Farmer's Market Chicken Salad for 242sDay

Well, we made it.


Weather delays and an extra overnight stay at a sleazy airport hotel in Charlotte, NC made the trip home just a little longer than we had thought.  It's been a long time since I skulked out of a sleazy motel at the crack of dawn still wearing the same clothes from the night before.  But that, while a memorable night from my youth, is a different story and has nothing to do with food.


So, after a 6:30 AM take off, and a 9 AM landing at Kansas City International Airport, we are home.


We were met at the airport by friends.  With just a little prodding (and a promise of dinner), we made a side trip to the Kansas City Farmer's Market.  Now I felt like I was home.What seemed like mile after mile (OK, 10 foot square booth after 10 foot square booth) of freshly picked sweet corn, the most beautiful tomatoes, artisan sausages, breads, cheeses and my beloved spice guy.


I cried just a bit.  


I formed a lot of opinions in the last six months about world poverty and the American health and diet.  One is a tragedy by fate.  One is a tragedy by choice.  With great difficulty, in the worst environments, individuals can escape poverty.  The American tragedy is not the diet, the tragedy is that it is a problem of our own making, so easily corrected.


One more related aside... I also stopped at our neighborhood grocery store.  HUGE, every choice I could imagine.  There was a display of football watching foods, more square foot for the display than the entire store in St Thomas.  The display only featured sugary soda pop, over salted snack crackers, and chemically processed cheese products in a can.


Hard to imagine someone returning to this display and crying.  Well, actually I can, but certainly not for the same reasons.


But I am digressing...


Here is my first dinner.


Didn't want to light up the grill, never dawned on me to fry up something.  I wanted a cold salad, something naturally sweet and filled with all the wonders a visit to a farmer's market holds...

Hey everybody... my well equipped kitchen even includes Mise en Place bowls.  That darned Jonie Mitchell.  You really don't know what you've got till you live 6 months without 'em.


OK, by far, the best chicken salad I have ever eaten.  Snappy crisp apples, sweet luscious grapes, the bite of pickles and the unique taste of Vidalia Onions combine with a little diced cilantro Chicken to make a fresh cool treat for our "glad to be home" dinner!


I fed 4 with this...


The meat from half a rotisserie Chicken, diced (about 1 cup)
1/2 cup diced sweet Onion
1/2 cup diced Sweet Gherkin Pickle
1/2 cup diced Granny Smith Apple
1/2 cup seedless Red Grapes, quartered
1/4 cup real Mayonnaise
2 tsp minced fresh Cilantro 
1 tsp Smoked Paprika


Mix well and serve.


Only hint, dice all the veggies the same size.


And I served this with the most incredible sweet Cantaloupe you can imagine.

Come back tomorrow and see what I did with the tomatoes I bought!

And I will be submitting this to Two for Tuesday.  Join the fun, all the ask is that you submit a recipe using "Real Food", I've been dreaming of REAL FOOD.  Makes me cry just a little bit (Click HERE for 2 for Tuesday details)...








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