Recipe: Asian Chicken Salad

Here's a yummy, nutritious salad that's perfect for the hot months ahead.  There are a ton of variations (just check allrecipes.com), and when I mentioned this recipe to you a couple weeks ago, I realized afterwards that I changed the recipe up so much that it's hard to recognize it.  I've included my version of the recipe at the bottom of this post.

While I have always loved this salad, I was a little iffy on it and wondered if it would go over well.  I realized right before dinner that I didn't have a backup plan if dinner flopped--I had no frozen pizza!  But before I even poured the dressing over the cabbage, my 1 year old was whining for bites of it (she loves salad).  She loved it even more with the dressing, and I found out that she's crazy for toasted almonds.  My husband absolutely loved it and asked if I would include it in our regular rotation of meals.

The salad is so good for you.  It uses cabbage, which most of us don't eat often enough.  Did you know that one cup of cabbage has 47% of the Vitamin C you need in a day?  I usually think of oranges and tomatoes as being great sources of Vitamin C, but there are other great sources too, like bell peppers and sweet potatoes. 

Heart healthy almonds are another great addition to this salad.  Almonds help lower your cholesterol, and you can have as many or as few as you want.  You can even serve the almonds on the side so they're not soft when you eat the leftovers, but I really don't mind them this way. 

I remember my mom making a similar salad in massive quantities when I was a kid. She would vary the flavors up sometimes, making three different versions of the same salad to last our family several days.  Play with the recipe until the ingredients are to your liking.  If you don't have any of the asian ingredients, then substitute normal ones (like regular vinegar for rice vinegar).  I like to serve it with fruit and to make a complete meal.  It makes about 4-6 servings if all you eat is a big plate of salad (we did).  Remove the chicken, and you've got a nice side salad. 

Asian Chicken Salad

Ingredients:
1/2 c. olive oil (or vegetable, canola, whatever you want)
3 tbsp. seasoned rice vinegar
2 tsp. soy sauce
3 tsp. sugar
2 (3 ounce) packages chicken flavored ramen noodles
1 large head of cabbage, chopped into bite sized pieces.
5 green onions, chopped
3/4 c. toasted and sliced almonds
Chicken--2 cups or so, chopped into bite sized pieces.  I baked mine in the oven and used one breast and leg for the salad, freezing the rest.


Directions:

1. In a saucepan over medium heat, whisk together the oil, vinegar, soy sauce, sugar, and ramen noodle flavor packets.  Bring dressing to a boil, remove from heat, and refrigerate until chilled.
2. In a large bowl, combine remaining ingredients.
3. Pour dressing over salad and toss to coat.