Chicken Salad

Every other blogger out there is probably waxing eloquently on about Martin Luther King Jr and here I am talking about chicken salad. 

When you taste it you'll see why.

This is the same chicken salad I have always made it just turns out that it is totally South Beach approved all on its own. Normally the recipe calls for red grapes which are great by the time you hit phase two but they are easily left out for phase one.

Your cast of characters:





Slivered almonds, seedless red grapes, celery, and Peppercorn Ranch.  You need chicken too, but no one wants a picture of raw chicken.

Chicken Salad

2 large chicken breasts, cooked and cut up (I use kitchen scissors)

2 stalks of celery, sliced

a handful of red grapes, sliced in half

1 2oz package slivered almonds

1/4 bottle of Peppercorn Ranch

Toss all the ingredients together.  It's that simple.



Everything in the bowl!

Toss with the dressing.

It is delicious on a croissant, of course, but it is also fantastic on whole grain bread, a bed of lettuce, in a whole grain Flat Out, or stuffed in a tomato.

Cauliflower. It's the new potato.

When we embraced the South Beach Diet as our lifestyle a few years ago it meant letting go of our love for potatoes.  This is pretty radical thinking for a Dutch girl.  We ate A LOT of potatoes in this house.  With every meal.  And in every form. 

Which is probably why I kind of looked like a potato- sort of round and shapeless. 

Huh.  Glad that's over. 

Shockingly I have given them up and lived to write the tale.  I really don't miss them but there are times that I get a hankerin' for a massive pile of scalloped potatoes.

Enter, cauliflower.  In the South Beach cookbook there is a recipe for 'Surprise Mashed Potatoes' where cauliflower is cooked, mashed, and has cream or milk added to it.  The texture isn't quite the same, but they are pretty good.  This made me think that I might be able to have my scalloped potatoes after all.  It turns out I was right.  I found a great recipe over at LowCarb Luxury.

Scalloped Cauliflower

2 bags frozen cauliflower
1/2 sweet onion, finely chopped
1 bag of shredded cheddar cheese, low fat is fine
1 pint heavy whipping cream
2-4 Tbs butter, I don't judge- you can use more if you'd like
white pepper and salt to taste

(This is easily halved and baked in a pie plate)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
In your casserole dish layer 1 bag of cauliflower (I don't even bother thawing it), 1/2 the onion, sprinkle with white pepper and salt, dot with 1 Tbs butter, sprinkle 1 Cup shredded cheddar and then repeat.  Finally pour your pint of heavy whipping cream down over the entire thing and bake uncovered for about an hour or until the cheese browns up.

I love this so much that if there is any left I'll serve it on the side of an omelet the next morning.  True Story.

This picture is before it has baked because after it's baked it's pretty much gone so fast that I don't have time to get a picture.  You'll see.

Please, Don't Make Me Go Sledding

It is freezing outside and The Children want to go sledding.  I don't want to go sledding.  I mean, my gear is rockin', but it needs to be at least 32 for me to want to go out there.  My ears start to hurt.  My feet get cold.  The tip of my nose gets cold.  You know what I'm sayin'? 

Thank goodness for my honey who doesn't make me go sledding but instead takes all three of The Children by himself. 

Love him.

I really love seeing things like this.

This little girl was pumped.

Tea kettle steaming and hot chocolate waiting.

Rosy cheeks and steaming mugs.  Perfect.

I Need Crunch

I'm currently on Phase One of South Beach, not because I need to drop a ton, but because I need to clean out a little- post holiday detox if you will.  I've done phase one several times by now (we've been on South Beach for going on three years) so I'm pretty good at.  There is one thing I super miss during this time and it's the something crunchy I use as a delivery vehicle for all my dips and salsa.

Enter in cheese crackers.  I found them on pinterest and have since seen many recipes online.  All they are is cheese- bonus!

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper (you need to use parchment paper)
Place about a teaspoon of any cheese spaced generously apart on your parchment since they will spread
Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes, or until they are no longer soft in the middle- you want them crisp like a cracker.
I leave them lightly covered with plastic wrap for a day or two.  Putting them in a container makes them chewy which is not good since we need crunch.

These are Parmesan which are my favorite.  Mexican cheese, cheddar, and mozzarella have all been tried and deemed fantastic as well!  You could mix some chili powder or dry ranch dressing mix into the cheese too.  Awesome.

They make great fake croutons too!

Bar- Ba- Skew

I'm not sure why but when John says BBQ he actually says Bar-Ba-Skew. 

But that doesn't matter.

Let's talk BBQ.  Does anyone not love it?  I mean really.  How do you not love sauce?  And meat.  And meat and sauce? 

Actually, a yoga teacher friend of mine is a vegetarian and she doesn't quite feel about BBQ the way I do.  So there's that.

But aside from vegetarians, I'm pretty sure that everyone loves BBQ.  Me most especially.

With that being said when my nephew picked BBQ out of the four Triple D restaurants in Chicago, that I had researched and suggested, he pretty much sky rocked to Number One Nephew.  Close your eyes, other nephews.  Or send me BBQ and you can be number one too.

