Chicken Salad with Sugar Spiced Pecans

Sounds fancy smancy huh?  It's not.  Not a single thing fancy about this, but dang it tastes delish!  I love Chicken Salad Sandwiches.  Not too mayo-y, and loaded with lots of crunchy things.  On a croissant, or Honey Whole Wheat from Great Harvest, or homemade Focaccia it all makes me happy.  Last week James had to come home a little earlier than normal from work.  Something to do with taxes and gathering, sorting, categorizing and other really fun stuff like that.  But he brought home a super fresh and delicious loaf of the above mentioned Honey Whole Wheat.  In all reality James believes on most days he makes the BEST Whole Wheat Bread on the planet.  Well this was one of those days.  It was a perfect loaf of bread, and as James was driving home he called and asked if I'd make something really tasty to go on it.  Well of course I would!  Chicken Salad!  It was scrumptious!  We both made yummy sounds as we were eating, and all that tax stuff just didn't seem so bad.

So here's my opinion on Chicken Salad.  A just right amount of mayo.  Not Miracle Whip.  A little sweet, a lot of crunchy, and a really great nut involved.  I love adding these Sugar Spiced Pecans.  Just a little heat, but a toasted sweet crunch is AWESOME!  The pictured sandwich is on some homemade Focaccia (HERE"S A LINK) that I made the next day.  Yup!  It hit the spot as well.  And by the way............that was a breakfast picture.  Not lunch, but brekky:)  Enjoy!

Chicken Salad with Sugar Spiced Pecans

Chopped chicken  (I used canned chicken and it was wonderful.  Leftover chicken of any sort works, as well as fresh boiled, grilled, or baked chicken.)
Mayo (To your liking.  If you like it a little creamier then go for it!)
1/2 T. Spicy Mustard (dried mustard, or regular yellow mustard works too.)
1/4 c. sugar
zest of 1 lemon
juice of 1 lemon
1 Apple chopped
2-3 Ribs of Celery chopped
2-3 T. Fresh Chopped Parsley

1 c. chopped Sugar Spiced Pecans (Recipe Follows)


Sugar Spice Pecans

1/3 c. sugar
1 c. whole or chopped pecans

In a dry fry pan place the sugar and nuts and put over a medium high heat.  Be diligent and stay right by these babies until they're done.  I've burned a few nuts in my day, and even the kitty won't eat them:(
Don't stir until you start to see the sugar melting.  Gently stir the nuts so they don't burn.  Keep stirring until all the sugar has fully melted and turns golden brown.  This part goes fast.  It takes a while for the sugar to start to melt, but once it does watch it.  Pour the nuts onto a WELL GREASED pan or plate.  Immediately sprinkle with a shot of salt and chili pepper.  Let cool and then break up and add to the best salad or Chicken Salad.


Mix all ingredients together and serve on bread of choice.  It's even better the second day:)

Roasted Tomato Rice Bisque

This is a delicious soup.  My mom loves this soup.  I found this recipe YEARS ago in a Martha Stewart Living Mag.  I've changed it up quite a bit to suit my tastes.  It is so simple, yet has such a great flavor.  I made this a few weeks ago with the last of my cherry tomatoes from the garden.  They actually lasted into the first part of Nov.  It's always such a treat to eat homegrown tomatoes through Nov.  Don't think that roasting tomatoes is a necessary step to make a tasty soup.  It's not.  It was just something I thought I'd try.  If you have a ton of extra tomatoes then try this step, otherwise, canned tomatoes work amazingly well.  Enjoy with some hot bread or a grilled cheese sandwich.  And curl up by the fire and watch a good movie:)

Roasted Tomato Rice Bisque

2 T. butter

1 T. Olive Oil

1 onion chopped

2 t. dried oregano

2/3 c. rice

salt 

pepper

32 oz. canned chopped tomatoes (or a cookie sheet full of roasted tomatoes)

4 c. chicken broth

2 c. milk, or half and half, or cream

Melt butter in a saucepan with oil.  Add onion and stir until transparent.  Add oregano, rice and, 1 t. each salt and pepper.  Stir until the rice is coated in the butter and the oregano is fragrant.

Add tomatoes (I usually puree the canned tomatoes a bit.  If you're using the roasted tomatoes place them in a blender or food processor with a little stock and buzz them up a bit.  I like a little chunk, but my family doesn't like big chunks. ) and chicken stock.  Bring to a boil and let it bubble slowly for 20 mins. or until the rice is tender.  If the rice has soaked up too much juice add a little more chicken stock if you want.  Stir in milk or cream and add more salt and pepper if necessary.  Sometimes I add more milk, just depending on how creamy I'm feeling:)  Serve with a great crusty bread or grilled cheese.  Serve with Parmesan Cheese.

Roasted Tomatoes

On a large silver cookie sheet place a single layer of tomato chunks or cherry tomatoes.  Drizzle with a little Olive Oil and sprinkle of salt and pepper.  Place in a 425'F oven and roast until the tomatoes are a little browned on the edges.  Probably around 20- 25 mins.  Make sure you get every bit off the pan.  It's full of flavor.  You can add this to the soup, or make a pasta sauce out of it.  

