Chicken Salad

For as long as I can remember my dad would make chicken salad with leftover chicken. One of my favorites was always when he would make it with leftover barbecue chicken and it would have the flavor of the grill and sauce throughout. Well, I roasted a chicken the other day and made a chicken salad with the leftovers. I think I'll have to make for dad next time I see him because I'm pretty sure he'll really like it.

Chicken Salad
(all measurements are approximate)

3 cups of cut up chicken (if you don't roast or grill your own, the roasted chickens you buy at the supermarket work well too)
1 half small onion diced
1 handfuls of chopped walnuts
1 handful dried cranberries
1/2 green apple diced
1/4-1/2 cup mayonnaise
2-3 tbsp Dijon mustard
Fresh cracked black pepper

1. In a large bowl mix chicken, onion, walnuts, cranberries and apple.
2. Add mayonnaise 1/4 cup at a time and Dijon mustard a tbsp at a time to get the chicken salad to your preferred consistency.
3. Once it's all mixed add plenty of cracked black pepper, it adds just the right amount of bite to offset the sweetness of the fruit. Enjoy in a sandwich with some cheddar cheese or scoop some onto a salad.

The boy was very impressed by this salad. It was clearly not what he was expecting when I said I was going to make chicken salad. I was originally just going to use just cranberries and walnuts but on first taste it was missing something and the onions and apples added a brightness and crunch that really pulled it all together.