Growing up, I never really had too much occasion to eat chicken salad.  My mum never made it (there were never any left overs to make it with!) and no one I knew made chicken salad.  The only time I’d see it was when my Brown Owl would bring in sandwiches for us when we volunteered at the arena during the Hockey Tournaments.  Cafeteria style chicken salad just didn’t appeal to my taste buds.  Once I started cooking for myself and experienced the rarity of left over chicken, I quickly started to search for the textures and tastes that would please me.  Guess you could say now that I’m all growed up, I finally appreciate the simplicity of chicken salad.

Chicken Salad All Growed Up

2 1/2 cups shredded roast chicken (use leftovers!)
1 large stalk celery, diced into 1/4″ pieces
1/3 cup walnuts, chopped
1/4 whole sweet onion, diced
1/4 to 1/2 cup mayonnaise (I prefer less mayo)
1/2 whole lemon, juiced
salt and pepper, to taste

Mix all ingredients and serve.  You can serve alone (especially if your guest is gluten-intolerant) or on bread.  I’ve served this at showers on a nice grilled panini bun or foccaccia bread.