When Jen asked me to be part of a virtual BBQ I thought it sounded like fun, however, the part about contributing an original recipe using Philadelphia Cooking Creme sounded a little scary. In some areas I’m as creative as the next girl, but in others I’m a rule follower, or a recipe follower in this case. I don’t wing it and I don’t invent my own recipes.

Until this Southwest Chicken Salad! 

I enjoyed the process of creating the recipe in my head and then pulling it together, juggling quantities and proportions until the reality equaled my imagination. At the bottom of this post you’ll find links to all nine participants in this virtual BBQ: visit them for more summer picnic ideas.

The post with the most comments TODAY ONLY wins $500 and a year’s worth of Philadelphia Cooking Creme. Voting is only open for 24 hours and I would truly appreciate your comment on this post!

Let’s begin:

My recipe evolved as it progressed, so the original ingredient picture needs editing. I’ll explain the changes as I go.

First, drizzle four boneless skinless chicken breasts with olive oil (spreading it on both sides) and bake them at 375 degrees for 25 minutes. While they’re cooking, prep the other ingredients.

It’s been a while since I’ve bought avocados and mine (the green ones in the ingredients picture) weren’t ripe. If you’re unsure about selecting avocados, look the chart above (click it for more info) or those perfectly ripe beauties in the picture below. (Yes, I went back to the store for more. They’re worth it!)

Cut the avocados in half vertically and scoop out the pit with a spoon. The peel of a ripe avocado comes off easily and the inside is slightly mushy, slightly firm. Chop it into chunks and put them in a small mixing bowl.

Slice the kernels off of three ears of fresh, uncooked corn and toss them in a medium bowl.

Usually I make chicken salad with celery and grapes: I love the crunch of the first and the sweetness of the second. Fresh corn provides both the crunch and the sweetness of those ingredients, which I omitted in this southwest version.

It’s my recipe and I can cry omit if I want to.

Slice and dice the chicken and a red onion and mix with the corn.

Snip fresh cilantro and add to the avocado for extra kick. I used about 2/3 of the little cup that you see in the ingredients photo on top.

Add one container of Philadelphia Cooking Creme Santa Fe Blend and half a cup of sour cream to the avocados and cilantro and gently stir. Don’t mash those lovely chunks of avocado!

Pour it over the chicken/corn/onion mixture and stir until coated. Spoon a generous portion over lettuce on a croissant, or however you like to eat your chicken salad.

Enjoy!

My 10-year-old son (not the one pictured) said, “It looks like throw up, but it tastes like something from heaven.” That’s about the best compliment I could hope for from a self-proclamed hater of chicken salad. He also said, “It’s very good. You could easily win.”

Help me prove him right?

The post with the most comments wins $500 and your comment on this post equals a vote for my recipe!

Southwest Chicken Salad

4.8 from 10 reviews

Print

Recipe type: Main

Author: Dawn Camp @ myhomesweethomeonline.net

Chicken salad with a southwest flair!

Ingredients

• 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 1 carton Philadelphia Cooking Creme Santa Fe Blend
• 3 ears fresh corn
• 1 red onion
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 2 avocados
• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• cilantro, to taste

Instructions

1. Drizzle olive oil over chicken breasts (spreading it on both sides) and bake them at 375 degrees for 25 minutes.
2. Cut avocados in half, remove pit, peel, and then chop into chunks and put in a small mixing bowl.
3. Slice the kernels off of fresh, uncooked corn and toss them in a medium bowl.
4. Slice and dice the chicken and red onion and mix with the corn.
5. Snip fresh cilantro and add to the avocado.
6. Add Philadelphia Cooking Creme Santa Fe Blend and sour cream to the avocados and cilantro and gently stir.
7. Pour it over the chicken/corn/onion mixture and stir until coated.
8. Spoon over lettuce on a croissant, or however you like to eat your chicken salad.
9. Enjoy!

2.2.6

 

Come join our Virtual Summer BBQ, hosted by Balancing Beauty and Bedlam.

Enjoy browsing these great recipes.

