Wednesday, March 9, 2011

yummy chicken salad

I LOVE Chicken Salad...like LOVE, LOVE, LOVE!

I think it's the best lunch time meal ever.  Seriously.

I especially love Ingle's chicken salad.

Unfortunately, I don't have an Ingle's in North Carolina that is close.  :(

BUT......

Fear not---for I have made very, very similar chicken salad!  :)

It's YUMMY!

And I just had to share it with you today!

But before we start cooking, I must share some exciting news!  We finally got cable!!!  Whoo hooo!!!  The cable man came yesterday to install everything and we couldn't be more thrilled about it!  We have over 250 channels and it's awesome!  I don't think I've ever had 250 channels all to myself before.  This could be dangerous....very dangerous!  I've gone too long without my Food Network shows and I was glued to the TV for quite some time yesterday...it was a wonderful feeling!  Ha!  I don't know many people that get so much joy out of watching the Food Network like I do.  So that's our exciting news for the day...just had to share....oh, and we got to eat at The Cheesecake Factory last night as well.  It was AMAZING!  Fried Mac & Cheese, Salad, Cheesecake, and they even sang to Preacher Man for his birthday!  YUMMY!  Yesterday was a real good day, reeaallll goooooood!  :)  On to the cookin' now!

Let's get cookin' ya'll!  (I sound like Paula Deen...haha!)

Yummy Chicken Salad
Source:  A combination of the chicken salads that I've ever had!  :)
I really just played around with everything until it tasted just right!

Here's the line-up...



and all of the somewhat exact measurements....

2 1/2 cups cooked chicken, chopped
3/4 cup -1 cup finely chopped celery
1/4 cup finely chopped red onion
1/4 tsp.- 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 cup-3/4 cup mayo
salt and pepper to taste

*I think the measurments really depend on how you like your chicken salad.  Start with less and add more if you like.  Also, if grapes or pecans are your thing, it might go very nicely in this recipe.

Now for the directions:

First, boil your chicken until it is cooked all the way through.  It normally takes about 25-30 minutes on the stove-top.

Next, it's time to chop up the veggies.

We'll start with celery.

Run your knife down the celery stalk length wise to make long, skinny strips.
Then stack them up and finely chop your celery up like so...
Then get out your onion goggles so there won't be any tears.
Kidding.
Onions really don't bother me, but if they bother you, I once heard a trick where you could put the onion in the freezer for a bit before you chop it to take away the smell.  I've never tried it before but it may be worth a try.
Here's how to get it chopped real, real fine!  :)
First, chop off both ends of the onion and it will look like this...
Then chop that in half and lay each half flat on it's belly like this...
I really, really love the color of purple onions.  I think it's just simply gorgeous and I wouldn't mind having a nail polish color like this pretty, purple onion!  :)
Back to chopping...
Next, take you knife and make little slits in the onion all the way across it like the picture above.
Then take your onion and turn it to the side like this once your slits are all the way across...
When your onion is turned to the side like this, take your knife and make slits all the way up the onion horizontally.
Then it's time to chop away like this...
This way of cutting an onion is the absolute best when you need really small pieces.  It's also easy to hide onions in food like this as well.  (Preacher Man HATES onions and I've gotten really good about sneaking them into things!)  Lastly, I just really like chopping onions.  I don't know why, but I do.  :)  Yes, I know I'm a strange person!  :)

On to the chicken....
I like my chicken cut up pretty finely for chicken salad, but if you prefer chunky chicken salad, go for it! 
Next, it's time to add all of your ingredients together in a bowl....
Add in your chicken, celery, onions, mayo, garlic powder, salt and pepper.
And taste test with a spoon or cracker!  And add a little more of anything if it needs it...

Delish!!!  Almost as good as Ingle's!  :)

Hope you enjoy!

Now I must go start my cooking for my weekend visitors!  :)

Love,
The Preacher's Wife

P.S.  Yes, dear family of mine, I will make this when you come visit me!  :)

P.P.S.  Here is a picture of our cheesecakes last night!  (Sorry it's dark...the place was dimly lit and my camera wasn't cooperating and I just didn't feel like playing with the settings to get a beautiful picture of this cheesecake that was so beautifully sitting in front of me waiting to be devoured, but at least this gives you a glimpse.  Wow that was a long run on sentence.  Sorry for my grammar and punctuation.  Ooooppsss.  I just got excited about that cheesecake.  :)

Classic Cheesecake with Strawberries, Key Lime Pie Cheesecake, and Vanilla Bean Cheesecake for the Birthday Boy!  It was all so wonderful!  :)

2 comments:

  1. Key Lime Pie Cheesecake is the only kind I will get. It's phenomenal.

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  2. It definitely was delish! :) It was like fireworks were going off in my mouth when I tried it! :)

    ReplyDelete