Salad
Chinese Chicken Salad a Faithful Clean Eating Friend
The beautiful evenings in spring invite a desire for lighter dinner options. This hearty dinner salad gives you a delicious option for those warmers nights as spring turns into summer. And with many folks wanting to get into better shape before the beach weather is here….this salad is worth adding to your repitoire of light and healthy clean eating dinner options.
Chinese Chicken Salad
2 chicken breasts cooked and shredded or cubed
2 Tablespoons hoisin sauce
1 head napa cabbage
2-3 cups chopped kale or spinach
3 stalks celery sliced thin
2 carrots peeled and sliced thin (you can spiral slice them with a messermeister peeler or a Paderno spiral slicer-see below)
1 zucchini sliced thin
3 green onions sliced
1 can water chesnuts sliced
1 cup toasted almonds or cashews chopped
1 jicama peeled and cut into small cubes
½ cup chopped cilantro
1 cucumber peeled and sliced (no need to peel if using english cucumber)
1 yellow or orange bell pepper cut into small chunks
¼ cup toasted sesame seeds
Dressing
1 cup rice wine vinegar
¼ cup sesame oil
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon honey
Cook chicken.
Shred or cut into cubes and mix with hoisin sauce.
Mix shredded napa cabbage, chopped kale or spinach, celery, carrots, green onions, water chestnuts, jicama, cilantro, cucumber and peppers in a large bowl.
Mix all dressing ingredients and set aside.
Add chicken and toasted almonds (or cashews) and sesame seeds to greens.
Toss dressing into salad and mix thoroughly. chill and serve.
Serves 8-10
Clean Eating Mediterranean Style
A perfect start to our Clean Eating challenge is a recipe for Tabooleh. It is delicious and extremely nutritious and it’s my husband’s favorite Mediterranean side salad. Last night we paired it with a big Greek salad and a small portion of garlic sautéed Greek seasoned chicken for a fabulous dinner salad. Since we set our intentions this weekend to join the Clean Eating challenge together, we were both excited to have our first meal. As the base to our Tabooleh, I made a big greek salad with romaine lettuce and heirloom cherry tomatoes, cucumbers and a tiny bit of feta cheese. I used a light homemade balsamic vinaigrette dressing. We piled the Tabooleh on top of the salad, spread the sautéed chicken around the edge and enjoyed some steamed cauliflower, hummus and carrots to dip on the side. A very satisfying meal.
Tabooleh Ingredients
2 cups bulgur wheat (medium grind #2)
3 cups boiling water
1 1/2 cups chopped parsley
1/4 cup chopped green onions (about 4-5)
1/4 cup chopped mint (fresh is best, but if only dry is available use 2 Tablespoons)
2-3 large tomatoes chopped into small 1/4 inch pieces
1 large cucumber chopped
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
1/3 cup olive oil
1-2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1 head romaine lettuce
Pour the boiling water over the bulgur wheat and let it sit until the wheat kernels are soft and cooled completely. Add all chopped vegetables except romaine lettuce and stir. Mix the oil, lemon juice and spices and pour over wheat vegetable mixture and stir until thoroughly combined. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
Greek sautéed Chicken
1 large chicken breast cut into bite sized pieces (serves 2)
1 teaspoon olive oil
2 cloves garlic smashed
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
½ teaspoon fine …
Reorganize Your Menu
Back to School time is a busy time, but also a great time to reorganize your routine when it comes to meal planning. And if you have picky toddlers, like me, it might be time to work on introducing new foods to their limited diets!
Tonight I made my own BBQ chicken salad and ranch dressing for my girls from scratch. They can be picky about vegetables, so I was hoping that the homemade ranch would get healthy yogurt back in their diet and help them be more open to eating raw veggies.
The BBQ chicken salad just sounded good (it was 100 degrees here in Southern California today) and it tasted even better!
Homemade Ranch Dressing
1/2 cup Full-fat or 2% Greek Yogurt
1/4 tsp dried dill weed
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp parsley
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp celery seed
Mix all ingredients together. Add more spices as needed to taste.
BBQ Chicken Salad
One bag lettuce mix
1/2 cucumber, sliced and cut into half circles
1/2 red onion, diced
6 small colorful sweet peppers, diced
3 carrots, diced
2-4 chicken breasts, shredded and mixed with BBQ sauce
Balsamic Vinegar
Optional toppings: Black beans, corn, tortilla chips, cheese
Instructions: Place lettuce in a large bowl. Chop and dice vegetables to desired sizes. Prepare Chicken. Combine all ingredients and mix. Place in individual serving bowls. Top with balsamic vinegar and additional toppings as desired. Enjoy!
We enjoyed our salads with french fries and sweet potato fries and the girls paired their veggies and ranch with grilled cheese.
I am a “follow the recipe” type of cook, so it felt great to make up some recipes that sounded good in my head and have them turn out to be just as delicious as I’d imagined!…
Read MoreTabooleh
Mediterranean cuisine is our newest family favorite. This summer, our Footsteps of Paul journey was memorable and incredibly satisfying except for one tiny thing…….we were very surprised to have a hard time finding restaurants that served Tabooleh. The very last night that we spent in Capadoccia, Turkey we found a restaurant that served it and WOW what a treat. Here is our family’s rendition of Tabooleh.
