Cajun Chicken Salad

This well seasoned chicken salad has a smoky flavor because of the sausage, sweetness from the sun dried tomatoes and apples, crunch with the celery, and brightness from the lemon juice.  It's great as a sandwich, or alone with crackers or over mixed salad greens.

Click for Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

• 3 - 4 cups cooked chicken, minced into small pieces
• (feel free to use a cooked rotisserie chicken or cook your own)
• 1/3 lb smoked andouille sausage
• 1/2 cup onions, chopped fine
• 1 Tbsp butter
• 4 green onion tops, finely chopped
• 1 stalk celery, finely chopped
• 1/3 cup apple, finely chopped
• 1 handful sundried tomatoes, chopped small
• 1 lemon, juiced
• 1 cup light sour cream
• 1/4 cup mayonnaise
• to taste salt, pepper, Creole seasoning

Step-by-step:

Saute chopped onions and andouille sausage in butter until onions are soft and translucent.

1/2 cup onions, chopped fine

1/3 lb smoked andouille sausage

Saute onions in 1 Tbsp butter 

Add smoked sausage and saute until soft. 

Meanwhile, chop sun dried tomatoes, apples, celery, and dice up chicken.

Sun dried tomatoes.  A big handful.

Cooked, rotisserie chicken.

Add the chopped chicken, sausage and sauteed onions to food processor and blend until desired consistency.   I like to leave it it just a little bit chunky.

Add sauteed sausage and onions to chicken

Pulse to blend.

Add other ingredients and then season to taste.

Sun dried tomatoes.

4 Green onions.

1 stalk of celery.

About 1/3 cup apples.

Juice of one whole lemon.

1 cup reduced fat sour cream.

1/4 cup mayo.

Salt, pepper, Creole seasoning.

This chicken salad has a smoky flavor because of the sausage, sweetness from the sun dried tomatoes and apples, crunch with the celery, and brightness from the lemon juice.  It's great as a sandwich, or alone with crackers or over mixed salad greens.

Shown here on a Kaiser roll with butter lettuce, provolone cheese, and a little mustard on the side.

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Here are some bonus recipes for you:
Crab and Brie Soup

Orzo Artichoke Pasta Salad

Stuffed Zucchini

New Orleans BBQ Shrimp

Oriental Cole Slaw

Creamy Grape Salad

Easy Meatball Sub Casserole

You can also check out my short cooking tutorial videos on YouTube.  Here is one example for Crock Pot Beef and Broccoli.  Yum!  Just click on the photo to start the video.

Written Directions

Saute chopped onions and andouille sausage in butter until onions are soft and translucent. 

Add the chopped chicken, sausage and sauteed onions to food processor and blend until desired consistency.  Add other ingredients and then season to taste.

Sour Cream Banana Nut Bread

This is the perfect cure for buying too many bananas!  In our house, I usually only buy a few bananas at a time, as our family rarely eats a whole "bunch" of them; but when I sent my sweet husband to the store with a grocery list, he came back with practically the whole tree! When bananas are really ripe and sweet, there are few things better to do with them than this. Banana nut bread is a great snack, with a great balance of nutrition.  This recipe will make 1 large loaf, but these little individual loaves are super cute, and just the right size for a bake sale, teacher gifts, neighbor thank you gifts, a quick breakfast, etc.

This recipe came from one of my favorite cookbooks, Celebrations on the Bayou, given to me some 20 years ago by a dear friend.  I've been making this ever since then... and when my oldest child was a toddler, it was sometimes the only thing I could get him to eat.  Today, I looked at my youngest (3 years old) and asked if she wanted to make banana nut bread.  Almost instantaneously, that big voice (almost 15 years old now) came from another part of the house... "Yes!!"  Ha!  The allure of this super easy recipe apparently still works like a charm!


Click for Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup mashed bananas (about 3 bananas)
• 1/2 cup sour cream (I use the "light" version)
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans

Step-by-step

Cream together the butter and sugar.

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter

Cream together well.

Add eggs and mix well.

2 eggs

Mix well.

Sift together:  flour, soda, and salt.

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups flour

Sift.

Get the last bits out! Ha Ha!

Combine the flour mixture with the butter mixture.

Combine.

Add the bananas, sour cream, and vanilla and mix well.

3 large bananas - peeled, of course, and mashed.

1/2 cup light sour cream

1 tsp vanilla

Add the chopped nuts.

1/2 cup chopped pecans

Pour the batter into a greased 9x5x3 loaf pan or several smaller loaf pans (or muffin tins).

Bake in 350 degree oven for 1 hour for 1 loaf, or around 20 minutes for muffins or small loaves.

Mmmmm......

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Written Directions: 
Cream together the butter and sugar.  Add eggs and mix well.  Sift together:  flour, soda, and salt.  Combine the flour mixture with the butter mixture. Add the bananas, sour cream, and vanilla and mix well.  Add the chopped nuts. Pour the batter into a greased 9x5x3 loaf pan or several smaller loaf pans (or muffin tins). Bake in 350 degree oven for 1 hour for 1 loaf, or around 20 minutes for muffins or small loaves.

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