Chicken Salad with Blueberries, Feta and Corn

Here I go with yet again another recipe post. My blog is quickly turning into a food blog. I just can't help it. I hope you guys aren't getting tired of the excessive amount of food I post. If you follow me on Instagram, I really am sorry. I promise some variety tomorrow, but this recipe had to be shared.

I made this chicken salad Monday night for Sarah Beth's birthday. After a surprise visit from a friend, a couple other good friends came over and we sat around chatting while snacking on spicy Gouda and chips and salsa. I thought this would be the perfect light dinner after the loads of cheese and crackers we scarfed down.

I found the recipe on The Pioneer Woman, but as usual adapted it a little. Most of the time when I adapt a recipe it is because I don't quite, have all the ingredients and I'm too lazy to go to the store. This adaptation actually makes it a little healthier, swapping out the mayonnaise and sour cream for Greek yogurt.

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The Pioneer Woman's Chicken Salad Chicken Salad with Blueberries, Feta and Corn
serves 6 as main, 8 as a side

Ingredients:
4 whole Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts
Salt And Pepper, to taste
Olive Oil, For Drizzling
3 stalks Celery (inner Light Green Stalks), Finely Diced
2 ears Fresh Corn
1/4 whole Medium Red Onion, Finely Diced
1-1/2 cup Blueberries
3 Tablespoons Fresh Dill, Minced
1/2 cup plain greek yogurt
1/4 cup Half-and-half
1 whole Lemon
1 teaspoon Sugar (more To Taste)
Salt And Pepper (additional) To Taste
3/4 cups Crumbled Feta

Directions:
Place chicken breasts into large plastic storage bag. Pound with a mallet or rolling pin to flatten to 1/4 inch uniform thickness (this was fun).  Season chicken with salt and pepper.

Heat grill and drizzle chicken with olive oil. Grill chicken on both sides until done, about 7 minutes per side. (Rotate halfway during grilling each side to ensure pretty grill marks.) Remove from pan. Allow to cool. 

With a very sharp knife, shave kernels off each corn cob. Combine with the onion and celery. Set aside.

Mix together Greek yogurt, feta, and half-and-half. Stir in sugar, squeeze in lemon juice, and add salt and pepper. Stir, then taste. Add more salt if necessary; do not under salt! 

At the end, toss in the blueberries to lightly coat them in the dressing. Serve, then sprinkle individual helpings with feta.

Slice chicken on the bias to create flat, randomly shaped pieces. Throw into a bowl with celery, onion, and corn. Stir to combine. Pour half the dressing over the ingredients and toss gently. Add more as desired, but don't overcoat the salad; should be light!

**my adaptations: I used my panini press to grill the chicken and used frozen corn in replace of fresh corn. The chicken takes around 10 minutes to grill on the press. To give the frozen corn a fresh taste, I spread the frozen corn out on a baking sheet and toss with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Then throw it under the broil for 5 minutes, more on this method here.

This chicken salad was definitely a crowd pleaser. It has great ingredients and is super fresh and colorful for summer!

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Annie

There's Popcorn in My Cookies!

 So you probably think I'm crazy right now. Popcorn in cookies? 

Trust me on this one.

Do you know anyone who doesn't love a good chocolate chip cookie? I sure don't, but why not take this classic cookie and spice it up a bit. This is exactly what Joy at Joy the Baker did. She created her buttered popcorn chocolate chip cookies by adding popped popcorn to the batter. 

This cookie was originally inspired by Smitten Kitchen's popcorn cookie but Joy added chocolate chips giving it the perfect sweet and salty flavor. When I was flipping through my sister's Smitten Kitchen cookbook last week I spotted the popcorn cookie recipe, but I like Joys adaptation better. I mean, chocolate makes everything better, so why not throw some chocolate chips in to really make these cookies good! They are then topped with a sprinkle of corse sea salt to finish them off. 

Next time you are craving chocolate chip cookies through some popcorn in there to really throw people off! Recipe here.

Annie

Bites of My Life

I can't believe it is June. May was really great month, now let's hope June lives up to it. After a birthday celebration with my family (that was somewhat of a fail; not my family, but the food), I was busy at my internship and continually staying safe from more storms that moved in this week. This past week was kind of birthday week. Between mine, my grandmother's, and today being Sarah Beth's, the celebrations just keep going!
This weekend was incredible. A bunch of out of town friends were here and staying with us. I think at one point there were 10 girls staying at our little loft. We had a great weekend catching up, having a 
b-day celebration for Sarah Beth, and just laying around having girl time! After having an apartment full of people all weekend it is feeling pretty lonely around here. 
-crafty birthday wrapping
-new beaded hair ties, that can be found on my wrist more than my hair
-my beautiful grandmother on her 80th birthday
-6 a.m. barre3. dedication.
-put a monogram on it and I'll love it
-delicious warm olive appetizer at my birthday dinner. the one good part of the meal. 
xo annie

Abstract

I'm pretty proud of myself for everything I've accomplished on my summer to-do list so far. A few nights ago I had nothing going on and embarrassingly found myself watching High School Music 2. I realized very quickly I needed to find something better to do. It was about 10 o'clock and it seemed like the perfect time to paint a canvas...anything besides watching HSM2. Okay so maybe I left it playing in the background. Anyway, I whipped it this abstract out in about 15 minutes and I'm pretty happy with the outcome!

You can see in the pictures below how I squirted a little bit of paint in random places on the canvas, then with my brush just spread it around to mix and give it texture. I used navy, light blue, orange, pink and light pink as the main colors. I then added a little bit of white and gold over the top, and with a paper towel gave it a sponge affect.

I've been working on a little gallery wall in my bedroom across from my bed. I already put up a couple prints I had, but I think the canvas is the perfect addition. My room, and the prints are all very light, so this creates a good focal point.

Trust me when I say anyone can paint an abstract like this. It was super and easy and you can't really mess it up.

Now I just a few more things to check off my to-do list!

Annie