My Momma's Chicken Salad - A True Southern Wedding Shower Favorite!

It seems that we never really make things as good as our moms.  For years I've tried my best to perfect my chicken salad recipe.  I've added different spices and added nuts, but never quite perfected my chicken salad until yesterday.  Being last minute on almost everything I do in and out of the kitchen, yesterday was no exception.

My Momma's Chicken Salad - Click here for the recipe

In the South, we love our wedding showers.  It is traditional to have certain appetizers to help celebrate the bride to be with.  Yesterday we got to honor one of my oldest friends sweet daughter Leslie Hodges on her upcoming wedding with a bridal shower.  She will be a beautiful bride here very soon and her aunt Camila, her family, along with her mom's and dad's friends came together to shower her with gifts for her home with her new husband.

I will always remember Leslie and her sweet sisters in their pajamas at our house after Friday night football games.  All our young friends would gather at our little house in town after home football games to visit and the kids would play and then pass out all over our girls bedrooms.  We've been friends with her parents for a lifetime and love them and their families very much.  Scott made them a part of our lives many years ago on our very first date and their 'Indian Rock' community connection from church, to classmates, to dear friends goes back a long way.  To sum it all up, it's very special to celebrate sweet friends kids whenever you can.

Leslie and her sweet mom Cindy

Leslie and her sisters Lauren, Lacy and mom Cindy

Hostesses for Leslie's wedding shower full of aunts and friends

Leslie with her mom and dear grandmothers

Leslie with friend Anna Jo and daughter Kayla

Leslie and Patti, her sweet stepmother

Cindy and sister Camila

Leslie and best friend Cassie

It is tradition to serve dainty foods and not a full meal at a southern wedding shower.  In our little town a favorite party food is always petite fours that are little white cakes with a delicate white icing on top.  You simply can never get enough of these and everyone loves them.  Along with those little cakes, you will always find these days beautifully decorated sugar cookies in beautiful bridal designs, fruits and cheese trays, seasoned and spiced nuts, sausage balls and little pinwheel sandwiches that in our part of the south are made with tortillas.  My job was to make chicken salad to serve with crackers for Leslie's shower and instead of store bought, I chose to make it from scratch last minute.

Stunning cookies

Loved these sweet and modern napkins

A pretty southern wedding shower table full of finger foods

Literally as I drove to the store, I called my mom and asked her to snap a picture of her handwritten recipe and send it to me.  You'll see her recipe note below.

My mom's beautiful handwriting.  You can tell it's a teacher's penmanship!

I know one day I hope very far in the future, that these recipe notes will all be handed down to me.  On this day, I was thankful for the technology of telephone photography and the ease in which I was able to get a copy of the recipe instead of having it recited to me last minute.

My Momma's Chicken Salad in my pretty crystal bowl with matching platter.
Click here for the recipe for My Momma's Chicken Salad recipe.

Using store bought rotisserie chicken, I deboned the meat and cut it all into small bite sized portions.  Fresh celery, green grapes, long, green onions (green tops as well), and fresh squeezed lemon were added to make My Momma's Chicken Salad the best I've honestly ever had.  The things that I believe took this chicken salad over the top were the pineapple and sour cream along with the Real Mayonnaise that we mixed in with plenty of salt and black pepper.  If you are not a fan of black pepper, you can hold off on it, but I love, love it in abundance and especially with this chicken salad.

My youngest daughter Audrey was a huge help slicing the grapes with my newest, favorite cherry tomato slicer and helped me mix it all together while making sure I was following my mom's recipe exactly as it was written.

Audrey and I doubled the recipe using two rotisserie chickens so that we could have some for lunch the next day and for the week ahead.  My Momma's Chicken Salad was seriously a huge hit at the shower and from the 8 cups I took, literally only 1 cup was left.  I promised to place the recipe on my blog and recipe site today, so that we could share with all those who asked for it.

As always a special thanks to my sweet mom who inspires me more than she knows with her cooking, her tried and true recipes and love for us all.  She is one of my biggest cheerleaders ever and along with so many of her and my Granny's recipes, her chicken salad will forever be on my shower menus from now on.

