Healthier Chicken Salad with Apples and Almonds

Chicken salad has never been one of my favorites. It probably has to do with the fact that the traditional American Chicken salad is smeared in mayonnaise. ANYTHING coated in globs of mayo seems to be unappealing to me. I like a little, just not a lot.

However, I tried the Sonoma Chicken Salad at Whole Foods and I was quite surprised. So when the husband requested some chicken salad the other day, the Whole Foods recipe came to mind and I decided to tweak it a bit.

First, I wanted to make it healthier. So I cut A LOT of the mayonnaise and substituted plain non fat greek yogurt for the majority of the mayo in the recipe.. Greek yogurt is simply wonderful and can be substituted into a vast array of recipes. Use it in place of sour cream when baking, or in creamy soups and casseroles. Truly a miracle ingredient! For the rest of the mayo I used an olive oil based mayonnaise.

Next, I wanted to add the sweetness that comes with chopped apples.

Finally, I wanted CRUNCH. And some chopped almonds seemed to do the trick.

The final product turned out to be quite the hit. We made some sandwiches on a hearty whole grain bread and packed them for the beach. I say "hearty" because you gotta have a bread that is sturdy enough to hold the ingredients. No wonder bread, please!

Don't they look good?? (Added some cheese for the husband, and lettuce for me. I need lettuce on my sandwiches....)


Inspired by Whole Foods Sonoma Chicken Salad
Makes about 4 decent sized sandwiches

Ingredients:
2 chicken breasts, poached
1/2 cup celery, finely chopped
1 small fuji apple, chopped
1/2 cup almonds, coarsely chopped and toasted
1/4 cup greek yogurt
2 tbsp olive oil mayonnaise
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp honey ( or agave nectar)
black pepper to taste (about 1/2 tsp)
1/2 tsp onion powder
1 tsp poppy seeds

1. Heat up a small sauce pan with water over high heat. When water is boiling, reduce heat to simmer and add chicken breasts and cook for 10 minutes. Remove from heat, and allow chicken breasts to sit in water for 15 more minutes. After remove and place on cutting board. Shred into bite sized pieces.

2. Toast the almonds over medium heat. Remove from heat and let cool before adding to salad.

3. Whisk together greek yogurt, mayonnaise, apple cider vinegar, honey, black pepper and poppy seeds. Add Chicken, celery, apple and almonds. Mix it all up.

3. Spread onto some hearty whole grain bread. Add Cheese or Lettuce if you like!

*Note: I like it when the salad has been able to sit for a few hours in the fridge..lets the flavors set in.