Kitchen Aid Chicken Salad

First off, I want to say I hope EVERYONE had a MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! We have already wrapped up Christmas, organized toys, and put mostly everything away until next year ( except the tree- I leave the tree up until Jan 1) and it feels good to start a fresh new year!!! I cannot believe this coming year is the year we will be adding to our sweet family!! I feel so blessed!!

If any of you are like me you want to take a BREAK from the kitchen following Christmas. After all the baking, kneading, appetizer making, and vigorous holiday cooking.. it’s nice to just sort of take a breather. I received an Instant Pot for christmas and I am really excited to use it!! I will be posting some of my recipes I find and try on here as well as on Instagram!! To me- The instant pot and Crock pot are like a total vacation from cooking.. because they do all the work!!!

Today’s Chicken Salad is similar in the fact that you don’t have to do ANY work :) This is a lunch I make on repeat each week so that we can pull it out and munch on it without any fuss. I love to stuff chicken salad on a bed of spinach or on top an Avocado..in between toasted bread!! It just goes a long way and mostly everyone likes it:)! Here is my “ Kitchen Aid” recipe- You can also use a hand mixer too.

Kitchen Aid Chicken Salad

Ingredients:

2 cooked chicken breasts: To further explain- I love to take 2 to 4 chicken breasts and cook them on high in the crock pot prior to “ Chicken salad making day” usually if I am already making a soup that calls for chicken ill throw in some extra breasts to make the salad with. By cooking your chicken in the slow cooker it allows for it to shred SUPER easy therefore giving it that nice texture for chicken salad. 

3 stalks of celery diced

1 apple diced

3 hard boiled eggs

3 tablespoons pickle relish ( or to taste)

Salt & Pepper to taste

1 cup mayo - give or take

1/2 cup mustard - give or take 

Procedure:

Start by placing your cooked chicken in the mixer and turn on the lowest setting..this will shred your chicken. Watch closely because it will shred quickly, do this until you have the consistency you like. ** some people like a pasty chicken salad while others like a little texture**

once your chicken is shredded add your ingredients

MIX IT AGAIN!!! ** lowest setting**

Once everything is mixed up you can season and add to your taste preference.

THATS IT!!! 

y’all its a total game changer making the chicken salad in your Kitchen Aid..I mean I gotta tell ya' I feel like a total princess letting my mixer do all the work!! If you don’t have a Kitchen Aid then you can pull out your handy hand mixer and get the same results!!!

Enjoy y’all!!!

Baby Number 2

Baby Frankhouser #2 is on the way!!!! 

Expected arrival date is June 2018

We could not be more thrilled OR grateful to be expecting another sweet baby!! Many of you know it took us nearly TWO years to conceive our precious Jax.. during that difficult time I remember wondering WHEN/IF it was EVER going to happen. I know many of you have often wondered those same questions. There are so many different times in our lives when the outcomes are unknown and unpredictable. Those are the times when it is vital to lean on God. God is sovereign and he is ALWAYS working within us even during the times we aren’t sure if he “ hears our prayers”. Fast forward a beautiful pregnancy and baby boy later I felt redeemed. I felt as though God had TRULY answered my prayers with Jax. 

B and I were never really diagnosed with any major fertility issues so it was unbeknownst to us and to the doctors why we had such trouble. God knew though.. and everything falls into HIS timing. 

This second baby.. this blessing.. this GIFT came to us without any forewarning at all. Of course we always prayed diligently for our second child and hoped that God would bless us again whether it be through IVF or naturally but we never knew the timing and figured we would worry about the next baby January 2018. 

God had BIGGER plans.

I came home one day from a MOPS meeting ..feeling “off” no other symptoms other than just having a weird feeling. Call me crazy but something told me to take a test. 

When that test came back positive I nearly fainted off the toilet seat. Of course I took 7 more before calling Brandon hysterically to tell him the wonderful news. We were both so shocked and amazed at the work of our Lord. I had heard so many times about something like this happening to “ other people..” so I never really thought it would happen to us. God proved me wrong that day..and he also broadened my faith times a MILLION.

God gifted us a child without any medical intervention whatsoever.. in his beautiful and perfect timing. We certainly were not expecting to get pregnant so easily but that is the beauty of our God. He is that amazing.. and he is THAT big. He moved our mountain and opened our hearts even bigger for this next baby.  We never cease to pray in thankfulness for this unexpected blessing he gave to our family. 

Psalm 52:9

“ I will praise you forever for what you  have done”

Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

Happy Middle of the week friends!!!

I am currently in the midst of chomping down on a delicious white chocolate peppermint pudding cookie and looking at the monumental mess in my kitchen...buttt that can wait:) I HAD to write this recipe down as soon as we finished eating because friends...it was SO amazing. Lucky for us Texans we have been graced with the COLDEST northern front this week so I know everyone is searching for yummy soup and stew recipes!! 

This one will not disappoint!!

 Grab some cozy blankets and pour this soup in a mug and eat it by the fire!!!!!

Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

( by the way did I mention this was made in the SLOW COOKER!! Such a WIN!)

Ingredients:

3 chicken breasts
kosher salt and black pepper
6 cups chicken stock/broth
1 cup wild rice
3 cloves garlic minced
1 yellow onion diced
3 carrots, peeled and diced
3 stalks celery chopped
fresh thyme
fresh rosemary
2 bay leaves
1 lb mushrooms thinly sliced ( wash them of course)
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 cup milk
1 cup half and half
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1/2 cup monterrey jack cheese

Method

1. Season chicken with salt and pepper, to taste. Place chicken into a 6-qt slow cooker.
2. Stir in chicken stock, wild rice, garlic, onion, carrots, celery, thyme, rosemary and bay leaves; season with salt and pepper, to taste. Cover and cook on low heat for 6-8 hours. Add mushrooms during the last 30 minutes of cooking time.
3. Remove chicken from the slow cooker and shred.
4. Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in flour until lightly browned, about 1 minute. Whisk in milk and half and half, and cook, whisking constantly, until slightly thickened, about 4-5 minutes; season with salt and pepper, to taste.
5. Stir chicken and milk mixture into the slow cooker. If the soup is too thick, add more half and half as needed until desired consistency is reached.
6. Serve immediately, garnished with parsley, and shredded cheese if desired.

** We also served ours with a nice yummy crusty bread**