{Recipe} Rotisserie Chicken Salad

Happy Tuesday!

Today I have a super easy chicken salad recipe for you guys. The story goes like this. We love chicken salad and we love rotisserie chicken, so this chicken salad was born. It's so easy! (Especially if you buy the chicken at the store.) I want to make my own rotisserie chicken one of these days - but since this week is busier than usual, I just got mine at the store. Also, I've been substituting greek yogurt for mayo  so this recipe has NO MAYO at all...which makes this chicken salad so good and good-for-you, too! Double win!

It's the perfect thing to make at the beginning of the week so lunch is all packed and ready to go. I have a toaster at work, so I usually just take the chicken salad in a small tupperware and toast my bread at work. It's the BEST. No soggy sandwich. Perfectly toasted bread. So wonderful!

Anyway -  here we go...

First, shred your chicken!

I discarded the skin but I mixed the excess juice in for flavor. NO REGRETS!

Then chop it up into bite-sized pieces if that's your thang.
 You can totally keep the pieces nice and chunky, if that's your preference! 

Chop up your celery, green onions, red onions and apples into really small pieces.
Mix it into your chicken salad with some good ol' greek yogurt (or mayo). 

Mix, mix, mix! Sprinkle salt and pepper to taste. 

Toast up some bread and scoop it on top. Or use some crackers or pretzels for a mid-day snack. Drizzle some sriracha or tapatio sauce if that's your thing. Or some dijon mustard if that makes you happy. 

Enjoy, my loves!

XOXO

Rotisserie Chicken Salad Recipe
(Recipe Adapted from Cooksmarts)


Ingredients

• 1 rotisserie chicken (I used both dark and white meat)
• 1/2 cup of plain greek yogurt (or Mayo)
• 2 celery ribs
• 1/2 medium red onion
• 1/2 apple
• Salt & pepper to taste
• 1/2 tbs. olive oil
• 6 stalks of green onion

Recipe
1) Shred chicken into a medium bowl. Discard the skin and any excess fat.
2) Cut chicken into bite-sized pieces.
3) Chop celery ribs, red onion and apple into small pieces. Mix in with chicken until evenly distributed.
4) Mix in greek yogurt and salt and pepper to taste. Mix thoroughly.

Enjoy with toasted bread as a sandwich or wrap it in some butter lettuce for easy lettuce wraps. Or you can eat it with some crackers or pretzels for a mid-day snack!

Everyday Life - Week 1-4

In 2012, I did "Everyday Life" posts to document the happenings of my every day life. It was a way for me to remember all the small, little details, and to give thanks for even the most mundane things. I really enjoyed doing it because it encouraged me to stop and appreciate the toasted bagel in the morning, the dirty dishes, the unfolded pile of laundry, the quick trip to target, the quiet moment in between chores, etc. For the past few weeks, I've been debating whether or not to try it again for 2014. Obviously - I decided to just go for it!

More than the big, grandeur things - I really, really love the simple pleasures and the small details that are woven so beautifully together to make up our every day life. It's easier to praise God and give thanks for huge, life-changing, mind-blowing things, but it definitely takes more effort to remember to praise God for the little moments. I hope that these posts will help me treasure every little, mundane thing and that I will always remember that though I may live a seemingly ordinary life, I live under the presence of an extraordinary God!

Here's my catch up of the last 3 weeks. . .



Our traditional New Years Day meal: Dduk Gook (rice cake soup). My homemade Pork & Beef Dumplings made their grand entrance and they did a decent job. Go dumplings!



We also baked the Cinammon Rolls we made on New Years Eve, and they were so flaky and delicious! Definitely making it again... especially because making your own dough is so much fun!

This is one of our favorite places to eat in Downey: Peking Restaurant, We seriously love you! They split your noodles for you so you can try both. It's amazing!

During Eugene's winter break - we tried this pizza joint that my co-worker suggested. Downey Pizza Company. 

Half Alfredo & Half Pastrami Pizza. OMG, GUYS!!! We died. It was so good.  

The best part about winter break was watching Netflix in our futon. It was our favorite! We've actually only slept in our bedroom a handful of times. Our futon is our favorite.

