Smoked Chicken Salad

My husband has a fascination with his smoker and loves to use it to cook different cuts of pork and beef for barbeque. Man is it good!! Last week I got him to put some chicken in there and it was beyond delicious. The smoker is a great way to add a lot of flavor to your food.

That night we ate some of the smoked chicken for dinner, and I saved the rest to make some chicken salad. Make it a day ahead if you can resist it that long -- it really does taste better that way. :O) Here's my recipe:


Smoked Chicken Salad

1 1/2 cups smoked chicken (cubed or shredded)
1/4 cup grapes, halved
1/4 cup celery, chopped
1/4 cup pecans, chopped
3/4 cup mayonnaise
1 Tbsp. honey
salt and pepper to taste

Mix honey and mayonnaise together. Add remaining ingredients and toss to coat. Chill 3-4 hours before serving; overnight is best.

Make Your Own Fresh Teriyaki Sauce

This Teriyaki Sauce is so easy and delicious, you won't want to buy it from a bottle ever again. Thanks to a recipe I found at Weelicious (a super blog for finding kid-friendly recipes), making it fresh will not only taste great, but also save you from some unfriendly preservatives and other ingredients sneaking their way into your food. Heck, it might even be cheaper than buying a bottle of pre-made sauce.

Confession -- on the night I made this I also tried new recipes for eggrolls, stir-fry rice, and egg drop soup, making it quite possibly not my brightest idea. The food was tasty -- it just took about two hours to get everything done. I sure had a hungry family by then!! The egg rolls were the major hold-up -- lots of chopping, filling, and wrapping to do. Next time I will make them ahead and freeze for when I am ready. Live and learn!!

This recipe calls for five simple ingredients. If you've never used fresh ginger before, here's a great chance to give it a try. You can find it in the produce area of the grocery store. Just use a vegetable peeler to remove the outer skin and use a fine grater or Microplane to make quick work of the grating part.

TERIYAKI SAUCE
1 (8 oz.) can Crushed Pineapple in Juice
1/2 cup Soy Sauce
3 Tbsp. Honey
1 Tsp. Fresh Ginger, peeled and grated
1 Small Clove Garlic, minced

1. Place all ingredients in a bowl and whisk to combine. Can be used for a marinade at this stage.
2. To make sauce, combine 1/2 cup sauce mixture with 1 tsp. of cornstarch in a saucepan and cook over medium heat for 1 minute or until thickened.

This, of course, is perfect for chicken. To make a juicy Teriyaki Chicken, simply marinate 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts in 1 cup of the Teriyaki marinade for about an hour (overnight if you can). Then place chicken on a baking sheet and put in an oven set to broil, on the middle rack of your oven. Cook for 8-10 minutes on each side, or until chicken is done. Remove chicken from the oven and allow to cool for several minutes. Slice the chicken however you like, cover with sauce, and enjoy!! Remember to discard the leftover marinade (it has raw chicken ickies in it, so don't even think about using it to make anything else).

 Our two-hour dinner plate, LOL.

Enjoy your yummy new sauce -- and remember not to make too many new things at once!!

Make Your Own Coffee Creamer

This is an incredibly easy and amazing idea to make your own coffee creamer I recently found on Pinterest. I don't think I will ever buy that crazy coffee creamer from the store anymore. Now I just make my own and it can taste however I like!!

The recipe is simple:
1 can (14 oz.) sweetened condensed milk
14 oz. milk
2 tsp. vanilla (or other flavoring)

Simply mix all the ingredients together and you have your very own creamer that contains only three things -- milk, sugar, vanilla. The source recipe says you can use heavy cream in place of milk if you desire a creamier flavor, but I haven't tried that yet. My 2% milk works for me!!

And here's the great part -- you can change up the flavor any way you want. One time I used my special Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla instead of regular vanilla. Add more or less vanilla to your liking and try different varieties of vanilla. You also could use almond extract, chocolate extract, or any number of things to flavor the creamer. How about a sprinkle of cinnamon or cocoa? Yum. :O)

How would you flavor your coffee?