Curry Chicken Salad

Looking for the Dove Chocolate Truffle Giveaway?  It's here.
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I love to be the hostess. I am always looking for unique recipes that will be easy, yummy, serve a lot of people, and are inexpensive. I went to a luncheon with my bible study group one day, and my friend Kristen made us these fantastic Curry Chicken Salad sandwiches.

This is the recipe she used from Barefoot Contessa:

3 split (1 1/2 whole) chicken breasts, bone in, skin on
Olive oil
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 cups good mayonnaise
1/3 cup dry white wine
1/4 cup chutney (recommended: Major Gray's)
3 tablespoons curry powder
1 cup medium-diced celery (2 large stalks)
1/4 cup chopped scallions, white and green parts (2 scallions)
1/4 cup currants
1 cup whole roasted, salted cashews, chopped

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Place the chicken breasts on a sheet pan and rub the skin with olive oil. Sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper. Roast for 35 to 40 minutes, until the chicken is just cooked. Set aside until cool enough to handle. Remove the meat from the bones, discard the skin, and shred the chicken in pieces.
For the dressing, combine the mayonnaise, wine, chutney, curry powder, and 1 1/2 teaspoons salt in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade. Process until smooth.
Combine the chicken with enough dressing to moisten well. Add the celery, scallions, and raisins, and mix well. Refrigerate for a few hours to allow the flavors to blend. Add the cashews to the chicken.

Now, LET’S GET REAL! Here’s my adjustment to the chicken preparation:

4-6 Frozen chicken breasts
1-2 cups Chicken Stock

Place the chicken breasts in a crock pot with chicken stock and cook on low for 5-6 hours.

Done. The chicken will be so tender it will shred on its own as you mix it with the rest of the ingredients.

Serve on croissants.
I use the ones from Costco which are huge and can be cut in half before serving.
Enjoy!

Obsession: Champagne Dressing

Looking for the Dove Chocolate Truffle Giveaway?  It's here.
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As promised, here is the first of the recipes from last week's "Special Delivery".  I will post the Curry Chicken Salad recipe tomorrow.  As for the cookies... you'll have to see Betty Crocker about that one.  I just opened the bag, added the egg, oil, and water and rolled.  Sorry to disappoint, but I am NOT a baker.

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My favorite salad dressing is Girard’s Champagne. (NOT the low fat kind, because I don’t do low fat. The fat has all the flavor people.) I love it. I am obsessed. I also use it to marinate chicken sometimes, but on a salad is my favorite form.

Here’s how I do it.  I start with:

Lettuce (Use whatever is your favorite style, for me it is usually an Italian blend. And let me specify here also that I use bagged salad… no time for salad spinners!)

Chicken

Avocado

Cucumbers

Golden Raisins

Crumbled Feta Cheese

Candied Walnuts

First, I get out my garbage bowl (a la Rachael Ray... my favorite cooking utensil) and peel and seed the cucumber.

Then I dice the cucumber and the avocado, and add them to my salad bowl. 

Next, I put some candied walnuts in a baggy and crush them up to make smaller pieces.

Then it's time to add some feta cheese.

For the chicken I sometimes cook it myself, sometimes buy pre-cooked chicken strips, and sometimes use a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store.

Once all of the ingredients have been thrown in the bowl...

I am ready for add the piece de resistance... the dressing!

I have been known to just take my third helping directly from the salad bowl, and then lick it clean. I LOVE this salad.

Bowling Party Invitations

Looking for the Dove Chocolate Truffle Giveaway?  It's here.

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For Beau’s last birthday he decided he wanted to have a party at a swanky new bowling alley in our area. I thought I would share with you the cute invites we made for his friends. They were super easy and fun, and got ooh’s and ahh’s from the recipients (well, let’s be honest… from their mothers, which is who I was trying to impress anyway, right?).

I purchased these adorable bowling pins from Little Sapling Toys. They come in sets of 6 or 10 pins, and work out to about $3.50 a piece (at the time of this posting).

I hand-delivered them in red paper lunch sacks, but you could always use a small padded envelope if you needed to mail them out.

They’re pretty self explanatory other than that!

Giveaway Day!

***This giveaway is now closed***

It's my first official giveaway, and a sweet one it is!

My friend Kim Sprague is a Dove Chocolate Discoveries Chocolatier. She offers Chocolate Tasting parties where she teaches fun entertaining ideas and you get to sample all her yummy treats! She has a team of consultants around the US, so if you are interested in hosting a party, you can contact Kim.  Also, check out her blog for some creative chocolate ideas... www.thechocolateladyblog.blogspot.com.  

Today Kim is offering a very special Truffle Collection that will be shipped the week of Mother's Day. 

The truffles are going to be handmade by Jin Caldwell, recognized as one of the Top 10 Pastry Chefs in North America. They will be made with fresh creams and butter, and are best enjoyed within 3 weeks of delivery (as if they would have a chance of lasting longer.) 

