Sisterchicks Chicken Salad

As the weather begins to warm, I begin to keep this wonderful chicken salad on hand to share with special friends at the spur-of-the-moment. My good friend Kristen and I loved to eat chicken salad when we "lived life together" with our small children in Kentucky. Since then I have come to the place of always sharing chicken salad in my home with special girlfriends. This recipe is one that I got from my pastor's wife many years back and have always always enjoyed it.

4 cups cooked, cubed chicken breasts
1 cup seedless red grapes
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/4 cup sliced green onions
1/2 cup mayo
2 Tbsp. Dannon Vanilla Yogurt
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper

Mix all together and chill.

Popcorn Possibilities

I have fond memories of my mother having a Stir Crazy popcorn popper. When I was young, we would go watch church league basketball each Tuesday, and before we would leave for the games, my mom would pop bunches and bunches of corn, bag it in garbage bags, and we would share it with everyone sitting around us. This is my most vivid memory of learning the joy of sharing and the happiness it gave me to bless others with something as simple as popcorn. And it always made me so proud of my mom that she was blessing others with something simple from her kitchen.

So when I found this popcorn popper 9 years ago at a yard sale (for only $1.50!), I snatched it up. Number 1 reason was because I just love popcorn and was sick of the microwaved stuff. And the deeper reason was because of the warm memories it kindled of childhood and I wanted to create special kitchen memories with my little ones.

The Stir Crazy has brought us countless yummy bowls of popcorn as we watch movies, sit around the table talking, or for a snack-on-the-go for our nature walks. Forget the overpriced, greasy microwave stuff! This only takes corn kernels and a bit of oil and kids think watching it pop is the best entertainment. Popcorn is our usual afternoon snack...sometimes with just a sprinkling of salt and sometimes with melted butter. Others I know like to use seasoning salt or even brown sugar. I have always loved tossing in some plain M&M's :)

You can still buy these poppers at your local Target, Walmart, etc. Or you can do it the old fashioned way and do it in a pot on the stove. In either case, popcorn is a wonderfully easy nutritious snack that almost everyone loves.

And now there are tons of websites that offer great recipes to give popcorn an interesting, new spin. This "adult popcorn" looks delicious and I can see my children loving this recipe for cinnamon crunch popcorn. And who would have thought curried popcorn might be yummy?

The popcorn possibilities are endless. This is a new way to be creative with an old favorite and to make some warm fuzzies. Grab the kids, the spices and have some fun poppin' today!