In Mourning

This blog is mourning the loss of my beloved friend and neighbor, Ben Gardner. I tried many of these recipes out on him and his lovely wife Kate-E before they were ever seen here. He was an amazing friend and truly one of the happiest and most loving people I've ever met. My heart hurts for the loss of him and for his wife Kate-E, who my family and I love dearly.

I don't know how long this break will be but I need time to mourn my friend.

Easy Lunch

I recently hosted a bridal shower for a friend of mine, the lovely Steph and made what felt like 40 pounds of this chicken salad. I've pared the recipe down (lest you make 40 pounds too) and decided to share the chicken salad that received rave reviews!








Steph's Chicken Salad

• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 cups cooked and chopped chicken meat
• 1/3 cup chopped pecans
• 2 chopped green onions
• 1 tablespoon sweet pickle relish
• optional: 1/8 cup dried cranberries

In a small bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, fresh lemon juice, sweet relish and pepper until well combined and set aside. In a larger bowl, mix together everything else :) You just want to toss it all together until combined - not breaking everything into tiny pieces. Pour 3/4 of the mayo mixture onto the chicken mixture and stir together. If this is "wet" enough for you - you can ignore the rest of the mayo mixture or add it all! Serve it by itself or like I did on cute little tea sandwiches and enjoy!

mmmmmuffins!

As a raging carb-aholic there is little I love more than bread - but I do love a good blueberry muffin. With a cup of coffee in the morning, or really, snagged from the fridge at 2am where I eat it like a thief in the night - these are delish. :)

Blueberry Streusel Muffins

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup milk (I use 2% but whatever)
• 1-1/2 cups blueberries

Streusel

• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons butter, chilled

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees and line your muffin tin with liners (use them, you savage). In a small bowl, take 1 tablespoon of flour and toss it together lightly with your blueberries until coated - this will make sure they distribute through the muffins and don't just sit on the bottom of the muffin!

In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until fluffy and well mixed. Add in the eggs, one at a time - beating the batter until the egg is concorporated before adding the next egg, and then add in the vanilla.

In a separate bowl, stir together the baking powder, salt and flour and set aside. Alternate between adding the flour mixture and milk to the butter mixture, stirring between each addition until just combined. Fold in your blueberries last and then spoon the mixture into the muffin tin - filling each cup 3/4 the way full.

In a small bowl, mix together 2 tablespoons of flour, brown sugar and the cinnamon. Cut in the butter using a fork until mixture resembles course crumbs and sprinke over the unbaked muffins. Bake the muffins for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick in the middle comes out clean.

Kitchen Tip #3

As you can tell - I do a lot of baking. I enjoy the look of total pleasure on someone's face when they're scarfing down a cookie or having a bad day, and then I swing by with a brownie. It's enough to make anyone smile. I've been baking since roughly third grade, so I've got a lot of trial/error knowledge to pass along :) Here's one cookie-changing tip.

Whenever you add something like chocolate chips or raisins, etc to a cookie, cake, bread - whatever. Toss it in a little all purpose flour first so they're just coated. This will help "suspend" them in the dessert so you won't end up with a cake with all the chocolate chips at the bottom, or a cookie with no visible chips on top!