Curried Chicken Salad

For years, and I mean years, I’ve made a honey mustard chicken salad. It’s been my thing, you know. It’s one of the only recipes I’ve ever actually “created” out of thin air and stuck to over time. I’ve taken it to parties, potlucks, and family gatherings. I’ve passed it around to friends and coworkers and relatives I’d never met before. It even won a contest once.

So now you can probably see how much it takes to get me to try a chicken salad that isn’t mine. Perhaps I’ve just become bored with it. Sure, I’ve switched it up a little here and there, but the basic recipe stays the same. Lately, however, I’ve found myself quite fond of curries. So when I saw this recipe in Food To Live By, I decided to go for it.

Curried Chicken Salad
Chicken breasts, cooked
Celery stalks, chopped (2 to 4)
Roasted pecans (1/2 cup to 1 cup)
Red seedless grapes (about 1 cup), cut in half
Fresh parsley, chopped
2 tsp curry powder
1 tsp ground ginger
1 cup mayo
Salt and pepper to taste

Either use pre-cooked chicken (leftovers or whatever) or boil it in water and/or broth. Once the chicken is done, let it cool down. If you don’t know how to roast nuts, the easiest way is to pour some on a cookie sheet, preheat the oven to 350 degrees, and bake for about 8-10 minutes. If you smell them, go get them out now. They can burn quickly.

Chop everything up and throw it in a bowl. Mix the mayo and spices in a small bowl and add to the bowl. Stir, cover, refrigerate for an hour, enjoy!

Honestly, the chicken salad is good. I think mine is different, so it’s hard to compare, but this is definitely worthy of a repeat. Very easy to make too.

A note on the chips:
A friend of ours who works at Whole Foods gave us a bag of these chips (365 Organic brand, Classic Potato Chips with Sea Salt) to try this weekend. They’re all natural, with no additives, preservatives, or gluten. They’re also quite delicioso. I’m not a big chip girl myself, but I ate them. If you like chips, definitely try them.

A note on Whole Foods:
If you’re not familiar with shopping at Whole Foods or you’ve never had the opportunity to figure this little trick out, here’s something I’ve noticed lately. If you talk to the people who work there, you can often get free stuff. Now I don’t go out looking for free stuff, but if it happens to land in my shopping buggy, who am I to question it?

I don’t really know the secret or the “rules,” but I do know I’ve gotten replacement products for free when they were out of something I was looking for and I asked them about it, and I’ve gotten free stuff for looking pensive over trying something new. If you’re the type of person who gets a little rush when someone gives you something for free just to be nice, try it out next time you’re in the mood to be friendly and chatty. Let me know if it works for you too.

One side note about the free stuff: This doesn’t work for items that are already being sampled. It also doesn’t work for items that are easily opened and sampled, such as soups or breads. I tried this with a bread the other week and she sliced me off some. Yes, it was yummy. Yes, I bought a loaf.