Elegant Chicken Salad

I love salads. Any kind of salad really.  Pasta, broccoli, vegetable, fruit salad.  You could almost call me a salad junkie. When I make salad I make sure and have enough for dinner that night and breakfast, lunch and dinner the next day!

My dad and I are a like in the salad loving goodness.  I remember growing up that on his birthday his request for dinner was always potato salad, vegetable salad, chicken salad and rolls.  It is the best dinner ever and now it gets made more than just one day a year.   

I also love love love having BBQ's in the summer.  In fact, there are very few times that my oven is on when it is hot outside.  I'd rather keep the heat outside and the cool in and in order to do this, the meat cooking is done outside on the grill.  I'm almost becoming a pro at grilling but often times it is taken over by the hubs. I'm not complaining.  If he wants to help, I say let him!

I say this because this is the perfect salad to go with a summer BBQ.  It's light, easy and absolutely delicious!  I usually end up eating way to much of it and feeling like a bloated balloon by the end of our BBQ dinners.  But, it is so super worth it.

You should definitely try it out.

Elegant Chicken Salad Recipe

2 cups uncooked shell macaroni (I like to use the small shells)

1 cup Kraft Coleslaw dressing (Must use Kraft, it tastes and works the best)
1 cup mayonnaise

4 cups cooked cubed chicken
2 cups chopped celery
1/2 Tablespoons chopped onion
2 large cans pineapple (drained)
2 cups green grapes
2 cups chopped apples

1 1/2 cups cashews

Cook the macaroni, rinse and let cool.  While waiting for it to cool, mix together the Coleslaw dressing and mayonnaise.  Then mix the macaroni with the dressing mixture.  Chill for an hour to overnight.

When the macaroni and dressing have chilled, mix in the chicken, celery, onion, pineapple, grapes, and apples.

Then, you can either mix in the cashews right before serving or you can just let people put the cashews on themselves.  I like doing the later as it allows them to control how many cashews they have on their salad.

Now for the best part,  ENJOY!!

Try it out and tell me what you think!