Sunday August 8th

Today for staff lunch I made Lemon-Tarragon Chicken Salad Sandwiches (with raspberry jam), Watermelon and Cantaloupe Wedges with Lime-Mint Syrup and Sinckerdoodles. It is really hard to make something new every time, especially when you are trying to stick to true "lunch" food and not dinner/lunch substitutes....I gave up on the cookies a long time ago....I often make the ones I already know are good!! The one thing I wanted to do a second time around was chicken salad sandwiches. So this time I found a new recipe! I used a lemon-tarragon one and added a raspberry jam to it, to serve with it I wanted to do a fruit salad, but neither Scott or I are fans of traditional fruit salad....there is something about all the fruit slimming all over each other that grosses us out! So I made a lime syrup and drizzled it over wedges of summer fruit and topped with fresh mint! We decided they tasted like fruit wedge mojitos without the rum!! Next time I might just try it with rum!! We'll see! Enjoy!


Lemon-Tarragon Chicken Salad Sandwiches

1 1/4 pounds skinless boneless chicken breast halves (about 3)

3/4 cup finely chopped celery
1/2 cup plus mayonnaise
1/8 cup finely chopped red onion
2 (or more) tablespoons chopped fresh tarragon
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
6 croissants
Raspberry Jam

Bring large saucepan of salted water to boil. Add chicken breasts; reduce heat to medium-low, cover and simmer until chicken is just cooked through, about 12 minutes. Transfer chicken to plate; cool. Mix celery, 1/2 cup mayonnaise, onion, tarragon, lemon juice, and lemon peel in large bowl to blend. Shred chicken with 2 forks; stir into mayonnaise mixture. Season with salt and pepper. (Can be made 4 hours ahead. Cover; chill.) I like to add garlic powder, extra tarragon, extra lemon peel, more mayo etc....until it tastes how you want it to taste! Go easy on the garlic powder though! Cut croissants in halve and spread jam on bottom of each! This brings a nice sweet balance to the tarragon and lemon!! So so so good!! Cut sandwiches in half and serve.



Watermelon and Cantaloupe Wedges with Lime-Mint Syrup

1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup fresh lime juice (from 1 1/2 limes)
2 teaspoons finely grated lime zest (from 1 1/2 limes)
1 medium ripe cantaloupe (about 3 1/2 pounds), cut into 24 thin wedges
1 (4-pound) piece watermelon, preferably seedless, cut into 24 thin wedges
2 tablespoons fresh mint, preferably spearmint, finely chopped

In small bowl, whisk together sugar and 1/4 cup hot water until sugar is dissolved. Stir in lime juice and zest. Cover and refrigerate until cool, about 1 1/2 hours. (Syrup can be made ahead and chilled, covered, up to 3 days. Make sure your fruit wedges are nice and cold too!! As close to serving time as possible, stir mint into syrup and drizzle over melon wedges. Serve chilled.



Snickerdoodles

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup shortening
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons white sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cream together butter, shortening, 1 1/2 cups sugar, the eggs and the vanilla. Blend in the flour, cream of tartar, soda and salt. Shape dough by rounded spoonfuls into balls. Mix the 2 tablespoons sugar and the cinnamon. Roll balls of dough in mixture. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake 8 to 10 minutes, or until set but not too hard. Remove immediately from baking sheets.