Chicken Salad

Who doesn't like a chicken salad sandwich for lunch on a hot summer's day, or any other day for that matter! The key to making good chicken salad is to begin imparting flavor all the way through the making of it.  My recipe is just as much about method of cooking as ingredients:

• Split chicken breasts with skin, on the bone
• 2 celery stalks, one halved the other diced
• 1 medium onion, quartered
• 6 small carrots
• 1 clove garlic or garlic powder
• 4 green onions, chopped
• 1/2 small dill pickle finely diced
• 1 small bunch grapes cut in half
• 1 small apple, roughly chopped
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• mayonnaise or Miracle Whip salad dressing
• salt and pepper to taste

Place chicken breasts, carrots, one stalk of celery, 1 clove garlic or sprinkle of garlic powder, and onion in stock pot. Cover with water and simmer until chicken is completely cooked.  Take out chicken breasts and place them in a large bowl of ice water to stop the cooking process.  When breasts have cooled, take the skin off  the meat and de-bone.

Place apple,  diced celery, halved grapes chopped green onions, pickle and walnuts in a bowl.   Rough chop three or four of the chicken breasts and add. Use enough mayonnaise or salad dressing to make the salad the consistency you want, add salt and pepper to taste.

This salad goes well with most any kind of bread that has some body to it. A home made whole wheat bread or crusty french bread is ideal.  The cooking method of simmering in a pot with vegetables not only gives great flavor to the chicken, but it also gives the added bonus of the water the chicken was cooked in, which of course has been transformed into chicken broth!  Strain it and use it to make chicken soup or stew.