Ingredients
2 cups bulgur wheat (medium grind #2)
3 cups boiling water
112 cups chopped parsley
1/4 cup chopped green onions (about 4-5)
1/4 cup chopped mint (fresh is best, but if only dry is available use 2 Tablespoons)
2-3 large tomatoes chopped into small 1/4 inch pieces
1 large cucumber chopped
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
1/3 cup olive oil
1-2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1 head romaine lettuce
Pour the boiling water over the bulgur wheat and let it sit until the wheat kernels are soft and cooled completely. Add all chopped vegetables except romaine lettuce and stir. Mix the oil, lemon juice and spices and pour over wheat vegetable mixture and stir until thoroughly combined. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Place a bed of chopped romain on a serving platter and pile Tabooleh on top. Place on your table and enjoy. Tabooleh makes a great side dish for any BBQ especially Shish kebabs or grilled meat or fish.…
Read MoreChinese Chicken Salad Revived with a Healthy Twist
The beautiful evenings in spring invite a desire for lighter dinner options. This hearty dinner salad gives you a delicious option for those warmers nights as spring turns into summer. And with many folks wanting to get into better shape before the beach weather is here….this salad is worth adding to your repitoire of light and healthy dinner options.
Chinese Chicken Salad
2 chicken breasts cooked and shredded or cubed
2 Tablespoons hoisin sauce
1 head napa cabbage
2-3 cups chopped kale or spinach
3 stalks celery sliced thin
2 carrots peeled and sliced thin (you can spiral slice them with a messermeister peeler or a Paderno spiral slicer-see below)
1 zucchini sliced thin
3 green onions sliced
1 can water chesnuts sliced
1 cup toasted almonds or cashews chopped
1 jicama peeled and cut into small cubes
½ cup chopped cilantro
1 cucumber peeled and sliced (no need to peel if using english cucumber)
1 yellow or orange bell pepper cut into small chunks
¼ cup toasted sesame seeds
Dressing
1 cup rice wine vinegar
¼ cup sesame oil
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon honey
Cook chicken.
Shred or cut into cubes and mix with hoisin sauce.
Mix shredded napa cabbage, chopped kale or spinach, celery, carrots, green onions, water chestnuts, jicama, cilantro, cucumber and peppers in a large bowl.
Mix all dressing ingredients and set aside.
Add chicken and toasted almonds (or cashews) and sesame seeds to greens.
Toss dressing into salad and mix thoroughly. chill and serve.
Serves 8-10
Curried Chicken and Brown Rice Salad Revived
Remember the old school Chicken and Rice salad that was served at many potlucks? I think it was made from a box of Rice-A-Roni and it had chicken, celery, pimentos and mayonnaise in it. Well the times have changed and so has that old school chicken and rice salad recipe…it has been REVIVED! Olive oil and lemon juice instead of mayonnaise and some other yummy ingredients added to the rice and chicken base and viola…a delicious and nutritious dinner salad that is sure to please!
Ingredients
1 ½ teaspoons olive oil
8 oz boneless skinless chicken breast cut into bite sized pieces
½ onion chopped
2 ½ teaspoons curry powder (divided)
2 cups cooked long grain brown rice
1 large red bell pepper, chopped
2-3 green onions sliced thin
½ cup raisins
1 medium apple (granny smith or fuji) cored, peeled and chopped
Dressing:
1 ½ tablespoons olive oil
1-2 tablespoons lemon juice
½ teaspoon freshly ground pepper
½-1 teaspoon sea salt
In a large pan over medium heat, add 1 ½ teaspoons olive oil, chicken pieces, chopped onion and ½ teaspoon curry powder. Saute until chicken is cooked, about 5-8 minutes. Cook brown rice according to package directions, allow 20-30 minutes. In a large bowl, combine brown rice with bell pepper, green onion, raisins and apple. In a small bowl, whisk 1 ½ tablespoons olive oil, 2 tablespoons lemon juice, remaining 1 teaspoon curry powder, salt and pepper to make dressing. Add the cooked chicken and onion sauté to the rice. Add the dressing and combine thoroughly. Serve with pita or naan bread, hummus and a place on a bed of greens if desired.
Rice Salad
Here is a situation I often run in to: I make an awesome stir fry. I cook some healthy brown rice to go along with it. The meal is delicious… But there is just too much rice leftover! What can you do with all this rice… So I spent some time searching through a number of brown rice recipes, found a few, modified them, and created my own. I will give two variations of a similar recipe.
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Mexican Quinoa Salad
Quinoa is a superfood grain that is high in fiber and high in protein. It cooks up like rice, has a consistency similar to couscous and a mild flavor. It is the perfect base for healthy salads or can be added to any green salad to increase the protein content. It can be used as the base for pilaf or other side dishes that call for rice or bulgur wheat.
This Mexican Quinoa Salad has become a favorite at our family potlucks.
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