This week's post was inspired by one of Mike and my favorite dishes at a local restaurant here in Boston. It's called the Hot and Cold Chicken Salad and it's delicious! Mike played a key role in this week's segment. We have recreated this meal so many times at home and it always tastes delicious. We made some slight changes to the actual version that Parish Cafe serves up, but we did our best guessing at re-creating a tasty treat. Feel free to add your own fresh and healthy additions.

Ingredients:

photo (15)

Makes 2 salads

Bag of fresh Arugula salad mix ( I couldn't find just Arugula, so I did a spinach/arugula blend

3-4 fresh carrots (peeled, cut and sliced length wise)

1 bag of fresh pea pods

Juice of 1/2 lemon

1/2 avocado, sliced length wise

1 cup white or brown rice

Drizzle of soy sauce

shaved almonds

2 chicken breasts

(marinate chicken in a plastic bag with juice of half a lemon, tbsp. of olive oil, tbsp. of honey and sprinkle with salt and pepper during cooking)

For Salad Dressing:

Juice of 1/2 lemon
2 tbsp. of balsamic
1 tbsp. of honey
Pinch salt
Whisk in olive oil to taste

1

1. Peel carrots. We used our mandolin to slice the carrots, however, using a knife is just fine. Cut carrots into 2-3 pieces or desired length (see above)

3

2. Steam or cook pea pods and carrots til desired tenderness.  ( we cooked for approx. 5 minutes. No one likes soggy veggies)

2               5

3. Place cooked veggies in ice bath. Fill medium sized bowl half way with cold water (you can add ice cubes as well). Shake salt into bowl. Use a slotted spoon to transfer hot veggies from pot into ice bath. Let veggies stand in ice bath while preparing chicken.

6

4. Start cooking rice according to box instructions. Cook marinated chicken in a hot pan, approx. 4-5 min on each side. Mike finished the chicken off in a 400 degree oven for approx. another 10 minutes. Or until chicken reaches approx. 155-160 degrees using a meat thermometer. Remove chicken from oven. Let it rest for 5-10 min. Slice chicken in slices length wise. You can either eat chicken while its still hot or wait for it to be cooled. Total preference 🙂

8

5. Place 1/2 cup of cooked rice in bottom of bowl. Drizzle soy sauce over rice.

9

6. Lay arugula lettuce over rice/soy sauce mixture.

10

7. Top lettuce with cooked and cooled pea pods and carrots.

7

8. To make dressing:  Squeeze the juice of 1/2 lemon into a bowl.  Mix lemon juice with 2 tbsp of balsamic, 1 tbsp. of honey and a pinch of salt. Whisk in olive oil to taste. ( Really, a tiny bit goes a long way).

13

9. Place sliced chicken, shaved almonds, 2-3 slices of avocado and 1-2 tbsp. of dressing on top of your salad.

16

Enjoy! You may even have enough for left overs the next day, yum! 🙂

Comparing the numbers:

Calories in Eat Fit Not Fat- Hot and Cold Chicken Salad-

( I took my numbers from My Fitness Pal app. Calories are approx. 🙂 530 calories per serving

Cheesecake Factory Chinese Chicken Salad: 960 calories

Apple-bees Oriental Chicken Salad: 1390 calories, 98 grams of fat (EWWWWW)

Panera Bread Chopped Chicken Cobb: 580 calories, 42 grams of fat