Strawberry Mango Salad

Try this salad! You won't be disappointed! PROMISE!

Okay another great recipe from my new AFG cookbook! Katie you were right I LOVE your balsamic dressing (I admit it has become a new favorite.) and your salad was wonderful! Thanks for sharing this recipe. It was perfect that I had three ripe mango's in the fridge when I got home from the retreat--timing could not have been better seeing that I usually don't by mango's, yet I had gotten 3 in my bountiful basket the week before. Perfect, just Perfect!

Strawberry Mango Salad

1 cup diced mangos or more

2 cups sliced strawberries

1/2 cup Craisins

Romaine lettuce (1-2 bunches) or 1 bag romaine hearts

Dark green leaf lettuce (or a Spring Mix from Costco as a filler to the romaine)

3/4 cup slivered almonds (see recipe below)

All these ingredients can vary depending on tastes--can add more or less of all ingredients.

Balsamic Dressing:

1/2 cup sugar

3/4 cup olive oil or light olive oil

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon dry mustard

1/4 cup grated onion

1/3 cup Balsamic Vinegar (Katie says Balsamic is key here but you can use other vinegars if you desire)

Emulsify in blender and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Almonds:

Melt 2-3 Tablespoons of butter in frying pan.

Add

1/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Dash of nutmeg (I use less not one of my favorite spices)

Mix together and then add 3/4 cup sliced almonds. Stir just until nuts turn light or medium brown in color. Pour out of pan onto a cookie sheet and cool. When cool, add nuts to salad.

To make this ore of a meal, add cooked chicken. Serves 8-10.

**I found that this was a large recipe for our family of 5 but I didn't toss the mangos and strawberries in with the lettuce we just added them to each serving, same with the nuts. It worked like a charm and we were able to have it with two meals. I found that by mixing the mangos and strawberries together in a bowl worked nicely and the strawberries kept a fresh look even for the next day's servings.

Chicken Spaghetti

I recently attended a reunion retreat with all the incredible women I had the opportunity to work with at Academy for Girls at BYU. It has all been changed now and is simply called EFY.

So to keep it brief and get to sharing great recipes, I have to say I am enjoying some fresh new recipe ideas from a cookbook of recipes complied from these women's kitchens. I love when people share their tried and true with me, so this cookbook has been a hit with me.

This Chicken Spaghetti recipe comes from my sister-in-law. Why she has been holding out on me until I got this AFG Cookbook I will never know! :-) It makes a TON of FOOD. We made it for dinner with another family of three. I took a portion of it to a friend expecting a baby in a few weeks (1 week ahead of me.), and we ate leftovers for at least 2 meals. (I didn't try freezing any of it, but wondered how it would work.) It was a hit with my husband, kids, and dinner guest alike. We will make it again. The only thing we would do is add more mushrooms. Jack said that he would like to try just make the sauce without the shredded chicken, leave the mushrooms bigger or leave them whole, mix it in with the noodles instead of serving it over the top, and then top it with some breaded chicken. I think that sounds good too, but I love the simplicity of tossing it in the crock pot and forgetting about it. Thank you Merrie for a great recipe--next time don't hold out on me when you have such a great find! ;-)

Chicken Spaghetti (Merrie Parrish)

Place in the crock pot:

6 chicken breasts (I added more just because I was planning on feeding more than just my family)

1 onion chopped (I always use a sweet variety)

1 pkg. sliced mushrooms

2 pks dry spaghetti sauce mix

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup butter (can substitute with chicken broth. I used 1/4 cup each butter/broth)

Cook in crock pot 4-6 hours on high or 8-10 hours on low. When done shred the chicken with a fork then add:

2 8 oz pkg. cream cheese

2 cans of cream of chicken soup

Stir. Cook o low for 1 hour longer. Serve over angel hair pasta.