chicken salad Archives - The Midnight Baker

Dilly Ranch Grilled Chicken & Pasta Salad

Judith Hannemann — Tue, 17 Jun 2014 23:00:00 +0000

Dilly Ranch Grilled Chicken & Pasta Salad

Here’s a hearty pasta salad you can call a complete meal. Tasty grilled chicken and a delicate dill-flavored ranch dressing will have them coming back for seconds.

This recipe came about in the most roundabout way I could have ever imagined.

First off, I like dill. I buy a plant last month, transplant it and because of the cold weather, it croaked. I don’t use dill much even though I do like it, so I just resigned myself to buying it when I needed it. Well, I needed it for some of my Grilled Salmon with Blue Cheese, so I bought some…at an OUTRAGEOUS price I might add.

Next, I like cucumbers, particularly the European kind and they were on sale buy one get one. However, I almost always end up having to throw at least half of it out. I’m on a mission here NOT to waste food!

A dilly of a salad!

So what I did was throw an extra chicken breast on the grill the other night for this because I really had a taste for some dill-flavored chicken. The two go so well together. HINT: next time you make chicken soup, throw a few sprigs of dill in with the stock. You’ll love it!

And since dill and cucumbers are made for each other, I decided to add some hunks of cukes as well. And the result was delicious and hearty…you call this one a meal.

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Dilly Ranch Grilled Chicken & Pasta Salad

Here’s a hearty pasta salad you can call a complete meal. Tasty grilled chicken and a delicate dill-flavored ranch dressing will have them coming back for seconds.

Prep Time15

Total Time15

Course: Chicken, salads

Cuisine: American

Keyword: chicken, pasta salad recipe

Servings: 4 -6

Calories: 650kcal

Author: Judith Hannemann

Ingredients

1 8 oz large grilled chicken breast
1 medium cucumber
1/4 cup diced red onion
8 oz uncooked rotini or pasta shape of your choice
salt & pepper to taste
additional dill sprigs for garnish
1 tbs olive oil

DRESSING

1 cup mayonnaise
2 tbs finely chopped dill
1 tbs ranch dressing mix the stuff in the envelope
2-3 tbs milk

Instructions

Cook pasta according to package directions for al dente. Drain and transfer to a large bowl. Drizzle with olive oil and toss; set aside.
Slice cucumber in 1/2-inch slices, then quarter. Slice chicken breast about 1/8-inch thick. Add to pasta and toss. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Mix all dressing ingredients, starting with 2 tbs of milk. If you desire a thinner dressing, add the additional 1 tbs milk. Stir well and add to the pasta mixture. Toss gently, coating all ingredients with dressing.
Chill for about 1 hour. Makes 4-6 servings

Nutrition

Dilly Ranch Grilled Chicken & Pasta Salad

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Ad: Tyson Grilled & Ready® Makes Mealtime Easy

Judith Hannemann — Mon, 20 Jan 2014 05:00:00 +0000

I am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper amplification for Collective Bias and its advertiser.

Tyson Grilled & Ready® Chicken Salad with Orange-Cilantro Dressing

If eating well was on your list of New Years’ resolutions, you can do no better than Tyson’s easy and versatile Grilled & Ready® line.

Who has never made the New Years resolution to start living healthy and make smart food choices?

Of course, that’s all of us. Whether we stick to it is another story entirely LOL!.

But healthy eating doesn’t have to be dull and tasteless. The folks at Tyson have come up with some great products to help you keep that promise. Their line of Grilled & Ready will help you create meals that are not only tasty and healthy, but that can be made easily and quickly because they have done the cooking for you. All you do is reheat and add to your dish.

Simple yet tasty salad

The Tyson folks are prepared to help you out here through their Facebook page with versatile tips on their “Just Add This” tab. There, you’ll get ideas on simple additions that will make your every-day meals more interesting and have daily tips delivered to your inbox. This program will run from January 2014 through March 2014 and there will also be prizes offered throughout this promotional period.

If you are wondering where to buy Tyson Grilled & Ready® look no further than your local Walmart! In fact, Walmart is offering these great products on a Roll Back price of $5.87 which started December 31 of last year.

Tyson display at my local Walmart

I bought the Grilled & Ready chicken breast strips because they are versatile and can be used in a number of dishes. I decided to do a chicken salad with them.

