Chicken Salad and Asparagus Salad... Gremlin Ambush!!

Have food? Will travel!! And that's just what I did! Tonight, I got to cook for two beautiful ladies, Maria and Gina! Maria (Cuchita!) is, without a doubt,one of the absolute strongest most beautiful ladies EVER! Without giving away any secrets, I can honestly say she models resilience, humor and radiates kindness and warmth! One of a kind! And how I love Gina! I could be sitting in 4 hours of traffic or trapped in a hot crowded elevator, but if Gina were there, I'd never want to leave! These two, together in one room is pure heaven! But, back to the food... Now, I wasn't invited, but that didn't stop this Gremlin food lover from ambushing these friends across town! I mean, come on, who's gonna say no to cool creamy chicken salad and roasted asparagus salad showing up on their doorstep when it's 95 degrees out (again...)? Just make sure to show up at dinner time and perhaps collude with the husband to insure your food loving friends will be there!! Like I said, it was about 95 degrees and 80% humid (yikes), but a girl's gotta eat... so we started with this super sexy delicious asparagus salad. Start with a bunch of asparagus! Wash, trim and drizzle with a little olive oil, salt, fresh cracked pepper and a little garlic powder. Roast those stalks in a 400 degree oven for about 10 minutes (unless they're super thin, then maybe 5-6 minutes). When cooled a bit, I chopped my stalks in half and plopped them ever so delicately over a bed of mixed baby greens! For a little something extra, I dropped a handful of dried cranberries onto the salad as well, to poke your taste buds with a tart little kick! Now the warm asparagus coats the greens with flavor, so I didn't add any additional dressing, but I did crumble a little Boursin cheese (about half of one package) and a handful of pistachios to top it off, and I'm glad I did! Salad course, DONE! And very tasty too! Did I mention how hot it is lately? To keep dinner cool, I made some cool creamy chicken salad, and that made Gina very happy! Start with chicken! I coated these monster chicken breasts with olive oil, salt and pepper and roasted in a 350 degree oven for about an hour. If your breasts are smaller (did I just.. say... that??) they may be done in 30-45 minutes. While the chicken cooks, I sliced 4 stalks of celery super thin and add to a big mixing bowl. Next, add a half cup each roasted walnuts, pecans and dried cranberries! When chicken is cool enough to handle, take 3 of those ginormous breasts and shred into a bowl with the celery and nuts. To dress the chicken salad add half a cup of mayonnaise, half a cup of lite sour cream, one quarter cup of lowfat buttermilk, one half teaspoon tarragon, half teaspoon of salt, and half teaspoon of pepper. Mix all together! Now you could eat this chicken salad a million different ways, but tonight, I wrapped it up into tortillas with lettuce, and it was perfect! Dinner Cuch's way... Delicious greens topped with roasted asparagus and pistachios followed by cool creamy chicken salad wraps and salty Cape Cod Kettle chips! Perfect light summer meal! While the food was delish, the company was even better! Try making something you love and share it with people you love, even if you're not invited and they have no idea your coming! OH!! HOLLA"!! Did I mention dessert?? I don't know what she did, but to put this dinner over the TOP, this is Gina's warm, sweet, peach blueberry crisp!!! Killer good! Ambush dinner, Gremlin style, complete with drinks, din, dessert, and some very lovely Ladies!! How lucky am I??