Pineapple Chicken Salad

Spring makes me want to eat chicken salad sandwiches!

My Mom used to make her chicken salad with just mayo and a little chopped celery. I liked chicken salad back then.

But I've loved chicken salad since I learned to make it this way. Bright and cheerful are not adjectives normally used in food writing, but they describe this fruity chicken salad perfectly!

Cheerful Chicken Salad

Desired amount of chopped chicken breast (I use the kind in a can)

Mayonnaise or salad dressing (I use Miracle Whip Light, Hellman's, or Duke's)

Chopped walnuts

Chopped celery 

Canned pineapple chunks

Garlic salt or other desired seasonings

1. If using canned chicken, drain completely, then use the can lid to press out as much more liquid as possible. 

2. Place chicken in a bowl and stir in enough of your chosen dressing to moisten and bond the chicken together.

3. Stir in as much or as little chopped celery as your family likes. 

4. Stir in as many chopped walnuts as desired.

5. Drain the canned pineapple, then squeeze out as much liquid as possible with your hands. (This is important! If you don't, there will be too much liquid in your chicken salad.) Mix in the pineappple chunks.

6. Season with garic salt or other desired seasonings you wish.

7. Chill before serving.

My favorite way to eat this chicken salad is on wheat toast with a lettuce leaf, but it's also elegant and delicious served atop a fresh green salad. The restaurant where I picked up this recipe used to serve it that way, with a huge banana-nut muffin on the side! Yum.

By the way, my second favorite chicken salad, served at the first "ladies' luncheon" I ever attended, was made with Hellman's mayonnaise, chopped celery, and green grape halves! Also extremely simple, fresh and delicate.

What's in your favorite chicken salad?  

Can Peeps Drive?

I saw the idea for these adorable race-car Peeps at Everything Holiday on Facebook.  (I really wanted to direct you to their actual photo, which was way cuter than mine, and instructions, which were way better than mine, but I can't find it again!) 

All you do is cut a slot (a serrated knife works best) in the Twinkie-style snack cake for the bunny Peep and pretzel-twist steering wheel. Glue them in with a dab of icing and stick on marshmallow halves for wheels. These little guys are going to school for Madeline and her friends to celebrate her birthday on Tuesday. One "Twinkie", 2 marshmallows, a Peep and a pretzel per eight grader = 12 students falling asleep after lunch!

Finally Spring?

This beautiful, balmy 60 degree Saturday makes me want to believe our long-awaited Spring has finally arrived! But here's what is looked like driving up our road Thursday afternoon:

Six inches of snow on April 4? Really?

Nothin's dumber than a Hummer?  

Not in our neck of the woods. Even in April!

Lemon Balm, A Lazy Cat, Butterflies

Milburn Takes a Nap!

I thought the plant on the left, Lemon Balm, which smells like lemon dish liquid when you rub the leaves, was just for looks- until my husband asked if you could eat it. It turns out you can not only eat it, but make tea out of it. I can't wait to try some! The one next to it is Lamb's Ear, but we call it "bunny ears". It's a fun little plant, too, but you can't eat it!

In addition to the beautiful white blooms on our Red-Tips this week, there were hundreds of these colorful butterflies!

Bird Bottle Babies!

Our baby Bluebirds have hatched!

This little birdy family is living at my sewing cottage in a Colonial Williamsburg bird bottle. Another bird couple (small brown birds, possibly wrens) is nesting in the one at our carriage house, but no baby-chirping coming from that one just yet. No one ever seems to want to nest in our third bottle- I think it's too near our back entrance. The mom and dad share feeding responsibilities and made a million trips in and out today. The sad news is that we saw a Bluejay leaving the nest on Friday with something in its mouth. Did you know that those meanies snatch other species' hatchlings?  

The Redeemed Gardener posted pictures last week of the wrens and finches his four bird bottles in West Virginia attracted. I hope he didn't have to hide in the bushes as long as I did to get his shots! 

Rainbow

Saturday night, just before dusk, there was just
 a hint of this beautiful rainbow:

A picture really is worth a thousand words... 

maybe even more with a better camera and some photography skills.

Written on the Bathroom Wall

We spent some time this afternoon walking along the New River:

             

We were visited by this gorgeous cardinal:

                                                                             

We love this hollow tree along the path, though the light wasn't just right today for a photo:

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Fresh Air & Sunshine   $0

Invigorating Exercise in a Beautiful Setting  $0

Elevated Sense of Well-Being  $0

Time Alone with Husband   PRICELESS

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Yes, my friends, a walk outdoors with someone you love is still absolutely free in this country, and much more fun than a treadmill in a smelly, expensive gym! I take advantage of that every chance I get and I urge you to do the same. 

Here's the "written on the bathroom wall" part- the opinion of someone passing through somewhere between here and Washington, DC:

Virginia is for losers? I think not.

Virginia is for lovers? Definitely.

Dogwood Blossoms

The pink dogwoods are in bloom Downtown!  I think you can see why the white version is Virginia's state flower.

I love Spring!

Spring Means Mulch!

Today we finished spreading 54 yards of mulch on our property. In case you're a "city slicker", hardwood bark mulch is sold by the cubic yard, which is the amount that would fit into a cube 3 feet high by 3 feet wide by 3 feet deep. So 54 yards is a good bit of mulch to spread, but some years we've put down as much as 180 yards.  That's two tractor-trailer loads! So this year was actually kinda easy! I wish I had taken a picture of the pile for you.  


TIP:  If you've bought a large quantity of goods or services from a particular local vendor for many years, he/she may be willing to negotiate a discount with you. 


The highlight of our day was a visit from this little salamander:

He appears to have an injured left eye.  That's why it looks red in the picture.


Also, the snake count is now at 4 for the season.

Buds & Blooms & Snakes!

Spring has come early this year to Southwest Virginia, bringing some beautiful blossoms to our yard:

Forsythia

Flowering Crabapple

                                                                                                                 

Lilac

and Redbud

                                                                                                                                                
And, not among my favorite Spring arrivals... snakes, two today and one on Saturday.  Notice there are no pictures... a: I didn't have my camera handy, and b) well, I think you know what "b" might be...