Thursday, November 7, 2013

Yummy Asian Chicken Salad

It's hard enough to find delicious, low calorie and low fat foods for yourself to eat when you are trying to be mindful about what goes in your mouth. But throw kids in the mix and it seems practically impossible to suit their taste buds as well!!  This is a family favorite of ours - Asian Chicken Salad, found on Allrecipes.com (a great resource).  My kids like it SO much, that they request to always have it on hand for after school snacking - no joke.  In fact, my daughter Elly had it for breakfast this morning!  


Below are the ingredients and directions - now I know it says that there is 414 calories per serving - but it's all relative.  It also says it makes 6 servings - when I get more like 8. You can put as much or as little dressing and rice noodles as you'd like on it - and that is where the bulk of the calories come from anyway - 

Enjoy!!

~Carrie


Recipe Details


recipe thumbnail

Asian Chicken Salad

star rating
6 Servings, Prep Time: 15 Minutes, Cook Time: 20 Minutes

Description

A perfect salad for leftover BBQ, boiled, broiled or baked chicken. A very crunchy salad with a tasty sweet Asian-style dressing. The kids love it too! The Chinese rice noodles are of the cellophane type and can be found in the Asian section of most grocery stores. They are often in rectangle form and in clear packaging.

Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons brown sugar
  • 2 teaspoons soy sauce
  • 1 tablespoon sesame oil (optional)
  • 1/4 cup vegetable oil
  • 3 tablespoons rice vinegar
  • 1 (8 ounce) package dried rice noodles
  • 1 head iceberg lettuce - rinsed, dried, and chopped
  • 4 boneless chicken breast halves, cooked and shredded
  • 3 green onions, chopped
  • 1 tablespoon sesame seeds, toasted

Directions

  1. Prepare the dressing 30 minutes ahead of time by combining the brown sugar, soy sauce, sesame oil, salad oil, and rice vinegar in a salad dressing carafe.
  2. To prepare the Chinese rice noodles, heat a skillet with a few tablespoons of oil and break off a little bit of the noodles and add them to the skillet and fry them. They will puff up in the skillet, so only add a few at a time. As they begin to puff up, remove and drain them on paper towels. Be sure to cook long enough as the under cooked noodles will be like eating needles. Once cooked, add them to the salad mixture.
  3. In a large bowl combine the iceberg lettuce, cooked and shredded chicken, green onions and toasted sesame seeds. Let chill about 10 minutes, and just before serving add the cooked rice noodles. Serve in salad bowls and offer the dressing in a pourable container so your family can add as much dressing as they want. You can also pour the dressing over the top of the salad, toss, and serve immediately.

Nutritional Information

Servings Per Recipe: 6
Amount Per Serving
Calories: 414


Carbohydrates: 39.2g
Dietary Fiber: 2.0g
Fat: 18.0g
Cholesterol: 55.0mg
Sodium: 224.6mg
Protein: 22.7g
Sent from Allrecipes.com Dinner Spinner Pro for the iPhone

Sent from my iPhone

Monday, November 4, 2013

Something to snack on

I tried these granola bars on for size this weekend - they are pretty good. One thing I like is how easy it is to tweak the recipe and add what you want. I made them just like the recipe was laid out - right away I would add some chocolate chips - and also, I probably wouldn't chop up the fruit into such fine pieces - I like the fruit to be a little more chunky. But all in all - a great healthy snack!!


Total Time: 0 hours 35 minutes

Prep:
Cook:
0 hours 15 minutes
0 hours 20 minutes

Yield:

20 bars

Level:

Easy

Ingredients

  • Cooking spray
  • 1 cup quick cooking rolled oats
  • 1/2 cup raw unsalted sunflower seeds
  • 1/2 cup toasted wheat germ
  • 1/4 cup whole-wheat pastry flour
  • 1/2 cup dried apricots
  • 1/2 cup raw almonds
  • 1/2 cup raisins
  • 1/2 cup pitted dried dates
  • 1/2 cup powdered nonfat dry milk
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/3 cup pure maple syrup
  • 2 large eggs

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Coat a 9 by 13-inch baking pan with cooking spray.
Place all ingredients except the syrup and eggs in a food processor and pulse until the mixture is finely chopped. Add the syrup and eggs and pulse until the mixture is well combined. It will resemble a coarse paste.
Transfer to the baking pan and spread evenly. Bake until just done, about 20 minutes. Cut into 20 squares.

Here's the link if you are interested...
 ~ Carrie