Summer lunch . . .

I've learned, over the years, to plan ahead a bit and seem to save twice as much time that way. One 'trick' is that when I grill boneless chicken breasts for dinner, I do a couple extra ones for later use. There are several ways to use those extra pieces of chicken. Sometimes, thin slices of chicken over a simple salad makes a great, quick lunch. You can dice it up and add the meat to chicken broth for soup. I've done this with bullion, frozen mixed vegetables, and the chicken and had a bowl of soup in front of everyone in less than 30 minutes. Granted, it is not as perfect as using long simmered broth, but it provides a meal and warms the heart which time is of the essence.

Our favorite way to use the extra white chicken meat is for chicken salad sandwiches. They are especially good on a hot day when you are hungry but don't want to load up on a heavy meal but still have to eat something.

Chicken Salad Sandwiches
Sandwich bread of your choice
2-3 grilled chicken breasts
1 tablespoon Dijon Mustard
1/4 cup Thousand Island dressing
2 tablespoons either sweet or dill pickle relish
Salt & pepper to taste

Cube the meat and place it and the rest of the ingredients in a food processor and pulse until the meat is almost ground but still chunky. If it is too dry, add a dab of mayo. Tastes for seasoning and make sandwiches.

My family likes it basic as directed above. However, there is no law against adding a slice of tomato and some Romaine to your sandwich. If you have some fried bacon around, that with a slice of avocado along with the chicken salad is very good. I have been known to add some thin slices of red onion to my sandwich. Grilled onions are also good as is a sprinkling of those canned fried onions. Some people like to add some toasted walnuts. Adding sliced green or black olives could be a plus.

Instead of sandwich bread, you can use hamburger buns (toasted helps!) or rolls. Sour dough bread is very nice as are the sprouted wheat breads.

As you can see, you can fuss or not over these sandwiches and still come out as the heroine of the kitchen once more!