Curried Chicken Salad

After hearing about Rather Sweet's curried chicken salad from my friend Ellen, I just had to try it while we were in Fredericksburg.  I must say, it was delish!  When I got back home and was craving more, I decided to whip up my own version. 

Mix the following ingredients together and chill:
1 cup mayo

2 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons Apple cider vinegar

2 teaspoons curry powder

1 1/8 ounces natural sliced almonds (toasted)

1/2 cup celery

1/2 cup Craisins

3 cups chopped chicken

It's savory, sweet and scrumptious!  You can serve it on a bed of lettuce or it's great on a croissant.  Save some of the sauce on the side before you add the chicken so you can have extra to dip or pour on your salad.  YUM!

Nana's Banana Nut Bread

1/2 cup softened butter
1/2 cup chopped nuts (pecans/walnuts)
1 cup sugar
2 cups flour
2 eggs
1 tsp. baking soda
2 medium spotted bananas (mashed)
1 tsp. salt

Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs and beat well. Add mashed bananas to flour, baking soda & salt mixture.
Bake 45 minutes to 1 hour at 325. After greasing loaf pan with butter, sprinkle with liberally with sugar instead of flour and sprinkle sugar on top before baking.
(Bake in 1 large loaf pan or 2 small)

ENJOY!

The Great Cake Debate from Hungry Girl

I got this in a hungry girl email a few weeks ago. It's a bunch of different ways to make cakes with a mix that are healthier.

So most of us already knew about the pumpkin recipe. I actually like to add 1 can pumpkin and some egg substitute (equal to 1 egg). It comes out awesome that way. It's Logan's favorite cake!

I've done a chocolate cake with diet coke too. It comes out pretty good, but you can taste the aftertaste of the soda a little.

I tried the applesauce with a yellow cake mix a few weeks ago and it was good, but really moist and apple-y. The kids really liked it though. I served it with whipped cream and a little cinnamon on top! I think next time I would do 1/2 applesauce, 1/2 egg sub.

Today I'm making the chocolate cake with Greek yogurt. It mixed up pretty thick, but baked up nice and even. It's very fluffy and moist. Not as dense as with pumpkin. Delicious!! The kids like it too!
Here are all Hungry Girls Recipes:

Cake Mix + No-Sugar-Added Applesauce

PER SERVING (1 piece, 1/12th of cake): 179 calories, 3.25g fat, 299mg sodium, 36g carbs, 0.5g fiber, 21.5g sugars, 1.5g protein -- POINTS® value 4*

Ingredients:

One 18.25-oz. box moist-style cake mix

1 cup no-sugar-added applesauce

Directions:Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine ingredients in a large bowl and add 1 cup water. Whisk thoroughly and transfer to a baking pan sprayed with nonstick spray; bake in the oven until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. (Refer to cake-mix box for pan size and approximate bake time.)MAKES 12 SERVINGS

Best Flavor: Yellow cake mix. It goes perfectly with the fruity taste of the sauce.

The Texture: VERY moist and fluffy. A+!

The Taste: AMAZING!!!! Sweet and slightly apple-y. Two YUMS up...

Cake Mix + Diet Soda

PER SERVING (1 piece, 1/12th of cake): 171 calories, 3.25g fat, 301mg sodium, 34g carbs, <0.5g>

Ingredients:

One 18.25-oz. box moist-style cake mix

One 12-oz. can diet soda

Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine ingredients in a large bowl. Whisk thoroughly and transfer to a baking pan sprayed with nonstick spray; bake in the oven until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. (Refer to cake-mix box for pan size and approximate bake time.)MAKES 12 SERVINGS

Best Flavor Combo: Yellow cake mix + diet cream soda. Runners-up include lemon cake mix + diet lemon-lime soda and devil's food cake mix + diet cherry cola.

The Texture: Moist and light.

The Taste: Pretty darn impressive! However, if you're sensitive to the sweetener in diet soda, you may notice a slight aftertaste... especially if you use cola of any kind.

Cake Mix + Canned Pure Pumpkin

PER SERVING (1 piece, 1/12th of cake): 183 calories, 3.5g fat, 301mg sodium, 37g carbs, 1.25g fiber, 20.5g sugars, 2g protein -- POINTS® value 4*

Ingredients:

One 18.25-oz. box moist-style cake mix

One 15-oz. can pure pumpkin

Directions:Preheat oven to 400 degrees.Combine ingredients in a large bowl. Mix thoroughly -- batter will be VERY thick -- and transfer to a baking pan sprayed with nonstick spray; bake in the oven until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. (Refer to cake-mix box for pan size and approximate bake time.)MAKES 12 SERVINGS

Best Flavor: Devil's food cake mix is CLEARLY a classic choice. (Hello?! Yum Yum Brownie Muffins!) But spice cake mix... WOW. Yellow and white cake mixes, sadly, do not work as well.

The Texture: Thick and dense in the BEST possible way. Brownie-like, in the case of the devil's food; the spice cake reminded us of pumpkin bread!

The Taste: No one would ever guess this is guilt-free in any way. It's delicious!

