End of Summer Celebration

It is hard to believe it's the end of summer already, but it is!   I for one am very excited and ready to move on past these record breaking temps we've had this year just about ALL Summer long!  Three digit temps is waaaay too much to bear for soooo long, even for this born and bred southern gal.  I'm so thrilled to say goodbye to our hot summer that I will be celebrating with a few friends today over at;

 A Musing Potpourri for an
 End of Summer Celebration.

While we are still hitting temps here in the 90's, there has been a cooling down over the last few days in the mornings and evenings.  That's a good sign that summer is starting to move out.  Our new pool has finally dropped it's temperature to it's first all time low of 83 degrees. Burrr!!!  LOL!  It's quite refreshing though!

I've put together a few fun things in order to celebrate the end of summer.  First I've created a few mosaics of all my summer highlights.  Then, I am also sharing a very easy Chicken Salad recipe I've been working on perfecting this summer.  So thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoy!

Yes ladies that is canned chicken.  I know, I know, I can just see you shaking your heads and rolling your eyes, and I'm sure many of you are considering clicking off right now...but wait!!!  I promised to share an EASY chicken salad recipe with you didn't I?  Well, yes I did! 

 I love chicken salad and there is about a bazillion ways you can make it for sure, but I really wanted a recipe that was simple and easy.

Besides taking a mini vacay, building a pool,tablescaping, and various other projects that I've been working on I've also been trying to eat lighter.

  I have been buying chicken salad like crazy this summer from our local meat market but it cost almost $7.00 for a small tub.  It had a very simple taste and the more I ate of it, the more I decided that I certainly could make this myself.  I kept looking at what was in it and then started looking for recipes online that might come close to what I was tasting.  After omitting all the recipes that required me to cook fresh chicken first, (because I knew that would not work with me)  

  I finally found a recipe I liked from allrecipes.com and tweaked it just a bit.

The tweaking was a short process and used up a few of these.  I was pretty excited to find these at Sam's Club sold in a pack of 5 cans for about $9.00.   I know the preferred "southern" method to make chicken salad is by using roasted chicken then shredding that but come on, me, really? I just don't have the patience or time for that because I literally want chicken salad for lunch almost daily. I do have the time for this though and think the secret is in using white meat.

After draining the can I dump the chunks into a bowl and use my fork to break it up and shred it more.

Then I used about two to two and half stalks of celery very finely chopped.  First I cut the then slices...

then diced it down, very small!

Add that to the chicken...

...then I added two heaping tablespoons of mayo.

Next I added three heaping "tea" spoons of dill relish.  The recipe calls for sweet relish but I prefer the dill relish.  I just don't care for a sweet sweet pickle taste but do love dill pickles.

Next add one half of a teaspoon of onion powder.  I love this!  It may taste slightly pungent the first day immediately after you make it but after being refrigerated tends to be less strong but helps flavor the chicken.

Then you add your salt and pepper.  I only used about an eight of a teaspoon of each, but this could be changed due to your tastes too.  This was just enough for us!

Continue to mix it all up good with your fork and then spoon it into a lidded tub to refrigerate.

Here's mine that I recycled from the meat market.  Sorry guys!

I've been using these for an even lighter lunch lately.  Yum!

After spreading my chicken salad on the bread, I add a few pieces of lettuce and that's it.

Roll it up and ENJOY!  I sure do!

Here's my version of the Chicken Salad recipe;

(1)13oz can of premium white chicken chunks

2 large stalks of celery very finely diced

2 heaping "table"spoonfuls of mayo

3 heaping "tea" spoonfuls of dill relish

1/2 teaspoon of onion powder

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon pepper

Mix it all together in a bowl until chicken is finely shredded and store in a container w/sealed lid in refrigerator.  Tastes great on sandwich's and salads and no extra condiments needed for serving. 

It's a great light lunch for summer and will be even tastier this winter on toasted wheat or rye!

Yum!  I can hardly wait!

Thanks for visiting today!
Come again!

Welcome to Our Living Room

Hello!  It's Take a Look Tuesday here at The Decorative Dreamer and I've decided to show you my entire living room.  It's been awhile since I've done a whole room post and realized all of those were "only" on my other blog, Sailing Simply.

I just love visiting someone's blog and seeing links on their side bar taking you through different rooms of their homes.  It's one of the things I love the most about blogging and it immediately let's me know if that is blogger who's style I really like and may want to follow.

  So, with that in mind I've decided to do a few posts of my home and will be adding them to my sidebar too.  I can't really say how I would describe my style.  I have lot's of furniture that is older inherited pieces mixed in with a few thrifty finds right along with a few newer and more modern pieces as well.  It's quite a mix but I love it and it makes me feel very cozy and nostalgic at times too. I also wanted to post this because it's a more updated look from my previous den post and it features my summer look which will be changing very soon as the fall decor comes out.

Since this post is laden with pictures, I will cut the chit chat right here.  I've included close ups of a few of my favorite things in this room with the exception of the personal pictures.  My kids don't enjoy me posting their pics (especially up close) but they are by far among the things I "love" to see the most in this room!  I am having quite a few issues with my camera not focusing well.  I hope you will please overlook the very poor photography as I hope to resolve the camera issues as soon as possible.  

Okay, so let's go into the den now...Oops!  Shhhhh!!! Ok, no more chit chat, I promise!

And that's a wrap!

I hope you enjoyed the tour.  Thanks for visiting with me today!

Have a great day!