Crunchy Chicken Salad

Hey there 🙂  On this very gloomy Tuesday, I wanted to share a very delicious salad recipe with you!

This is another one of my Mom’s, but over the years I’ve tweaked it a bit.  The original recipe called for iceberg lettuce, but I prefer Romaine.  It’s much easier to chop up and has more nutritional value!  Instead of poached chicken, I like to use roasted to add more flavor.  A shredded rotisserie chicken is fabulous, or you can just roast up a few chicken tenders like I did today!  Here’s how you make it:

Crunchy Chicken Salad

makes 2 salads

1 head Romaine lettuce
2 scallions
Shredded chicken
Toasted slivered almonds & sesame seeds
Classic 3-2-1 dressing

Start by thinly slicing the head of Romaine and scallions.  Divide into serving bowls.

Next, toast the almonds and sesame seeds.  To do this, just heat the nuts in a skillet, stirring occasionally until they are fragrant.  Be careful not to burn!  Add to your greens.

Add the shredded chicken and top with my easy 3-2-1 classic dressing.  It’s just 1 tbsp sugar, 2 tbsp vinegar, 3 tbsp olive oil, salt and pepper.  Toss everything together and enjoy!!

How to Make a Balanced Smoothie

Smoothies can either be a nutritious treat or a total sugar bomb!  Here’s how to make a smoothie that has a perfect balance of healthy carbs, protein and fat.

1.  Start with fruit.  I love to use frozen berries, pineapple or mango chunks.  Frozen works best because it makes your smoothie cold and frothy, and there’s no need to add ice, which can water it down.

2.  Add a banana.  1/2 or whole is fine, but I definitely wouldn’t skip this step.  Bananas make every smoothie better!

3.  Sneak in some protein.  My favorite protein sources are Greek yogurt or protein powder.  Use plain greek yogurt, since you already have enough sugar from the fruit.  Tone It Up makes an awesome organic, vegan protein powder.  I also like Isopure 🙂

4.  Liquify!!!  Time to get it all going together.  My favorite liquids to use are unsweetened vanilla almond milk (again, there’s enough sugar from the fruit!) or coconut water.

5.  Fat check.  If you used fat-free greek yogurt, I would add in some fat.  My picks are all-natural almond butter, ground flaxseed, or chia seeds.

6.  Mix it all up and voila!  You have a delicious, nutritionally balanced smoothie.  Enjoy!

Here are some of my favorite smoothie combinations:

Classic Strawberry Banana
strawberries
banana,
vanilla protein powder or greek yogurt
vanilla almond milk or fresh squeezed OJ
ground flaxseed

Tropical
pineapple and mango
banana
vanilla protein powder or greek yogurt
coconut water
ground flaxseed

Chocolate Cherry
frozen cherries
banana
chocolate protein powder
vanilla almond milk
chia seeds

Peanut Butter Cup
banana
chocolate protein powder
vanilla almond milk
all-natural peanut butter or almond butter

What’s your favorite smoothie combination??

Chicken Salad Lettuce Wraps

Happy Wednesday!  How is everyone’s day going so far?

Well, my day got off to a late start because of THIS

source

Whenever I order something from Amazon, I always feel obligated to spend the $25 so I can get free shipping.  So on my last purchase, I chose Project Runway Season 4 (aka the best season) as my filler.  This was a horrible decision because instead of doing anything productive this week I have just been watching Christian Siriano talk about his ferociousness.  Oh well.

I eventually pulled myself together and made my way downtown for an afternoon Pilates session with Lisa at the Pilatium.  (If you live in the New York area, I cannot recommend her enough!)  I am starting to work on the advanced exercises now, so it was a tough one, but I felt great afterwards 🙂

Soooo, tonight I wanted to share my recipe for chicken salad lettuce wraps.  My mom and I adapted this from a Giada recipe a few years ago, and I still make it today.  It is super fast and easy and makes a great light lunch or dinner.  It also holds up really well at room temperature, so it’s a perfect option for a picnic or hiking trip.

Chicken Salad Lettuce Wraps
(adapted from Giada De Laurentiis’s Italian Chicken Salad in Lettuce Cups)

About 3 cups shredded chicken (from 1 rotisserie chicken)
1 bell pepper, very thinly sliced (I use a little from a red, orange and yellow pepper to give the salad some color)
2 scallions, very thinly sliced
2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
Handful of sliced almonds
Classic 3-2-1 dressing (recipe below!)
Romaine lettuce leaves

Combine the chicken, peppers, scallions, parsley and almonds in a large bowl.  Add the dressing and toss well.  Serve in lettuce leaves!

Classic 3-2-1 dressing

1 tsp organic cane sugar
2 tsp white vinegar
3 tsp extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper

Wisk together for a delicious dressing!

Make it your own:
– Use butter lettuce instead of romaine
– Serve as a sandwich
– Mix with a cooked grain like quinoa or wheat berries