Cream of Celery Soup with Paprika Butter inspired by The Walking Dead

Today marks the start of what is going to be an awesome week. I've joined Kim from Cravings of a Lunatic and Dionne from Try Anything Once Culinary in a culinary countdown to the mid-season premiere of The Walking Dead! We'll be sharing recipes inspired by TWD throughout the week, so be sure to check back every day. Plus, we're giving away one set of The Walking Dead DVDs, seasons 1-5 (see bottom of the post to enter for your chance to win). Are you ready for Dead Eats: Recipes Inspired by The Walking Dead!?

Turkey and Wild Rice Soup

When I was a kid, I used to pray that it wouldn't snow before my birthday. Since my birthday falls three days after Halloween, an evening of being able to wear costumes unhindered was automatically covered in that prayer. Sometimes my prayers were answered, sometimes they weren't. It was a crapshoot.

Fast-forward 30 years, and we're lucky if it snows before mid-January. Yes, there's usually one really big, foreboding blast during the first half of November that fools us into unearthing every spare pair of gloves, hat, and scarf we had packed away—but it fades into a distant memory long before lights start twinkling from every other house on the street. I can't remember our last white Christmas. And as far as I'm concerned, once Christmas is over, I'm done with snow. Oh how my younger, largest-snowy-hill-in-the-neighborhood-seeking self would be disappointed in me.

My point really being that it's now January 2nd, and instead of peering out the window to a white blanket that envelops our street in a hush, I see lawns mottled with patches of brown. But those gloves are definitely getting their use, as it is cold as all get-out. Which means that I pretty much want a big pot of soup simmering on the stove on a daily basis.

Chicken Salad w/ Cherries, Apples & Almonds (Mr. Peeps shares his Chicken Salad)

Jennifer from Savoring the Thyme sent another challenge out to foodies recently...make something healthy and somehow incorporate a Peep! I'm gonna have to say, this was a hard one. I could think of lots of different not so healthy things to concoct with a Peep or two, but healthy?

That was, until this little yellow Peep hopped over and told me I should make some good old chicken salad. Mr. Peep hopped right onto my cutting board and watched as I chopped some celery and measured it. He then proceeded to level off my almond slices. He tried one of my tried tart cherries and reeled back with a pucker. He also stopped me after dicing up only half of an apple...whoa girlichef, enough of that! Mr. Peep told me to go ahead and put all of the good into a bowl with some diced, cooked chicken and mayonnaise. I did.