Lemon Berry Cheesecake Bars – Saving Dollars and Sense
Creamy Potato Salad – Mommy Hates Cooking
Creamy Italian Pasta Salad – Life in Grace
Southwest Chicken Salad – My Home Sweet Home
Creamy Bacon and Tomato Potato Salad – Lynn’s Kitchen Adventures
Creamy BLT Pasta Salad with Pesto Sauce – 4Tunate
Shrimp Campanelle Salad – The Peaceful Mom
Creamy Jalapeno Ranch Dip – Saving with Shellie
Philly Creamy Deviled Eggs – Smockity Frocks

Southwest Chicken Salad {Please Comment and Help Me Win a Recipe Contest!} is a post from: My Home Sweet Home
© 2012 My Home Sweet Home | All rights reserved

Last summer I wrote How to Create Your Own Instagallery, the story of a DIY magnetic chalkboard project that became a place to display our Instagram photos. Eleven months later, I thought you might like to see how we continue to use and update it.

Periodically I take down some photos and put them in albums and print new ones to take their place.

Other odds and ends have joined the mix, such as my autographed Straight No Chaser concert ticket from December, . . .

my Help-Portrait volunteers’ group photo, and Smilebooth shots from Relevant.

Everyday Moments + Instagram = Memories Captured
Memories Captured + Instagallery = Memories Revisited
(And you thought there wouldn’t be any math.)

Do you have a place to display everyday photos of your family?

The Evolution of Our Instagallery is a post from: My Home Sweet Home
© 2012 My Home Sweet Home | All rights reserved

Major changes can be difficult to make and to maintain, just ask anyone who’s tried to lose weight, stop smoking, or quit a bad habit. We’ve all heard the stories; however, there are successes, too, and that’s what I’m interested in examining.

What does it take to make a radical change stick?

Please join me and read the rest today at (in)courage!

Is Radical Change Possible? is a post from: My Home Sweet Home
© 2012 My Home Sweet Home | All rights reserved

It’s finally here! The (in)courage un-conference, (in)RL, starts today with four separate broadcasts of web content and then get-togethers held in hundreds of living rooms, churches, and coffee shops all over the world tomorrow. Will you be a part of it? It’s not too late!

Here’s a little history and background on that strange looking name, (in)RL: bloggers developed the abbreviation IRL for “in real life” as in my blog buddy Heather and I finally met IRL!  We used to take a bit of ribbing about the imaginary friends in our computers before blog conferences and local meetups became more prevalent. Now I’ve met lots of my blog buddies IRL.

However, all of us need day-to-day real life community right where we live. We’re wired that way.

So, who’s my community?

My church. These are the cannot-live-without people in my life. I’ve always told my kids that of all the friendships they’ll make, there’s nothing like those precious ones of like precious faith. These are the ones who know me best of all, my move-a-body girlfriends.

My homeschool friends. We didn’t know most of the families in our Classical Conversations community when it started, but now they’re some of our dearest friends. Although naturally the moms are friends with the moms and kids with the kids, by the very nature of the program and the tutor-student relationship, I now have lots of teen friends, too.

I get to talk art and philosophy with these kids one day a week and dissect things like cows’ eyes (that’s the inside of one there on the right). We’ve had a wonderful school year and I’ll be sad to graduate these kids from my class next week.

Neighbors. I’m the world’s worst neighbor. Seriously. I’ve always got so much going on in the house or away from home that I’m not an out-and-about in the neighborhood kind of girl. And then there’s what my husband and I call my “5 degree comfort zone.” Let’s just say I’m thankful to live in the days of heating and air conditioning.

I’m hoping to connect more with my neighbors at my (in)RL gathering tomorrow.

What about you? Who’s your community?

(And what did your camera phone capture this week? Link it below!)

Camera Phone Friday: Thinking about Community (in)RL Edition is a post from: My Home Sweet Home
© 2012 My Home Sweet Home | All rights reserved

Months ago when (in)RL was announced, it seemed so far in the future. Plenty of time to plan. Plenty of time to clean. Plenty of time to morph into the hostess with the mostess.

So I bravely signed up. Of course I would host! No problem!

But guess what? Now it’s April and I haven’t done much planning, I haven’t done much cleaning, and I can promise you that I will not be the (in)RL hostess with the mostest. I feel queasy just thinking about it.

Does hostessing freak you out a bit or are you a natural? Join me today to discuss it at (in)courage!

Confessions of a Hesitant Host Today at (in)courage is a post from: My Home Sweet Home
© 2012 My Home Sweet Home | All rights reserved

Remember the recent Good and Good for You Challenge that my family participated in in February? Well, this Tuesday night I’ll be co-hosting a Twitter party with the National Pork Board and The Motherhood in honor of Nutrition Month. Please join me for the #PorkPledge Good and Good for You Twitter Party for great tips, trivia and prizes!

