White Wine Chicken Salad

We purchased a rotisserie chicken for dinner one Friday night and ended up not eating as much of it as we expected. Come lunch time Saturday it was not something that we wanted to re-heat (I'm not a fan of leftovers at all) but we also did not want to waste it. My idea was to make chicken salad. While I have made my fair share of tuna salad, I had never at this time attempted chicken salad. So, I used some staples common in a good tuna salad recipe like mayonnaise and hard boiled eggs. Then I looked at what was in our refrigerator and found a bell pepper and an onion and I decided to create a chicken salad recipe of my own. My all-time favorite chicken salad is from a locally owned restaurant called Norma's. She makes a uniquely delicious champagne chicken salad. Inspired by this incredible dish I decided to add a little Riesling to my recipe. Voila, chicken salad!

SERVES 2-4

Ingredients:

• 2 cups chicken, shredded
• .5 cup sour cream
• 3 eggs, boiled and diced
• .25 red bell pepper, chopped
• .25 cup onion, chopped
• handful dried cranberries
• .5 cup mayonnaise or miracle whip
• .25 cup white wine (a sweet Riesling is preferred)
• .25 teaspoon salt
• .25 teaspoon black pepper
• .25 teaspoon garlic powder
• .25 teaspoon dill
• .5 teaspoon brown sugar
• .25 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Cookware/Utensils:

• small glass bowl
• medium glass bowl
• large spoon
• measuring cups
• cutting board
• santoku or chef's knife

Place salt, pepper, garlic powder, dill, brown sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Set aside. In large bowl add chicken, sour cream, eggs, bell pepper, onion and cranberries. Stir until mixed. Add mayonnaise and stir again until all ingredients are mixed together. Pour wine over the mixture. Add all dry ingredients from the small bowl. Stir thoroughly. Place in the refrigerator for at least one hour before serving.

***Remove from refrigerator and serve in a pita, on your favorite bread as a sandwich or place on a bed of spinach as seen above.