Light Chicken Salad with Autumn Fruits & Nuts

While I enjoy your standard mayo-drenched chicken salad as much as the next person, I have a tendency not to prepare mine with mayo but with plain yogurt instead (or sometimes a combination of the two). This salad can easily be adapted to whatever fruits and nuts you have on hand.

• 6-8 oz leftover cooked chicken or turkey, diced or shredded
• 1 Fuyu persimmon, cored and chopped (substitute apple or pear)
• 1/2 cup cranberry relish/sauce (not the jellied kind, but with whole cranberries, or sub 1/3 cup dried cranberries soaked in 3 Tbs warm orange or apple juice until plumped)
• 1/4 cup lightly toasted almond slivers, pistachios or cashews
• 1 rib celery, chopped
• 1 scallion, chopped
• 1 cup plain yogurt
• 1 tsp fine prepared mustard
• 1 tsp fresh grated ginger or 1/4 tsp dried ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp ground coriander
• Salt and pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients and serve on rolls, sandwich bread or in butter lettuce leaves.

Meyer Lemon and Squash Stuffed Shells

I got the idea for this dish after I made a wonderfully simple dish of mashed sweet potatoes with meyer lemon juice and a bit of cream, as the squash is similar enough in taste to the sweet potatoes. I also managed to use up several containers of leftovers from previous pasta dishes, and as such, filling quantities are estimates...

Makes about 1 dozen shells

• 12 cooked jumbo pasta shells
• 1 cup cooked squash (I mashed some cubed cooked squash I had, but you could use puree as well)
• 1/2 cup chopped cooked spinach
• 1 cup ricotta cheese
• 1 egg yolk
• 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 1 small Meyer lemon, zested and juiced
• Dash nutmeg
• Garlic, basil, salt, pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients (except shells!) and stuff shells. Bake in covered casserole dish 20-30 minutes at 350 degrees. Sprinkle with more cheese if desired, or a simple lemon-cream sauce.

I made a simple roux with olive oil, flour, wine, lemon juice, basil, garlic and salt that dressed the shells lightly, and actually presented fairly well too!