Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Fruity Chicken Salad

Yum. This recipe makes me happy. My mom would make this for me when I would come home for a weekend in college. Now I make it for Bradley and it makes him happy too. It's nice to see the chicken salad come full circle. Ok, let's begin, shall we?

One of the great things about this recipe is that you can make a little or a lot. I chose to make a lot, so I boiled 6 chicken breasts. The standard recipe calls for 4, so you could start with 4. Nothing fancy, just throw them in a pot and boil them until cooked completely, which should take 30 - 45 minutes depending on thickness.

Onion and celery. Yum. Wait, what? You don't like onions? coughCarolyncough, ahem. Don't use them. It won't hurt my feelings. Otherwise, one onion and a few stalks of celery are all you need.

This is important, dice the celery and onion into small pieces. There is nothing worse than chomping down on a huge chunk of onion.

When finished, you should have a happy little pile. Add this to a large bowl.

Shred your chicken breasts. They should be cooled by now. If you are fancy and like to eat fancy foods you could, theoretically, cut this up into small pieces. That would probably be more lady-ish. However, I have no ladies to invite over for brunch so I am in the clear.

Wash as many red grapes as you can stand and them dry them off with a towel. You don't want to add extra liquid into this mix or you will end up with a puddle at the bottom of your bowl. Puddles are no good, no good at all. Slice the grapes in half. Be careful, these things roll around like you wouldn't believe.

These are the remaining ingredients. Well, except for the slivered almonds. Brad forgot them. Or I forgot to write them on the grocery list, one of the two. DRAIN the mandarin oranges and the pineapple. Remember the puddle? Also, this is one of those recipes where you can't substitute Miracle Whip for the Mayo. You just can't.

So, this is what your mixture should look like now. All you have left to do is toss gently and add in the mayo. Start with a small amount. If you add in too much, you can't scrape it off of the chicken. Trust me. Add in a little bit at a time. The actual recipe calls for, oh wait, it just says mayo. Sorry, you will just have to guess. I know, living on the edge, right? Season with salt and pepper. Chill. The chicken salad, not you. Well, I guess you can chill too.

I highly suggest that you grab some croissants to serve with your chicken salad, but I usually just eat this on white bread. I am fabulous like that. Enjoy!

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

But for the chicken it looks really good... I may have to try it with some other base... any suggestions?

Estee said...

Hi Ebeth!! I was thinking about you the other day. :)

I googled Vegetarian chicken salad and I came up with two options. 1. Mock chicken (I have no idea what that means, but apparently it is used a lot by vegetarians because the people on the site knew exactly what it was) or 2. Extra firm tofu

So... where is your blog? I want to see some pictures!!! :)

Anonymous said...

OMG Estee this recipe looks yummy I am definitely going to have to give this a whirl. Thanks for posting such yummy recipes.

Anonymous said...

Hey Estee-

I don't have a blog... but, you can check me out on facebook... just posted some new photos from last weekend... DERBY time! :-)

shopgirlaudi said...

I couldn't see the pics, but it sounds so yummy. We get something like this from the deli, but it was walnuts and cranberries:P

Unknown said...

Hi Estee! I just found your blog today! Love your chicken salad recipe!! Yummy! I have to try it! :) Hugs Pia

taryn said...

Ohhhh I love chicken salad of any kind! I will definitely have to try this one! I made one over the weekend that had bacon, and we weren't really too excited about it. I am all about the sweeter chicken salad. Thanks for sharing this!! Can't wait to try it.

Jane F. Smith said...

Honestly you made me hungry here!!!! I am going to make this!!! LOOKS awesome and the pic? GREAT job!!!!

Anonymous said...

Hi Estee-

This recipe looks so tasty. I really loved how you now make this same recipe for your son. I included you in my "Mother's Day Roundup" at the Celebrate with Style Blog.

http://blog.celebratewithstyle.com/
Check us out.

Thanks,
Corinne

PS--- This looked so delicious that I actually ordered a chicken salad wrap for lunch.

Brook said...

You are so very, very funny (I was laughing like crazy at the grapes thing... I don't know it just got me) and this recipe looks delish! Yum! I will definitely be trying it out. :)

betsy (pharmgirl) said...

Oh my gosh does this look great! I can't wait to try this out on the family. They'll be psyched - I've been in a cooking slump for sure!