Bless My Heart I Married A Yankee

I did not care for chicken salad growing up.  I was a picky eater.  To be quite honest my pickiness was rather weird.  I was not the typical picky child.  I liked oysters and livermush.  Mac and cheese not so much.  I really did not care much for meat growing up.  And eggs....yuck.  For years eggs gave me stomach aches.  Well, eggs are not in this chicken salad recipe.  This is a fruity salad with a secret to making it awesome!  It took me a while to perfect the trick to this recipe.  You might even already know it yourself.   I am not a huge mayonnaise fan either.  The fact you can overwhelm a recipe with mayo makes things a bit complex when you are talking about chicken salad.  After all, that is the glue that holds the chicken together.   This recipe makes a light delicious fruity and nutty salad.  One you can eat on bread, by its self, on a salad or you can even use a piece of romaine to hold a scoop of this wonderful salad.   I used canned chicken.  Here is the  reci

It seems most of my experiments are due to scanning the web for new ideas with stuff we have on hand.  A few weeks ago I was looking at various recipes that my friends had suggested.  I thought while the idea was interesting the sweet factor for us was a bit too much.  Of course, I had to change and figure out what we would like and with doing so I came up with a version that was sweet but had a twang we tend to like.  Now, I do have to admit living in North Carolina has colored my view on BBQ and it's sauce.  This recipe is not a BBQ recipe.  However, it does have a similarity that will stand out for people that understand NC BBQ.  With that said, it really is totally different.  I make my own NC style bbq sauce and the sauce in the recipe has nothing to do with that but it does incorporate apple cider vinegar and my changes to the various recipes out on the web make it quite interesting.  When you are picking your pork you really can use about anything.  You can choose a

This is the second installment of Fun fact Friday.   King Henry VIII was quite a character.  He changed England's religion all because he wanted a divorce. He also slept with an axe beside him at nights.   That is not all, he owned over 6500 guns!! Talk about home or castle defence.   He sure did like an axe.  Is that not how he got rid of a few wives? Sorry if this is morbid but I found it rather interesting.  Plus my husband has recently started collecting axes.   Happy Friday and ENJOY!!

Tacos, everyone loves tacos.  I mean why else do we have Taco Tuesdays?  Well, that is exactly what we had last night for dinner.  Tacos!!!  After fixing them I realized I was out of this wonderful sauce.  I normally keep a few jars canned in the basement but I used the last jar a few weeks back.   Needless to say, I needed to make more since I had the tacos already cooking.  I am so glad it is very easy to make.  Quick and simple.  I will admit though it is better if you let it sit a few days I did but not have the time for that last night.  After all, it was Taco Tuesday in the Cristina's household. Gather your spices together.  Measure out each into a small mixing bowl. Mix it all together. Add tomato sauce and apple cider vinegar. Mix together. Here is a secret ingredient that I add to make it taste yummy.  Lemon pepper seasoning.  It takes the level up a bit and makes it taste so much more like Ortega.   COPY CAT ORTEGA TAC

Lemon curd, have you ever heard of it?  I had not until about a year and a half ago when I saw some at Trader Joes.  I picked it up and looked at it but put it back on the shelf.  However, lemon curd has been on my mind since that day.  Seriously, I was curious as to what it would taste like because I love my sweets a bit tart.  Then last year I came across someone talking about it and again my taste buds were curious but still, I did not make it.  However, just recently I have been wanting to make yogurt in my pressure cooker.  In doing research for yogurt again lemon curd came up.  Someone was making suggestions on what to put on your homemade yogurt and lemon curd was one of the suggestions.  Now, this got me going on making lemon curd.  If you do not know what lemon curd is the best way to descript it is that the texture is or should be creamy.  The flavor should be sweet but deliciously tart.  It is heaven right in your mouth making your taste buds scream, more more more!!! Yo