The World's Best Chicken Salad

I found this recipe in one of Tamar Myers' Penn Dutch Inn mysteries. It goes fast if you have folks who like the tang of the blue cheese. If you choose to omit the blue cheese, there will be nothing special about it, though.

* 2 cups cooked chicken
*1/2 cup celery, diced
* 1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
* 1/2 cup mayonnaise
* 1/4 cup chunky blue cheese salad dressing
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
* ground black pepper to taste

Directions

1. In bowl, combine ingredients.
2. Toss well to mix.
3. Cover and chill at least 2 hours.
4. Serve as a sandwich or a filling for a cut tomato.

You can dress it up or down, I suppose, as you wish. I add a half cup or so of sliced seedless green grapes. The mix-- I know Ted would never eat this! -- of sweet grapes and sharp blue cheese, tender chicken bits and hard walnuts, makes for an interesting taste sensation. If you used store-bought chicken strips and cut them up, omit the salt.

You can use leftover turkey from Thanksgiving if you do turkey. In that case, add dried cranberries instead of green grapes to give it a seasonal flavor. Some people use raisins, but I don't care for that so much, but you could also throw in a chopped apple to give it a Waldorf note. And you could go with almonds instead of walnuts, or pecans for a Texas version.