Where this handyman got this ambulance, we will never know.

OK, just in case you forgot about this pizza already. Here it is again! (This was from the same visit.) But you guys!!!! Seriously. If you come to Downey, I promise we will take you here if you ask. Please ask us to take you here!!!

The day we (my mom, my sister and I) got our hairz did.

While my mom was getting her hair did, she folded all of the towels at the hair salon. This is why my mom is a little cray and a little bit (really, really, really) awesome.

Meet our hospital volunteer Harpo! He is obviously legit because he has his own nametag!

The first wedding in our church building! One of my favorite couples :)

Pastor Peter was so proud of how beautiful his "baby" (the church building) looked all dolled up and stuff. He had to take a picture alongside the standard random, asian uncle-type character who always seems to make an appearance at every wedding. 

Yay, Mr & Mrs Oquindo!

Tried to surprise Eugene with dinner after one of his long days at work/school and he walked passed it and didn't notice this when he got home. He didn't even know that I had done this until I asked him if he ate dinner the night before. I spent over 10 minutes trying to get that "I love you" sign to stick on the toy. Haha! BOYS. I'm telling you.. :)

AAAAH Baby Em. Don't grow up until I can play with you!

A sign in my patient's room. (He/She gave me permission!) 

My husband is so excited to be my forever-date at weddings. Yay!

Thank God for Ferrero Rocher in the middle of a crazy work day. Nurses love their chocolate!

Trying to snack healthier for the new year. This lasted like 2 days. It's okay, baby steps people!

California Rolls at home. Our fave!

 We both got super owned by the stomach bug last weekend. Totally ruined our plans to road trip up to Norcal for the Ko wedding. Totally ruined my plans to hang out with the Choi's and to try Philz Coffee! (boooo!)  Even though our plans were ruined - it was so sweet being "stuck" at home with my husband for 4 days straight! 

The day after the Glendora fire. So much ash, I couldn't breathe!

Celebrating after our weekend of stomach-flu madness! 

Can't believe it's already the last week of January. This is nuts!

Cheers!

XOXO

Give Thanks - a sweet sunday off, decaf vanilla lattes at Peet's, target runs, reminders in the OT of God's faithfulness to His people, quiet time to spend with my husband, cheap groceries at our local grocery store and much-needed reminders to pray

Happy 2014!

2013 was good to us.

It had it's challenges (i.e. moving twice, adjusting to two different cities, getting used to Eugene being super busy with pharmacy school and working as a pharmacist intern, switching jobs, trying to figure out how to budget our money to pay tuition, etc.) But it's also brought a lot of fun, joy and a whole lotta growth (i.e. learning to be flexible, to stop being a control freak, living 5 minutes next to Costco and Porto's, opportunities at work, going to Florida for the Magnet Conference, serving in college ministry, etc.)

The adventures of 2014 are before us and we're ready and pumped up about the opportunities and change that the new year brings us. With all the things that God has taught us this year and the many ways he has (sometimes painfully) taught us - I'm excited to see how God will continue to work this coming year.

I've always believed that goals are best when they are SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Time-Bound) so I've thought of a few things I would like to accomplish in 2014.

1) Read through the entire bible! 
This is something that I have still never done in my (almost) 7 years as a Christian. (Womp, womp..) I think I've attempted this 5 times already, but still never got through it.  I'm determined to get through it cover-to-cover this year. I'll be using D.A. Carson's "For the Love of God" to keep track of my daily reading and I downloaded this super cool iPhone app that has commentary on the reading for the day (IT'S FREE!). If you haven't found a reading plan yet - join me! Or find a reading plan that works for you. :)

 

2) Learn a new cooking skill each month!
I have a ridiculous amount of cook books/magazines that I haven't gone through yet. I have a few really helpful books like "How to Cook Everything" by Mark Bittman & "Keys to the Kitchen" by Aida Mollenkamp. My goal is to not simply browse through these books but to actually learn a new technique/recipe each month. Hopefully this blog will keep me accountable!

