Chicken Salad on The Kelly Clarkson Show

Hey, all! Here is my chicken salad sandwich, as seen on The Kelly Clarkson Show. Also, the following is an excerpted chapter from my newest book You Were Always There. I’d be so grateful and overjoyed if you’d pick up a signed copy here! Enjoy!

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A Journey in Chicken Salad (from You Were Always There)

The last ten years have been a journey. We started out in a place, moved far away, and then moved again to end up right back where we started. I didn’t think it was supposed to be like this. I used to think you never go back to where you started from. That would be going backwards.            

Home reminds me of rest and healing. The city where I live now represents a time in my past that became really hard, and back then I had to go, and did. I feel almost as if I came back to make things right in my heart.

When we moved for the third time in eight years, I did a familiar thing. I packed my kitchen up and sat in an empty house. It was to be paper plates and take-out for the last few days of the move. Mike picked up chicken salad from our local grocery store deli.

When I was pregnant with Noah years ago, I’d have Mike stop at the deli and get me a chicken salad sandwich and banana cream pie. It was such a splurge, and we were careful where every penny went, but when you are pregnant you need some foods like you need air or water! He’d bring home a delicious sandwich with red leaf lettuce, whole grain bread, dilly chicken salad, red onions, and sometimes tomatoes. Something about that chicken salad was such a treat. I had no idea what was in store for us. We were going to have a baby, and our restaurant was closing its doors at the time. We were kids, clueless and unprepared. But when I look back, I have this deep nostalgia. It wasn’t all bad and awful, we were just making our way through life. And I can remember special, wonderful moments, times where no matter what the uncertainty, joy had a place in our hearts and home. Like when we’d eat chicken salad sandwiches and banana cream pie together, expecting our baby, trying to make the failing restaurant work, just trying to figure life out, and anticipating our future together.

We had Noah, and that next year we moved to Issaquah, Washington to start fresh, baby in tow and wide-eyed, expecting good things. Noah brought us such joy. Now a family of three, we’d swing into the deli often and grab those same sandwiches.

Nostalgia plays a huge part in my life. Memories for me are reminders that life is, was, and will continue to be good. Even during painful times, life is good. I’ve based my entire life’s work on believing in God’s promises.

After five years in our little apartment in Issaquah, we were ready to move on and into a house. After all, there were four of us now, little Milo, the sweetest baby alive, joining our ranks. There we were, packing up our home again, embarking on that next phase, a fresh chapter. And Mike, always on board for engaging in nostalgia, would swing into the deli and grab a pound of dill chicken salad, sustenance for moving out.

Our lives had been reimagined at this point; we were long miles away from where we originally thought we’d be. We were raising two boys now, and we’d had many adventures while living in that little apartment. I walked those halls for the last time and turned in our keys. I can’t help but think that that apartment is where our family truly began. Here, more than anywhere, is where we learned to love each other in the best way. Inside these walls we’d grown together and fought hard to keep it going. For us, chicken salad, by this point, had become emblematic of that growth.

Food will always evoke strong memories and emotion for me. I bet you never thought anyone could cry about chicken salad, but these dang sandwiches remind me of hope and God’s plan. If any food has the ability to remind me to hope, man, then I’ll take it.

We had many more ups, downs, adventures, and moving life experiences in our new home before it was time to go after nearly three years there. During the summer just prior to our last move, I attended my soon-to-be sister-in-law’s bachelorette party. Someone in her family made these delightful chicken salad sandwiches to pack along on a beach day. Unwrapping my sandwich so many memories came flooding back!

I considered how she was being welcomed into our family now and what a gift that was. Chicken salad seems to say goodbye and hello to new adventures for me. Also, I might add, that particular version of chicken salad is much tastier than mine, and I’ve since started making it their way.

Starting over isn’t easy. We fail, we cry, and we are embarrassed sometimes, but we have to keep going. We go through loss of homes, jobs, and marriages, and sometimes those we love the most move on and into heaven, leaving a void so empty we feel as if nothing could quite fix our hearts. And during all of it we eat. We eat to move on, we eat to get full, we eat to forget, we eat to heal, and we eat to remember. We have a bowl of soup or a slice of cake or a burger or fries like our mama made. We eat chicken salad sandwiches to remember moving on from our kitchens and that we don’t know what tomorrow brings, only that we are going there with the Lord’s help.

As of writing this, I made chicken salad this week. Me, Mike, and the boys have moved back to my hometown. It’s a healing time. I feel it. I toasted some bread and piled it high. Loads of dill and dried cranberries and green onions and a bit of Greek yogurt, all alongside mayo for extra creamy goodness. I thought about how we are home again, eating a fresh version of the chicken salad I’d enjoyed through so many transitional years. I’m a fresh version of myself. Time has added so many layers and uncovered so much good stuff.

The chicken salad is like that. I’ve continued to perfect the recipe I’ve loved for so many years, adding new ingredients, switching ingredients out, and fine tuning with every incarnation. Life isn’t about arriving at the destination, it’s about all the things we do on the way there and sharing our stories, for each one is a lesson to pass on. It’s about adding layers and new flavors as we go, all the while keeping on keeping on.

For me, life keeps coming back to food; food experiences have shaped me, and I’ve tried to recount those experiences to help shape others, leading them toward hope. Eating my chicken salad sandwich this week, I sat near the window, at peace. I don’t know what the future holds, but I intend to be present and fully in each moment.

I hope you make chicken salad and say hello to a big wide-open future. Put your trust and hope and desire in Jesus. He’s a good friend, a protection, and an ever-present help along the way.

 

Chicken Salad

 

Prep time 30 minutes

Bake time 25-30 minutes

Yields roughly 8 cups

 

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts (roughly 2 pounds)

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon all-purpose salt-free seasoning blend

Salt and pepper to taste

 

1 ½ cups Greek yogurt

1 cup mayonnaise

1 cup dried cranberries, chopped

1 cup sliced almonds

½ cup chopped fresh dill

½ cup chopped flat leaf parsley

3-4 green onions, sliced

2-3 ribs celery, diced

1 teaspoon onion powder

Salt and pepper to taste

 

1.     Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Lay the chicken breasts on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, drizzle with olive oil, and season with salt-free seasoning and salt and pepper.

2.     Bake 25-30 minutes or until chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees.

3.     Allow to cool enough to dice.

4.     While the chicken is baking, add the remaining ingredients to a mixing bowl. Place in fridge.

5.     Dice chicken and add to the mixing bowl. Mix and taste for seasoning. Store in the fridge.

6.     Salad keeps up to 4 days. Add a few tablespoons of mayo if you’d like more dressing in the mixture the next day.