The Sam's Ham Sammie

The Great Harvest bakery question I probably get asked the most is, "Who came up with your sandwich ideas?" And honestly I can say..............ME!  Actually my sister, my mom, my dad, cousins, brothers and lots of other places.  I get inspiration from everywhere.   Our best selling sandwich, The Swede Turkey Pesto, was and idea from my sister Hollie, and my brother Marc and his wife Susan.   We had a Clawson Gourmet Night years ago to try out new sandwiches on James' many siblings.  The Swede was named after my cousin Swede who was a baker for us at the time.  Every sandwich is named after an employees or family members.   It's funny how many times our current employees are trying to come up with sandwich concoctions to get their name to a sandwich:)

One of my favorites is the Sam's Ham.  I have two brother in law's named Sam.  Actually they're both Sam Smith's if you can imagine that.  They aren't remotely related, and there is one on each side of my family.   One is the best orthodontist in Boise Id. (Super Smiles Orthodontics) and the other is the best merchant service man in Utah.  So due to that unique little fact, I decided to name this ham sandwich after the two of them.

The actual recipe is an old one my mom used to make for big family gatherings, mission farewells, and the like.  It was originally made with croissant rolls, and had only the poppy seed spread and toasted ham and cheese.  I've seen a lot of variations of it on Pinterest lately, but I personally think my mom made them best:)  I thought this sandwich would be perfect on the Pretzel Rolls I made last week.  Indeed it was perfect.  Now it does give you some serious onion breath, so make sure if you're in to kissing and the like, that you're favorite person eats one too.  Enjoy!

The Sam's Ham Sammie

Rolls (pretzel rolls, croissant rolls, or white bread from you local Great Harvest!)

sliced ham

sliced Swiss cheese

lettuce

tomato

red onion

and the secret weapons.........Special Poppy Sauce!

Apple Butter or Apple sauce!

Poppy Sauce

1 Tablespoon poppy seeds

2 Tablespoons yellow mustard

1/2 cup butter, extra soft

1 Tablespoon minced onion 

1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

In a small bowl mix all the above ingredients together.  If you have extra just refrigerate it.  It will last a week or two.

Sandwich preparation:  Slice each roll in half and spread a generous layer of poppy sauce on one side of the roll or one slice of bread.  Top with a slice of good ham and Swiss cheese.  Place on a cookie sheet and pop in a 375' F oven for about 7-10 minutes.  Until the cheese is melty, and the bread is toasty.  At the bakery we make this grilled cheese style.  So if you use bread just toast as you would a grilled cheese.  You can eat the sandwiches as is now, or you can top with lettuce, tomato, red onion and a swipe of apple butter or sauce.  I know the apple sauce sounds weird, but trust me, it's delicious!!

Easter!

Yummy White Chocolate Marshmallow Popcorn,  beautiful spring Emma with a bouquet of the first signs of Spring in Avon- Curly Jacks, Orange Rolls my personal fave, Gingersnap Fruit Pizza, Dilly Rolls, Creme Brulee Berry Pie AKA "Navine Pie- Oh My!"I think this is my Granny's favorite thing on the planet, Chinese Pork Roast James' favorite Sunday dinner, Scones, Potato Fennel and Leek Gratin, Sheet Pan Sugar CookiesThanks Colette, Curly Jacks, Joshy Bake!

So what are you doing for Easter?  That is the question.  I asked it this morning on our early morning run, and found everyone was doing something a little special.  A lot of ham in the picture, as well as a lot of Easter egg hunts.  We are headed down to Grandma G's house this year, but still I felt the desire to fix something a little special.  My neighbor Colette was making brunch.  I  thought that was a fantastic idea.  You can have your ham, but also your favorite breakfast fare, and of course desserts.  That's the good thing about brunch.  You can't quite get away with having dessert after breakfast, but you certainly can have a big slice of Key Lime Pie or something after brunch.  I believe brunch has now just become my favorite meal.  I need to have it more often.

I'm in charge of the Orange Rolls Sunday, and I'm sure we'll have many other different things.  One extra special treat is a brand new nephew.  My brother Josh and his wife Katie just had a beautiful little boy this morning.  Katie was only 3 1/2 weeks ahead of me, but she decided to have him about 5 1/2 weeks early.  All is well.  He's  5lbs. 14 oz. and 19 inches long.  That's about what my full term babies are.  So guess what?  Out of 6 cousins to be expecting last Christmas at our annual Garner Christmas party...............I'm next!!!!!   But I'll keep cooking this little babe at least 7 more weeks.  We don't want a doughy baby as James put it the other night.  But Congratulations to my brother and his family!  And here's some links to some recipes that might just be fantastic for Easter!!  Love and Kisses!  PS click here for a great Easter message from Mormon Messages.  Don't you just love them!