If you’re unfamiliar with Twitter parties, they involve people all tweeting about the same topic while including a specific hashtag that lets them find each other and the related tweets. For this Twitter chat, the hashtag is #PorkPledge. You can use a website like TweetChat to make it easier. Here’s a link that will work tomorrow night.

Here are the details:

When: Tuesday, March 13, 7-8 p.m. ET

Where: The party will take place on Twitter, using the #PorkPledge hashtag.

Who: The National Pork Board (@AllAboutPork) and The Motherhood (@theMotherhood) will be hosting.

Prizes: Five prize packs will be given away throughout the hour, based on responses to trivia questions. They will be filled with pork coupons and other items to help you live a healthier lifestyle (such as a meat thermometer, reusable water bottle and reusable grocery bag).

RSVP: Let us know if you’ll be there! Click this link and press the red “yes” button under “Are you going?” – http://twtvite.com/gku88u (look on the right)

That’s it!

{I am being compensated for my participation in the Good and Good for You Campaign. Opinions expressed are my own.}

Tweeting for Pork is a post from: My Home Sweet Home
© 2012 My Home Sweet Home | All rights reserved

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Today I want to share with you one of our favorite cookie recipes, mine because it’s quick and doesn’t require the oven, everyone else’s because they just taste so darned good. Unbaked Oatmeal Cookies are affectionately known as blobs in our family thanks to their lumpy appearance, but don’t be deceived by the lack of curb appeal on these babies.

Here’s what you’ll need. (This is one of those recipes where more ingredients pop up beyond the initial ingredient list, so I want to make sure you don’t miss the peanut butter and quick cooking oats.)

Unbaked Oatmeal Cookies

2 cups sugar
4 Tbsp. cocoa
1/2 cup butter
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup milk

Boil above for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and add 1/2 cup peanut butter. Quickly add 3 cups of quick cooking oatmeal. Mix well—drop on wax paper or tin foil and cool.

Make sure you get enough liquid and not too much oatmeal or they will be dry.

I’ve heard other people say that they have trouble with unbaked oatmeal cookies, that theirs just don’t turn out right. My recipe was passed down from my mother and it says to quickly add the three cups of quick cooking oatmeal, so that’s what I do. Since these cookies aren’t baked—they set on their own—I think speed does matter, otherwise they’ll start setting in the pan.

Make sense?

I always measure out my peanut butter and oats and lay a sheet of foil on the counter while those first five ingredients are coming to a boil and then boiling for two minutes. Then I’m ready to add those last two ingredients quickly.

I dip mine out into oval, irregular blobs with the big rubber scraper from Pampered Chef. I may shape them a bit on the sides with the scraper after laying them on the foil, but I avoid touching the tops because it makes them look flat and dull. Everyone prefers their cookies shiny, right?

I usually whip up a batch of these on Sunday mornings if we’re having lunch at church and I never have leftovers. My kids actually told me that I need to start making two batches. I wouldn’t try a double batch because I think they’d set in the pan before you could scoop them all out. They’re also more likely to crumble if you let them sit too long before you scoop.

These cookies are quick to make, but keep moving and make them quickly!

Last Sunday morning, my eight-year-old daughter counted 35 cookies. Without realizing it, I’d made seven rows of five. We skip counted them by fives and by sevens and turned it into a mini math lesson.

Once they’re on the cookie sheet, I let them sit at least 10 minutes before transferring to a serving tray using a metal spatula. You might want to stand guard because these cookies have a way of disappearing . . .

Unbaked Oatmeal Cookies are perfect when you need to whip up something in a hurry for a party, or just because you’ve got a craving for something sweet.

Unbaked Oatmeal Cookies (a.k.a. Blobs) is a post from: My Home Sweet Home
© 2012 My Home Sweet Home | All rights reserved

Today at (in)courage I’ve written about something that’s very close to my heart: exploring creativity and asking God to bless it.

I’ve also used this post to officially announce the opening of my new shop. I’m going to expand the selection, but for now it offers three prints in different sizes or with and without verses, and two series of cafe mounted graphics available individually or as sets. One focuses on inspiration and creativity and the other is a hymn collection.

Please take a look—I’d love to hear your feedback, suggestions, and any particular items or photographs that you’d like to see made available.

Give God Your Art Today at (in)courage is a post from: My Home Sweet Home
© 2012 My Home Sweet Home | All rights reserved

Me Ra Koh spoke about the healing nature of photography at BlissDom a couple of weeks ago, and it immediately brought to mind a special time in my life last summer when I experienced it firsthand. I wanted the story to be recorded, so I emailed my friend Bonnie Gray and asked her to please tell it and let me use it as a guest post here.

