Firecracker Chicken Salad

By Kay MacInnis

 

This is one of our best salads! I love it when our cafeteria has it in the line up!

It has the right amount of heat without being too hot. It also works great with shrimp. It is a great salad that is filling and works wonderfully as an entrée.

And it makes following a healthy plate map pretty easy. A healthy plate map is an easy guide to follow, especially at lunch and supper, to get the right stuff on your plate in the correct amounts.

Think about eating healthy like this: Half of your plate is full of non-starchy veggies (think lots of color) and a fourth of the plate is lean protein (fish, chicken and turkey are good ones to start with). The remaining quarter of your plate is filled with whole grains.

 

 

There are differing versions of the plate map. The USDA’s MyPlate shows a serving of dairy off to the side. Harvard’s Healthy Eating Plate ditches the milk in favor of water. The Harvard version is shown above (Copyright © 2011, Harvard University. For more information about The Healthy Eating Plate, please see The Nutrition Source, Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health, www.thenutritionsource.org, and Harvard Health Publications, www.health.harvard.edu.)

Whichever plate you choose, salads are a great way to get lots of colorful veggies in.

Healthy eating!

Ingredients

Sauce:

• 1 cup low fat mayonnaise
• 2 oz. sweet sake wine
• 2 oz. rice wine vinegar
• 1 tbsp. Sriracha Hot Sauce
• 1 oz. chopped green onions
• 1 tbsp. fresh garlic

Salad

• 3 oz. raw diced chicken breast
• 1 oz. chopped leeks
• 1 oz. roasted red peppers
• 2 oz. white wine
• 1 tsp. lemon zest
• 1 cup spring mix

Preparation

1. In a small mixing bowl, mix all the ingredients for the sauce. Chill before serving.
2. In a hot sauté pan, roast leeks and red peppers. Add chicken, white wine, and lemon zest. Remove from heat and toss with 2 oz. of sauce mix. Place atop spring mix.

This recipe makes a salad for one – but the dressing will serve eight.

 

Nutritional Analysis: 287 Calories, 15g carbohydrate, 25g protein, 6g fat, 2g saturated fat, 76mg cholesterol, 671mg sodium.

 

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This is another in a weekly series of healthy recipes from Kay MacInnis, registered dietitian at Providence Hospitals in Columbia.

Kay works in Health and Wellness at Providence, helping cardiac and diabetes patients eat their way to healthier lives. She’s not a chef herself, but in consultation with the actual chefs at Providence, she’s learned a lot over the years as she has worked to help patients help themselves after they leave the hospital.

She also conducts a number of health and wellness events for the public, including the monthly Providence Cooks! classes. The next class is Tuesday, March 3.

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