I’ve come to the conclusion that if I ever published a cookbook, it would be titled “Cooking Without Measurements” since that’s what I do. At first I thought it would be for advanced cooks only; then I realized, it’s actually a great way for inexperienced/beginner cooks to get their bearings. You take the recipe and you have to experiment in order to get it right; what better & quicker way to familiarize yourself with how much salt is too much, or how little pepper is enough?
Having said that, I did pay careful attention to my measurements for this recipe.
- leftover chicken from the chicken noodle soup recipe (I do NOT recommend using any other leftover chicken; I will explain why in a minute)
- 2-3 ribs of celery
- 3 small Macintosh apples
- 6-7 capfuls lemon juice (I prefer fresh, always, but I keep a bottle of it on hand just in case)
- 3 large (bigger than tablespoons… I think it was a serving spoon) spoons of light mayo
- salt, to taste
In the past, I’ve roasted a whole chicken and used the remainder of the chicken for a delicious chicken salad similar to this one, minus the apples, plus dried dill. But that chicken had a distinct flavor from the seasonings I’d roasted the thing with; this chicken, since it was essentially boiled/poached for a few hours, had a much milder, blander taste to it, so I decided apples would compliment it nicely. I was right 
Shred chicken into bite-size (or smaller) chunks.
Sprinkle 2-3 capfuls of lemon juice over chicken.
Chop celery into bite size pieces. If you like more celery, by all means, add more, or if you hate it, add less or leave it out altogether! The fun part of cooking is that you get to pick what to add or leave out!!!
Chunk the apples (I left the skin on; it leaves a pretty color, since the skin is red & green). You can use any kind of apple, as long as it’s not too mushy, since the textures complement each other better when the apples are contrasting from the chicken.
Toss together with light mayo- I use store brand light mayo, it tastes just like regular mayo to me, and I used to be a heavy mayo eater.
Add salt to taste. Sprinkle more lemon juice, if desired. A bonus of the lemon juice, aside from the obvious taste factor, is that it prevents the apples from oxidizing. Which isn’t so bad except it looks ugly; there’s nothing worse than spending a lot of time/effort/love on making a dish that no one will eat because it’s ugly!
Serving suggestion: crackers, or at a picnic, yummy.
Step by step pictorial:
Enjoy!!!
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