Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Cranberry Walnut Chicken Salad

So, since the Ghana trip, I've been home all day. Yesterday, I sat around in my pajama's all day until it was time to go run. Today was redemption. I made dishwasher detergent, and then made chicken salad for lunch. I posted it on Facebook and got a few requests for the recipe. You'd think I'd be excited to post a recipe, but I have a tendency not to measure things when I'm cooking.
I'll give the basics, but just be sure start very moderately to leave room to adjust if you need to.

Ingredients:

  • boneless, skinless chicken breast (I used two. They were leftover from an earlier meal. Usually I make chicken salad from leftover rotisserie chicken, requires no cooking, which keeps your kitchen cooler. A big deal this time of year.) 
  • garlic salt
  • Italian seasoning
  • onion powder (Ray doesn't like raw onions and since he needed to eat too, I used this.)
  • dried cranberries
  • walnut pieces (I used fresh gourmet glazed, because they were leftover, but use whatever you have around. Pecans are good in chicken salad also.)
  • your favorite mayo or salad dressing
  • small can crushed pineapple
  • Pepper
  • Salt to taste
I boiled the chicken breast in a little salt and about 3 shakes of italian seasoning. Once they were cooked through and cooled, I used the chopper to finely dice the chicken. I prefer mine a little chunkier, which is why I added the walnuts.

Once your chicken is the texture you want, add garlic salt, onion powder, and pepper. (For just the 2 chicken breasts, I used about 1/2 tsp garlic salt, 1/4 tsp onion powder and about 6 turns of the pepper grinder.) Add about 2 Tbsp mayo or salad dressing and mix well. Add about 1/2 cup cranberries and about 1/2 walnuts and bout 3/4 cup crushed pineapple. Mix well and add any additional salt and pepper to your liking. Voila! Cranberry Walnut chicken salad!

I would have a picture for you, but by the time I thought to write this blog post, it was all gone. If this goes well, I'll have to post more recipes soon.