Chicken Salad with a Kick

 Ah, chicken salad. A humble and often maligned dish. That's because it is pretty boring. I got lucky and was able to ramp chicken salad up. The nice people at Scott's Smoked Q (links at the bottom) were kind enough to send me a great big box of goodies to experiment with. (In full disclosure, they sent it to me and asked me to try everything out and post up my results. That was pretty much it. In the event you follow the link to their page and buy something, I will get a small commission.) 

    As we probably know, chicken salad ususally is mayonnaise based. This often turns off some people and occasionally leads to ugly fights over best brands or mayo vs. salad dressing. The world is already too divisive, so I have a simple solution. Ditch the mayo for this Alabama Q BBQ sauce. This works because the sauce is mayo based. But there's so much going on in this sauce, you wouldn't know. It has a vinegar tang up front, but finishes with a little spice. We also used their Original Rub on the chicken when cooking it to give it even more flavor. 

    I get that you may not have these rubs and sauces on hand, and you may not want to buy them. No worries, susbsitute your favorite rub or spice blend when cooking the chicken. Or just use a preseasoned rotisserie chicken. Go ahead and use mayo and whatever seasoning you like. It's all good. 

    That said, this is the route we took and we couldn't have been happier where it led. The Spud,who normally would not touch chicken salad, was more than happy to eat it when we swapped mayo for the Alabama Q sauce.

Ingredients

• 3 chicken breasts (about 1 lb total meat)
• Scott's Smoked Q Classic Dry Rub
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 stalk celery, chopped
• 1 tablespoon pickle relish
• 5 tablespoons Scott's Smoked Q Alabama Q sauce

Directions

1.  Apply the rub generously to the chicken and cook however you like (I smoked mine. Grilled would work, too. Or just chuck them in the oven at 375F [190C/Gas Mark 5] until the meat reads 165F/74C.)
2. Cut the chicken into small pieces. Throw them in a big bowl.
3. Add everything else into the bowl. Stir to incorporate ingredients and make sure the sauce has covered everything.
4. That's it. At this point you're done. Put it in a flour tortilla wrap with lettuce and shredded Italian cheese like we did. Throw it in a long roll like a lobster roll. Scoop it up with nacho chips. Just shovel it into your face with your grubby little hands. No one is looking. 

If you're want to check out Scott's Smoked Q, just click here

You can use the code "TFMCK" at checkout to save 10%!

I'm not saying this is the best way to have this, but this is how we did it, which makes it objectively the best method.
Good Times!

Apple & Raspberry Cookie Crumble Bars

 This recipe came from the desperate need to use up the last of our holiday cookies. We had a couple dozen sour cream cookies, so I figured I could grind them down and make a nice crust with them, so I did. Then I figured I could use more crumbs and make a crisp topping, which I did. Then I used a 5 year old jar of apples and some black raspberries from the garden and made something that I am very proud of. Serve it hot with a scoop of ice cream. Serve it cold and eat it like a bar cookie. Stand at the counter in your socks and underwear just grimly shoveling it into your face with a spatula; it's all good. I think you'll like it. If you don't, I don't want to know. I'm emotionally fragile. As always, notes are in blue. 

Apple Raspberry Cookie Crumble Bars

Ingredients

For the bottom and filling

• 2 cups cookie crumbs (this required about 2 dozen medium sized cookies)
• 1 stick butter (I used unsalted), melted
• 2/3 cup raspberries (I used black raspberries from our garden. Any raspberry will do)
• 1 pint apples in medium syrup (you can use your own, or try my recipe for Spiked Apples)
• 2/3 cup sweetened condensed milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 
• 1/2 cup brown sugar

For the topping

• 1 cup cookie crumbs 
• 6 tablespoons cold butter, cut into small pieces
• 2/3 cup oats
• 3/4 cup brown sugar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375F (190C, Gasmark 5)
2. Grease a 9x13" baking dish (we used nonstick cooking spray)
3. Pour in the 2 cups of crumbs and the melted butter. Mix to combine, then use a spatula to spread the mix into a layer on the bottom of the pan. Make sure use the spatula to compress the layer into a crust.
4. In a large bowl, mix the fruit, milk, vanilla,  and sugar. Pour onto crust and carefully spread into an even layer.
5. In another large bowl, mix the topping ingredients. Use a pastry cutter, or a couple of knives to cut the butter into the mix until you see pea-sized pieces in the mix.
6. Take the topping mix and carefully spread it evenly over the fruit layer. 

   

   Look at that beautiful top layer. LOOK AT IT.

   
   
7. Bake at 375 for 45 minutes.
8. Remove from oven and let cool if you want to be able to pick up and eat like a bar cookie. Otherwise serve it hot with a big old scoop of vanilla ice cream!

It's not fair how good that looks. 
Good Times!