Fruit Salad with Grilled Chicken and Citrus Poppy Seed Dressing

Hi Everyone,

How are you doing?  I’m so happy that Friday is finally here.  I took the day off from work to catch up on some work at home.  Next week I head to Tahoe for work, so I need to prepare for the trip.  Funny how much you do on a daily basis and now I have to condense it down to two days.  Since Mother’s Day is Sunday, I plan on relaxing.  I am happy to report that Hubby remembered it’s Mother’s Day this weekend and he asked if I wanted breakfast.  I said, Ahhhh you’re going to make me breakfast, he said no, take you to breakfast.  I told him I have lots of recipes on my blog, just make one of those.  He gave me that dazed and confused look.  lol

Thursday for work we went to Panera Bread for lunch and boy was I happy to see their Strawberry Poppy Seed Salad was back.  It’s my favorite salad.  I love it so much I decided I would replicate the recipe and share it for you.

This salad is very light and sweet.  It’s perfect for a warm summer day.  It’s made with the freshest produce, that I got from the Farmers Market and the dressing is made with a sweet freshly squeezed orange.  I really love the dressing.  It has 2 teaspoons of poppy seeds in it, but they kind of sank to the bottom, but don’t worry their in there.  To make the dressing I went to Panera’s Website and read the ingredients for there dressing and I made my own.  It’s so easy and so wonderful.  If you like oranges you’ll love this dressing.

I also marinated the chicken in the dressing which made it tender and juicy.  Perfect for this wonderful salad.  I marinated my chicken for an hour, but you could marinate longer for a nice citrus orange flavor.  The salad is made with fresh oranges, strawberries, pineapple, blueberries and just a little bit of chopped walnuts.  Panera uses Pecans, but walnuts are a little healthier for you and I like walnuts better.

The salad makes two big servings but you can easily divide into four side dishes or even better, double the batch and use it for a potluck.  I also think it would be wonderful to serve Mom on Mother’s day too.  I am sure she would appreciate a nice healthy salad full of fresh fruit and tender chicken.

I asked Hubby if he wanted my salad for dinner and guess what he said?  Ok, sounds good!  Can you believe it?  Two salads in a row.  I even served it with my homemade Wheat Rolls and he said he’ll take two.  What?  You have to know him, he hates wheat bread, but he ate them.  He did tell me he liked my Chinese Chicken Salad better that this one was a little light for him.  Now you have to remember he is a meat and potatoes guy, not a fruit guy!  I’m just happy he ate salad.  It beats the truck load of hot dogs and hamburgers he made himself this week.  Blah!  Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind a hot dog every now and again, but he eats like 5 foot-longs in one sitting.  I don’t know how he does it or how it fits in his stomach.  I’m lucky if I could finish one foot-long!

Fruit Salad with Grilled Chicken and Citrus Poppy Seed Dressing

Nutrition Information

• Serves: 2 heaping plates

• Serving size: 2

Prep time:  10 mins

Cook time:  15 mins

Total time:  25 mins

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A sweet light salad made fresh fruit, topped grilled chicken and drizzled with a citrus poppy seed dressing.

Ingredients

• Dressing:
• ½ cup orange juice, freshly squeezed
• ¼ cup water
• 2 tsp. distilled vinegar
• ½ tsp. stevia or granulated sugar
• 2 tsp. Poppy seeds
• 1 dash salt
• **Salad**
• 8 oz chicken
• 4 cups romaine lettuce, chopped
• ½ cup strawberries, diced
• ½ cup blueberries
• 1 orange or Mandarin orange, peeled,cut into pieces
• ¼ cup pineapple, sliced into thin pieces
• 2 Tbsp walnuts, roughly chopped
• ½ cup poppy seed dressing

Instructions

1. For Salad Dressing: In a bowl, add all the ingredients and whisk together until combined. Makes ¾ cups
2. For Salad: Marinate chicken in ¼ cup poppy seed dressing for 1 - 4 hours.
3. Heat grill to medium. Cook chicken for about 7 minutes per side until no longer pink.
4. Meanwhile on two plates, evenly dived the lettuce, strawberries, blueberries, orange, pineapple and walnuts. Add 4 oz chicken to each plate.
5. Top with 2 Tbsp. of poppy seed dressing to each salad.

Notes

Calories for salad with dressing: 281, Fat: 8.1, Sodium: 86, Potassium: 698, Carbs: 25.6, Fiber: 6.2, Sugar: 17, Protein: 30.8


Dressing makes ¾ cups, serving size is 2 tbsp: Calories per tablespoons for dressing only: 14.2, Fat: .05, Sodium: .4, Potassium: 47, Carbs: 2.4, Fiber: .1, Sugar: 2, Protein: .03

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Do you like Panera Bread?  What is your favorite meal to have their?  I am love the Strawberry Poppy Seed Salad but I also love their Asian Salad.  Not to mention, when I feel like splurging there cookies are amazing.  I was a good girl and didn’t order any.  Actually I have been good for a week in a half.  I haven’t had any bad sweets, or any processed foods.  Once I passed the coffee withdrawals, I’ve been pretty good and I have energy.  Can you believe I haven’t had a real cup of coffee in a week?  Except for my Coconut Mocha Frappe.  I have had a cup in the morning, but it’s only been decaf.  I can’t believe I did it!  I went from 6 or more cups a day to 1 and it doesn’t even have caffeine!  If you knew me, you would be shocked by that.  Now I have natural energy.  But I will tell you I haven’t skipped my Starbucks, I just have been ordering unsweetened iced green tea.  It’s pretty good, it has a slight mint flavor to it.  Very light and refreshing!  Gives me just the right kick of energy.

Well my wonderful friends, I have a busy day ahead of me.  I have to make cookies for the charity I did, go to the post office and bank.  Plus make some goodies so I have some stuff to post for you next week.  I’m going to try my darndest to get a post to you every day next week while I am traveling.

Have a wonderful day and hey, it’s Friday be happy!!  Any plans for Mother’s Day?

Toodles!

Jennifer

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