I read recently that one third of Americans on average eat fast food on a daily basis. As obesity is a huge issue in America, one can only hope that the ever changing food choices we are presented with daily, change more and more towards fresh food fast and away from fast food.

At least on our little slice of paradise, we are fortunate not to have an overabundance of fast food options to fill the immediate cravings we have all given into throughout our busy lives.

It still amazes me, but does not surprise me when a customer comes in to our store and asks, "What sandwiches do you have that are pre made?"

Oh, let me show you the deli case with pre-made sandwiches from lord knows when, with who knows what in them! Oh and if you don't like what's in them you can scrape it off. OK. In reality we don't say that to our customers, we take a moment to explain that we make our sandwiches fresh to order. While this may not be the most efficient way of running a business, we strongly believe, based on customer feedback, that it's in their best interest to run our business that way.

Fortunately, I see the same trend all over our beautiful Island from other small businesses and hope that fresh food fast continues to flourish. Gone are the days, at least on Anna Maria Island, hopefully, where convenience is based on one person's guess of what will be ordered during the next breakfast, lunch or dinner rush without any fresh food fast options.

We pride ourselves at the Anna Maria General Store on making all of our fresh prepared food options with the highest quality ingredients, locally sourced as possible and in small batches to ensure the freshest quality. We hope that our customers continue to spend the extra couple of minutes with us and our competitors and demand that their fast food options are fresh food fast.

Chicken Salad

Ingredients

This is prepared at the store in 20-pound batches. Please reduce ingredients accordingly.

• 8-9 cups bread flour

• 2 1/4 oz. envelopes active dry yeast

• 1 ¾ cup sugar

• 1 tsp. salt

• 1 tsp. mahlep, toasted and ground

• 1 Tbs. orange or lemon zest

• 1 tsp. masticha powder

• 5 eggs, lightly beaten

• 2 cups milk

• ¼ cup butter, melted

• Extra: hard boiled eggs for decoration, dyed red.

Directions

• Prepare chicken breasts on baking sheet with a light rubbing of olive oil and salt and pepper. Bake in oven at 350º for 1 hour to ensure proper cooking temperature.

• While chicken is baking, dice celery and onion to medium size pieces and place in mixing bowl.

• Add dried cranberries to mixing bowl.

• When chicken is done, shred it by hand or in a mixer. It is much easier to do by hand when warm.

• Add chicken to mixing bowl.

• Add just enough panko or bread crumbs to help hold the mix together.

• Add chicken broth and salt and pepper to mixing bowl and let mix marinate in refrigerator, preferably overnight, to allow the ingredients to absorb the chicken broth.

• Once marinated, add mayonnaise to desired consistency and mix well.

• Serve on a bed of lettuce or as a sandwich on your favorite bread. Enjoy!