Jeff's Chicken Salad

Photo Credit: findingthenow via Compfight cc

I love a good chicken salad, but this can be hard to find.  I lump potato salad, cole slaw, and chicken salad into the same category of the Great Mysteries.  Whenever you are in a restaurant or a friend offers you some of their homemade version of these dishes, you vaguely know what some of the ingredients will be, but you have no idea what the finished product will be.  For example, I hate raw onions in most dishes.  One of my favorite restaurants serves a seasonal chicken salad.  Yay! But it is chock full of raw onions.  Nay!

Cole slaw can be a yummy, vinegary delight -or a hellish experience of cabbage bits suspended in Miracle Whip.  And in my family's potato salad there is the decision to agree to disagree on the delicate matter of including chopped, boiled egg or not.

Every so often I find I have to add new foods to the Great Mysteries.  For example, nowadays I have to ask if my beloved sweet tea is brewed with actual tea at a restaurant.  Sadly, several local restaurants that used to brew some great sweet tea now serve this disgusting Gold Peak ...'beverage'...out of a soda dispenser.  I tried it once and found the taste and smell to be more similar to a household cleaner than tea.  Yech!

Anyhow, the solution to solving the Great Mysteries is simple:  make your own versions of these foods that meet your own tastes.  Here is my own recipe for chicken salad that mixes together yummy chicken with the crunch and flavor of delicious celery.  Yum!

Jeff's Chicken Salad

• 1 cup of white chicken meat
• 1-2 Tablespoons of a good mayonnaise
• 2/3 cup celery diced thinly
• 2 teaspoons celery seeds
• 2 Tablespoons of slivered almonds
• 1/2 cup golden raisins (golden looks nicer but regular, darker raisins taste just as good)

Mix together.  Eat on toasted bread, a fresh tomato, or rolled into a wrap.

NOTE:  Grapes also make a nice addition to this recipe instead of raisins.  In fact, this recipe does best when the grapes are starting to dry out and are kind of half way between a table grape and a raisin.  While these are no longer great for grape-eating, they make INCREDIBLE chicken salad.

NOTE 2:  In my experience, using fresh chicken from a rotisserie chicken to make chicken salad works ok.  Rotisserie chicken often is seasoned and may give your chicken salad some unintended flavors of garlic, etc.  Try a batch out using your favorite leftover rotisserie chicken meat.  I have found I prefer the canned white chicken meat for my chicken salad.  Experiment with both and find your favorite.

DIETS:
Diabetic:  yes
Gluten Free:  yes* (make sure ingredients used are gluten-free)
Mediterranean:  no
Nightshade Family Free:  yes
Paleo:  yes* (must use sugar-free brand of mayonnaise)
SugarBusters:  yes* (must use sugar-free brand of mayonnaise)
Sugar Free:  yes* (must use sugar-free brand of mayonnaise)
Vegan:  no
Vegetarian:  no
Wheat Free:  yes* (make sure ingredients used are wheat-free)
200 Calories or Under:  no

Notice:  Be sure to check with your doctor and nutritionist about the safety of any eating plan for you.  Also, check ingredients as different brands and products may have different ingredients or have changed them since this post.  Some calories are estimates based on packaging.