Curry Chicken Salad with Cranberries and Pine Nuts and a GIVEAWAY!!

The giveaway is now closed. Congratulations to JKT!

Happy Blogiversary to A Taste of Home Cooking! Hard to believe it's been 6 years since I first entered the world of food blogging. Where does the time go? It feels like only yesterday I was artfully arranging my Cobb salad, snapping a few pictures and trying to come up with a catchy blog title.


I've got a few fun things planned to celebrate the milestone, the first being a GIVEAWAY! It's been awhile since I've done one and what better excuse than an anniversary.

I received a copy of The Busy Mom's Cookbook: 100 Delicious, Quick and Easy Recipes by Antonia Lofaso. I couldn't wait to look through it. I've already got my eye on a few of the recipes and had a very hard time picking something to make. In the end my love of chicken salad, especially curry chicken salad, won out.

I usually make my curry chicken salad with grapes and walnuts, so subbing dried cranberries and pine nuts sounded interesting. I had to add a minced stalk of celery for crunch but otherwise I made the recipe as printed. And it was delicious! I think I still prefer the grapes to dried cranberries solely because of the moisture the grapes add to the chicken salad, but I'd totally use both next time. The pine nuts were a great sub. I love pine nuts and any excuse to use them, although they can be a pricey ingredient.



The Giveaway
One lucky U.S. reader have a chance to win The Busy Mom's Cookbook: 100 Delicious, Quick and Easy Recipes. Here’s how you can enter:

1. Leave a comment on this post telling me your favorite home-cooked meal for 1 entry.

2. Like A Taste of Home Cooking on Facebook for 1 entry. Leave a separate comment letting me know you did so.

3. Follow A Taste of Home Cooking on Twitter for 1 entry. Leave a separate comment letting me know you did so.

RULES: Maximum of three (3) entries per person. This giveaway opens Saturday, August 4 at 7:00am EST and will close Thursday, August 9 at 11:59 p.m. EST. The giveaway is only open to U.S. residents. Be sure a valid email address is included with your comment(s). Winner will be chosen randomly and contacted via email. If the winner doesn’t respond in 48 hours, a new winner will be chosen. Good luck!

Curry Chicken Salad with Cranberries and Pine Nuts
From Antonia Lofaso

4 tablespoons raw pine nuts
2 cups (1 lb) chopped cooked chicken
1/3 cup mayo
8 teaspoons chopped fresh cilantro
4 teaspoons chopped red onion
2 teaspoons curry powder
1/4 cup dried cranberries
Salt and Pepper to taste
8 cups mesclun greens (if serving as a salad)
8 slices hearty white bread, toasted (if serving as a sandwich)
1 lime, halved

Heat a saute pan on low. Add the pine nuts to the pan and let them toast, stirring occassionally, for 5 to 6 minutes, until golden brown.

In a large bowl, mix the chicken, mayo, cilantro, red onion, curry powder, cranberries and toasted pine nuts. Season the mixture with salt and pepper. Spoon the chicken salad over the mesclun greens (or place on toasted bread with a handful of salad greens). Squeeze the lime over the salad before serving.

Disclosure: This giveaway is provided by Penguin Books, but my opinions are completely my own. I received a free copy of the cookbook.