Chicken salad

Aldi's had a 10 lb bag of chicken leg quarters for $6.99 per bag.  I went and bought 10 bags.  Yes, siree.  100 lbs of chicken for just $69.90.  I think that should keep me until summer when free range/organic chickens are at lower prices, so I can buy some serious volume  in better quality meats.

I baked up about 20 lbs for quick snacking, but I overdid it a bit and the chicken wound up kind of dry.  Hard to do with legs and thighs, I know.  What can I say, I am talented.  :-)

So, what do you do with 20 lbs of slightly dry chicken legs and thighs?  You make chicken salad, of course!  I mashed the chicken until pulpy with my hands, grated 2 peeled granny smith apples into the bowl with the chicken, then mixed in some mustard, mayonnaise, a sprinkle of garlic powder, a dash of paprika, a drizzle of worcestershire sauce, and salt and pepper to taste.

It is even better if you make your own mayo.  I used the recipe I got off Paleo Nick's site.    http://www.paleonick.com/articles/5-5-5-Mayo-For-All

20 lbs chicken @ .70 per lb. (round up for 69.9)                                                       $14.00
4 apples                                                                                                                    $  1.00
2 or 2 1/2 cups mayo (depending on taste)                                                                $  2.50
Mustard                                                                                                                    $    .20
Worcestershire sauce                                                                                                $    .15 
Spices                                                                                                                       $    .20
                                                                                                            Total             $18.05

That is a heck of a lot of chicken salad for just over 18 bucks!  And, you can then top some greens with it to make a super-good tasting lunch!

For several weeks, I had kind of despaired about finding a commercially made paleo salad dressing.  If you look at the ingredients on any store bought dressing (at least the ones I was checking out at the grocery store) one of the first ingredients is soybean oil.  Then, the other day, I decided to try a drizzle of balsamic vinegar on my salad.  The first attempt was kind of pungent, and I had to add more salad to my bowl to back off the flavor, but I decided pretty quickly that I like the taste quite a lot.  I think that I am going to try a spritz of apple cider vinegar on my next salad and see how that works. 

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Update:  Checking in the fridge, I saw that a few of the containers of chicken salad have gone missing.  I mentioned it to Husband, and he told me "Well, it is the crack cocaine of chicken salad."  Awwww, how sweet that is!