Leah's Chicken Salad

I don't know about you... But man have I missed you!  I miss writing, sharing and expressing my ridiculous love for food.  I miss taking pictures and losing myself in this blog.  There is this thing called motherhood that is literally taking all my time.  Every heard of it?  Yeah, it sure is a time consumer.  My boy is 16 months now and all over the place.  Literally non-stop.  After one mess is cleaned, another is made.  And that scenario is repeated throughout the day.   Sleep.  Wake.  Repeat.  I just can't bring myself to get rid of him though.  Nah, I love that nugget with every morsel of my being.  Sometimes, I look at him and think... he is NEVER going to love me as much as I love him.  And you know what?  It is totally well with my soul.  

Ok.  Now for the chicken salad recipe.

Every time I make this chicken salad, I am asked for the recipe.  Every.  Time.  It's literally all of 8 ingredients.  That's it.  And it comes to you from my lovely sister in law.  I tweaked the original recipe changing the cooking method for the chicken breast.  I roast it.  Bone in.  Skin on.  Boom.  Super moist.  Tons of flavahh.  (That's pronounced FLA-VAHH.)  Oh and I sub the original recipe of one cup of mayo for half mayo, half greek yogurt.  It helps me sleep better at night.  

Leah's Chicken Salad

Yeilds about 6 cups chicken salad

ingredients

4 bone in-skin on chicken breasts 

olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

3/4 cup celery chopped

1/2 cup green onion chopped

1/2 cup dried cranberries

1/4-1/2 cup red onion chopped - Depends on how much you like raw red onion.  It can be potent! 

1/2 cup mayo 

1/2 cup greek yogurt

1/2 - 1 TB Tony's Chachere's Creole Seasoning (You could sub this for salt and pepper if thats all you have on hand.  About 1.5 tsp of salt and 3/4 tsp pepper. ) 

directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line a baking sheet with foil or parchment.  

Place the chicken on the roasting pan and drizzle chicken breasts with olive oil.  Season generously with salt and pepper.  

Bake for 40-45 minutes, until the chicken it cooked through, and no longer pink.  Remove from oven and allow to cool on baking sheet before handling.

Once cool enough to handle, transfer to a cutting board and peel back the skin on chicken breast.  Using a sharp knife, carefully carve the breast off the bone.  Chop up the chicken and set aside.  

In a large bowl, stir together the greek yogurt and mayo.  Add the chopped chicken, celery, green onion, red onion, cranberries, and seasoning.  Mix thoroughly until all the ingredients are totally combined and seasoning is evenly distributed.  Allow to chill at least 4 hours before serving.  

Katelyn's Notes: More ideas for mix in's are chopped apples, walnuts, grapes, sliced almonds, golden raisins, or fresh herbs.  Fresh Tarragon is fantastic in a chicken salad.  

Recipe adapted from Leah Spranger