Sunday, April 5, 2009

Life is just a bowl of chicken......

This weekend I vowed not to work. Immediately I broke my vow Saturday morning. I sorted, I made ready for the week. I organized, I emailed. I am clearly challenged in my abilities to walk away and do something not related to work. The great thing about being a remote worker and having a home office is that you can work anytime! A little insomnia - check email. Report needing to be completed - you can work on it sitting in your chair with your ipod. Planning and strategizing is so much nicer at a time when the phone won't ring and no email notice to disturb your reverie at midnight. The sad thing is there is a group of night and off hour workers who see the emails and chuckle and tease but it is a group none the less and I think it's growing. I sinned again on Sunday.

To further my organizational skills I am reading books on managing GenX workers because I am truly blessed to have several! They are smart, enthusiastic, go-getters with very different skills but equally passionate and committed to our work. They are sublime.I so enjoy their vision and approach to work. We have lots to learn from each other so we're scheduling those opportunities.The first is a Siebel work period. Siebel is the database we use to document everything we do. It's a trail of contacts, committees, accounts, volunteers, programs and opportunities. With the amount of work done to achieve our goals regular opportunities to document are critical. It's a great opportunity to work together and strategize work.

I decided I would indulge myself and pack my lunch. Usually days are so filled with meetings and travel and calls there is no time or place to enjoy a homemade treat. So tomorrow is my day. While I multi-tasked making dinner and granola I made chicken salad. This is a beloved recipe. When I visited Lee in Texas we would travel the state seeing the sites or visiting her family and friends. We enjoy picnics - especially if I make the food. For one trip to see her Mom we drove the route from Corpus Christi to Burkburnett. It's a long drive and it was fun to have a picnic. We had chicken salad, fruit, some veggies and Lee's favorite cookies chocolate chip with pecans, apricots, pecans and dried cherries. When we arrived at Lee's Mom's house she wanted to try the chicken salad. She loved it. I was then required to make another batch so she could have more tomorrow and share some with friends. It's made with chicken breast poached in water with peppercorns and salt. When cooled the chicken is cubed and combined with celery, grapes, green onions and pecans. I add some spices and mayonnaise or Miracle Whip. Yes, there are choices. I hate to even bring it up but a certain someone who rants about MW is on his way to Cleveland and I might not be trounced for a couple of days. It is a very crunchy salad which I adore. As the mood strikes me I'll add some dried cranberries or cherries for a hint of tart on my tongue.

Chicken Salad

3 boneless chicken breasts (these were really big today!not min the chicken's)poached,cooled and cubed
4 stalks of celery, trimmed and diced
6 green onions, chopped
1 1/2 C. green or red grapes halved
1 C. chopped toasted pecans
1/2 C. dried cherries or cranberries
3/4 tsp. poultry seasoning
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. freshly ground pepper
1/8 C. chopped parsley
3/4 cup of mayonnaise or the miraculous

Toss everything except the white stuff in a bowl Start with 1/2 C of the white stuff and stir to coat. Add more until the salad is dressed to your taste. This is great as is, used as the stuffing for a big tomato or between 2 slices of 15 grain bread.

I am so looking forward to lunch at work tomorrow!

2 comments:

  1. Yet, another great blog! I LOVE chicken salad.....And did I read this correctly....he is on his way to CLEVELAND!!!!

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  2. sounds delicious. sorry you have to keep the mw war going. i thought we had 'called the whole thing off'. anyhoo...

    i had one other questions..
    how do you chop an ion?

    btw, the cookies sound divine. love all the extras... lee has good taste!

    as for work, i know the feeling. it is so easy to check the eamil a discover someting to work on. 'oh, i can do this in 15 minutes...' yeah right. so i guess we sin together, right?

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