Holy Moley it’s been pretty humid here. Today especially seems too humid and sticky out to bother with the oven. Luckily, we have lots of chicken available of all different types, so it makes it ideal to make some chicken salad sandwiches for dinner tonight. Personally, I love a good sandwich. I don’t eat cold cuts or deli meat, except for the occasional pastrami sandwich. I would much rather have a sandwich using fresh meat, like turkey, chicken or tuna, or even shrimp or lobster. There are a lot of things you can do to make any of these things into a great sandwich. Even just making a nice vegetable sandwich can be awesome, using fresh tomatoes, lettuce, maybe some grilled eggplant, mushrooms, the combinations can be endless. For tonight, we’ll keep it simple with basic chicken salad.

Chicken Salad Sandwiches

1 3/4 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Salt and pepper

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 ribs of celery, chopped fine

3/4 cup mayonnaise

2 scallions, minced

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley

6 hard rolls (or any bread you might like, enough for 6 sandwiches)

Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Heat the oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat until shimmering. Carefully add the chicken and cook until lightly golden brown on the first side, about 5 minutes. Flip the chicken over, cover and continue to cook until it is no longer pink the center, about 5 minutes longer. Transfer the chicken to a plate and refrigerate until chilled, about 30 minutes. Cut the chilled chicken into 3/4-inch pieces and toss with the remaining ingredients. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Spread on the rolls and serve.

If you’re like me, we almost always have leftover chicken that can be used instead of making chicken just to make the salad. Use what you have or make it this way. You could also just bake the chicken in a 350 degree oven for about 10 minutes or until it is cooked through. Once it is time to make the sandwiches, you can build it anyway you like. Add some fresh sliced tomato, leaves of lettuce or spinach, some sliced red onion, a slice or two of bacon, some sliced avocado, or whatever else you might like to have on the sandwich. That’s the great thing about sandwiches – you can do whatever you want with them.

For sides, you can make potato salad, serve it with some chips or some pickle. You could also make some coleslaw to go along side of it. I like this coleslaw recipe since it doesn’t use mayonnaise. I do like the creamy slaw, but using this simple recipe can save you some fat and calories and it tastes great.

Spicy No-Mayo Coleslaw

2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

2 tablespoons sherry vinegar, red wine vinegar, or freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 small garlic clove, minced

1 tablespoon minced fresh chile, like jalapeno (optional)

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

6 cups core shredded green and/or red cabbage

1 large red or yellow pepper, cored, seeded and diced

1/3 cup chopped scallion

Salt and freshly ground pepper

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

To make the dressing, whisk together the mustard and vinegar in a small bowl, along with the garlic and chile, if using. Add the oil, a little at a time, whisking all the while.

Combine the cabbage, bell pepper and scallion and toss with the dressing. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and refrigerate until ready to serve. Just before serving, toss with the parsley.

I normally let it sit in the fridge for an hour or two so the flavors can meld together nicely, but you could let it go even longer if you wanted to. Also, sometimes I add a little shredded carrot to the mix. You could also just buy one of those bags of coleslaw mix and use what is in the bag and just make this dressing.

That’s all for tonight. We do have a few things we are hoping to make for dinner in the next few days, so I hope to post some other recipes this weekend as well. Until then, enjoy your evening and enjoy your meal!