Chicken Salad with Noodley Goodness

I am so super duper triple quadruple sick of the heat this summer. I've been avoiding the oven as much as I possibly can. We've gotten sick of my go to salad recipes, so I decided to switch things up and make chicken salad from A Well Seasoned Life.

Instead of lemon pepper rotisserie chicken, I used about 3 large grilled chicken breasts.  I had Mrblocko brush them with Italian salad dressing and lemon pepper.  Had I been thinking, I would have marinaded them first.  As it is, I thought it was pretty swell that I remembered to thaw the chicken out so he could grill them up over the weekend for me to use later in the week.

I also added about a third of a box of noodles.  Obviously, I cooked them before adding them to my salad.  Well, maybe not so obviously.  I've been super spacy and forgetful this summer.  I blame it on the heat and extreme allergy-ness. 

Apparently, my cilantro doesn't like this weather either.  I killed all the cilantro in my garden, so I bought a bunch at the store.  I got around to using it 3 days after I bought it, and nearly all of it was slimy!  Doh!  I was able to salvage a scant 1/4 c, so I added a few ribs of finely chopped celery.  I really liked the crunch this added to the salad.

I ate my chicken salad over a bed of lettuce.

Blockette thought this salad was icky because she could "see" the mayo.  I'm not sure what that had to do with anything.  Probably because she watched me make this salad, and knew that it had mayo in it, she decided it must be gross.

I asked her if she would eat it if she couldn't "see" any of the mayo, and she said, "Of course."

So I wrapped her salad up in lettuce leaves. Blockette thought this was super cool and happily ate her "lettuce burritos" without a fuss. She even went as far as to say she liked them and would I make them again? It's funny how a simple thing, like a leaf of lettuce, made such a big difference.


Chicken Pasta Salad adapted from A Well Seasoned Life
1 rotissarie chicken or 3-4 grilled chicken breasts, shredded
4 green onions, chopped
2 ribs of celery, finely diced
1/4-1/2 c chopped fresh cilantro (I totally think you could use fresh parsley if you are freaky and think cilantro tastes like dirt.)
1/3 lb short cut pasta, (like macaroni) cooked, drained and rinsed in cool water to prevent sticking

special super secret sauce
1 c mayo (I like the kind made with olive oil)
2 T spicy mustard
4-5 drops hot sauce
1/4 t pepper
1/4 t garlic salt
1/2 t smoked paprika

Blend your super secret sauce ingredients together.  Add everything else and mix until combined.  Chill for a few hours so the flavors can mingle and get happy with each other.  Scoop onto a bread like substance for a sandwich, over lettuce, or like Blockette prefers, wrapped in leafy greens!