So whether it's a wedding shower, birthday party, or you just want a wonderful chicken salad to serve with crackers or between to pieces of bread as a sandwich, try My Momma's Chicken Salad  recipe.  In a pinch, store bought can be a great substitute, however from start to finish Audrey and I had My Momma's Chicken Salad Recipe recipe done in under 30 minutes and in a pretty crystal bowl ready to go.  Sometimes last minute recipes are the best recipes!

Enjoy and let me know if you like it please.

Alise 
The Ranch Kitchen    

Low Calorie Fruit Salad with Peachy Orange Sauce

Fresh fruit trays have become a tradition at our family gatherings and not because I make them.  My sister-in-law Leslie is a wonderful cook in her own right, especially with her yam pies and homemade macaroni and cheese, but always brings along a fruit tray to each family gathering.  It's her attempt at making us all eat one thing healthy during the holidays. The kids love her fruit trays and so do the adults! 

This past weekend after my daughter's 13th birthday party and our chocolate fondue appetizer with fresh fruit, I had a super - large amount of left overs.  So for dessert last night I combined a Yoplait Peach Yogurt with 1/2 cup of orange juice to an assortment of fruit I still had on hand. 

My newest teenager loved it and asked me just where I got the recipe.  Happily I told her it was from one of her favorite teachers Mrs. Moon who taught her science in the 5th grade.  That made her smile really big.  Julie always put her to work each afternoon helping out in her room when I had to work late up at school.  Audrey enjoyed those days and especially being her teachers' helper.  We miss Julie at our school now and know she is loving retirement after many years in education!

Audrey and Mrs. Julie Moon on the last day of 5th grade.

For this recipe I used fresh strawberries, pineapple, bananas, red apples, blueberries, and then the Yoplait Peach Yogurt (individual 6 ounce - cup size) and 1/2 cup orange juice (pulp free).  You could really use any fruit or yogurt for this recipe and even canned, drained fruit would be a good addition.

Click here for the recipe for Low Calorie Fruit Salad with Peachy Orange Sauce.

This Low Calorie Fruit Salad with Peachy Orange Sauce would be a healthy addition to your Thanksgiving or Christmas table this fall and winter for sure!  Audrey loved it!  This dish was always a hit at potlucks at our school when Julie made it. 

Thanks for the recipe Julie!  Enjoy retirement! 

Alise - The Ranch Kitchen

Ham Steak and Brown Sugared Pineapple

One of my very favorite dishes to make as a young wife twenty five years back was ham steak and brown sugared pineapple because #1. I love brown sugar, #2. I love pineapple by itself, to drink, in a cake, or on ham, and #3. because and most importantly I can get this meal on the table in under thirty minutes flat! 

If you've read my blog you realize I love to cook, but most importantly my life does not revolve around cooking.  Cooking, yes is an outlet for me, but most importantly it's key that whatever I prepare has both ease and convenience. attached to it.  Because ultimately as much as I love to cook, I love spending quality time with my family even more.

To make this dish an easy clean up, make sure you foil line your casserole dish before you place your ham and brown sugared pineapple on it and then in to the oven to cook. 

For sides, I like to serve baked sweet potatoes with this main dish.  Along with a salad and rolls, dinner is a done deal in no time.


Ham and Brown Sugared Pineapple

Ham steaks (these are large thick slices of ham found in your deli or meat section of your grocery store)

16 ounce can of sliced round of pineapple, drained with juice reserved

1 cup of brown sugar, light or dark (I prefer light)

Place ham on top of foil that has been lightly sprayed with cooking oil or Pam cooking spray.  Lay pineapple rounds on top of your ham.  Sprinkle with brown sugar and place in your oven uncovered.  Cook at 375 degrees until your ham begins to curl up on the ends and is slightly browned.  Use left over pineapple juice from the can  for my favorite dinner cocktail below and enjoy! 

Alise's 'Everything's Better on the Beach' Cocktail

1/4 cup of Bacardi Rum
1 cup pineapple juice
1/4 cup strawberry ddaiquiri Mix (liquid), non alcoholic

Place Bacardi Rum in the bottom of your glass.  Add pineapple juice, stir.  Top with strawberry daiquiri mix.  You can either allow the strawberry daiquiri mixture to ooze down into the glass or stir it in to the Bacardi and pineapple mixture. 

***I like to make this times ten and in large pitchers for parties! 

Enjoy! 

Alise