Stack it up!

As I mentioned last week, I went to see Aida but the friend who was supposed to go with me was sick. So we postponed our fun for a week and she came for dinner this week (Dinner number 2 through month number 2!). We had one of my favorite, simple salads. It's called Polynesian Chicken and is a stack-up salad. So simple to make for MANY and for FEW! Since the theme for Weekend Cookbook Challenge is salads, this will be my submission. Check it out at Running with Tweezers as I'VE already seen some salads that I want to try! Gasp...I'm making this a double entry...because of the wonderful antioxidants in tomatoes and the pineapples, celery, and almonds, this is also my entry for Sweetnicks ARF Tuesday. Stop by her site as well and check out the other great entires.This salad uses boiled chicken, which seems simple enough but I have a great way to make the chicken moist and not over-cooked. This is from an Everyday Gourmet class that my mom went to. It was based on the cookbook by Jan Karon, author of The Mitford series. If you use this version, you do need to cook the chicken several hours in advance, but it's worth it and gives you some nicely seasoned chicken stock. So, here is how to boil chicken for the salad from the Mitford Cookbood with the salad recipe following! I honestly don't even know if the salad is from a cookbook so we'll say it's from Alice's Cookbook!

Boiled chicken

6 large chicken breasts, bone in and skin on (I used boneless, skinless and it works just as well)
2 stalks celery
2 sprigs fresh parsley
1 large onion, quartered
1 bay leaf

Place the above ingredients in a large pot and cover with cold water. Bring the water to a rolling boil over high heat for 1 minute. Cover and remove from the heat. Let the chicken sit, covered, until completely cooled, at least 2 hours. When cooled, remove the chicken, strain the broth, and refrigerate to use later. Before using the stock, remove the congealed fat from the top. Remove the skin from the chicken, cut the meat off the bones, coarsely chop it, cover, and refrigerate or use immediately in your recipe.

Polynesian Chicken*

6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, boiled and shredded

Rice (I use brown), cooked

celery, chopped

pineapple tidbits (can be canned or fresh)

green onions, chopped

sliced almonds

chow mein noodles

coconut

Ro Tel tomatoes (my addition)

shredded cheddar cheese

condensed cream of chicken soup, undiluted

Heat soup in a saucepan until warm and use as gravy/dressing for the salad. Put all ingredients in serving bolws, Line up on counter or table, and load up! Start with rice and stack other ingredients on top. This gets really big quite easily, so don't let your eyes trick you!!

I didn't put amounts because it really depends on how many people you are serving and what each person will use. Just use your judgment and remember, this makes GREAT leftovers!