Cake Mix + Egg Substitute

PER SERVING (1 piece, 1/12th of cake): 181 calories, 3.25g fat, 337mg sodium, 34.5g carbs, <0.5g>

Ingredients:

One 18.25-oz. box moist-style cake mix

1 cup fat-free liquid egg substitute (like Egg Beaters Original)

Directions:Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine ingredients in a large bowl and add 1 cup water. Whisk thoroughly and transfer to a baking pan sprayed with nonstick spray; bake in the oven until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. (Refer to cake-mix box for pan size and approximate bake time.)MAKES 12 SERVINGS

Best Flavor: Egg sub is like the little black dress of cake companions; it goes well with everything.

The Texture: The first time we made this, we used only 1/4 cup of water; it was a little dry and dense, but it reminded us of pound cake, which isn't a bad thing. With a full cup of water, it came out light and fluffy. It had a more substantial, cake-like consistency than the applesauce and soda versions, but it wasn't quite as moist.

The Taste: Good! But it's not our favorite. That one's up next...

Cake Mix + Fat-Free Greek Yogurt

PER SERVING (1 piece, 1/12th of cake): 180 calories, 3.25g fat, 306mg sodium, 34.5g carbs, <0.5g>

Ingredients:

One 18.25-oz. box moist-style cake mix

1 cup fat-free plain Greek yogurt (like Fage Total 0%)

Directions:Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine ingredients in a large bowl and add 1 cup water. Whisk thoroughly and transfer to a baking pan sprayed with nonstick spray; bake in the oven until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. (Refer to cake-mix box for pan size and approximate bake time.)MAKES 12 SERVINGS

Best Flavor: Devil's food cake mix. Hands down.

The Texture: The word "velvety" comes to mind... Super moist and decadent! Kind of like a brownie-cake hybrid.

The Taste: YUMMY! Everyone who tried this loved it. There wasn't any yogurt taste at all... just pure cake-tastic deliciousness!

pork medallions with mustard sauce and roasted vegetables

My friend Jennie made this yummy dinner on our Selvage Sisters getaway weekend and it is so good! Serve the pork medallions and roasted vegetables with long grain rice for a delicious meal.  Thanks for this great recipe Jennie!

1990 Pork Medallions in Mustard Sauce

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons coarse-grained mustard
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon coarsely ground pepper
1 1/2 pounds pork tenderloin
1/4 cup dry white wine or chicken broth
Mustard Sauce

Stir together first 4 ingredients. Rub mixture over pork, and place in a large heavy-duty zip-top plastic bag. Chill 8 hours. Place pork on a lightly greased rack in a shallow roasting pan.

Bake at 450° for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 400°, and bake 15 minutes or until a meat thermometer inserted into thickest portion registers 160°, basting with wine every 10 minutes. Slice and serve with Mustard Sauce.

-------------------------------------------

Mustard Sauce
 1 3/4 cups whipping cream
1/4 cup coarse-grained mustard
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground white pepper

Cook whipping cream in a heavy saucepan over medium heat until reduced to 1 1/4 cups (about 20 minutes). Do not boil. Stir in remaining ingredients, and cook mixture 1 minute.

--------------------------------

Oven Roasted Vegetables
1 medium zucchini, cut into bite-size pieces
1 medium summer squash, cut into bite-size pieces
1 medium red bell pepper, cut into bite-size pieces
1 medium yellow bell pepper, cut into bite-size pieces
1 pound fresh asparagus, cut into bite size pieces
1 red onion
3 Tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
Heat the oven to 450 F. Place the vegetables in a large bowl. Toss with the olive oil, salt, and pepper to mix and coat. Spread in a single layer in a roasting pan. Roast for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are lightly browned and tender. Serves 4

power cookies

2 cups dark brown sugar
2 tsp. salt
2 cups granulated sugar
2 tsp. baking soda
¾ c. butter, softened
3 cups uncooked oats
1 cups vegetable shortening
2 cups coconut
4 eggs
2 cups raisins
2 tsp. vanilla
1 cups chocolate chips
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cups chopped nuts

Cream together the brown sugar, granulated sugar, butter & shortening. Beat in the eggs & vanilla. Combine flour, salt, & soda and beat into first mixture. Add remaining ingredients & knead into first mixture. Drop by heaping teaspoons, 2 inches apart, on greased baking sheet. Bake in preheated 350 degree oven about 8 minutes or until cookies are nicely browned. Let cookies cool on baking sheet about 1 minute before removing to rack to cool. Store in airtight container. Makes 7 dozen cookies. For best results, shape dough into rolls, wrap and chill several hours; then slice and bake as above.

These are the BEST cookies ever!

Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies

I usually have one or two bananas that get too ripe before we can eat them. Instead of making banana bread this time I tried something different!

1 3/4 C Flour

1 t Baking soda

1 t Salt

1 C (2 sticks) Butter, softened

3/4 C Sugar

3/4 C Packed brown sugar

1 t Vanilla extract

2 Large eggs (I used fresh!)

2 C Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

1/2 - 3/4 C Nuts (optional)

1 Mashed banana

Preheat oven to 375. Combine flour, salt and soda and set aside. Cream butter, sugar, brown sugar and vanilla. Add banana. Once mixed add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each. Slowly mix in flour mixture. Once well blended, fold in chocolate chips.

Chill for 15 minutes to make dough easier to work with. Drop by spoonful onto greased cookie sheet. Bake 9-11 minutes. Cool on cookie sheet 2 minutes, then move to cooling rack.