These are not stale chocolates that you find on a shelf in a store!  

The retail value of this prize is $39.

Here are the rules.....

1. Become a follower of my blog.

2. Leave me a comment letting me know about the special lady that will receive these yummy truffles (even if that special lady is you!).

3. One post per person, per household 

4. Dove chocolatiers or Dove/Mars, Inc. employees are not allowed to play 

5. Winner must live in the continental USA

6. Posts must be submitted by 11:59pm, PST, Thursday, April 22, 2010.

7. Winner will be randomly selected and posted on Friday, April 23, 2011.

8. Winner must send me the mailing address that they would like the truffles shipped to (no PO Boxes) by Saturday, April 24, 2011, 5pm PST, or a new winner will be selected. 

A Few of my Favorite Things

Ever heard of etsy?  For those of you that haven't, it is an online marketplace for handcrafted items.  

I sell my calendars there.  

They have this thing on etsy called the Treasury, which is a place where etsy users can display a grouping of items, usually with some sort of common theme.  Each Treasury list expires after 48 hours, and they only allow 333 lists at a time.  (Although the number often goes far over 333 because as soon as the 333rd list expires, taking it down to 332 lists, people jump on it and try to create a list.  If several hundred people do that at one time, they allow all those people to get a listing.  I know... ridiculously confusing, right?) 

In other words... it's really hard to get a Treasury on etsy.  

So, I'm making my own.

I call it "I heart etsy" (Nathan just told me that it should be called "Random Crap").

What are some of your favorite etsy items? 

Special Delivery

We all have those opportunities in life to bring someone a meal… a new mommy, a recovering friend, a neighbor who burned their kitchen down because they are such terrible cook. 

Whatever the situation, I think it is a nice gesture to make it not just a meal, but an entire eating experience.

Package it up… make it cute… include everything… and most importantly… MAKE IT ALL DISPOSABLE!

There’s nothing worse than opening your kitchen cabinet and feeling that pang of guilt because you know you didn’t buy that Pyrex® dish, but you have had it for more than a year now and you don’t even know how to get a hold of the girl that made you those delicious enchiladas (don’t worry… my sister eventually got it back to her for me).

Note to my "green" friends (Jen this one is for you): I apologize to you and to the planet, but if you have ever had a baby you will know that in those first few weeks easy is way more important that any carbon footprint mumbo jumbo.

When your friends have finished their meal they can throw the entire thing away… have nothing to clean… and most importantly, have nothing to return!

Today I made meals for two friends with new babies.  

Here’s what the completed package looked like:

In the adult “to-go” bag (the white bag) I included:

Curry Chicken Salad Sandwiches

Champagne Salad

Peanut Butter Cookie Sandwiches

Rootbeer

Beer

(If the package is for a new mom, I like to include beer. That sounds strange, I know… but when I was first nursing my milk supply was low and my doctor told me to drink beer. I figure either the new mommy can work on her milk supply, or the new daddy will really like me. It’s a win-win.)

And of course I included plates, napkins and utensils.

The kids “to-go” bag for the big brother and big sister included:

  A more kid-friendly sandwich, a PB & J (just be sure there is a not a nut allergy when preparing your meal)

A bag of veggies & dip

A bottle of water 

Two cookies (without the chocolate frosting... we don't need to be hyping up those older siblings) 

and a napkin... all tucked neatly into their own special bag.

Next week I will give you the recipes for my Curry Chicken Salad and my favorite Champagne Salad.

Answers

Congratulations to Katie (or should I say Katie, Beth and Carol).  I am actually very impressed that you all got as many as you did.  Except Megan... c'mon, not even one???

As promised, here are the answers:

1.  Of course, The Jerk.  Steve Martin's most classic!
2.  Troop Beverly Hills  Tori Spelling's most riveting performance!
3.  Airplane
4.  When Harry Met Sally  My favorite Romantic Comedy and Meg Ryan flick!
5.  Clue  I had a feeling no one would get this one.  I know every line from this movie.
6.  The Wedding Singer
7.  It's a Wonderful Life  Jen... impressive!  This was kind of an obscure line from the movie which is my all time favorite. 
8.  Zoolander
9.  Newsies  My favorite musical.  Wait, I forgot about High School Musical 1, 2, and 3... hmmm.
10.  Sabrina 
11.  Notting Hill  My second favorite Romantic Comedy
12.  Sixteen Candles 
13.  Pirates of the Caribbean  Strangely, one of my all time favorite movies.
14.  French Kiss 
15.  You've Got Mail  Can you tell that I love Meg Ryan???

And finally... the bonus quote.  Yes Katie... it was Billy Madison.  By the way, I wish I could have been there to see Beth's reenactment.  I am laughing just picturing it!!!  Now, do they have Regal Cinemas in Hawaii, or should I look for an alternate prize?