To Die for Chicken Salad - RECIPE

To Die for Chicken Salad Recipe

So, this is my go to recipe if I have all the ingredients on hand BUT if I don't there are a few you can leave out and it still tastes great!

I have used cooked chicken breasts chopped up, canned chicken and rotisserie chicken (my favorite choice). They all work. If I am using canned chicken, I use Kirkland Signature Premium Chunk Chicken Breast packed in water (you buy this at Costco - they sell it in 8 cans). I have been known to marinate chicken breast in a Teriyaki Merinade over night, grill them and use those in the chicken.

Items you could leave out and it still taste great (Greek yogurt - you could just add more mayo, turmeric, mirin - if you take this out I would add a Tablespoon of sweet relish, candied pecans - you could use plain or any other nut you prefer or leave it out altogether, allspice)

Don't be scared - this is going to look like a lot of ingredients but it is minute amounts of most of them. They are all great to have on hand if you are cooking from my blog and it doesn't take as long as you might think to put it together. THE SAVING GRACE...there is no cooking after you put in the ingredients and mix them together!!!

Ingredients:
2 large chicken breasts or 2 - 12.5 oz canned chicken or 2.5 cups chicken from a rotisserie chicken
1/2 cup Olive Oil Mayonnaise
1/2 cup plain Greek Yogurt (I use FAGE)
1 Tablespoon honey mustard (if you don't have it but you have mustard, mix some honey in the mustard)
2 teaspoon dried dill
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg (grated)
1 teaspoon powdered ginger
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1 Tablespoon basil (I love basil so I usually add a bit more)
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 tsp fresh ground pepper (I prefer close to a Tablespoon)
2 Tablespoons mirin (mirin is in the Asian food section close to rice wine vinegar but it is much milder)
1 cup grapes cut in half (pineapple will work well - if you get canned, add a little of the juice in too) You could even add both pineapple and grapes
1 small cucumber diced fine (celery or crisp apples work too)
1/2 cup candied pecans (smashed but large pieces) (you can use any nut you prefer - my kids love these)

Mix it all together and serve it however you like! My favorite way used to be on croissant but alas this is the one item I miss! We serve it on Udi's Cinnamon Raison bread, Udi's sandwich bread, Udi's pizza crust (use it like flat bread) and with Glutino Crackers. It is amazing served at a party on a cucumber round for an appetizer.

Gluten Free Pizza Crust

Gluten Free Pizza Crust Recipe

I have been trying to stay away from mixes and develop recipes that are gluten free. I usually do that by reading through four or five recipes and deciding what will work best.

Pizza crust is easily purchased Gluten Free but if I have a large crowd I want to be able to make it in larger sizes. I found this recipe, converted it to gluten free and everyone loved it!

This is Valentinos's Pizza Crust that I got off of the Allrecipes.com site and converted it to Gluten Free.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. A pizza stone is recommended.

Ingredients:
1 cup warm water (110 degrees F)
1 tablespoon sugar
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour (I used C4C Flour)

Directions:
Stir water, sugar and yeast tougher until dissolved. Let stand for 10 minutes until foamy. If the yeast doesn't get foamy you will need to start over with fresher yeast. Add in olive oil and salt to yeast mixture. Stir in C4C Flour until well blended. Let the dough rest for at least 10 minutes.

The dough is fairly bland. I recommend adding in a teaspoon each of basil, thyme and oregano. Pat dough onto pan using fingers dipped in olive oil (you can sprinkle cornmeal on the pizza stone before rolling out the dough if you like the flavor). You can spray Pam (or cooking spray) on your fingers if you don't have olive oil but the oil adds flavor.

The recipes does not call for baking the dough before adding your ingredients. If you want a crisper crust I would bake in the oven at 425 degrees F for about 5-8 minutes before adding ingredients.

Top with ingredients of your choice and back from 15-20 minutes. I set the time for 10 minutes and switch the pan to anther shelf in the oven for 5 minutes and then back again for another 5 minutes if needed. This helps to ensure it cooks evenly on the top and bottom.