Rustic Chicken Salad with Basil & Tomaotes

Aaahhhh..... the lazy crazy days of summer! You know those days, the ones when you spend most of your waking hours outside enjoying the glorious weather. A little bit of gardining, playing in the sandbox with the kids, lounging with a book under a shady tree, sipping sangria on the patio with your girlfriends.... ahhh, heaven! Well, if you're anything like me, I dread coming in from the sunshine on a beautiful summer day to make lunch for everyone. Don't get me wrong, I love making a yummy lunch, but I hate fussing about the kitchen while I'm missing out on being outside.

So, I'm going to let you in on a little tip! While you're busy in the kitchen making your morning coffee and puttering around anyway, whip up
this chicken salad. It will save you tons of time later on! Any leftover chicken from last night's dinner is perfect for this chicken salad. Just chop, toss and stir - that's it!

The tomato and basil flavours in this chicken salad are a nod to summer. The radish and red onion give it a bit of crunch and a bit of flavour zing. It's loaded with veggies which are oh-so-good for you and we all know we need to get more servings of fresh veggies in our diet each day. Besides, these veggies are delicious anyway!

Okay, so back to the recipe... once it's ready cover it up and pop it in the fridge until you're ready for lunch. It hardly gets any easier than this! Just grab the bowl, a serving spoon, some lettuce and a bag of rustic whole grain buns and lunch is served! Letting the chicken salad sit in the fridge for a few hours helps let all of the flavours meld together.... kinda like that sangria I was talking about earlier! So really, it's like this lunch was just made for glorious summer days!

Update: I'm alaways excited when one of my recipe blogs is featured on the feedfeed's website!  This recipe was featured in their Sandwich love! feed - check it out! https://thefeedfeed.com/lovegoodfoodblog/rustic-chicken-salad-and-basil-sandwiches

INGREDIENTS

- 1 cup of shredded chicken
- 1/4 cup of mayonnaise
- 1/4 cup of sour cream
- cherry tomatoes, quartered
- 1 radish, chopped
- slice of red onion, diced
- basil leaves, chopped
- chives, chooped
- dash of kosher salt
- dash of black pepper
- sprinkle of sugar


DIRECTIONS

1. In a bowl combine mayonnaise, sour cream, pepper, salt and sugar and stir
2. Add shredded chicken, tomatoes, radish, onion, basil, and chives and stir until all mixed
3. Cover chicken salad and refrigerate
4. To prepare sandwiches I like to add a layer of lettuce on the bottom and load on the chicken salad

* I love using a rustic bun like these multigrain buns I found at the bakery in my local supermarket