Colorful Chicken Salad

You know I love to mix savory with sweet when it comes to dinner. You also probably know that Andrew hates it when I do that. But yesterday I was craving a good ol' homemade chicken salad sandwich. Usually I make a pretty simple recipe with roasted or poached chicken breasts, mayo, celery, and onion, but I was feeling the creative vibe and made a totally different chicken salad. As I was prepping all the ingredients, I was a little worried that Andrew may not like it since I was putting a touch of sweet into the salad. But I had no need to be worried. After Andrew finished his sandwich, he commented on how great it was and promptly fixed himself a second sandwich! At the end of dinner, Finley even remarked that "dinner was really, really good, Mama." Warms my heart!

When I was assembling this chicken salad, I was hoping to create something that was a little tangy (which is why I went heavy on the Dijon and added a little sour cream too) with really bright flavors, as well as colors - orange from dried apricots, bright green from pistachios and deep purple from red onions. I think I succeeded, and I hope you agree!

Colorful Chicken Salad

a Baking and Eggs original

2-4 chicken breasts, about 1.25 lbs, cooked and chopped

1/2 cup dried apricots, chopped

1/2 cup pistachios, shelled and chopped

1/3 cup red onion, finely diced

2 celery ribs, diced

3-4 tablespoons low fat mayonnaise

2 tablespoons creamy Dijon mustard

2 tablespoons low fat sour cream

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

kosher salt & freshly ground black pepper, to taste

lettuce and/or good bread, for serving

Combine all ingredients except lettuce and bread in a large bowl and mix well. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour to allow flavors to marry. Serve on lettuce as a salad or on bread (or croissants would be great too!) as a sandwich.