Chicken Salad Recipe

       For awhile now, I have considered sharing some of my recipes on my blog. I really enjoy cooking (and sometimes baking) without a recipe, and come up with some fancy dishes at times. I usually keep my recipes top-secret, and hardly ever even let my family in on all the ingredients I use. But I thought that some of my readers might enjoy trying my favorite recipes, so here you go! Top-secret (or, not so top-secret) recipe #1: Chicken salad. *Disclaimer: the lighting in my kitchen is not at all wonderful, so the pictures are not going to be the most professional you have ever seen.

       Start with 1 1/2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breast. (Any boneless chicken will do, but chicken breast meat is my personal favorite).  Cut the chicken up into 1-2" pieces, transfer it to a frying pan, and put the frying pan on the stove. Turn the heat to medium-high. Drizzle 1 Ts. olive oil over the chicken; add 1/4 tsp. each of thyme, rosemary and ginger, and one bay leaf. Sauté the chicken until it's cooked through (this should take about 8 minutes... it will be a lovely light brown color when it's ready). Remove from heat and let it cool while you move over to your counter-top for the next step.

Take a large handful (about 1 cup) of green grapes, and rinse all of the germs off of them. 

       Cut the grapes into halves or quarters, depending on what size you like them.

Find 2 1/2 (yes, two-and-a-half...) stalks of celery, rinse them well, and dice them. 

Look at all of the beautiful shades of green!!

This is what my parsley ends up looking like... 

       Bring out your fresh parsley. Depending on how much you like parsley, pull out 2-4 sprigs. I have a thing for parsley, so I use 4 sprigs. Rinse off your parsley, and chop (or mince) the leaves.

       Now back to the chicken. Put your cooked chicken in a serving bowl, and shred it. If you're in a time crunch like I was this morning, you can put the chicken in a food processor and pulse it two or three times to speed up this process.

       Add your lovely green, fresh ingredients to your chicken. Then add 1/2 cup of pecan halves or pieces (optional, but they make it that much better!), 1/4 cup each of sour cream and mayo, and 2 Ts. each of brown sugar and pure maple syrup. If you don't have *pure* maple syrup it might mess with the taste of the chicken, so you can leave the syrup out. Stir the ingredients together. Your chicken salad should end up looking something like this:

       Now that the chicken salad is prepared, let's move on to the spread. If you want your chicken to stay chilled, put it in the fridge while you make the spread. 

       Place 4 oz. softened cream cheese, 2 tsp. each of maple syrup and brown sugar, 1/4 cup milk or cream, and 2 dashes of ginger and cinnamon in a bowl or stand mixer. Mix until creamy and smooth. (If you're using your chicken salad to mix in with leafy greens, add more milk 1 Ts. at a time until it is the consistency of a salad dressing).

       Take your chicken salad out of the fridge, and enjoy! I recommend making chicken salad sandwiches; spreading the cream cheese mixture on homemade bread, croissants, or plain or "everything" bagels, and topping with the chicken. It is also delicious on its own, or mixed with lettuce! The sandwiches taste great with strawberry spinach salad and yogurt. If you have any leftovers, they make great work lunches!

Serves: 4-6

Ingredients:

1 1/2 lbs. chicken breast, diced

1/4 tsp. ea. thyme, rosemary, ginger

1 bay leaf

1 Ts. olive oil

1 C green grapes, halved or quartered

2 1/2 stalks celery

2 - 4 sprigs fresh parsley, chopped or minced

1/2 C pecan halves or pieces (optional)

1/4 C sour cream

1/4 C mayo

2 Ts. brown sugar

2 Ts. pure maple syrup (optional)

Cream cheese spread:

4 oz. cream cheese, softened

2 tsp. maple syrup

2 tsp. brown sugar

1/4 C milk or cream 

2 dashes ea. ginger, cinnamon

Instructions:

1. Sauté the chicken in olive oil and spices until cooked thoroughly.

2. Shred the chicken, if necessary. Mix chicken and remaining ingredients together.

3. Beat cream cheese spread ingredients together till smooth. 

4. Spread cream cheese mixture on croissants, bread or bagels, add chicken salad, and top with lettuce or spinach.

5. Enjoy!