I love hearing from pastors’ wives and receiving their recipes. Today’s suggestion is one I’m sure you will put in the “keeping” file. It is from Jean Houston Garrett, a native Texan who became a naturalized South Carolinian by way of marrying a young fellow from Woodruff she met at seminary 55 years ago.
Her husband, Dr. Herbert C. Garrett Jr., is a retired minister and they are now living in Spartanburg, where he began an interim pastorate at Bethany Baptist Church in February. Bethany is in the Spartanburg County Baptist Network.
Jean and Herb met at Southwestern Seminary, and in the following years as a pastor he and Jean have served three churches in South Carolina – including recent pastorates at Tabernacle, Mon-Aetna and New Life Baptist in Union.
Along the way, the Garretts had four children: Steven Garrett and his wife Katherine, currently serving as worship leader at Philadelphia Baptist in Pauline; Robert Naylor Garrett; Daniel Garrett and his wife Kim, pastor of Cudd Memorial Baptist in Spartanburg; and Paula Garrett, vice president of Warren Wilson College in North Carolina. The Garretts have six grandchildren.
Jean Garrett
Jean says that when her husband is an interim, it has been her practice to not take an office in the church – because when the church calls a full-time minister, there would be a void when she left. She usually visits all the classes so she and her husband can know the congregation quickly, and she does always get involved with the WMU.
Over the years, Jean has collected many recipes and frequently shares them. We thank her for sharing this one with us. Sometimes, she says, she will boil chicken breasts, then cube them to make about 1-11/2 cups for the recipe. She sometimes puts the prepared chicken salad in the rectangular dish indicated, or puts it into a ring or other mold, which she later turns onto a bed of lettuce.
Everyone at our table the day I tested this dish really liked it. With the coming of spring, this Congealed Chicken Salad would be a good menu choice for you to make on Saturday and have waiting to enjoy when you get home from church for … Sunday Dinner.
Congealed Chicken Salad
2 envelopes plain gelatin (¼ ounce each)
1 10¾-ounce can cream of chicken soup
1 cup chopped celery
1 8-ounce package cream cheese
1 tablespoon mayonnaise
1 4-ounce jar pimentos
½ cup water
½ cup water
1 cup chopped pecans
1 tablespoon sweet relish
2 8-ounce cans chicken breast
Cut the chicken into small bite-sized pieces and set aside.
Dissolve gelatin in ½ cup water and pour into large saucepan.
Add chicken soup and the other ½ cup of water, cut cream cheese into chunks and add to soup-gelatin mixture. Heat over low heat, stirring constantly until cheese is mostly dissolved. Cool mixture.
Add to the cooled mixture the celery, pecans, relish, mayonnaise, pimiento and chicken. Mix well and pour into a 7×13-inch dish. Chill until firm. Slice and serve on lettuce.