Chicken Salad... oh how I love thee...

I love chicken salad.

I didn't really know this until about a year ago. Before then I thought it was just so-so . Who knew something as simple as a sample at Costco (say that five times) would change my thinking? I never even had a chance to walk away. The taste.. the texture.. the crunch of the celery.. deeee-licious! Yum!

Something I have given up entirely since starting Weight Watchers is mayonnaise/miracle whip. I love it all. And previous experiences with the reduced/non-fat versions left me incredibly disappointed. Ick! Nasty! And I wasn't about to waste oodles of points on the real stuff. I instead choose to moisten my sandwiches with Light Laughing Cow cheese.

Anyway, so, I need to confess that I've been considering cheating. I was at Costco last week and walked by my love and instead of continuing, I slowed down my pace. I shot a few glances to the side and even ogled a little. After the innocent flirting, I gave into temptation and walked over.

I whispered sweet nothings to the container.. I even expressed the anger I've had for not being able to eat it- let it all out. Who knew I had missed it so much??

I used my mad texting skill to see if my sister could google the nutritional information.. maybe Costco by chance had a miracle chicken salad that was amazingly healthy for you. Yeah, that's why I'm not fat. Right.

My sister didn't respond and I almost gave in until I decided to be resourceful. I waltzed over to the pre-packaged chicken salad and noted it's nutritional information. I figured out that 2/3 of a cup was almost 30 points. sigh That's more than my daily points! Even half a serving wasn't worth it.

I considered stomping my feet in attempt to protest. Instead, I chose to pout and mourn a little.

And I walked away.

The Chicken Salad has not left my mind since that time though. After several days of this, I decided that today was the day to do something about this unhealthy obsession. I searched and googled. And I found a recipe!

I felt very Trish like as I prepared the recipe. Look at me actually making something!!


Chicken Salad
3/4 pound cooked chicken, cut into bite-size pieces
1/2 cup celery, finely diced
1/3 cup dill pickle or sweet gherkins, finely diced
1/4 cup reduced calorie mayonnaise
2 TBS reduced fat sour cream
2 TBS parsley, fresh, chopped
1 TSP dijon mustard
1 tsp fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp table salt
1/4 tsp black pepper, freshly ground

Place all ingredients in a large bowl; mixed until blended.

(this my largest bowl- the others were being washed in the dishwasher)

Yields about 2/3 cup per serving (that's a lot!!)
Only THREE POINTS per serving!!


My version: used dill pickles, reg. mustard and no parsley (didn't have any). A little extra pepper. Chicken had already been cooked and shredded and was in the freezer.

We ate ours on Sara Lee Wheat Bread (3 points for two slices- if you use the low calorie bread it would have been 2 points.. meant to buy that but didn't.. sad for me). And because I had the points and love cheese, I had a slice of Sargento reduced fat Colby Jack cheese (2 points).


We also enjoyed watermelon and low fat cottage cheese (I only ate 1/4 cup- 1 pt or 1/2 cup is 2 pt).


What we thought:

The boys won't eat anything mixed together so they had just plain chicken and the side items.

Aubrey picked out the pickle and celery because they were spicy. Um.. not sure where that came from since she is The Spicy Queen!! And really, celery? Spicy?? At least I had a good laugh over that.

Drew thought it was great and loved how light it was. He had two sandwiches.

Me: I thought it was FaBuLoUs! It was everything I imagined and hoped it to be. I found that 1/3 cup or so was pleanty on a sandwich (for all of us) so I had some on the side as well. Plus it was so simple to make, it's crazy! This will definitley be something will enjoy on a frequent basis and probably on rolls instead of bread.

I'm so glad I didn't cheat. And, I'm SO glad there are leftovers for lunch tomorrow!!!

If you know of any variations to make this even better, please share!!