d's delights- cooking and crafts

  Dijon Chicken Salad A friend of mine, Amy Beach, started a Facebook status asking where she could get a good chicken salad. That made me want to dig up this recipe... Tomato and Red Pepper Soup and Dijon Chicken Salad on Toast  My recipe record keeping started in 2002, when I was a fledgling single girl trying to learn how to actually cook- and not buy and eat stuff from a box!  This recipe was marked May 30. 2003 and was in my very first recipe journal! Ingredients: 4 Cups Cubed Cooked Chicken (You can bake or boil and you can shred instead) 1 Cup Chopped Celery (3 Ribs-ish) 1 Cup Green Seedless Grapes, halved (This is a little tedious, I’ll admit) 1 Cup Red Seedless Grapes, halved ¼ C Dried Apricots, chopped (also tedious…) ¼ C Green Onions, Chopped ¾ C Mayonnaise 2 Tbs Honey 1 Tbs Dijon Mustard ½ Tsp Salt 1/8 Tsp Pepper Optional: ½ C Sliced Almonds- or another of your favorite nut. Add the chicken, celery, grapes, apricots and gree

Fantastically Yummy Red Pepper Tomato Soup I first made this soup maybe almost 10 years ago.  I really loved it and everyone else who tried it loved it too.  I think my memories of it taking a while to make and of how expensive red peppers can be made me not make it for a while.  But it is TOTALLY WORTH the cost for red peppers and the time it takes to make.  Growing up, I was never really a fan of tomato soup, but there is something about this that transcends the “tomato soup” you grew up with!  I can just see that in Indiana in the Fall, this could be a less expensive and extremely fresh endeavor.  Start planning your tomato plants, everyone! Fresh Rosemary, Thyme, and Basil would be awesome in this as well! I got this from the internet long before Pinterest and Facebook!  It originally came from the Junior League of Annapolis.  Can you just imagine some ladies sitting down to some soup and tea sandwiches?  Also, I noticed that I printed this recipe off on 1/26/04- exactly 8

Haricots Frites... and Herbed Green Beans I originally got the inspiration for these beans from Rachael Ray, and then really just wound up doing my own thing and making them my own way- totally different from the original recipe. Here’s the original (from Rachael Ray Get Real page 41) Haricot Frites (A fancy term for Green Beans) Thin Green Beans A Light Oil (Like Sesame, Peanut, Walnut) Sesame Seeds Blanche the beans, or steam them.   ( Blanche means to cook them, then quickly cool them…or something to that effect) Pat the beans dry on a paper towel. Heat the pan, add some oil (“A couple times around the pan”, as RR would say)   Add the beans until they are charred and hot (3-4 Minutes) Sprinkle in some sesame seeds and stir around for another 30 seconds or so.   Add some Sea Salt and Pepper. Now, how I make these green beans is hardly any way close to how Rachael Ray said to make them… Pretty much it’s just the act of sautéing them that I still do. Here’s what

Sweet Potato Chili I saw this recipe floating around the internetty thingy, ( Original Recipe Here ) and thought I would give it a try.   All in all, it’s pretty good.   I am glad I only put half the amount of chili powder in it, and next time would put even less.   I might consider adding paprika.  Also, I think my turkey had some Italian flavoring in it, and that added something different.   I have another sweet potato soup recipe that I like better ( Hoppin’ John Stoup ), but this was worth a go.   Plus, it was a crock pot thing, so it was cooking all day! Ingredients: 2 Diced (peeled)Sweet Potatoes (Could just use one large one) ¾ C Diced Sweet Onion   (Used half of a huge red onion) ½ C chopped celery (Used about 3 ribs) 2 14.5 oz (Or 1 28 oz) Can Stewed Tomatoes with Chili Seasoning 1 8 oz Can Tomato Sauce ½ C Water 1 Tbs Chili Powder (only used half-   next time I would use less, but that’s just me) 1 Tsp Ground Cumin ½ Tsp Ground Cinnamon 1/8 Tsp Salt 1/8

My Husband’s A Lot Like Popeye… or “How I got my husband to eat some vegetables” Rob has always said that he liked spinach-   like the kind Popeye ate, you know slopped straight from the can.   So, I figured there HAD to be a way for me to get him to eat spinach that was well, really good.   I found this recipe in my Taste of Home cookbook (which my husband DID get for me as a Christmas present one year)   I thought that this couldn’t be too bad because he does like red peppers and onions too.   I also made a new chicken recipe to pair with this.   Of course, I let him have his favorite kind of rice too. (Well, it’s actually a rice and pasta blend)   Sautéed Spinach and Peppers Ingredients:                1 Large Pepper, coarsely chopped                1 Tbs olive oil                1 Small Red Onion, coarsely chopped                3 Garlic Cloves, minced or chopped                8 C Fresh Spinach First, I took all the stems off of the spinach because I th

Polar Vortex Post Number 1: Crock Pot Fajitas and Enchilada Soup We have been snowed in since Sunday (Today is Tuesday) because of what the weather people are calling a “Polar Vortex”.   Luckily we were stocked up on things to eat.   Rob has been off work Monday and Tuesday.   Some schools are even closed tomorrow already.   It pretty much snowed all day long on Sunday, then Monday and Tuesday the actual temperatures were below freezing- that’s not even counting the “Wind Chill” factor. I had already made this crock pot fajita mean up for the freezer, but did not cook it until Sunday.   It was quite good, and even Will liked eating the chicken.   I put some in tortillas and fried them up.   (Reminder: do NOT attempt this on days that you can’t open all the windows to clear the smoke! Duh!)   I added cheese to mine, and cooked up some rice to go with it.   I even made up a couple of extras for the next day, and they were good. CROCK POT FAJITAS Per Zip Lock Bag: