When I was in California last month I had lunch with a few of my mother’s friends. They all enjoy reading my blog so I asked them which types of articles they like the best; funny stories, faith stories, recipes, etc. My mom’s friend, Barbara, said, “Well, I don’t cook so you can just eliminate those recipes completely.” This from the same woman that convinced my mother that she needed a strawberry huller. Actually, I should thank her for that because it gave me the opportunity to unload the one I had so foolishly purchased a few years ago. A great concept, but in all honesty, a knife is about ten times faster for removing strawberry hulls.
Today’s blog has nothing to do with strawberries other than the ones you see in the picture. I simply included that story to apologize to Barbara in advance for ignoring her advice, because today’s blog features a yummy recipe.
A few years ago when I first heard I have an intolerance to soy I thought to myself, “Well, that’s no big deal; I hardly ever eat soy sauce.” But then I went shopping and it turns out that soy is in EVERYTHING! Okay, everything is kind of a stretch, but seriously it’s in about 80% of all processed foods. Start looking; you’ll be amazed. And, soybean oil is the number one ingredient in mayonnaise.
I’m not much of a sandwich person so not being able to have mayonnaise isn’t a huge deal until you want potato salad, or artichoke dip, or chicken salad, and I LOVE chicken salad. For two years when I saw chicken salad on a menu, well, it just made me want to go out and burn some soybean fields. (Don’t worry; you won’t have to bail me out of jail. I know it would be wrong.)
However, after two years on a non-Chicken Salad diet, I finally found a recipe for an avocado chicken salad and I thought to myself, “I like avocadoes. I should try this.” Basically, the recipe substituted avocado and lemon (or possibly lime) for the mayonnaise. And while it was good, I decided to make it my own, complete with the addition of cashews and dill weed that had been part of the mayonnaise-based chicken salad in my previous life.
The soybean fields are safe once again.
Avocado Chicken Salad
- 2 cups diced chicken (I prefer to grill mine first with a lemony marinade but it’s not critical – although it will taste a lot better.)
- ¼ cup diced onion (more if you love onions like I do)
- ½ cup diced celery
- 2 large ripe avocados
- 1 ½ teaspoon lemon juice
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1/8 teaspoon pepper
- 1/8 teaspoon dried dill weed (more according to your taste preferences)
- ¼ – ½ cup salted cashews
In a small bowl place diced chicken, onions and celery. In a separate small bowl place the flesh scooped out of the two avocados. Add lemon juice and mash together until the mixture is creamy. Stir in the salt, pepper and dill weed. Blend the avocado mixture with the chicken, onions and celery. Before serving add the cashews and garnish with a few extra cashews and some dill weed. Makes 2 – 4 servings depending on appetite intensity.
I have successfully stored this salad overnight without it getting that nasty avocado brown color but if you’re serving it for company I’d suggest making it within 3 – 4 hours of when you plan to serve it.
As with all of my recipes, feel free to adjust ingredients to fit your taste buds. It’s not rocket science. If you decide to try it, let me know what you think.