Thank you, Bonnie, for asking me to be part of such a special moment—more special than I knew or understood at the time. If you own a DSLR, a point-and-shoot, or simply a camera phone, read her words carefully and understand what a power to bless that you hold in your hand.

Don’t take it for granted.

Here is the story in Bonnie’s words:

I’m all grown up now, learning to put the past behind me and leave it there.

But, one day when I wasn’t suspecting, God took me back in time.

It happened one weekend I flew to South Carolina to meet up with the beautiful women I’d been writing alongside at (in)courage. Since becoming a new mom of two, I never had the chance to make trips outside of the home. Up until that point, I wrote from the privacy of my desk.

But when baby CJ turned two years old, I felt God was telling me it was time.

Take the next step, Bonnie. Go.

So, when DaySpring invited us to spend a beach retreat together at Hilton Head, I packed my bags with measured hopes for new beginnings.

Little did I know I’d connect with one of the women there, through a childhood hurt I thought was long forgotten.

It’s kind of embarrassing to say it. It’s probably not a big deal.

But, I hardly ever had school pictures taken. I had them taken in third, fourth, seventh grade and high school senior year. I remember those years easily because I hated the other times I couldn’t order pictures. The teacher would pass out the school pictures, calling out names. I’d see my friends get excited, pulling out those glossy sheets. We’d all huddle to check out the class photos. I’d go home and cry.

We didn’t have many photos taken as I grew up. I think it was expensive. It costs money to have a camera, money to develop them. And well, photos just weren’t a priority for my family.

A lot of my most treasured childhood moments never made it to celluloid. I grew up in the public school system, and my music teacher in third grade took an interest in me. She gave me the gift of a violin, which I played right into high school, becoming first chair in orchestra. Yet, I can’t show you a single picture of me in orchestra. I graduated from high school as salutatorian. But even though I gave a speech on graduation day, I can only wonder how I looked standing at the podium with youth by my side. Even the few pictures I have as a college graduate donning cap and gown were ones taken with my friends — with their camera.

It seems so trivial, I hesitate to even write about it. It sounds so childish.

But, for reasons I can’t explain, a picture means so much to me. It tells me a moment existed — that something — someone was worth remembering.

I remember seeing fathers snapping pictures of their children around me and I felt the ache. It’s a hidden ache for memories that weren’t cherished, a wound for what was missing.

The second morning I was at the beach retreat, I woke up to find an email that that stunned my heart. I got a publisher’s offer to write my first book.

My heart was flooded with an excitement and newness that was familiar. It was the little girl in me with the violin in her hand, the new grad with cap and gown. The future felt kind and the sun cast a golden honey on everyone and everything around me.

It was in that moment, I turned to our DaySpring photographer, Dawn Camp, and blurted, “Dawn! Can you take a picture of me? … by the ocean?” I felt awkward for asking, worried she’d think I was narcissistic. But, I just couldn’t help it. I wanted to capture that moment.

My Abba Father knew this, because He sent me Dawn. Dawn responded with such joy and excitement. “Sure! Of course! I’d LOVE to!”

Her joyful and exuberant spirit opened my heart like a rustling breeze on a warm summer day. My heart sailed high up, like a red balloon being sent into the sky by a toddler, laughing he watches it climb into the sky.

Dawn has a most peculiar way of taking a photograph. Her eyes open and she smiles as she breathes to click. I look into her gaze and we share an unspoken moment. She is present with me.

“Let’s take a bunch. We can see which one you look best in.” Dawn encourages me. She puts me at ease, taking several photos from different angles.

Dawn doesn’t know it, but inside, I’m falling apart and being put back together again.

My Heavenly Father was giving me all the time in the world. In that important moment, my Heavenly Daddy said His eyes were all on me — through the heart and lens of my beautiful friend Dawn.

This is how God took my picture — using the fingers and the eyes of a friend.

When Dawn showed me the pictures she snapped, I saw the joy I felt in my heart. I was not invisible. My Heavenly Father let me know He sees me. Just like He did all those years I thought were lost and missing, He was always there. He saw me then too.

The photo of me you see on my blog today? It’s the photo that Dawn took. It was the day my Heavenly Daddy took my picture and healed my heart — touching it through a simple photograph that spoke a lifetime of love to me.

