Hawaiian Chicken Salad

I feel like I should eat this outside, soaking up some rays. I promise that when my parents took me for my college graduation trip to Hawaii, I must have had something like this! I can just picture hula dancers and palm trees. We don't have many of those here in Oklahoma. I'll just close my eyes while I eat.

The cream cheese in the dressing base makes this really creamy. I got that idea from a similar salad on Allrecipes. Of course, to make this low carb, we must do without real pineapple and other fruits. This would be wonderful with some extra fresh fruit stirred in if you can afford the carbs. I think some jicama would make a nice crunch too.

This is simple to put together using Freezer Favorite chicken cubes. I used pineapple flavored Da Vinci sugarfree syrup, but you could easily sub some sweetener and a drop or two of pineapple flavoring. I used to have a bottle but haven't found it in the stores lately. Pineapple DaVinci is one of the flavors I like to keep around because it is great in sweet and sour sauces too. If you can't do sucralose, you should seek out an alternative flavoring.

Hawaiian Chicken Salad

2 cups precooked chicken cubes, thawed or cooled if freshly cooked
3 ounces cream cheese
3 Tablespoons mayonnaise
1/4 cup Pineapple sugargree Da Vinci syrup
1/4 cup dried unsweetened coconut
1 diced celery rib
1/4 cup diced red bell pepper
1/4 cup chopped nuts--walnuts, almonds or macadamia nuts

Warm the cream cheese and stir in the mayonnaise and the syrup until well blended. Add the coconut. Dice the celery and bell pepper finely. Add them to the chicken cubes. Stir the dressing in until everything is well coated. Chill for half an hour. Place chilled salad on lettuce leaves. Serves 4 as a light lunch or 2 hungry islanders.

This is a busy time of year for me, so I must now go to prepare some table decorations for the prom dinner for my youngest son. I am sparkly with glitter from head to toe. So glad you all can't see me today! I think the break to enjoy this out on the patio will do me some good. Even if it is all in my mind, a mini vacation is a wonderful thing.