Chicken Salad

http://www.flickr.com/, photo by ralph and jenny

Chicken salad is one of my favorite summertime lunches. I eat it on romaine lettuce leaves, or with spinach leaves. I love that once I mix this up and stick it in the fridge, it is such an easy lunch. I just toss some leaves on my plate, then dump some of this on top. It is filling, delicious, and cold. The perfect summer lunch. This salad is also really tasty on Mary's Gone Crackers.

Just a side note on Mary's Gone Crackers--we buy them at Kroger in the Nature's Market section. I watch for them to go on sale, which they do. The nice thing is that they don't really seem to go stale, like most crackers do, once you open a box. Besides eating them with chicken salad, I also really like to snack on them with chunks of cheese on top. My son likes to spread our almond butter/peanut butter mixture on them. They offer them in different flavors, too, like herb and cracked pepper.

Anyway, back to the salad! I've adapted this recipe from Cruise Ship or Nursing Home?

Chicken Salad

Ingredients:
3-4 cups chopped or shredded cooked chicken
1 cup diced celery
2 Tbsp. chopped green onions
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
2/3 cup Grapeseed Oil Vegenaise (I've found this at Whole Foods and some Kroger stores)
1/4 cup chopped nuts--walnuts, pecans, almonds, whatever you like best
salt and pepper to taste
(I also sometimes add quartered organic grapes)

Mix all of the ingredients together, then chill before serving.

As an alternative, you can also make a casserole out of this, and it is delicious! Spread the chicken salad mixture (don't include grapes!) into a greased 8x8 glass baking dish, and sprinkle cheddar or parmesan cheese (or both!) over the top. Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes.