Lynda's Chicken Salad

My mother-in-law is a wonderful cook. She has one of those great binders filled with recipes that are stained and tattered. I keep thinking I'll sneak it out one day and make a copy of the whole thing. I wouldn't have to sneak though, she isn't selfish with her gift. We used to have a big party every 4th of July and she would make the most delicious chicken salad for lunches. I did get that recipe from her and lately I have been craving it pretty badly. Yesterday I picked up the ingredients I didn't have on hand and made some for dinner. There's some good news/bad news though: I'm the only one who likes it in my family. Good news for me is I don't have to share! Bad news for me is it doesn't last forever.
The Ingredients:

1 cooked chicken (I buy a rotisserie chicken in the deli but you could use canned)
6 boiled eggs
1/4 cup diced onion
1/2 cup relish
1/4 cup diced celery
1.4 cup chopped pecans
mayo or Miracle Whip to taste (I prefer Miracle Whip but I have also used the olive oil mayo for this and it was wonderful)

The other day on This Week For Dinner, Jane posted a tip she had seen about shredding chicken for recipes. Use you stand mixer. If you say so, Jane!! I tried it out. First, I took all the meat off my rotisserie chicken and put it in the bowl of my mixer

Then turn the mixer on about medium

It took about 8.3097 seconds!

After chopping up the boiled eggs, you just combine all the ingredients and mix to your preferred consistency. I like it not too wet but not too dry. I bought some pitas to eat with this but you could use bread or tortillas or lettuce cups or crackers or just a fork!

So good! I love the crunch of the onion and celery and the texture of the pecans is wonderful. You could probably use walnuts instead of pecans but I prefer the pecan, since I am a Texan. It's our state tree you know ;)