Sonoma Chicken Salad
This recipe is from one of those free little recipe books at Whole Foods. The grapes make it stand out from a garden variety chicken salad. We didn't have some of the ingredients, so we had to improvise a little.
The dressing:
1 cup mayonnaise (We used Hellman's lite)
4 tsp apple cider vinegar
5 tsp organic honey (We used regular)
2 tsp poppy seeds (We used sesame seeds instead– tasted great)
Sea salt and fresh ground white pepper to taste (Again, we just used regular fresh ground black pepper)
The Salad:
2 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/4 cup pecan halves, chopped and toasted (We just skipped this)
2 cups red seedless grapes
3 stalks celery, thinly sliced (We diced it)
Prepare the dressing by thoroughly mixing together all dressing ingredients in a bowl. Refrigerate until ready to dress the salad (can be prepared up to 2 days ahead). Preheat oven to 375°F. Place chicken breasts in one layer in a baking dish with 1/2 cup of water. Cover with foil and bake 25 minutes until completely cooked through. Remove cooked chicken breasts from baking pan, cool at room temperature for 10 minutes, then cover and refrigerate. When the breasts are completely chilled (at least 2 hours refrigerated), dice into bite-sized pieces and transfer to a large bowl. Stir in pecans, grapes, celery, and dressing.
Marie's Poppy Seed Dressing can be substituted for the homemade dressing. They both taste identical. This is a great salad.