Pesto Chicken Salad

Already cooked rotisserie chicken from Sam's Club or grocery store make it very easy to make this chicken salad. I always keep some sort of pesto in the church refrigerator to use it as a base for sauces or to add to dishes like this.

Panera's Tomato-Basil bread add beautiful color and flavor.


Serves 5
4-5 cups diced cooked chicken, from purchased rotisserie chicken
3/4 cup mayonnaise, Hellmann's
2 Tbsp. sour cream
1/4 cup finely minced celery (optional)
2 Tbsp. finely minced shallots
2 Tbsp. chopped fresh Italian Parsley
2 Tbsp. Sun-dried Tomato Pesto (See recipe below)
Salt and Fresh Ground pepper to taste

10 slices Basil-Tomato Bread (from Panera Bread Co)
4 lettuce leaves, spring mix, arugula, or baby spinach leaves work great
Tomato Slices

In a large bowl, combine first seven ingredients together. Salt and pepper to taste.

Sundried Tomato Pesto

* 1 1/2 cups packed fresh basil leaves
* 6 ounces sun-dried tomatoes in oil, drained, reserving 2 tablespoons of the oil
* 1 garlic clove, minced
* 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan
* 3 tablespoons pine nuts


In a food processor purée the basil, the sun-dried tomatoes with the reserved oil, the garlic, the Parmesan, the pine nuts, salt and pepper to taste until the mixture is smooth. Keep up to a week in a tightly sealed container.