Thursday, April 29, 2010

Weekend Fare & A Giveaway!

It's hard to believe the end of the week is nearly here! I finally am getting back in to the cooking groove - just in time to leave. :) This week I made a salad with chicken and veggies, bbq chicken pizza, and today's featured recipe - chicken salad. Yes, it was chicken week. I cooked four chicken breasts on Monday and made them last for three meals. It worked well and everyone enjoyed the dinners!

A good chicken salad is wonderful and yet I have a hard time finding it. I vary mine with one exception - it always has some kind of fruit in it. The fruit is often grapes but I've also used craisins and various other things. My version today includes apples as well as grapes. I like the natural sweetness the fruit adds as well as the color! 


ALAINA'S FRUITED CHICKEN SALAD
Print This Recipe

1 1/2 - 2 chicken breasts, diced
1 apple, cored and finely diced
1/3 c. red or green grapes, quartered
2 stalks celery, finely diced
2 Tb. red onion, finely diced
1 Tb. lemon juice
1/3 c. mayonnaise (I often use half mayo and half plain yogurt)
1 tsp. dried dill OR 1 Tb. fresh dill
Salt & Pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients. Serve over spring greens or lettuce or as a sandwich filling. (We really liked this served over the greens with water crackers on the side). Serves about 4.


_____________________________ __________________________


Nothing like waiting until the end of the month for our giveaway! This beautiful cookbook is the Williams-Sonoma Seasonal Celebration Spring book by Joanne Weir. The pictures alone will inspire you to try recipes and experiment with spring produce! It offers recipes such as Fresh Pea Soup w/Lemon Creme Fraiche, Asparagus-Parmesan Cheese Puffs, Spicy Deviled Eggs, Spinach & Bacon Souffle, Lemon Cloud Tart, and many more.



TO ENTER:
- Leave a comment on this post telling us your favorite cookbook or spring recipe.
- Make sure we have a way to contact you!

For additional entries (just leave us a comment telling us which ones you have done!):
- Subscribe via the link to the right or with google reader.
- Add us to your blog roll.
- Join our facebook group - The Cooks Next Door.
- Facebook about this giveaway.
- Tweet about this giveaway.
- Blog about this giveaway.

There you go! You could earn as many as 7 entries. And if you already are in our group, subscribe etc, let us know and we will add in the extra entries!

I leave tomorrow so I will try to close the giveaway sometime next week but the winner will not be announced until after May 9.

27 comments:

  1. I love cookbooks. I will say that I love the cookbooks from Ina Garten and the Barefoot Contessa series.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Great giveaway, thanks!! My favorite spring recipe is the Lemon Cloud Tart!
    Barbara
    ricettebarbare at gmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  3. I subscribe!
    Barbara
    ricettebarbare at gmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  4. I add The cook next door to my blog roll: http://candyricettebarbare.blogspot.com/
    Barbara
    ricettebarbare at gmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  5. I join your facebook group – The Cooks Next Door!
    Barbara
    ricettebarbare at gmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  6. ... and finally I blogged about the giveaway: http://candyricettebarbare.blogspot.com/2010/04/cookbook-giveaway-di-cooks-next-door.html
    Barbara
    ricettebarbare at gmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  7. Well, I am entering because I would like a cookbook with some good recipes. I don't have a favorite right now. Though, there is a taco wrap recipe I love in one of the Pampered Chef cookbook.

    ReplyDelete
  8. http://twitter.com/WeeShare/status/13072233603

    ReplyDelete
  9. I have only made one thing from any Barefoot Contessa book that I didn't like (garlic chicken). I serve her recipes even to company without first testing them because they're always wonderful. LOVE her books!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Funny trend I see here -- I too love Ina Garten. I just got the family style cookbook and its great. Her recipes are simple yet delicious, and presented beautifully.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Thanks for including my book. I wrote that book a long time ago but I still love that whole seasonal series I did with Williams Sonoma. And yes, we all love Ina too! I'm happy to do a summer giveaway if you like. It would be a book in the same series.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I just ate some delicious chicken salad today but it was made by Central Market. :)

    Favorite receipe or book is a hard one to pick. But at Easter I made this milk chocolate frozen pie, with a graham cracker crust and topped with crushed toffee and was pretty darn good if I say so myself.

    ReplyDelete
  13. my favorite recipes for the summer months are all different kinds of salads thanks

    ReplyDelete
  14. I love all the Paula Deen cookbooks

    ReplyDelete
  15. My favorite spring dish is stuffed jalapeno peppers
    or banana pudding.

    ReplyDelete
  16. the warmer weather always makes me excited about grilling and one of my favorite things to make are kabobs.:) usually chicken with a variety of veggies and then some grilled pineapple and rice on the side.

    i have subscribed to your blog as well as joined the facebook group and you are definitely on my blog roll.

    ReplyDelete
  17. I love cookbooks so it's hard to pick. My Martha Stewart's Baking handbook has been simply a must have, but I have to say I'm really in love with my new TASTE OF HOME CONTEST WINNING 2010 BOOK. I made a chocolate carrot cake with cocoa cream cheese butter cream this week that I was a bit worried about, but it was divine, and the easiest from scratch recipe ever (if you are interested check my FB profile) I belong to your FB and twitter groups and reposted this on both. You are on my google reader too

    ReplyDelete
  18. Texas spring = sunny and hot!!!

    So we try to grill outside as much as we can. My favorite grill recipes - Grilled lime chicken fajitas, marinated beef and veggie kabobs, and burgers...

    We also enjoy salads with lots of fresh veggies and cold rotisserie chicken (from the grocery store).

    And for dessert -- Key Lime Pie. My recipe only requires a 6-8 minute bake time. The chilled pie with lots of whipped cream is perfect for a warm afternoon treat!

    ReplyDelete
  19. I have to be honest and say that i don't cook that much, which is why i'm entering this to get some good ideas! But i did make these stuffed mushrooms once, and they turned out perfectly! They tasted just like Olive Garden's stuff mushrooms, i was so proud of myself!

    ReplyDelete
  20. I subscribed via Google Reader!

    ReplyDelete
  21. I love spring and one of my favourite cookbooks is The Japanese Kitchen by Kimiko Barber. Rebar is also a new find that I really like.

    ReplyDelete
  22. I love Williams-Sonoma cookbooks! This one looks like it has some amazing recipes. I don't really have a favorite spring recipe except we have been making a lot of spinach salads recently with strawberries, candied walnuts or pecans, blue cheese, dried cranberries, green onions and homemade balsamic dressing.

    ReplyDelete
  23. My favorite recipe for spring and summer is steak and shrimp kabobs with grilled vegetables.

    ReplyDelete
  24. My favorite cookbook I just got and I'm obsessed with it--it's Chocolates and Confections at Home with The Culinary Institute of America --it is amazing!

    ReplyDelete
  25. I love spring recipes! My husband and I are making an effort to cook seasonally. We have a large vegetable garden and this is our second year with it. We're hoping to get quite a haul this year so we want to learn how to cook with things we would have around this time of year. I subscribe in google reader to your blog and check it out all the time. You're also on my blog roll at http://thisoldknit.blogspot.com. :) Grats on the baby in bloggy land and keep up the great work!

    ReplyDelete
  26. One of my very favorite cookbooks is Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison.

    ReplyDelete