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Chicken Salad



After moving from Idaho to Seattle eleven days ago, my kitchen is finally unpacked!  I'm so excited.  The kitchen was actually third on the priority list.  When we returned from Iowa on Friday, the next day we started unpacking our clothes.  That took the whole day and another enormous pile of Goodwill soon appeared.  It's overwhelming to see how much stuff one accumulates over time and I did a lot of cleaning out while I was packing, but not enough.  The next day we unpacked bathroom stuff.  I cleaned out all my old makeup and threw out all the outdated first-aid items.  Again, amazing how stuff accumulates.   Monday we started on the kitchen.  So many boxes...and again, several boxes for the Goodwill.  So, you're probably asking why did I move so much stuff I'm just throwing away or giving to the Goodwill?  I'm taking more time to think about what I want and don't want and what I want to fill this nice house with.  It just seems easier to decide now that I'm here. Yesterday, I took most the day off because a friend came over and brought lunch since she knew we were still unpacking. Then we went down to nearby Lincoln Park to enjoy the beautiful day.


It's hard to unpack everyday when the weather is so gorgeous. 


It felt good to get out. Today actually breaks the record in Seattle of 47 days with 80+ temperature that was set in 1958 and we're loving this weather. Lincoln Park has a large salt water public pool and I hope next year we'll have time to enjoy it with equally great weather as this summer has had.


Bruce was jealous that I had such a fun day walking around at Lincoln park so once he stopped working from his home office


we headed down to Alki Beach to one of our favorite places for dinner called Cactus.


They are currently serving Peach Basil Margaritas so I got one since I love all the peaches in season right now. It was delicious and I loved eating the two slices of peaches at bottom of the glass.


After dinner we walked on the beach and watched the sunset on another lovely evening.


Now that my kitchen is unpacked, I'm craving salads after all our grilling on the barbecue this summer when I had limited supplies on hand.  So, after finishing unpacking the kitchen today, I made a chicken salad for dinner tonight, cooked up a couple of super sweet corn-on-the cob and sat out on the deck enjoying the evening.



There are so many variations of chicken salad but I like it pretty simple with celery, cucumbers, avocados, slice blacked olives and a little red onion.  It was perfect for dinner tonight.

Serves 4

1 pound cooked, diced chicken breast or about 2 cups sprinkled with a little thyme and oregano while it cooks
3 stalks celery, finely chopped
1 apple, diced
1/4  cup mayonnaise 
1/4 cup sour cream or plain yogurt
juice of 1/2 fresh lemon
salt and pepper to taste

optional:  
1 whole cucumber, sliced into small pieces
2 avocados, sliced into cubes
1- 3 ounce can sliced, black olives

1.  Combine all ingredients in a large bowl.  Stir to combine.
2.  Arrange lettuce leaves on each plate.  Spoon chicken salad on top.


We served this salad with corn-on-the-cob because we want to enjoy every bit of summer left.  But you could also serve this with a nice crusty roll or fruit on the side.   However you like, it will always be a tasty meal on a warm summer evening.










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