Happy Spring!!! 

In honor of spring, I am giving you my all-time favorite, super amazing chicken salad recipe as well as my all-time favorite, super amazing roll recipe. Seriously. This is the best chicken salad recipe you will find. I've stopped looking at other chicken salad recipes because they don't even compare. It has orange zest and pecans and cranberry sauce and lots of other deliciousness. Promise me you'll at least try it :) And while you're cutting up the green onions or zesting the orange? mmmmmmmm….the smells are intoxicating. You'll really feel like spring is here (until you look out your window and there's still snow on the ground…boo)!

Cranberry-Orange Chicken Salad

(from Our Best Bites cookbook)

Ingredients:

1 lb (about 2 cups) chopped chicken (I make it easy and just buy a rotisserie chicken)

1 c celery, chopped

1/3 chopped green onions (5-6 onions)

Zest of 1 medium orange (about 1T) (I also squeeze some of the juice-makes it even yummier)

1/2 c craisins (I chop them up)

1/2 c mayonnaise (I'd love to try this with vegenaise…has anyone used vegenaise before? What does it taste like?)

1 t coarse grain mustard

2 T cranberry sauce (I always buy the kind with the whole cranberries in it. And I also add a crap load more than the 2T they suggest. I do like 6-8T)

1/2 t salt

1/2 t fresh ground pepper

1/2 c chopped pecans, toasted

Rolls (recipe below) (you can also use croissants or pita pockets or something if you don't like rolls…but who doesn't like rolls? Actually, a buttery croissant would be pretty darn good with this. But, the rolls have butter in them and on them, so I guess they're just as good. You be the judge.)

Instructions:

1. In a bowl, combine chicken, celery, green onions, orange zest (and juice), and craisins.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk together mayonnaise, mustard, cranberry sauce, salt, and pepper. Add to the chicken mixture and toss to fully combine. This salad is best refrigerated for several hours before serving.
3. Just before serving, add the toasted pecans. Serve on a croissant or roll.

Beautiful (burger) Buns

(from, believe it or not, King Arthur flour haha)

Ingredients:

3/4 to 1 c lukewarm water*

2 T butter (softened)

1 large egg

3 1/2 c flour

1/4 c sugar

1 1/4 t salt

1 T instant yeast

*For best results (a smooth, slightly soft dough), use the smaller amount of water in summer (or a humid environment), and the greater amount in winter (or in a dry climate)

Topping

3 T melted butter

Directions:

1. Mix and knead all of the ingredients to make a soft, smooth dough. I think this took me like 3-5 minutes. Not long at all.
2. Cover the dough, and let it rise for 1 to 2 hours, or until it's nearly doubled in size.
3. Gently deflate the dough, and divide it into 8 pieces. Shape each piece into a round ball, then flatten it to about 3" across. Place the buns on a lightly greased or parchment-lined baking sheet. Cover, and let rise for about an hour, until noticeably puffy.
4. Brush the buns with about half the melted butter.
5. Bake the buns in a preheated 375˚F oven for 15 to 18 minutes, until golden. Remove them from the oven, and brush with the remaining melted butter. This will give the buns a satiny, buttery crust.
6. Cool the buns on a rack.

Yield: 8 large buns

This is the best normal bun recipe I've found so far, but I'd love to hear any of your favorites! I'm always looking to tweak and make recipes even better than what I have :)

Why does greek yogurt have to smell so bad but taste SO good?! I swear, every time I eat it, all I can smell is stinky feet (and it's not mine)…

Does your cat lay on your legs with their butt in your face? Mine does. She also lays with us at night…with her butt in my face. It's awesome.

 This past Friday I went out for a much needed date with my friend Heather. We only live 45 minutes away from each other (I even work in the same town she lives in), but we only get together once every few months. That shouldn't be the case. We both got out of work by 3:30; so us being the old ladies that we are, we went out for dinner by 4pm…I had a delicious black bean burger with fries, and Heather got a grilled cheese sandwich with bacon on it :). We also got FREE cake for dessert since it was the restaurant's 16th anniversary. Super awesome! White cake with either raspberry filling or custard. 

 Yesterday, Tim and I decided to get out of the house. I've been feeling like all we do is stay at home and sit either in front of the computer or tv…and that's lame. What a terrible way to live! So we decided to take a drive up to Traverse City for some shopping :)

 We first stopped at the Rolling Farms Cafe for some delicious lunch. Seriously! I've never gotten a bad meal from here. I was in sort of a funk yesterday and slept the entire way to Traverse, so I decided to have breakfast for lunch. I got their croissant french toast with a couple pieces of bacon, and it was h.e.a.v.e.n. Yum. So good.

We then went to FYE where I spent only $60 on all these guilty pleasures :) I watched a couple of these when I was in middle/high school (not that I need to explain myself because I'm not embarrassed whatsoever), but I've always wanted them on video. Just to watch on days when I feel like watching an extremely cheesy movie :)

There was a new hotdog place to eat at, so we decided to try it out for dinner….not awesome. We could seriously make these ourselves. They even used what tasted like Meijer-brand hotdog buns. Lame. How can a chain restaurant stay open with crap like this?

On a more exciting note, Heather's husband is opening his very own food truck this summer, called Lakeside Wiener Wagon :). They're going to have like 20 different ways to have a hot dog, BBQ pulled pork, and some other stuff. His specialty dog has an apple chutney on it, and it is a.m.a.z.i.n.g.! Anyway, he's currently getting me prices to see how much it'd be to cater our wedding! How awesome would it be to have a food truck at our wedding??????!!!!!! I'm getting super excited :)

 We haven't seen a lot of sun where I live in the past few months. Actually, we just hit our record of most snowfall ever…a couple weeks ago, we actually had a sunny day, so obviously I felt the need to go to the beach :) 

 There was a woman and her dog at the beach, and she nicely came up to me and asked if I wanted my picture taken :) Her dog made it into about 3/4 of the pictures haha!

 I just LOVE the layers of sand and snow!

 It was so much fun and a great way to end a hectic day at work :)

 For Valentine's Day, Tim took me out for dinner :) While our dinners weren't anything special, our Triple Chocolate mousse for dessert was heavenly. Perfectly chocolaty and light, it was a nice way to end the meal without making us feel bloated :)

 And have I mentioned how nice it is to live near a restaurant? Granted, almost all their food is fried and more than likely from a bag, but at least we don't have to cook it :)

 Lately, I've noticed (rather, Tim pointed out to me) that I eat a CRRRRAPPP load of candy. Even if I don't want it, I eat it if I see it. I've also noticed that I've had a heck of a lot more pimples on my forehead and chin area…so I put two and two together and thought, "hmmmmm….if I cut out sugar, how much do you want to bet my skin will get clearer???" So I decided to cut out candy for a week and see what happens…guess what? My face is about 95% cleared up! I can't believe I didn't realize sooner that what I was eating was affecting my skin (DUH!!!!)!

I bought some mandarine oranges, grapes, strawberries, blackberries, string cheese and cherry tomatoes, baked snap peas, and a bunch of nuts to help curb my candy cravings; and yes, I realize there's chocolate on that Kashi bar, BUT it's not candy, and it's MUCH healthier than what I used to eat :) Another change I've done is to drink a TON of water! I start out my morning by drinking three glasses of water (in about two hours) along with a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar; then throughout the day, I drink two cups of decaf green tea along with about two water bottles full of water. And that's just at work. I probably drink another two cups full of water before I go to bed. Try it! It may feel like a lot at first, but you'll get used to drinking so much; and before you know it, you'll almost start to crave it :)