_____

How has God touched your heart through photography?

Pull up a chair. I enjoy your company, hearing your thoughts.

_____

Wanna enjoy more stories of heart healing moments? Join Bonnie as bloggers link up in Faith Barista’s Blog Carnival today. Click here to read & add your voice at www.FaithBarista.com, on Facebook or Twitter.

Bonnie Gray is the writer behind FaithBarista.com, offering encouragement to keep faith fresh in the daily grind. Bonnie is featured writer for DaySpring’s (in)Courage and Crosswalk.com. Bonnie is working on her debut book, due to release in 2013 by Revell Books. Bonnie is a native Californian living in the heart of Silicon Valley with her best friend Hubby, wrangling their two heaven-sent boys on the homestead.

The Day God Took My Picture: A Guest Post from Bonnie Gray is a post from: My Home Sweet Home
© 2012 My Home Sweet Home | All rights reserved

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This is the fourth and final week of the Good and Good for You Challenge from the National Pork Board—not that taking care of your family and eating well actually expires, right? As a big ol’ thank you for being here, there’s a giveaway at the bottom of the post! 

This week I made Pork And Mushroom Quesadillas using this week’s selection: pork sirloin cutlets. I enjoy sit-down family dinners, but I also love it when everyone gathers in the kitchen and hangs out while I’m cooking, and then I scoop food right out of the skillet or off the cutting board onto an outstretched plate. This was that kind of a meal.

Pork And Mushroom Quesadillas

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes

• 12 ounces pork cutlets, pounded 1/4-inch thick
• 1/4 cup olive oil with garlic, OR olive oil, divided
• salt , to taste
• 6 ounces fresh mushrooms, sliced
• 1/3 cup green onions, sliced
• 8 ounces Swiss cheese, OR Gruyere cheese, shredded (2 cups)
• 4 large flour tortillas, (9-to 10-inch)

Stack cutlets and cut crosswise in half, then cut each stack lengthwise into matchstick-size pieces. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in 12-inch nonstick skillet over high heat; stir-fry pork for 2 minutes or until no longer pink. Remove pork from skillet with slotted spoon. Season to taste with salt.

Add 1 tablespoon oil to skillet. Add mushrooms and onions to skillet; stir-fry for 1-2 minutes or until crisp-tender. Remove from skillet. Wipe skillet with paper towels.

To assemble, sprinkle 1/4 cup cheese over half of each tortilla. Top each with pork and mushroom mixture. Sprinkle each with 1/4 cup of remaining cheese. Fold tortillas in half; pressing gently.

Add 1 tablespoon oil to skillet. Cook quesadillas, 2 at a time, over medium heat for 2-4 minutes or until golden and cheese is melted, turning once. Remove quesadillas from skillet; loosely cover with foil to keep warm. Repeat with remaining 1 tablespoon oil and quesadillas. Cut quesadillas into wedges to serve.

Serves 4.

Make sure to have plenty of sour cream on hand. We love it! When my 8-year-old daughter was little, we’d catch her eating it straight out of the carton.

Have you ever attempted to shred Swiss cheese? It’s a challenge, but oh, so good hot and melted.

The Giveaway

This is the last week of the Good and Good for You Challenge and I’m giving one of you some of the same items I’ve been using during the challenge:

• 8 $5 pork coupons for Publix ($40 worth of free pork!)
• Water bottle
• Reusable grocery bag
• Meat thermometer
• Pedometer
• Recipe book

You have up to 3 chances to win! Do one or all, leave a separate comment for each:

1. Leave a comment on this post. What’s your favorite cut of pork? (I’ve enjoyed all that we’ve tried during this challenge, but bacon will always be my favorite. I think I could eat bacon on just about anything.)

2. Tweet about this giveaway! Here’s a sample tweet:

Pork & Mushroom Quesadillas & a giveaway! (via @dawnMHSH) http://bit.ly/wjzDKi @allaboutpork #Publix4Pork #giveaway

Come back and leave another comment on this post, pretty please.

3. Like My Home Sweet Home on Facebook for a 3rd entry and leave a separate comment so I’ll know that you did.

This giveaway ends Wednesday, February 22.

{This post is brought to you by Publix, the National Pork Board, and the Motherhood on this post series. Opinions expressed are my own.}

The Good and Good for You Challenge Week 4: Pork And Mushroom Quesadillas (and a Giveaway) is a post from: My Home Sweet Home
© 2012 My Home Sweet Home | All rights reserved