Blue Chicken Salad

Rachael Ray of Food Network's 30-Minute Meals is always saying, "My mom invented this when she had a bunch of (blank) left over, and now it's a family favorite." Well last night I threw together a bunch of ingredients that were nearing the point of expiration and the results were pretty darn good.

I had poached an extra chicken breast when I made the enchilada casserole, so I cut that into medium-sized chunks and mixed it with some purchased aioli that is a week away from the end of its one-month shelf-life. Salt, pepper and Todd diced up some nearing-flabby celery (still crisp enough to provide some crunch when it was diced small, though) and chopped walnuts. Then was the best part: blue cheese left over from lunch one day when I ordered one of those custom-made tossed salads with walnuts, blue cheese and beets, and the guy added so much blue cheese that I saved a full cupful to use later. So we've been sprinkling blue cheese in everything. I think Todd's decided it needs to be a Walker Kitchen Staple. Put the chicken salad on toasted bread with a lettuce leaf. Todd ate the leftovers on the left over half of my morning bagel.

Now the cupboard is approaching bare, except for some Hawaiian bread, strawberries, a chicken breast and an Italian turkey sausage in the freezer. Think I can come up with something out of that?