Chicken Salad & Veritable Quandary

Meet Stella.

She’s basically the best dog ever. Her breath could be improved, but besides that she’s perfect.

At approximately 11:36 this morning I made my lunch. Luckily I have the excuse of time zone change on my side. Plus, there was leftover chicken salad chilling in the fridge just waiting to be turned into a sandwich.

I had to take advantage of a refrigerator stocked with fruits and veggies, so I loaded those onto my small plate. Haven’t you heard? Small plates = portion control. Though they probably don’t account for my overloading technique.

Lemon Tarragon Chicken Salad

4 cups diced cooked chicken
1 rib minced celery
1/4 cup chopped fresh tarragon
1/4 cup chopped almonds
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 1/2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

In a medium bowl, combine chicken, celery, tarragon and almonds. In a small bowl, combine yogurt, mayonnaise, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Add to chicken mixture and toss to coat. Chill.

This also pushed up happy hour on the deck to 4:45.

Thank goodness Sophie and I fit in a yoga + improv-zumba session this morning or I would be feeling pretty darn guilty about my indulgent dinner at Veritable Quandary.

John and I both opted for the salad (ha!) that consisted of a poached egg atop butter lettuce, crispy cornbread, smoked bacon, pickled onions and buttermilk white cheddar dressing. I love eggs in strange places.

Sophie got the ravioli with lemon and fromage blanc, summer vegetables, basil, arugula pesto and toasted hazelnuts.

Mom chose the blackened cod with pineapple, slaw and Yukon gold potatoes. Dinner was great, but the highlight was dessert.

The peanut brittle banana split with Belgium chocolate hot fudge, Chantilly cream and homemade peanut brittle ice cream.

And the peach blackberry crisp with frozen lemon custard. There were threats of licking the plates in public. Serious threats.

When I got home, I immediately put on a pot of tea – not before changing into loose PJs– to help settle my stomach. All symptoms of a fabulous dinner.