Almond Butter Chicken Salad

This is for all of you who are scared, loathe or despise mayo.  It might also be paleo (I am no expert since we certainly aren't at our house :).   Even though this recipe might be different than the all-time, most popular recipe Julie and I created...I love it just as much!  

This recipe is from my friend, Ashley.  It's the same Ashley where I got the amazing ice cream recipe I use monthly to this day.

Recipe:

2 cooked chicken breasts, chopped (~1 lb)

Granny smith apple, chopped

Clump red grapes, quartered

1/2 Red onion, diced

1 T almond butter

squeeze of lemon or lime juice (just enough to get it to mix)

I struggle when preparing chicken but for this recipe I had success with the thin sliced, hand trimmed chicken breasts from Albertstons.  I placed the salt and peppered chicken slices in the oven at 350 (pan covered with foil) for 18 minutes.  They were moist and cooked to perfection.

The rest of the recipe is a lot of chopping and dicing of the ingredients you see above.  The lighting was so pretty I had to snap a picture.  

Mix all together using just enough of the lemon or lime juice to help the almond butter mix.  Work through it for awhile.   Enjoy.  Hope you love it as much as I do!

Asian Cole Slaw

Asian Cole Slaw

My coworker brought this slaw to a potluck (several times) and it was always a hit.  (Karla is quite the cook among her many talents.)  Don't like slaw?  I didn't either...until I had this!I made it tonight as a side and Hunter enjoyed it as well.  

The recipe I have from Karla is double what I've typed below.  The original recipe probably feeds 10!  I don't mind it leftover but I should probably note it can get soggy if it sits too long because of the ramen noodles.  You certainly can assemble ahead of time (like Karla would do).  Just prepare and save the last step (pouring the dressing) until you are ready to serve!

Ingredients:

5 oz plain cole slaw (bags from Dole come in 10 oz)

1 pkg ramen noodles (asian or chicken)

1/2 c. sunflower seeds

1/2 c. sliced almonds

1/4 c. sugar

1/6 c. apple cider vinegar

1/6 c. olive oil

-Break up the ramen noodles into the slaw.  Keep the seasoning packet aside for the dressing.  

-Add the sunflower seeds and almonds to the slaw mix.  

-In a small bowl, whisk together the sugar, apple cider vinegar, olive oil, and ramen noodle seasoning.

-When you are ready to serve, add the dressing to the slaw mix and toss!

Operation O'Carrs

What do you get when you add:

-hours of internet searching

-2 return trips to my house

-one additional trip to the grocery store (thanks Lance!)

-lots and lots of chicken

-"sweetness"

-lots of herb deliberation

-too many pecans

-LOTS of taste testing

and

-delirious singing of Camp Anawanna and reminiscing theme songs and other 90's tunes

.....Operation O'Carrs

I truly believe my mother didn't know of another Birmingham restaurant for years after I moved here.  I don't want to think of how many lbs of their chicken salad I've consumed.  I've had lots of great memories at O'Carrs.  Julie and I went on a quest to recreate the chicken salad. And while I don't think we matched it exactly, we got pretty darn close.  

Our journey started after my MIS class and their parenting class 5:00 Saturday night.  So, needless to say, it had been a long day for us all!

I bought a tub of the chicken salad so we could analyze what was inside.  It was confirmed that dill (dillweed as carol and I call it) is the herb of choice.  

There was no doubt the chicken salad had to be processed in the food processor (not sooo appetizing).  We are not sure how they got to that point so we boiled our chicken in some salt and paprika.  

 It most definitely contains grapes.  That was easy...

 Note: The container to the left is the store purchased and to the right is our creation.

Looking good... 

If we did stumble upon a killer recipe, we could make a killer profit.

Our final guestimation:

Julie and Shelley's Take on O'Carr's Chicken Salad

2 c. boiled chicken, chopped in processor

1tsp dill

1/4 c. grapes

1/8 c. chopped pecans

4 pinches paprika

2 oz cream cheese

3 T mayo

1 tsp honey

2 pinches salt

And while we didn't have fancy fruit, we did have fancy THEMED (aren't I good) crackers?

 Walla...

This is Lance's taste test. HILARIOUS.  The above plate had 2 of our recipes on it, along with the original.  By that time we had eaten SO MUCH of it, we knew.  After what I eat in the frig...I will probably NOT be eating any chicken salad for awhile (and darn if I don't have another O'Carrs Groupon waiting to be used)!

It is ALWAYS a fun time and great adventures cooking/baking at the Smith house!

***Update***
On July 22, 2012, I tried a cheesecake recipe similar to the O'Carr's recipe.  Click here to visit the blogpost.