Way back when my sister and I were discussing what should be on the menu for a family get together. We got down to the salad dressing. “Honey Dijon?” I asked. It was kind of a new thing then. “No one likes that,” she said, flatly. But I didn’t say, “I do, I do!” And goodness help me, I do.  Home-made at least, and especially on this Fruited Chicken Salad with Honey Dijon. Don’t tell my sis!

Fruited Chicken Salad with Honey Dijon Dressing

And I do love the Honey Dijon in this salad. I love it. Yes, yes, yes I do. And I do know other people that like it, too; over the years I’ve made this for lots of friends, so this is an oldie but a goodie. And I think it will never go out of style – but then I think the same thing about a lot of the things I wear, too. Yup, a couple of young friends had to talk to me about white shoes and white socks awhile back…thanks, Jenni & Kyle! I’m sporting black no show anklets, now, with my purple tennies.

About Fruited Chicken Salad with Honey Dijon:

I have been making this salad literally for decades. I think I’d place the time period it’s from in about the ’90s. But I figure if something was good then, it’s good now (with a few exceptions here and there!)

Since I’m by myself right now (a taste of freedom, sorry folks, that’s my favorite octogenarians. I love you but I needed a little vacay!) I cut back on the amounts of this salad so keep that in mind when you look at the pics. Seriously, I could have eaten this for days. The nectarines (which were glorious!), grapes and crunchy celery are such a nice foil for that chicken and the sprinkling of almonds add a little crunch and just take everything over the top. You know what might be good in this, though? Bacon. Yeah…

Use this recipe as a template and use whatever seasonal fruit you’d like, along with any good green lettuce. Mix it together if you want. I just took the pretentious route and laid it out in rows. Just coz I think it looks cooler! But doesn’t putting a few simple items in a salad just kind of elevate the whole works? I mean a few grapes, a nectarine, and a little celery never tasted so good!

Fruited Chicken Salad with Honey Dijon Dressing

Making Fruited Chicken Salad with Honey Dijon:

You could use just about any kind of chicken for this salad. Rotisserie chicken, leftover chicken or you can simply poach a chicken breast or two. That’s my favorite chicken to use in this recipe.

Poaching chicken is easy. Just add your chicken breasts to a saucepan of water, gently bring to a bare simmer and let them go for about 10 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through. The low temperature and moist-heat cooking method cooks the chicken gently and prevents it from overcooking. The cooked chicken is moist and tender. I like to toss in a couple of peppercorns and a pinch or two of salt, and if it is at all possible, I let the chicken cool in the broth. It makes a big difference in how moist your chicken is.

The dressing of course, as you can see by the ingredients is nothing more than a doctored up mayonnaise. It takes about three minutes to whip together and that’s with getting the ingredients out and putting them back. Gotta love that!

Slice round objects between two lids! Run knife horizontally thru center..

Saving Money on Fruited Chicken Salad with Honey Dijon:

When shopping for fruits and vegetables, it doesn’t hurt to pull out the sales flyer and see what’s on special and design your menu that week around it – especially in the summer when there are so many gorgeous things to choose from and a new sale each week. Buy enough of what’s on sale to last through the early parts of the next week, too.

When a sale is good, with a lot of items, you can pick out items that are perfectly ripe or close to it for the current week and ones that might need to sit on a sunny window sill to ripen up for the following week. Then you can take advantage of those prices. Some things that come to mind are peaches, nectarines, tomatoes and of course, avocados.

Do watch for sales prices on the lettuce and eat more of it when the price is great – don’t be tempted by the bags which are easily, if compared by the pound to the loose lettuce by the head or in a bin, 4 to 10 times the amount! I know they’re prewashed and seem convenient, but really, you should absolutely run the bagged stuff for a good period of time under running water. There are so many recalls and alerts on the packaged, bagged stuff.

Fruited Chicken Salad with Honey Dijon Dressing

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I’m toting this recipe over to Angie’s Fiesta Friday #185, hosted this week by Suzanne @ apuginthekitchen and Monika @ Everyday Healthy Recipes. I encourage you to take a second or two, click over to the party and see what it’s about. Angie has one of the most amazing link ups and it’s so much fun to see what the bloggers are making each week.