protein salad

From the Whole30 cookbook.

Protein salad base

-1# protein (cooked chicken, salmon or tuna, 8 hard-boiled eggs)
-1/4 c creamy base (mayo)
-2 T acid (lemon juice, lime juice, vinegar such as rice wine or ACV)
-salt & pepper

What I typically add: apples and almonds and celery and onions (green), with lettuce

Other good mixes:
-sliced grapes, onions, celery, slivered almonds
-Kalamata olives, roasted tomatoes, pine nut, basil (with red wine vinegar)
-mandarin orange slices, celery, chopped kale, cilntro (with lime juce or rice wine vinegar)
-sliced strawberries, blueberries, green onion, pecans, fresh parsley
-diced apples, roasted sweet potato or butternut squash, sweet onions, raisins, walnuts (with ACV)

Chicken Salad in Phyllo Cup

Chckn Salad in Fillo Cup Dish
Originally uploaded by gummychild

Quick chicken salad made from what I had on hand:

- 1 Chicken breast, diced into small pieces and poached.
- 1 apple, diced.
- 2-3 stalks of celery, cleaned, stripped and diced.
- 4 thin slices of deli honey ham, torn into pieces by hand (or you can dice)
- A handful of raisins
- 1 Tablespoon of light mayo (or more based on your preference)
- Toasted sesame seeds
- Salt and pepper

Mix everything together, and season to taste. =) Place in the refrigerator and serve when ready.

I tried to make a phyllo cup to place our salad in, only, as you can see, it kinda collapsed in the oven.

Collapsed Phyllo Cup...
Originally uploaded by gummychild

However, it was still fun to put the chicken salad on top, and breaking it up with our forks over dinner and mixing it well with our chicken salad. It gave it all a nice, crunchy texture, hee hee...

The salad itself was really refreshing and light! Not heavy at all, and the apples and raisins made it more fruity than a usual chicken salad. If I had a lemon, I'd squeeze some lemon juice in it for some zing. ^_^ The apples didn't oxidize, and I'm guessing it's because of the mayo because it would block its exposure to oxygen.