Friday, July 20, 2012

As real as the chicken salad in his lap....

Food and I don't get along well when a camera is involved, so I have no pictures of what was one of the freshest, most refreshing, amazing light, cool summer meals I've made yet.

I'm not a chef.  I can follow a recipe, and I get by on some pretty amazing standard meals, but I don't do much substituting, and I don't branch out a lot - after all, if I make a bad meal, we end up eating out, and we just don't have much extra cash for me to be throwing a ruined meal away and buying one somewhere else.

Chicken Salad.  Sounds simple, is simple, and not something most people come running for.  Let me explain why ours was so great:

Fresh Italian bread lightly toasted.
Fresh, home grown cucumbers picked that day sliced long-ways, lain gently on top of said toast.
Fresh chicken (not frozen), farm fresh eggs hard-boiled, home grown picked the day before fresh raw peas, and home grown picked the week before fresh carrots.
Add a little miracle whip, some salt and pepper, voila!  A beautifully cool meal for a hot day.

I cooked the chicken in my Pampered Chef stoneware baker in the microwave.  Sounds odd?  It is, but it makes beautifully moist chicken in about 5 minutes, without heating up the house.
You boil some eggs (3 in our case).
You let the chicken and eggs cool - chop/shred the chicken, chop the eggs, chop the carrots, shell the peas, mix it all up.

Be prepared to have fresh watermelon outside that night - unless you decide there is no way you're setting out in 100 degree heat at 7:00 at night just so you can eat watermelon and watch your kids play in the pool (yes, we have watermelon for lunch today!).

Next culinary attempt?  Avocado/Cucumber cold soup.  It's my plan for Sunday.

2 comments:

Teresa said...

I love chicken salad! That sounded great! :) Now if only my husband thought it a worthy meal!

Curly-T said...

I was surprised my husband did! I'm sure its not something he'll want all the time, but even he agreed it was refreshing after a hot day!