A delight of a sandwich filling—Red-Pepper Chicken Salad

The magazine featured it as an appetizer, but for a chicken-salad fan as I am, it looked like a bona-fide sandwich filling. I quickly made a batch of this Red-Pepper Chicken Salad mixture and served it for a meal.

Another December dining solution taken care of! The recipe called for chopped cooked chicken, toasted pecans, green onions, and cilantro. Red-pepper jelly gave it a delightful kick.

The recipe was called “Chicken Salad Pitas”, but I served it on some wheat sandwich slims and sliced an avocado as garnish. Best to follow what the recipe says and let it chill for 4 hours, but in my haste I skipped the “chill” step and spread it on the sandwich buns immediately. Excellent!

Red-Pepper Chicken Salad

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1/3 cup red-pepper jelly

1/4 cup minced green onions

2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

1 teaspoon lime zest

1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper

2 cups finely chopped cooked chicken

1/2 cup finely chopped celery

1/2 cup finely chopped toasted pecans

salt (or salt substitute) and freshly ground black pepper to taste

24 mini pita pockets, halved (I used sandwich slims bread)

1 bunch fresh watercress

In a large bowl whisk together the first 6 ingredients; stir in chicken and next 2 ingredients until blended. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Cover and chill 4 hours. Fill pitas with watercress and chicken salad. Serve immediately. Makes 4 dozen mini pitas. (Source: Southern Living December 2012; featured as Chicken Salad Pitas)

Retiring the ho-hum tuna sandwich spread in favor of this lively dish

Its title was Tuna Grape Salad, but in our book, it just as easily could be Tuna GREAT Salad. Just so many ways exist to dress up the base element of a tuna sandwich, but this is one of the best combos I’ve tried.

Tuna, red grapes, onion, green onion, celery, chopped almonds, and curry for seasoning set this mixture apart as a spread on a sandwich or an elegant salad on a buffet table. In fact, to style this accompanying photo, I poured the salad into the one of the fanciest serving dishes I own. It looked right at home in the hobnail glass. Hard to find a salad that’s just as comfortable between two slices of bread as it is ready to serve to an uptown ladies’ lunch.

To think that when I was growing up, I disdained tuna sandwiches and rolled my eyes whenever my mom put them on the table. For shame!

My undying thanks to “Celebrating a Healthy Harvest” cookbook for suggesting this dish under its “grape” category.

Tuna Grape Salad

2 (4-ounce) cans chunk light tuna, drained

2 cups red grapes, halved

1/4 cup plain nonfat yogurt

1/4 cup lite mayonnaise

2 teaspoon yellow curry powder

2 tablespoons green onions, sliced

1/4 cup chopped almonds

2 tablespoons onion, minced

1 cup celery, diced

Mix all ingredients. Serve on bread or with crackers or chips.