When I found this week’s recipe at "Eating Well", I had been looking for a nice, healthy salad. I was drawn to the title immediately. You can see the original here.
Chopped Power Salad with Chicken - serves 4
Serving Size: about 2½ cups
Approximately 466 calories per serving
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1 clove garlic, grated
½ teaspoon dried oregano
½ teaspoon sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon ground pepper
4 cups torn green-leaf lettuce
4 cups baby spinach
2 cups shredded cooked chicken (I bought an already cooked rotisserie chicken from the supermarket.)
1 cup halved grape tomatoes
1 cup halved and thinly sliced cucumber
½ cup slivered red onion
1/3 cup sliced pepperoncini
1/3 cup crumbled feta cheese
2 tablespoons toasted unsalted sunflower seeds
Whisk oil, lemon juice, garlic, oregano, sugar, salt and pepper together in a large bowl.
Add lettuce, spinach, chicken, tomatoes, cucumber, onion and pepperoncini; toss to coat.
Serve sprinkled with feta and sunflower seeds.
It can be adjusted with your favorite veggies and even your favorite dressing.
I have never liked a lot of dressing on salads. Instead of mixing it with everything, I drizzled about a tablespoon on top of mine. My dear other half put the dressing together earlier, and after having a bit of a taste, he decided he preferred his regular commercial Blue Cheese. He thought the dressing was a bit bland. I was tempted but decided to stick with the recipe. One of his suggestions was to add a little hot sauce; sounded good. However, when I tasted my salad with the usual drizzle over the top, I thought it was perfect without any additions. You have to mix it up really well, and maybe the fact that it had a chance to age a couple of hours in the fridge helped. I am no expert but if you try the dressing, you be your own judge and test taste as you go along. I just know I enjoyed it and will be making it again for next time.
I am not a big fan of pepperoncini. Ours came already marinated and sliced in a jar. It was way too vinegary for my taste but for my dear, the more vinegary the better. I have said it before, it would be a boring old world if we all liked the same things. With the pepperoncini I put 4 pieces on my salad and I hardly tasted them with all the other ingredients. I detected a tiny added flavor, and it worked.
We both said after finishing, that it was a great salad and definitely in the 'make-again' category.
I used a rotisserie chicken and there was enough not only for this recipe, but leftovers for another two meals. I suggested we use it for sandwiches or make it into a chicken salad or have the same as we did today. We will decide tomorrow.
The chicken can be left off if you want to go vegetarian.
We had a bottle of Prosecco that has been staring at us in the fridge for a while. We opened it and each had a glass. It was a nice pairing but neither of us had eaten a lot that day and we were definitely feeling a little 'glowy' after a few sips. We were surprised and stopped at one small glass. I think it will be an early night. Party people we are not!
My reviews may seem a bit wordy, but I add them to help us the next time we repeat a recipe. Hopefully they will encourage you with your own ideas also.
