Healthy Friday

Asian Chicken Salad with Crunchy Peanut Ginger Dressing 

Cook's Notes: I love a salad with a lot of crunch and this one has lots and it's packed with healthy ingredients. Advance prep makes this meal planning easy and stress free. All the ingredients can be chopped and bagged ahead as well as cooking or grilling the chicken and making the dressing. The recipe is for four but ingredients can easily be increased for a larger group.  

Recipe adapted from carlsbadcarvings.com

Salad

• 3 chicken boneless, skinless fillets
• 1/2 small head Napa cabbage, chopped
• 1/2 small head romaine lettuce, chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
• 4 carrots, thinly diced
• 1-1/2 cups heaping snow peas, ends cut off and julienned
• 1/3 cup green onion, chopped
• 1 red pepper, thinly sliced
• 1 small can (11 oz.) Mandarin oranges, drained and patted dry 

Garnish:

• 1 cup roasted peanuts, chopped or almonds
• 1 package chicken flavored Ramen noodles toasted and broken into pieces
• optional 1/4 cup fresh mint leaves or cilantro, chopped
• Freshly squeezed lime juice

Crunchy Peanut Ginger Dressing

• 1/2 cup crunchy peanut butter
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 3 TB. rice vinegar
• 2 TB.soy sauce
• 2 TB. honey
• 1 TB. lime juice
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp. ground ginger or 2 teaspoons freshly grated ginger
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 TB.sriracha more or less

Directions:

• Grill or bake chicken.Let cooked meat rest 5 minutes before slicing. 
• In a plastic bag place bloc of Ramen noodles and crush with a rolling pin. 
• To toast Ramen noodles, heat about one tablespoon olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Sprinkle a little of the chicken seasoning from the packet and discard the rest. Brown the noodles until golden, stirring occasionally. It can be difficult to get an even color, so don't worry too much about it! Last few minutes of cooking time add in almonds or peanuts. Set aside. 
• Place all dressing ingredients in a blender and pulse until well blended. Taste, season with additional salt, pepper if needed and sriracha as desired.
• Add salad ingredients to a large bowl and toss to combine. Top with Ramen nut mixture. Garnish with lime halves.
• Drizzle individual servings with dressing.

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