Heart Stopping Chicken Salad

Your heart won’t stop because of this delicious, healthy chicken salad recipe, but it might stop because it is so darn delicious! It tastes just like regular chicken salad (if not better), and it’s healthy.

Healthified Chicken Salad

~While usual chicken salad recipes contain bad-for-your-heart mayonnaise, this recipe has good-for-your-heart avocado! Gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, soy-free, and, of course, sugar-free!

Serves 2, but feel free to halve, double, or triple recipe.

Ingredients

1 cup cooked, diced or shredded chicken
1 stalk celery
1/2 apple
1 carrot
1 green onion/scallion
1/2 avocado
1 Tablespoon dijon mustard
1 tsp lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste
1 teaspoon capers
optional: 1 tsp fresh dill

Chop the carrots, celery, and apple and mix with the chicken and capers. Then, squish the avocado until smooth and mix into the veggie-chicken mix. Add the mustard, lemon juice, and salt and pepper to taste. Mix well and serve over a bed of spinach or on your favorite whole grain bread.

Health Benefits

Avocado: Avocados are high in monounsaturated fats that help the skin stay clear and protect your brain. It is also a good source of the carotenoid lutein. Lutein protects against macular degeneration and cataracts, two disabling age-related eye diseases. Avocado, like olive oil, is high in oleic acid, which has been shown to prevent breast cancer in numerous studies.
Chicken: Chicken’s high protein content can help protect against bone loss and help build muscles. It is also a very good source of the cancer-protective B vitamin, niacin. Components of DNA require niacin, and a deficiency of niacin (as well as other B-complex vitamins) has been directly linked to genetic (DNA) damage. The B vitamins in chicken can help prevent Alzheimer’s, boost energy, and help your heart stay strong!
Apples: “An apple a day keeps the doctor away!”  One large apple contains 30% of your daily value of fiber, and it helps aid in digestion and those suffering from constipation. A flavanoid called phloridzin that is found only in apples may protect post-menopausal women from osteoporosis and may also increase bone density. Boron, another ingredient in apples, also strengthens bones. It can also help lower cholesterol.

Thought-provoking, mind-prodding question of the day:

Describe your perfect picnic. Is it on the beach? By the lake? Under a tree? What kind of food would you serve? What kinds of activities would you do?

My perfect picnic would be on top of a grassy hill underneath a huge tree. 75* and sunny with blue skies. I would sit right in the grass on a huge blanket, and drink sparkling water. My picnic basket would be full of traditional picnic food: chicken salad, fresh fruit, fresh vegetables and hummus, and grain-free fudge brownies for dessert!