Pages

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Last Chicken Post For Awhile aka How To Make Some Pretty Awesome Chicken Salad.........


I'm pretty sure that one of the reasons I am married today is because every now and then I take some time to rip apart a rotisserie chicken and make this delicious chicken salad for my husband. That sentence sounds kind of gross. I don't actually rip apart the chicken. I just tear pieces of the breast meat into small bits. I prefer to make this on New Years Day (my husband's Birthday) or on Sundays b/c Harris Teeter sells cooked rotisserie chickens for like $4 dollars (something like that) a piece. (This week I actually used regular chicken breasts and cooked them, ya know b/c of that HT chicken sale I keep talking about.)

Good Chicken Salad (adapted from a recipe that my mom got from somewhere)

-1 Rotisserie chicken (or a couple cooked chicken breasts)
-chopped celery (include some leaves, they add flavor)
-toasted almond slithers (you can buy a bag of almonds and toast them in a little butter or oil over the stove, get extra, I always, always burn the first round)
-dried cranberries
-mayo
-honey
-salt and pepper

Now I don't ever measure this exactly. But the idea is to get a bunch of chicken in a bowl. Then add however much of celery, cranberries and almonds that you like and then coat that with a honey mayo mixture. I would say about 2 parts mayo to 1 part honey. I mix these two things together until I like how it tastes. Also I like sweet stuff. Some people don't like sweet stuff that is traditionally savory (again, Beezus5, I am looking at you). So mix the honey and mayo together until you like the taste and then mix it in to everything else. Alter the amount depending on how "dressingy" you want you chicken salad to be. Add some S&P for extra flavoring.

So anyway, if you've been dating your boyfriend for like 3 years and he enjoys sweet savory stuff, make him this chicken salad and you are on the road to a happy marriage. Seriously. Or if you are single and ready to mingle go ahead and get some Tupperware and head on out to the bar with this. Or if you not in the market for a husband or are already taken just go ahead and take this to your next work function and or Easter Lunch.

****Disclaimer******-this stuff doesn't work on people who don't like "sweet" chicken salad

Do you like chicken salad?
Do you like sweet chicken salad?
Do you have a recipe that made your boyfriend propose to you?

13 comments:

Jenni said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
bmellisen said...

So you know how the Discovery Channel does Shark Week? I think this has been Chicken Week for makingstuffisfun. So good way to end it with this chicken salad, because it is awesome. It tastes great on crakcers, bread, or spoon-feeding it to yourself as you stand in front of the refrigerator door.

Jenni said...

I can attest to your chicken salad being delicious and I usually don't like sweet foods that aren't actually sweets. I will need to work on a recipe for the future when I'm looking for a proposal.

$hanzie said...

that chicken salad sounds awesome. I make a similar chicken salad but instead of cranberries i use apples. but i also use almonds, honey, mayo, and celery if i have it (ocassionally i forget to buy celery because it is not something i always have on hand) but it is just as delicious without. also, i am not a fan of mayo so i use very minimal mayo. i also like your plating, it looks super fancy. maybe my ex boyfriend proposed to me that one time because of my chicken salad- it never occured to me. i also make an excellent spinach artichoke dip and after his first time eating it, a former boyfriend told me he wanted to marry me.... soooo yeah, maybe i will bring some chicken salad and spinach artichoke dip to the bar and the boys will not be able to resist.

KKSC2NC said...

This sounds wonderful...I am a huge chicken salad fan. I like the idea of adding honey. Not looking for a proposal but I think this might be a part of the Easter dinner!

JMJE said...

I'm not a huge may fan either. You can really just add as much as you want. I'm not so good with actually measuring stuff out. I also like a different variety of chicken salads but this is my fave. Shazie, you should take your new spinach/artichoke dip pizza out to the bar next time.

Amanda @ It's Blogworthy said...

I love sweet chicken salad! I love the combo of sweet and savory. I never thought of using honey. Sometimes I use plain yogurt instead of mayo because mayo sometimes makes me gag. Do you take all these pics of your food? They are so good!

JMJE said...

I do take all the pictures. Its kind of hard and sometimes annoying to my husband when I photo his food before he eats it. But I'm working on my food photography.

$hanzie said...

oooh- using greek yogurt instead of mayo is genius- I am trying that next time.

Shana said...

This sounds really good and J loves chicken salad. The cranberries might be a tough sell since he usually won't eat anything that could be healthy. But I'm going to try this. If I get engages shortly after I'm totally giving you all the credit.

Bonnie said...

I dont have any signature dishes anymore.. i mostly just find of can of something and open it. But a couple weeks ago i ran into the HT rotisserie sale chicken that you speak of, and I did a similar savory dish that i ate all week for lunch. I respect that some people like sweet stuff.. i like savory so instead of the sweet stuff i do curry seasoning, mayo and sometimes chickpeas for a little crunch. I dont think it is going to get me a husband or anything, but its ok for lunch

Emily said...

I love sweet chicken salad - in fact I didn't really like chicken salad until I ate it at the Kasiks. :)

Jerrie's recipe uses lots of fruit - crushed pineapple, grapes, mandarin oranges, celery. I usually leave out the oranges as they aren't my fav. I know the sauce is 1/2 c mayo and 1/2 c sr cream (I use light versions on both).

I might just have to make some chicken salad soon and blog it too. :)

Emily said...

Oh and a yummy non-sweet chicken salad comes from The Carving Board in Winston. I discovered it my last year at Wake. :)