I love making salads when the weather gets warm and of course I fill them with a lot of fresh vegetables from the farmers market. I take my lunch to work everyday so either make salads or take leftovers. My husband is not a big fan of my salads and very seldom eats them except maybe pasta salad. Recently his doctors have told him that he needs to reduce his carbohydrates so I'm trying to make healthy options for him to eat that he likes. This past weekend I made an untraditional chicken salad with all sorts of fresh vegetables and a vinaigrette dressing instead of just mayonnaise. It was very good and my husband really liked it so now it will be my go to chicken salad recipe. I cooked 2 large chicken breasts in a skillet with about a cup of water and seasonings until done, cooled, then cut up into bite size pieces. I finely chopped radishes, kale, cauliflower, and green onions plus chopped cucumber, snow peas and a green apple. Any type of fresh vegetables would work. In a large bowl I mixed mayonnaise, spicy mustard, balsamic vinegar, seasoned salt, pepper and parsley for the dressing then added the chicken, vegetables, plus chopped pickles and dried cranberries and mixed together. I served it over leafy lettuce and topped with cherry tomatoes.
Here's the recipe:2 chicken breasts, cooked, cooled and chopped up, about 3 to 4 cups of chicken
1/2 to 1 cup each chopped vegetables, kale, cucumber, radishes, green onions, cauliflower, snow peas or any desired combination of vegetables
1 chopped apple
1/2 c dried cranberries
1/2 c chopped pickles
1/2 t each of seasoned salt and pepper
Dressing
3 to 4 T mayonnaise
1 to 2 T spicy mustard
3 to 4 T balsamic vinegar
1/2 t each seasoned salt, pepper and parsley
Mix dressing in bottom of large bowl, add cut chicken, chopped vegetables, pickles, seasonings, apple and dried cranberries until blended. Serve over leafy lettuce. Can also add chopped nuts or sunflower seeds.
Enjoy,
Bamah