3) Read 12 books in 2014. 
If a pseudo book-lover was a thing, that would be me. I think I love books, and the idea of books and the image of myself spending long hours reading in a coffee shop or a beach somewhere with a nice latte in one hand and a book in the other. Sadly, I rarely have the discipline to sit myself down to actually do it. I'M SUCH A SPAZ! I really want to discipline myself more this year to spend time reading at least 12 of the hundreds of books I currently have in my possession. No more being a shameful psedo-book lover!

4) Do at least one craft a month.
Whether it be for the home or for gifting!

5) To blog more than I did in 2013. 
....which should be relatively easy since I only posted 37 blog posts in 2013!

Cheers to a new year of cooking, blogging, learning, coffee-ing, reading, giving thanks and testifying of God's awesome grace in our lives!

{Recipe} Easy Cinnamon Rolls..... from scratch!

Happy New Year!

Can't believe 2013 has come and gone and 2014 has sneaked up on us! To bring 2013 to a close, I made a few goals for the month of December and just accomplished my last one by making Cinnamon Rolls from scratch! (or...as "from scratch" as one could make Cinnamon rolls, at least!)

One of the things I was most excited about was making my own dough. In the past, I used Pilsbury Crescent to make my Cinnamon Rolls. I loved it for its convenience, but after this experience, I may never go back! Making dough was so much easier than I thought - and it's fun/exciting too! For my dough, I dissolved my yeast in some warm water, scalded some milk, melted some butter and had some sugar/salt handy. 

I mixed the flour in and kneaded my dough. "Kneaded" is such a weird word! We then let our dough rise in the fridge for about 2 hours and it basically doubled in size! We were amazed.

Punching the dough was my fave. (I liked it so much I forgot to take a picture!) Then we rolled out our dough on a lightly floured surface, a.k.a my dining table covered with cling wrap. 

We cut the corners to make the edges more even. Then we buttered it up and bedazzled it with generous portions of brown sugar and cinnamon. 

Then, it gets rolled up! We tried to do it was tight as we could, pinched the edges to hold the shape and used butter to seal it together in the end. 

Then you cut it up into sections. One roll made 12 pieces of Cinnamon Rolls for us! We placed the pieces close together on our buttered bakeware. Then it gets some more butter on top! Paula Dean would be proud.

We left it in the fridge until we were ready to bake it and it actually doubled in size again! We put just a little more butter on top prior to popping it in the oven. 25-30 minutes in 350 degrees should do it. Make your frosting with a splash of milk, a little bit of melted butter, some vanilla extract and a generous portion of powdered sugar. Voila, Cinnamon Rolls! This was totally husband approve - he ate two!

Hopefully we can make this a holiday tradition for our family. or a monthly tradition. teehehe : )

Easy Cinnamon Roll Recipe

Recipe from Food Network (Thanks Jess C. for the rec!)

Ingredients

Dough:

• 1/4-ounce package yeast
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 1/2 cup scalded milk
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup butter or shortening
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg
• 3 1/2 to 4 cups all-purpose flour Filling:
• 1/2 cup melted butter, plus more for pan
• 3/4 cup sugar, plus more for pan
• 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
• 3/4 cup raisins, walnuts, or pecans, optional Glaze:
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 to 6 tablespoons hot water

Directions

Heat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water and set aside. In a large bowl mix milk, sugar, melted butter, salt and egg. Add 2 cups of flour and mix until smooth. Add yeast mixture. Mix in remaining flour until dough is easy to handle. Knead dough on lightly floured surface for 5 to 10 minutes. Place in well-greased bowl, cover and let rise until doubled in size, usually 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

When doubled in size, punch down dough. Roll out on a floured surface into a 15 by 9-inch rectangle. Spread melted butter all over dough. Mix sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle over buttered dough. Sprinkle with walnuts, pecans, or raisins if desired. Beginning at the 15-inch side, role up dough and pinch edge together to seal. Cut into 12 to 15 slices.

Coat the bottom of baking pan with butter and sprinkle with sugar. Place cinnamon roll slices close together in the pan and let rise until dough is doubled, about 45 minutes. Bake for about 30 minutes or until nicely browned.

Meanwhile, mix butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla. Add hot water 1 tablespoon at a time until the glaze reaches desired consistency. Spread over slightly cooled rolls.