Healthy Ingredients

No, not just another boring chicken salad–this one has character! What makes this special is the zingy dressing that the breast strips are marinated in and is used on the salad!

Delicious yet healthy Orange Cilantro Dressing

The earthy flavor of cilantro combines with the tanginess of oranges to produce a wonderful flavor which harmonizes so well with the slightly smoky grilled taste of the chicken breast strips.

Tyson Grilled & Ready® Chicken Breast Strips–no cooking, just reheat!

The dressing also contains fresh ginger and garlic, which are well-known healthy ingredients, honey to replace white sugar, as well as the smarter choice of olive oil instead of plain old vegetable oil.

Simple but healthy dressing ingredients

Dressing easily made in a blender or food processor

Spinach of course, for color and vitamins, but baby arugula’s robust flavor and chew factor bring all these elements together!

Tyson Grilled & Ready® Chicken Salad with Orange Cilantro Dressing

For more recipes for this and other varieties of Tyson Grilled & Ready® please visit the Tyson official website or follow Tyson on Twitter.

Grilled & Ready® Chicken Salad with Orange-Cilantro Dressing

Salad:
2 cups baby Arugula (aka Rocket)
2 cups baby spinach
2 green onions, sliced
10 grape tomatoes, sliced in half
8 oz Tyson Grilled & Ready® chicken breast strips
Dressing:
1/4 cup packed cilantro leaves
1 tbs diced jalapeno
2 tbs lime juice
2 tbs orange juice
1/3 cup honey
1 tsp orange zest
2 tsp balsamic vinegar
2 large cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1 3/4 tsp fresh ginger, roughly chopped
1 tsp salt (or to taste)
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 tsp dark sesame oil (optional)

Add all dressing ingredients, except oils, to blender or food processor. Pulse a few times to coarsely chop cilantro leaves. With blender or food processor running, slowly drizzle olive oil through the feeder tube of food processor or through hole in the top of a blender. Add optional sesame oil, if using. Reserve 1/4 cup of dressing for marinade.

Defrost Tyson Grilled & Ready® Chicken Breast Strips per package instructions. Place defrosted chicken strips in a non-reactive (stainless steel, ceramic, plastic) bowl. Pour the 1/4 cup of dressing over chicken. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Mix all salad ingredients in a large bowl and distribute evenly between 2 plates. Top with marinated chicken. Serve with additional dressing.

Makes 2 servings.

Check out this other great and healthy recipe using Tyson Grilled & Ready®

Yummy Roasted Bok Choi with Mushrooms & Chicken

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Creole Chicken Salad

Judith Hannemann — Fri, 15 Nov 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Creole Chicken Salad

Great to make if you have leftover chicken. Dressing makes it special.

Recently I made a nice lemon thyme roast chicken and naturally, had leftovers.

I had the breast left over and the remains were taking up a lot of space in the fridge and I need space here!!

Always loved chicken salad, but wanted to try a different type of dressing, but I wanted the dressing to be mayonnaise based since I am a nut for mayonnaise.

Because the chicken had a nice light thyme flavor, I figured my creole seasoning mix would be just the right addition for the best flavor. I wasn’t wrong!! This is great!!

You might even want to call this “healthy” too. Especially if you use low-fat mayo. The addition of the quick oats not only makes this creamy as can be, it also adds fibre to the salad. Use this same trick in tuna salad too. It gives extra creaminess, but if you use the cheaper light tuna, it cuts WAY down on the fishy taste. You’ll think you used solid-white albacore. I’ve been doing this for YEARS now because I like the texture so much–more than the health benefit (I’m not really all into that anyway, but I know a lot of people are!)

Keep this recipe in mind for those Thanksgiving leftovers too. Turkey certainly can be substituted for the chicken.

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Creole Chicken Salad

This chicken salad recipe is great to make with leftover chicken. The dressing makes it special.

