Have Chicken? Clean Eating's Buffalo Chicken Salad and My Own Spicy Chicken Salad Sandwiches

Who says dinner has to be a huge production? I grew up in a househouse where "frozen meal of your choice" was the dinner plan about two days out of seven.  I didn't mind it at all, but I'd much prefer a very simple, homemade dinner, such as this one I came up with when we had leftover grilled chicken not too long ago.

The price for this entire meal was under $2.50/person (including the frozen green beans and corn.  Frozen veggies, I love them.  They are healthy and often very cheap!).  Not only was the price right on par, but the time to prepare this meal was too; including steaming the vegetables, this took about 10 minutes to get on a plate and ready for some devouring.

Spicy Chicken Salad Sandwiches
Serves 1

Ingredients

4 ounces grilled chicken, seasoned with pepper

1.5 Tbsp. olive oil mayo

2 tsp. dijon mustard

More pepper, and a dash of cayenne

1 whole wheat English Muffin (or bread of your choice)**

Directions

Cut the grilled chicken into medium sized chunks.  Add the chicken to a medium bowl and mix in the mayo and dijon.  Mix well to combine and distribute sauces evenly.  Add cayenne and pepper (as much or as little as you'd like, I added 1 tsp. of each!  I like SPICE!)

**NOTE:  If you follow a low FODMAPs diet be sure to use a gluten-free English muffin.

Estimated Nutrition Facts, with the English Muffin
Source: CalorieCount.com

Nutrition Highlights: Good source of calcium and iron

So this next recipe is one of those that a good food blogger would have made again, just to make sure there was a decent picture to show her readers.  I guess I'm not a good food blogger because I'm using an old picture, and I'm not turning back. Last summer I was preparing dinners for my mom, dad, and brother, along with their neighbors who had three kids, about two days a week.  Both families really enjoyed this recipe (including all of the young kids!), so while the picture doesn't do it and justice, I sitll wanted to provide you with the recipe. While it may not quality as food porn, and least you get an idea of what it's supposed to look like (I've gotten better at making food look really tasty since last summer, right?!  Please say yes).

The total price per family (family of 4) for this meal was fifteen dollars.  That's not bad considering I used organic chicken breasts and whole wheat tortillas to make the salad into a wrap!  Who said eating healthier has to be expensive?!  The total time to prepare and clean-up this meal was an hour. You can't beat that.

Buffalo Chicken Salad Wraps

Source: Clean Eating Magazine, June 2012 Issue

(Serves 4)

Directions

1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breast

Olive oil cooking spray

1 tsp. smoked paprika

1 tsp. chile powder

1/2 tsp. sea salt

1/2 sweet onion, chopped **

1/2 cup non-fat plain Greek yogurt **

5 Tbsp. low-fat buttermilk **

1-1.5 Tbsp. hot sauce **

1 head romaine lettuce, chopped

1 head red leaf lettuce, chopped

1 yellow or green bell pepper, sliced thinly

1 pint grape tomatoes, halved

1 cup peeled and shredded carrots

2 ounces crumbled blue cheese

4 whole wheat tortillas **

Directions

1.  Preheat broiler to high. Place chickenon a baking sheet coated with cooking spray.  Lightly mist chicken with cooking spray and sprinkle evenly on both sides with paprika, chile powder, and salt. Broil 6 to 8 inches from the heat until center of chicken is no longer pink, about 6 minute sper side.  Transfer chicken to a cutting board and let rest for 3 to 5 minutes before cutting into small chunks (~1/4 inches).

2.  In a blender, puree onion, buttermilk, greek yogurt,  and hot sauce.  Taste and add more hot sauce if you want.

3.  Heat tortillas in oven if you want them hot.  Place a hot tortilla on each plate and divide romaine and red leaf lettuces among 4 tortillas and top with bell pepper, tomatoes, carrots and chicken, dividing each evenly.  Serve yogurt mixture on the side and drizzle on top of wraps.  Sprinkle each with blue cheese and serve immediately!

**NOTE:  If you follow a low FODMAPs diet this is not the best recipe for you.  Two integral parts of the sauce are onion, hot sauce, and milk.  It's hard to modify and still keep that buffalo flavor!

Note:  If you want to reduce the sodium, you can always reduce the amount of hot sauce or omit the added sea salt. Most of the sodium from this estimate came from the tortilla, the hot sauce, the obvious sea salt, and the blue cheese.  You do have control over all of these, so modify to your needs.

Nutrition Highlights: Excellent source of fiber, vitamin A, vitamin C, and calcium, good source of iron.

I remember getting a call from the family for whom I made this recipe, the day after I had prepared it for them, and they said it was their favorite meal so far.  So, you know, considering it was a "Clean Eating" recipe, I was pretty happy about that.  

I hope everyone has a lovely Tuesday.  I've got a big demo at work today and we're making two different burgers (one turkey and one cod), plus grilled vegetables and a grilled peach and apricot dish with ricotta cheese.  Sound good???  Yeah, I know!  :)

Thanks for reading.

The Candid Rd