Hi Everyone,
As you can see from my Headlines that yes, my Husband actually said yes to salad for dinner. This is the meat and potatoes guy! You know the one! The one that says no thanks, I’ll stop at Subway on the way home and pick up a double meat Steak Sub with lots of mayo. Well my Friends, the other night I called Hubby and said, do you want a Chinese Chicken Salad for dinner, and he said ok. I swear if I weren’t siting down, I would have fell down! I even told Little Jenny, and she said what? Did he understand you? That must me a mistake. No mistake, he said YES! But the question is, did he eat it?
The answer is YES! He ate it all and even said, you ready for this? He said that it was good! What? You ate salad and liked it? Am I changing my man? What does he want from me? Am I on candid camera? This has to be a joke? No joke! He actually liked it and even said the dressing is good. What the? I tell you, I was in a total shock! Most men, I think, eat whatever there wives serve them, but not my Hubby, he says he’s not hungry and eats a bag of potato chips. He can’t fool me, he just doesn’t like healthy food, but he liked the salad. To boot it was Chinese, he doesn’t like Chinese except for PF Changs. Total shocker, I tell ya! Even as I write this I am in disbelief.
So what is in this salad that made my Husband like it? Lots of good healthy things! You have some sweet mandarin oranges, crispy water chestnuts, scallions, cabbage, bell pepper and chicken.
Now my Friends at the Holiday Recipe Club are thinking, girl, none of those items are on our holiday list of ingredients. Be patient my Dears, it’s right here. A sweet and little savory sesame dressing accompanied my Chinese Chicken Salad.
This recipe is part of the Hoilday Recipe Club hosted by Erin from Big Fat Baker. We had three items to choose from gram masala, tofu, and sesame. I chose Sesame. To be honest I don’t’ care for tofu and I have no clue on how to use gram masala or even sure what it is. My guess is that it’s a spice. I can’t wait to see what recipes others posted and hope someone chose that ingredient.
The dressing was a perfect with this salad. It’s made with fresh oranges, soy sauce, honey, orange zest and toasted sesame seeds. I really enjoyed the orange and honey flavor of the dressing and how it combined nicely with the cabbage and sweet peppers. I loved this salad so much I ate it two days in a row. It’s so good and so healthy!!! Yes I said healthy and my Hubby liked it and he liked the dressing. I know I’m still talking about this, but come on, it’s big news in my household!
- **For the Salad**
- 2 cups Cabbage - Shredded
- 4 cup Romaine Lettuce - Shredded
- 4 Tbsp carrot, shredded
- ½ cup sweet bell pepper - diced
- ⅓ cup water chestnuts, sliced in half
- 10 small segments of Mandarin Orange
- 6 oz chicken cooked, diced or shredded
- ¼ cup. scallions, diced small
- **For the Dressing**
- 2 tbsp. sweet rice vinegar
- 1 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
- Juice of 1 orange
- 2 tsp. orange zest
- 2 tsp. honey
- 1 tsp. soy sauce
- ½ tsp. sesame oil
- 6 tbsp. olive oil
- 1 tbsp. sesame seeds, toasted
- **For Salad**
- Add everything to salad on a plate
- **Dressing**
- To toast Sesame Seeds, I put them in a small frying pan, turn the heat to medium and cooked sauteed them for a few minutes, until lightly golden and fragrant.
- In a glass bowl whisk together vinegar's, orange juice, orange zest, honey, soy sauce and sesame oil. Add Olive Oil mixing while pouring a steady stream. Add salt & pepper to taste. Mix in sesame seeds.
Calories per serving without dressing: 189, Fat: 2, Cholesterol: 48, Sodium: 90, Potassium: 620, Carbs: 22.6, Fiber: 5.1, Sugar: 8.5, Protein: 23.3
Dressing makes ¾ Cups, Serving Size 2 Tablespoons
Calories for Dressing per 2 tbsp.: 130, Fat: 12, Cholesterol: 0, Sodium: 65, Potassium: 46, Carbs: 4.2, Fiber: 1.1, Sugar: 2.8, Protein: .04
I have also made this salad with Shrimp too! It’s just a wonderful, light, crunchy salad with the most unbelievable flavors. I grilled my chicken, but in the past or on short notice I have used a Rotisserie Chicken to top my salad. I love short-cuts. To be honest this salad takes about 20 minutes to make and that’s cooking your chicken on the grill. I marinated my chicken for a little bit, and threw it on the grill, but I’ll share that secret recipe with you later.
If your interested in joining the Holiday Recipe Club you can go here to sign up. It’s a lot of fun and I am so happy to be apart of this group. I love to come up with new and creative recipes with the secret ingredients they pick! So check it out and sign up. Now be sure to check out all the other recipes that everyone posted! I’ll be sure to stop by everyone of them!
Oh and don’t forget, I have a giveaway going on, so check that out too! Hey, I’m planning on keeping you busy today! 🙂
Have a great Saturday!!!
