Dried Cranberry and Blue Cheese Chicken Salad

Less than a week until my wedding.  Today a dear friend came over to help me fold all of my wedding programs and I made this for lunch for us.  This is my new favorite type of chicken salad.  I am a chicken salad fiend!  While I am on the subject of superb chicken salads before I put my own creation up, I want to call your attention to two types of specialty chicken salad that the Publix grocery stores deli section now occasionally carry:  Mango Lime Cilantro Chicken Salad and Almond Tarragon Chicken Salad.  They are both amazing and I encourage you to try them.  I may try to make my own versions of them soon.  

This chicken salad is very easy.  I got the inspiration for it by eating a delicious blue cheese chicken salad at Emma's Tearoom in Huntsville:  http://www.emmastearoom.com/Todays_Menu.html  If you are in the Huntsville 5-points area, you should check them out. 

With all chicken salads, you add ingredients to your taste and the exact measurements of items are really irrelevant, but I will try to approximate on this one.  

DRIED CRANBERRY AND BLUE CHEESE CHICKEN SALAD

1 small rotisserie roasted chicken de-skinned and chopped up or 3 baked boneless skinless chicken breasts cut up

1 cup finely chopped celery

1/2 cup toasted walnuts

1 cup blue cheese crumbles (or 1/2 cup strong creamy roquefort) (I love blue cheese so I put more)

1 granny smith or gala apple finely chopped

1/2 cup dried craisins (cranberry)

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper

1/4 tsp celery seeds

1 cup light mayonnaise (Duke's is my favorite)

Mix all ingredients together and let sit in the refrigerator at least 4 hours.  I think chicken salads are always better made several hours to a day or two ahead.  I served mine on croissants today with a serving of fresh sliced Baldwin County strawberries.  I picked them up at Burris Farm Market in Loxley, AL coming back from the beach not long ago. 

I got this French transferprint plate this past weekend at an estate sale for $1.  I think it is so pretty.  I looked up the maker's mark and found out it is from around 1928.