Chicken Salad…4 Ways…

Originally published in the Greenwood Daily Journal Saturday March 24, 2012
Can you feel it? That familiar feel of the warm sun on your face, a gentle breeze blowing your hair and the sudden burst of energy that hits just as you emerge from your office at the end of a long work day.  Step outside into the sunshine and you can’t help but feel happy.

No, I am not trying to paint a scene of a warm weather destination in your mind. I am talking about this crazy, unseasonably warm weather that we have been having these last few weeks.  In Indiana. In March.  Why travel south for spring break when it is reaching highs near the 80’s here?

That is what I told my kids when I explained to them that we were going to have a ‘Staycation’ this year for spring break.  There are so many things to do around here and with Mother Nature deciding to fast forward the end of winter straight into spring, can you blame us?

Now that the time has changed and the days seem longer the last thing I want to do, after working all day, is to come home and spend a few hours preparing and cleaning up dinner.  Now that is not to say that I do not go all out from time to time during the week, because I do. But I have learned to embrace the shortcuts that the supermarket has to offer.  Convenience foods, if you will.

Now convenience foods, to me, mean bagged lettuce, refrigerated pasta and rotisserie chickens.  Not blue box macaroni and cheese, frozen pizzas and canned meals. This week I want to highlight one of my particular favorites : Rotisserie chicken.

This juicy, ready to eat bird is a must have for busy weeknight meals.  Just waiting to be picked up and carried home, the savory rotisserie chicken is perfect for soups, stews and salads.  I usually buy an unseasoned chicken so the flavors to do not interfere with what I am using the meat for.  I am not a fan of pre-cooked refrigerated meats, so I  lean heavily on this go-to grocery item throughout the week.

Priced right and enough to feed my family of 4, this is one convenient food that I can give my stamp of approval.  I was going to share my family-tested, kid-approved recipe for chicken salad with grapes over bibb lettuce but them an epiphany was delivered to me by way of my mother and Cooking Light magazine.  My mother gives me all of her magazines after she is done with them and most of the time I just pass them on to a friend or co-worker. This time, while sitting at a swim meet, I decided to thumb through the latest issue and lo and behold, I saw that they made over the rotisserie chicken salad, 4 ways.

It was a culinary sign so I decided to come home and re-create their 4 versions for you.  Each of these used readily available ingredients, were prepared in 15 minutes and were easy on the waistline and pocketbook.  Each recipe makes 4 1/2 cup servings so make sure to make note of that if you need to feed a crowd.  I am not sure which one if my favorite, possibly the avocado and salsa version.  We had a bit of a tasting party when I made all 4 of these in one night.  I set out crackers, toasts and tortilla chips so we all could build out own bites.

Any of these 4 chicken salads would be a great accompaniment to a mixed green salad, a garlicky asparagus toss or roasted red potatoes.  Serve what tickles your fancy or what you have on hand and can prepare as quickly as you can the chicken salad.  That way you can spend less time in the kitchen and more time outside enjoying natures reawakening.

Avocado Chicken Salad
Great served over tortilla chips
2 TB olive oil
2 TB fresh lime juice 
pinch of kosher salt
fresh black pepper, to taste
2 C shredded chicken, cold
1/4 C chopped cilantro
3/4 C salsa of your choice
1 ripe avocado, peeled and chopped
Combine first 4 ingredients in a medium bowl, stirring with a whisk.  Add chicken and cilantro;toss to combine. Gently fold in salsa and avocado.

Tzatziki Chicken Salad
Serve with pita chips
2/3 C plain reduced-fat Greek yogurt
1/4 C finely chopped red onion
1 TB fresh lemon juice
2 tsp fresh dill, chopped
pinch kosher salt
fresh black pepper, to taste
1 medium cucumber, seeded and shredded
1 clove garlic, minced
2 C shredded chicken, cold
Combine first 8 ingredients in a medium bowl, stirring with a whisk.  Add chicken and toss to coat.

Creamy Tarragon Chicken Salad
Serve with rounds of bread
1/3 C plain reduced-fat Greek yogurt
1/4 C light mayonnaise
1 TB fresh tarragon, chopped
pinch of kosher salt
fresh black pepper, to taste
2 C shredded chicken, cold
1/4 C red onion, thinly sliced
Combine first 5 ingredients in a bowl, stirring with a whisk. Add chicken and onion, toss to combine.

Chicken and Green Bean Salad
Serve with thinly sliced baguette toasts
1 1/2 C fresh green beans, trimmed and cut in half, steamed and cooled
3 Tb olive oil
1 1/2 TB fresh lemon juice
1 1/1 TB Dijon mustard
1 tsp fresh thyme, chopped
pinch  kosher salt
fresh black pepper, to taste
2 C shredded chicken, cold
1 C  cherry tomatoes, halved
Combine oil and next 5 ingredients in a medium bowl, stirring with a whisk.  Add chicken, green beans and tomatoes and toss to combine.

A few fancy pants shots ????