I’ve cooked so much chicken in the past 10 days, I’m on overload. Chicken is Dan’s go to item when he does his weight loss challenge at work. It’s making a huge difference in our grocery bill now that I’m buying organic – but the quality has been awesome. I’ve made low fat BBQ chicken quesadillas, soups, 3-4 different stir fry recipes and sandwiches. I was on the search for something different. I did a search for Asian Chicken Salad and came up with a million different recipes. I only wanted to use ingredients on hand, I did not want to go to the grocery store.
I started grabbing things out of the pantry to make my own dressing.
The Dressing Ingredients:
2 Tablespoons organic brown sugar
3 Teaspoons Light Soy Sauce
1 Tablespoon Toasted Sesame Oil
1/4 Cup Vegetable Oil
3 Tablespoons Seasoned Rice Vinegar
I whisked everything together and let it sit in the fridge for an hour while I prepared the chicken and salad ingredients.
Instead of using crunchy or rice noodles – I made my carrots into noodles with my veggie slicer. I also chopped up romaine hearts, celery, and onion.
I toasted up some cashews and sesame seeds in some garlic flavored spray oil.
I added my shredded chicken to the salad and poured on 1/2 the dressing and saved the other 1/2 in a container for next time.
This was definitely a different version than the Asian chicken salads I normally enjoy at restaurants – mandarin oranges, fried won tons or crispy noodles, super sauced up, etc. It was a nice break and fun way to use ingredients I already had on hand. I LOVED the curly carrots – they added the perfect amount of crunch to the salad.
Dan gave the salad two thumbs up. He’s got 5 weeks and a few days left of his challenge and he’s pretty much done. He quit drinking Coca-Cola cold turkey. He was a 4-5 cans a day soda guy and now he’s only drinking water. He misses his caffeine and sugar rush.
I prepared meals all weekend long. It’s been fun, but I really need to find some new recipes to try. I think I’m going to get brave at the fish counter my next shopping trip. I’ve been saying that since I started my blog, this time I really mean it.
25 Heart Challenge Update – In case you haven’t been checking the challenge page – I completed my 100th mile on the treadmill last night. 100.6 to be exact. Not too shabby for 22 days. I’ve got 6 days left of my February challenge and I’m already coming up with ideas for March.
3 comments
Great job on your February challenge! Looking forward to hear about you have planned for March!
Thanks for the reminder about your challenge page!!! That is so inspiring! I really need to do a challenge for myself!! Hmm… March is coming!!
This recipe couldn’t have come at a better time! I bought stuff to make chicken lettuce wraps last night ($20 later), so I need more recipes where I can use the same ingredients. I don’t have all of that stuff – no brown sugar or cashews or vegetable oil (can I use olive oil?), but I can probably borrow some brown sugar from a friend and get a few cashews out of the bulk bin at the store.
Can’t wait to try this!