Holiday Chicken Salad

This is the chicken salad from our beach trip to Stanley Lake. My only real modifications from the original allrecipes version were adding dried blueberries and using a red bell pepper instead of green. Enjoy!

4 cups cubed chicken breast

1 cup mayonnaise

1 teaspoon paprika

1.5 cups dried cranberries

1 cup chopped celery

2 green onions, chopped

1/2 cup minced bell pepper

1 cup chopped pecans

1 teaspoon seasoning salt

pepper to taste

In a small bowl, mix mayonnaise, paprika, seasoning salt, and pepper. Mix remaining ingredients, then fold in the mayonnaise mixture. Chill for an hour before serving. Ellie thinks this is best eaten with wheat thins on a blanket as part of a "picnic."

Whole Wheat Pita Bread

This recipe is AWESOME! Found it on allrecipes and made just a couple of modifications suggested by reviewers (white wheat instead of soy flour and honey in place of molasses). These turned out even better than the ones I've purchased in the stores! They actually had pockets! It's simple, but a little bit time consuming.

1 cup warm water (about 110 degrees F)

1 (2.5 oz) pkg active dry yeast

1 tablespoon honey

1 teaspoon salt

1.5 cups whole wheat flour

1.5 cups white wheat flour

cornmeal for dusting

1. In a bowl, mix together water, yeast, and honey. Let sit 5-10 minutes, then gradually mix in the flours and add the salt. Turn onto floured surface and knead until smooth. Place in a large bowl lightly coated with cooking spray and cover with a towel. Let rise for 1 hour.

2. Punch down the dough and knead for about 5 minutes. Divide into 6 pieces and roll each piece out into a circle about 1/8" thick. Cover with a towel and let rise for 30 minutes.

3. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Warm a baking sheet in the preheating oven for about 2 minutes, then remove and sprinkle with cornmeal.

4. Arrange the dough rounds on the baking sheet and bake for 6 minutes in the preheated oven. Remove from the heat and cover with a moist towel to soften. When cooled, slice in half to open the pockets.

I used a pizza stone, which worked great for baking them. And when it says moist towel, don't skimp on the moist! It really is necessary. Also, don't allow any creases when you're rolling them out. That's what prevents them from puffing up into nice open pockets. Enjoy!

Pepperoni Pizza Puffs

Thanks to Jenny for this recipe, which comes from the "Everyday with Rachel Ray" magazine. We made it for a quick, easy Saturday lunch and it worked great! It could become a weekend tradition. I doubled the recipe and cooked it in twelve regular sized muffin pans. I think we should try it out for a party sometime.

Ingredients:
3/4 cup flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 cup milk
1 egg, lightly beaten
4 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese
4 ounced cut up pepperoni
1/2 cup store bought pizza sauce
2 Tablespoons chopped basil
1 red bell pepper, sliced.

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 350*. Grease a 24 mini-muffin pan. Mix together flour and baking powder; whisk in milk and egg. Stir in cheese and pepperoni. Let sit for ten minutes.

2. Stir the batter and pour into the muffin cups. Bake 20-25 minutes, until puffy and golden.

3. Microwave pizza sauce to warm, and stir in 1 Tbsp. basil. Remove pizza puffs from pan and sprinkle with other Tablespoon basil. Serve puffs with red pepper slices on the side and sauce for dipping!