So after
hearing, “you should really put this recipe online” for months from friends of
mine, I have finally decided to make a blog. This blog will not only include
recipes but other musing from my life. I am mainly doing this so those that
want my recipes and have lost them or need them really quickly for something,
they can jump online and find them. I am also doing this for my family who
lives several states away, I speak with my parents on a daily basis, but I do
not speak to other members of my family as much (busy schedules, just doesn’t work
out), so they can hop on here and read what’s going on in my life.
So before I
post a recipe I want to tell y'all a little bit about myself. First off, I’m
Mrs. C, or Sam. I have always loved
cooking, but never knew how much I loved it until I took a foods class in high
school. Boy was that the easiest class I had ever taken, even easier than free
period. I was born and raised in the south, so that easily explains my love for
southern foods. After high school I went to college and got a degree and
started working in HR. My high school offered college courses for us when we
were juniors in high school, so what would have taken me four years after high
school only took me two. When I was 20, I met my now husband. He is a Marine so
I never really thought twice about him, since I didn’t think I wanted a relationship
at the time much less one with a Marine. I mean the first thing I asked him
when I found he was Marine was how often do you leave? At time, he hadn’t deployed
and was very adamant about getting out in the next 2 years. He was persistent,
let me tell you. Guess that’s something they teach those Northerners ;)! After
about 6 months of just being friends I realized that there was something there.
Seriously, he became my best friends within 3 weeks. We got married, really
quickly actually, I quit my job where I was living and moved to where he was
stationed. I found a job there working HR at a hospital, only to find out that
my new husband was deploying much quicker than anticipated. Yeah, that happens
a lot (which clearly by reading this you can tell I didn’t know that) So, he
left just 3 months after marriage and was deployed for a year. I moved back to my
home town. I spent about a month or so being sad, then I got my crap together
and I started working at my old job. When I would get home in the evenings I
would bake things to send to my husband in Afghanistan. I don’t know how him or
the rest of his team didn’t come back weighing in at 300 pounds because man I sent
them good stuff. Fast forward until now, 2013- I have moved 2 more times and we
are now in Florida for a few years. I have worked some more, but ultimately
decided that home is where I want to be. I love when my husband (by the way he
will be called Sgt. C in this blog) comes home and I am home and can greet him
with a kiss. I love that I have the energy to cook, bake and clean (who knew
working in HR could make you so tired when you got home in the evenings?!) Now
that I am home, we have decided that we will try, but not try for babies (if
that makes any sense at all). I spend my time cleaning, cooking, baking,
running, running errands, and volunteering with my husband’s unit. Volunteering
is great, but I find that many of these kids (most are kids, they are 18-19
years old) don’t really know as much as they should. They don’t know to balance
check books, their girlfriends, fiancés, and wives don’t know how to keep
themselves together (at times it’s tough to do so) and sometimes when they can’t
keep themselves together they get their men in trouble. So basically, I help
the Marines out with anything that I can, and I really help the wives out. I
get calls all the time from upset girlfriends because their boyfriends aren’t coming
home on the weekends (of course not you leave hundreds of miles away, he can’t
just decide to go home every weekend) or because leave didn’t get approved. I
also help organize company and unit functions. I would like to add DIY crap to
my list of can dos but I am so far from creative that if I tried to sew
anything or make anything one wouldn’t be able to tell what it supposed to be
or I’d end up in the hospital from an attack by a sewing needle.
Well I
probably gave so much information that I bored the crap out of y'all, but if you’re
still with me, I am including the recipe for Warm Chicken Salad that I made
last night. It was so good, but I knew it would be since it was my granny's
recipe. This recipe is great if you want to fix something to eat but you aren’t
super hungry (which is why I made this last night). It can also be served warm
or cold, however I personally like it warm, but I also would prefer regular
chicken salad warm too.
Warm Chicken Salad
4 chicken breast cooked cubed
2 cups cooked rice
2 pack of slivered almonds (3.5 oz
each)
3 stalks of celery, diced
1 cup of sliced mushrooms
1 tsp of onion powder
1 tsp of lemon juice
½ tsp of crushed dried rosemary
¼ tsp of pepper
1 can of cream of chicken soup,
undiluted
¾ cup of mayo
3 tablespoons of butter or margarine
(I use margarine)
1- I cube by chicken before cooking it.
I cooked it boiling water until the pieces no longer had any pink.
2- Cook the rice as directed on box or
bad
3- Combine chicken, rice, ONE pack of
almonds, the celery, mushrooms, onion powder, lemon juice, rosemary, pepper,
cream of chicken soup, and mayo in mixing bowl. Make sure it’s all mixed
together well.
4- Once ingredients are combines put
into a 2qt casserole dish that has been lightly sprayed with cooking spray.
5- Melt the butter in a skillet and toss
the other pack of almonds in with the butter.
6- Once almonds are covered with butter
sprinkle over chicken salad
7- Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 25
minutes
I didn’t have two full packs of almonds so I used what I had for the
topping of the chicken salad which was about ½ cup.
