Chicken Salad and Otis Redding

This past Saturday, I made chicken salad. I really enjoy making salads in the summer: chicken salad, pasta salad, tuna salad, etc. They’re so easy to prepare ahead of time and provide plenty of leftovers for lunch throughout the week. There are two versions of chicken salad that I make. One is my Sitty’s (grandmother’s) recipe. It’s more of a chicken salad spread. The other I had at a family friend’s house when she hosted a bridal shower for me. It’s delicious and full of various textures and flavors.

The chopped celery, apples and slivered almonds give it a great crunch and the rotisserie chicken has awesome flavor. In fact, I just finished the last helping of chicken salad this afternoon. You can serve this dish over a bed of iceberg lettuce or as a sandwich. It also goes great with a side of sliced cantaloupe.

We’re gearing up for Italian Fest! Tomorrow is the group meeting before the festival officially kicks off Thursday night. And Stewart and I are hosting the meeting! I just took some mini meatballs out of the oven and plan to make little meatball subs with them. Be on the watch for that recipe soon. Our Italian Fest’s team name is Holy Cannoli, so I even bought mini cannolis to serve for a sweet treat tomorrow night.

Now that we’ve talked some eats, let’s listen to some beats. When I say I love Otis Redding; I mean I LOVE OTIS REDDING! He is my favorite male, soul singer. My Dad used to play his greatest hits album in the car when I was growing up; and every time I listen to him sing, I sway my head to the music. His voice is so raw with emotion. For today’s beat I chose “A Change Is Gonna Come” because it’s a great song to let you hear how much soul and power is in Otis Redding’s voice. You just feel it.

June is also Black Music History month, and there’s no doubt Otis Redding left his iconic mark on soul. At the young age of 26, Otis Redding died in a plane crash in 1967. Ironically, that day is my birthday.



Don’t be chicken when it comes to adding the mayo in this recipe; that was my attempt at a very bad joke. Anyhow, just add it little by little until it meets your liking. Start with about two large spoonfuls and go from there. Pretty much with this recipe, you'll just want to eye the exact amounts of ingredients.

Julia

Chicken Salad: *Serving size is roughly 4
Two rotisserie chicken breasts, chopped; remove the skin and bone.
3 Granny Smith apples, chopped. You can keep the skin on.
Grapes, halved
Slivered almonds, prepackaged
Celery, chopped
Mayonnaise
Salt and pepper to taste

Mix the first 6 ingredients together in a large bowl. Add salt and peppter to taste. It's best served cold.