Autumn Chicken Salad

Earlier today I had a late lunch, so at dinner time, I wasn’t hungry at all. Naturally though by about 9 o’clock I had the munchies. Of course I didn’t want a heavy meal so I had to check out the pantry to see what I could scrounge up. Low and behold, I had some canned chicken and thought I’d throw together a little chicken salad. For some reason, that sounded kinda good.

Normally, I make chicken salad the usual boring way… with mayo, celery, maybe some grapes, onions, blah blah blah. I had some farm fresh apples in the fridge and seeing yesterday was the first day of Fall, I thought maybe I could concoct some sort of “autumn-ish” chicken salad. So I continued searching for items I could add into the mix.

Of course a touch of chopped purple onion is a must, along with some red and orange pepper I had on hand. I hit a home run when I found some Trader Joe’s “Roasted and Salted” Pecans, which added a huge touch of fall flavor!

Now get this! In my cupboard I had some dried dates and figs! I chose the dates and chopped some up, along with a few dried apricots I had on hand. BINGO! My Autumn Chicken Salad was coming together nicely!

I added a touch of salt and pepper and then thought….. cinnamon…. that’s “fall-ish”! And while I was at it, a touch of All Spice.

I mixed it all together with a heaping tablespoon of mayo and much to my surprise, it was delicious! I chilled it for about 15 minutes while I took my evening shower and then came back downstairs and had a small sandwich with the other half of the apple I didn’t use.

Cut calories by using low fat mayo and eat it on lettuce instead of bun and you’ll save even more! I didn’t do either, but I did eat it with apples instead of chips, so that counts for something! 🙂