Smoque at 3800 N Dempster is pretty much the best BBQ I have ever had.  Not kidding.  I had the St Louis Ribs but there was plenty of baby backs and brisket for me to sample and each was delish.  We can talk bark (it was good) and smoke ring (I saw it!) and rub (they all get the same except the brisket gets an extra layer of pepper I think) but I don't really wanna, mostly I just want to tell you it was yummy.

Go there.  Now.  Order any meat, all three sauces, fries and their peach cobbler.  You will thank you.  And me.

This is my sister-in-luv's tray.  Looks good, right?  Chopped brisket bottom left and heading counterclockwise: corn bread, slaw, peach cobbler, mac and cheese, her sauce choice, and baked beans.

BBQ makes people happy.



And willing to sit very very close together.

Other Nephews: I was just kidding.  You are all number one, with or without ribs smothered in sauce.

I miss Elfie

I think I'm going to head in a new direction on this blog.  And the name of that direction is: Things I Love.  Like food.  Projects.  People. The South Beach Diet.  Yoga. Recipes.  Fun things I do with my three little people.  (That title doesn't actually fit anymore. They are actually more like: one who is almost taller than me, one medium size, and one little... people.)  Food.  Leg warmers and other fashion funs.  And... well let's face it, more food. 

So.  Here we go.

This Christmas saw us visited once again by our Elf on the Shelf, Elfie.  Last year was his first year with us and while he was well loved he was kind of a snooze fest.  He'd move around from one shelf to another shelf.  One table to another table. He did a short stint in the fruit bowl.  He sat on the tree once.  And sometimes he didn't move at all.  For a couple days. 

Not so this year.  This year Elfie became Passionate. Found his calling.  Really got into the spirit of things, you know? 

No?  You don't know? 

Allow me to show you (albeit, not overly clearly since all these were captured on my old iPhone)...

Here he is repelling in on his first day back.

He found my baking supplies and made an Elfie flour angel.



He had a snowball fight!



And brutally annihilated the entire Veggie Tales Nativity.



Had some hot chocolate.



Panty Raid!

                                            

Ate every single last donut.

                                                    

Got trapped!

                                    

Needed some Double Bubble.

                                                       

Shower Time!

Captured by the LPS Army, Gulliver style.  Their sign reads: "Go Away!  This is our house!"

Chillin' with some FoxNews.  He's politically savvy, our Elf.

Mischievous!  Upon seeing this Holland whispered "That's not Mom's Sharpie is it, Elfie?"  Turns out it was... but no worries, rubbing alcohol removes permanent marker.

Revenge on the LPS army- stole their ride!

TP'd the Christmas tree.

Nice Down Dog, Elfie!

An Elf-size campfire.

Caught the girls' cold.

"I'm watching you!  Only 9 more days!  Love, Elfie"

A midnight tea party with Rapunzel.  Or, Tangled, as Anna calls her.

Hanging from the chandelier.

Hog-tied Sheriff Woody!

Ate all the candy from the Advent Calendar!



 Roasted on a spit by the Toy Story gang.  Buzz's sign reads "No one messes with Woody, Elf!"




And on his last morning with us he had something special planned.



Quite a grand finale!

We found him holding Baby Jesus from the Veggie Tales Nativity.  Even Elfie knows what Christmas really means.

And to sum it up, in the words of Holland to Anna, "I don't know what's gotten into Elfie this year.  He's way better than last year.  Last year he was kind of lame."

Ouchie

My middle girl was injured today at school.  It's just never fun to get hurt and it's an especially big bummer when you're at school without your Mama to fix you up right away.

Holl gets picked up by our dear carpooling friends every day while Alyssa stays for volleyball practice, but I have Alyssa bring her out to our friends first. 

On this particular day she forgot her headband in her classroom.  Headbands are very important to this girl.  As are all accessories.  Her teacher gave her permission to go back to the classroom for the aforementioned headband and on the way back my girl was telling herself she'd better be quick so that she wouldn't miss her sister.  A little bit of running, paired with a hurried disposition, throw in some flip flops and disaster occurred.  Poor little soul skidded across the pavement on her knee and elbow.  This was not the world's worst scraped knee and elbow, but it made my heart hurt when she told me everyone was looking at her. 

On the bright side she quickly had a little friend come to her aid.  Her big sister also heard what happened and quickly came to care for her, our dear carpooling friend went in to check on her, and her teacher was very loving and gave excellent first aid.  I received a phone call from Mrs. Voss shortly after the incident telling me every detail.  She also made sure to tell me how wonderful my girls are: how brave Holland was and how she could tell she was really trying to pull it together and not cry (even though Mrs. Voss herself felt that she must be in a lot of pain) and then onto Alyssa and how she came right away to be there for her sister.  Awww.  Doesn't that just warm a Mama's heart.

My girl has been thoroughly pampered and coddled all afternoon.  She's loved it. 
Here's the damage:

Doesn't seem too serious, does it?



Hanging out with Mom makes it all better.