Crunchy Chicken Salad

Yeah I know, we all fear that lumpy gray chicken salad found on deli counters everywhere.
This is not it. This is chicken salad you will crave. You can eat it on bread, I don't but you could or it would be a nice addition to a selection of sliced deli meat & a green &/or pasta salad. Hubby has an irrational fear of mayonnaise & sour cream (& mustard) so he won't go near it so when I make it it's just for me. I'll eat it for lunch & then again for supper. I don't eat leftovers so if it's not gone in a day it goes in the green bin.
Hubby was slightly shocked when I put mayo on the grocery list. I don't eat many things that contain mayo, sometimes in the summer I'll make purple coleslaw or I'll smear a dab on a burger but that's about it. Mostly what I do with mayo is throw it away but it's a crucial ingredient in any good chicken salad.

This is so easy I can make it even after drinking an entire pitcher of margaritas.

Ingredients
~ 1+1/2 cups sour cream - don't buy that low/no fat shit
~ 2 tablespoons of mayo - if you want to use a bit more feel free
~ 1 bone/skinless chicken breast - using breasts is crucial if you don't want to end up with a creepy gray salad
~ celery about 5-7 big stalks - use the crunchy green ones
~ apple 1/2 chopped fine - you don't need apple but it's a yummy addition
~ salt
~ fresh ground black pepper

Instructions
~ boil your chicken breast then chop into small chunks or shred it.
~ chop your celery
~ mix your chopped chicken, celery & your optional apple with your sour cream & mayo ~ add lots of pepper & as much salt as you like.
~ stick it in the fridge to chill & enjoy.

This will make enough salad for 4-5 sandwiches, about as many sides or two or three big tasty bowls!

K's Choco-Chippy Oatmeal Cookies

This is my fav chocolate chip cookie recipe. I modified it from a recipe I found in some womans magazine from the 90's. It was supposed to contain shortening instead of butter but who would do something that horrible to an innocent cookie? Plus I added the nuts & a bit of extra vanilla, you can never have too much vanilla.
I use semi-sweet chips & walnut halves that I chop a bit finer. Walnut pieces would be ok but I find those bags are mostly filled with walnut sprinkles & walnut sand. It's nicer to bite into a big hunk of nut.

Ingredients
~ 1+1/2 cups all-purpose flour
~ 1 teaspoon salt
~ 1 teaspoon baking soda
~ 1 cup butter
~ 1 cup brown sugar packed firm
~ 1/2 cup white sugar
~ 2 teaspoons of vanilla - real vanilla is best but fakey vanilla tastes good too
~ 2 large eggs
~ 2 cups of rolled oats
~ 1+1/2 cups of chips
~ 1 cup of nuts

Instructions
~ preheat oven to 350
~ mix flour, baking soda & salt in a large bowl.
~ in a separate bowl mix your butter, sugar, brown sugar & vanilla & beat with an electric mixer until creamy...if you don't have an electric mixer & are feeling super lazy you can soften your butter in the microwave (don't melt it!!) to make it easier to mix just remember to put your bowl of finished dough in the freezer for 10 or so minutes to firm it up before baking...the texture of your cookie won't be as awesome but they'll still be really good.
~ add beaten eggs to sugar/butter mixture
~ slowly add your dry ingredients to the big bowl containing your creamy butter/sugar/egg mixture & mix well until everything is combined nicely.
~ stir in your oats
~ add chips & nuts & stir to distribute them throughout the dough evenly
~ roll small balls of cookie dough on a cookie sheet lightly smeared with butter, you should be able to fit at least 12 cookies on each sheet depending on how big you are making your balls
~ bake for 8 - 12 minutes depending on how shitty your oven is. Mine is really messed up so I start checking after 6 or so mintues...just in case.

You should be able to get about 5 dozen cookies if you don't make the balls too big & you are able to stop yourself from eating too many chunks of cookie dough.


For those of you who don't like or can't have nuts just leave them out, they weren't supposed to be there in the first place.
For those of you who don't like oatmeal I have another chip cookie recipe that is just as good but less oaty & I promise to post it at a later date.

Other combos that rock are...
~ white chocochip & macadamia nut ~ those swirly white/dark chocolate chips are awesome in this cookie too plus they're pretty!
~ butterscotch chips & chopped pecans ~ be careful with pecans though cause you often find those little bitter tasting bits stuck in the folds of the nut so check em before you start chopping.