Prep Time10

Total Time10

Course: salads

Cuisine: American

Keyword: chicken salad recipe, healthy chicken salad

Servings: 4 people

Calories: 329kcal

Author: Judith Hannemann

Ingredients

2 cups diced cooked chicken white meat preferred
2 ribs celery sliced
1 small onion diced
1 tsp paprika

Dressing:

1/4 cup quick-cooking oats
3 tbsp warm water
1/2 cup mayonnaise low fat is fine
1-2 tsp Creole Seasoning Blend
1-2 tbsp water

Instructions

In a small bowl, combine the quick cooking oats and 3 tbsp warm water. Stir; set aside.
For the dressing, mix the mayonnaise, creole seasoning blend and 1 tbsp water. Add the oats mixture and stir to combine. Taste and determine if you want more creole seasoning; add if you do. Dressing should be the consistency of a thick, pourable dressing, i.e. a good-quality ranch dressing like Marie's. If it is too thick, add the additional 1 tbsp of water.
In a large bowl, combine the chicken, celery and onion. Mix well. Add the amount of dressing you desire; mix. Correct any seasoning at this point. If you need salt, add at this time.
Cover and chill for about 30 minutes. Sprinkle with paprika immediately before serving.
Serve with crackers or melba toast for an appetizer, otherwise on hard rolls for sandwiches. Should serve 8 as appetizer, 4 for sandwiches.

Nutrition

Creole Chicken Salad

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Asian Chicken Salad and Sesame Soy Dressing

Judith Hannemann — Sun, 17 Mar 2013 04:00:00 +0000

Asian Chicken Salad and Sesame Soy Dressing

Why go to those fast-food joints when you can make this healthy salad at home and in a edible bowl too! Delicious and low calorie too.

This salad combines shredded leaf lettuce of any kind, assorted greens, a dressing that will knock your socks off and, of course, teryaki glazed chicken breast slices.

Great salad for a light dinner

The edible bowl is a shaped flour tortilla. Easy enough to do with the molds that come with a fajita set or you can merely make a baseball-sized ball of aluminum foil and drape the tortilla over that.

This is the ultimate in “clean” food and supplies plenty of energy.

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Asian Chicken Salad and Sesame Soy Dressing

This salad combines shredded leaf lettuce of any kind, assorted greens, a dressing that will knock your socks off and, of course, teryaki glazed chicken breast slices.

Prep Time30

Cook Time20

Total Time50

Course: Chicken, lunch, salads

Cuisine: Asian

Keyword: Asian chicken recipe, chicken salad recipe, sesame soy dressing

Servings: 2

Calories: 580kcal

Author: Judith Hannemann

Ingredients

DRESSING

1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tbs unseasoned rice vinegar
2 tbs oil
1 tbs dark sesame oil
1/4 cup sugar
2 tbs water
pinch of grated ginger
1 tbs toasted sesame seed
Combine all ingredients in a jar that has a lid. Shake well and refrigerate.

SALAD

Leaf lettuce any kind shredded (amount your choice)
Baby Spinach amount your choice
Watercress amount your choice
Grape Tomatoes sliced in half (amount your choice)
Scallions thinly sliced (amount your choice)
OR YOU COULD CHEAT AND USE MESCALUN MIX LOL
Use approximately equal amounts of all the greens lettuce, spinach & watercress. Mix together and store in a large plastic bag. You can make enough so there's salad left over for another meal.

EDIBLE BOWL

2 medium flour tortilla about 8-10-inches diameter
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Dampen tortilla by sprinkling with water. Smooth off excess water and pat with a paper towel. Drape moistened tortilla over inverted fluted mold and shape tortilla to conform to shape OR drape over a baseball-sized ball of aluminum foil (it will flute naturally this way).
Bake in a 400 degree oven for about 5 minutes or until tortilla feels crisp and holds it's shape. Remove from oven and let cool on mold foil ball

CHICKEN

1 medium boneless skinless chicken breast (approx 8 oz)
1/4 cup teryaki glaze or Chinese BBQ Sauce--available in Asian section of the grocery
Preheat broiler or BBQ grill to medium heat. Grill chicken breast about 10 minutes each side or until juices run clear. Brush with glaze, turn up the heat to high and cook until glaze just begins to caramelize.
Slice diagonally in 1/4-inch slices.

Instructions

Putting It All Together
Place about 1 cup of greens in each edible bowl. Add desired amount of sliced grape tomatoes and scallions. Place 1/2 of the sliced chicken on top of greens in each bowl. Add dressing.
Serves 2

Nutrition

Asian Chicken Salad and Sesame Soy Dressing

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