My first chicken salad!!!

After surveying my friends and my cookbooks, I have decided to try my hand at chicken salad.

My friends all recommended curry. And various fruits. And since my favorite chicken salad on earth is that of my high school English teacher and involves grapes... and my second favorite is the Apple Walnut Chicken Salad at Java's Brewin at New and Broad Street in Bethlehem...

A random little cookbook from my mother, Salads and Dressings Varied and Delicious by G&R Publishing, 1993, lists the following for chicken salad:

Chicken Salad

from Salads and Dressings Varied and Delicious

2 cups cooked chicken, diced coarse

1 cup celery diced

3/4 cup peeled cucumbers

1 TBS finely cut green onion

Dash salt

1 cup salad dressing

Angel's Chicken Salad with Fruit

1 3/4 cup chicken

1 cup chopped apple

1/2 cup golden raisins

1/2 cup chopped grapes

1/2 cup nut topping

1 tsp. it's a dilly

3/4 cup Nayonnaise/ soy mayonnaise

Picnic Lunch: Tuna melts and orange-mango smoothies

You can always recognize a good cookbook in someone's kitchen. It's dirty, warped and maybe even unidentifiably sticky. I have Italian cookbooks, Chinese cookbooks, vegan cookbooks, vegetarian cookbooks, French cookbooks, chocolate cookbooks, casserole cookbooks, even a pasta cookbook.

Nava Atlas' The Vegetarian 5-ingredient cookbook is one of those tomes that is on its way to dirty stickiness. I don't actually use it that often, but after flipping through it looking for the orange creamsicle smoothie recipe this morning... Well, there are several recipes that piqued my interest that I had never noticed before. I love that every recipe is five ingredients (or less.) I think that speaks well to the harried nature of our lives and blends with a "this is what I've got on hand" situation.

I "got hungry" for Atlas' smoothie when I bought those YoBaby smoothies the other day and made the wisecrack that I knew I could make them at home. And they'd taste better. And I knew making them (with the blender, the blender!) would thrill my daughter. So, we made the smoothies and packed them with hot sandwiches for my daughter's picnic with Daddy. (I have class Tuesday and Thursday 11:00 to 12:15 p.m.)

Smoothies first...

Orange-Vanilla Creamsicle Smoothie

makes one to two servings (I automatically double.)

From Nava Atlas' 5-ingredient Vegetarian Gourmet

In blender combine (or stir if you want a lumpier consistency):

1. 1 cup fresh orange juice
2. 1/2 cup low fat vanilla yogurt
3. 1/4 cup seltzer or sparkling water (optional)
4. dash of vanilla extract (optional)
5. ice (optional)

I did not have any "bubbles" on hand, so we skipped them. And I added probably less than 1/4 cup mango sorbet. And doubled the orange juice and yogurt. As expected, it was a hit.

For the entrée of this lunch, I toasted English muffins, added some cheddar cheese and melted it, and then piled on the tuna (which I make with Nayonnaise because I think mayonnaise is nasty). I popped the lid on and wrapped the hot little sandwiches in foil with the home of getting them to my husband warm. When I asked if I succeeded, he shrugged. An attempt at portable hot lunch, when you're on a tight schedule is not worth the effort and stress. But it was fun for today.