Miss Grownup

Last week David discovered a little nest of baby rabbits in the yard.

Monday, Hank had one of the rabbits in his mouth.  It was already dead; I saw him pick it up and it never moved.

There was one bunny left in the nest, and Hope and Naomi took spinach out to feed it.  We warned them that if the mom smelled human on the bunny, she might not go back to it.  So they were careful to not get too close and just throw spinach leaves in the grass.  Hope checked on it every day to make sure it was still there.

Today, thanks to the ComEd meter reader who never closes our gate and now has a complaint being forwarded to his supervisor, Hank got out of the back yard, and Hope happened to see him just as he was tearing the leg off the bunny.  On the sidewalk.  In view of the front door.

She came running into the house, sobbing and shrieking.  Of course, the other kids ran to the door to see what the issue was, so they got to see the dismembered baby rabbit on the sidewalk.

Good times, good times.

But as Joel and Naomi were telling Hank he was the worst dog ever, Hope came to Hank's rescue and said he wasn't a bad dog, it was just his instinct to go after animals.  He was only doing what he was bred to do.

I've heard that speech a hundred times with the cats and the birds they'd bring home, but it was her sobbing and petting her dog as she tried to explain to her siblings it wasn't his fault that did me in.

I asked her if she thought she could pick it up or if that would be too much, and she said she'd do it.  She put on a pair of my latex gloves and got a bag, picked up the pieces, and held the rabbit and petted it for a few minutes and cried some more.  Then she came in and wiped off Hank's face to get rid of any blood.

Pretty mature for a 2-year-old.  Oh wait, she's 10.  Still pretty mature.  But how the heck did she get to be 10...