Recipes from Baby Shower

I just had a really fun and pretty successful baby shower for my friend and fellow Coast Guard wife, April Krajewski. I tried a couple of new recipes out, and they were pretty good, so I thought I would share. I also made my mother-in-law's awesome spinach salad. That salad, as usual, got many rave reviews. I am pretty sure most of you have that recipe. If interested though, let me know.

Chicken Salad
(I got this recipe from Beat This by Ann Hodgman) She says it is from Suzanne's restaurant in Washington D.C. Thought I would put that for full disclosure.

3 whole chicken breasts or 6 halves. (She says to poach them and then cut into bite sized pieces. I cooked mine in the oven, and they worked out great.)
1 large red bell pepper, cut into julienne strips
2 large heads broccoli, cut into florets
12 slices bacon, cooked crisp and crumbled
3/4 cup sour cream (I used light, and it didn't seem to affect it poorly)
3/4 cup mayonnaise (again I used light)
41/2 Tablespoons Dijon mustard
41/2 Tablespoons raspberry vinegar (I had to look in three stores and then got the last bottle. I remember this being more readily available in California. Hmm.)
2 Tablespoons finely chopped fresh dill

Combine the chicken with the red peppers in a large bowl.

In a vegetable steamer, steam the broccoli for 2 to 3 minutes, or until it just starts to get tender. Add it to the chicken and mix it in gently. Mix in the crumbled bacon.

Whisk together the sour cream, mayonnaise, Dijon mustard, raspberry vinegar and dill. Pour the dressing over the chicken and vegetables and mix well. Chill the salad for at least 2 hours before serving. (I chilled it overnight)

I served it with ciabatta rolls for those who wanted to make a sandwich. It is good as is too. I thought it was a very yummy version of chicken salad. It makes a lot. I had plenty for 12 people and have leftovers.

Chocolate Cake with Fudge Sauce
(I got this from Taste of Home's Contest Winning Annual Recipes 2007. Thanks again to my in-laws.)

1 package (3.4 ounces) cook and serve chocolate pudding/pie filling mix
2 cups milk
1 package (18 1/4 ounces) chocolate cake mix (I used a chocolate fudge cake mix.)

SAUCE
1/2 cube butter
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (I used Ghiradelli for what it is worth)
1 can (12 oz) evaporated milk
2 cups confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

1. In a heavy saucepan, prepare pudding with milk according to package directions for pudding. Pour into a mixing bowl; add dry cake mix and beat until well blended.

2. Spread into a greased 13 x 9 x2 inch baking pan. (this was a bit of a trick actually) Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until cake springs back when lightly touched and edges pull away from sides of pan. Cool on wire rack (It was so easy to tell when this cake was done. Also, I made the cake the night before and the sauce while people were eating and working at first game. It worked great.)

3. For sauce, in a heavy saucepan, melt butter and chocolate over low heat. Stir in evaporated milk and sugar until smooth. Bring to a boil over medium heat; cook and stir for 8 minutes or until thickened. Remove from the heat; stir in vanilla. Serve warm sauce over cake. (I let sauce cool a bit before putting it over the cake. Warm sauce rather than hot was what I was aiming for. It also sat a few minutes or so on the cake before anyone ate it, and it was still great. In fact, you probably don't want it too warm. I also put a few fresh raspberries on top.)

These were yummy and fun.