Tossed Salad with Seafood or Chicken

Ingredients:

• Cooked or raw vegetables (your choice, and as many as you want) : Lettuce, Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Peppers, Onions, Fennel, Celery, Radishes, Mushrooms, Asparagus, Hearts of Palm, Leeks, Green beans, Cabbage
• 1 medium portion (4 ounces) fresh fish, shrimp or chicken
• Vinagrette with 1 tablespoon oil

Preparation:
Try one of these great combinations:

1. Combine shredded white cabbage, grated green apples, and horseradish.
2. Combine bean sprouts, grated carrots, shrimp.
3. Asparagus tips, artichoke hearts, scampi.
4. Combine tomatoes, lettuce, tuna.
5. Combine fennel, strips of red peppers, mussels.
6. Combine green beans, shallots, sliced chicken.

Yield:
1 serving

 

Mediterranean Chicken Salad

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup dried orzo (rice-shaped pasta), about 3 ounces
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 2 tablespoons water or condensed chicken broth
• 3 tablespoons vinegar of your choice (rice, tarragon, balsamic, etc.)
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh tarragon (optional)
• 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
• Pepper to taste (add salt to taste if you wish)
• 3 cups diced, cooked chicken breast (about 4 breasts, or the meat shredded from a rotisserie chicken
• 1 1/3 cup cherry tomato halves
• 6 oz jar marinated artichoke hearts, well-drained, rinsed, and chopped
• 1/2 cup coarsely chopped kalamata olives
• 1/4 cup dried currants (optional)
• 1 1/2 tablespoons drained capers
• 4 tablespoons toasted pine nuts* (optional
• 4 tablespoons toasted pine nuts* (optional)

Preparation:
1. Cook orzo in a medium saucepan of boiling salted water until just tender but still firm to the bite (about 8 minutes). Rinse under cold water, drain well, and let cool. Put in a medium bowl.
2. Add olive oil, tomato paste, water, vinegar, fresh tarragon, lemon juice, and mustard to a small bowl or food processor, and pulse or whisk to blend well. Season dressing to taste with pepper and salt, if desired.
3. Add chicken to cooked orzo along with tomatoes, artichoke hearts, kalamata olives, currants, and capers. Drizzle dressing over the top, and toss.
4. Serve each large scoop of chicken salad on a bed of romaine or spinach leaves, and sprinkle toasted pine nuts over the top.

* Toast the pine nuts in a toaster oven until golden brown, or put in a nonstick frying pan and heat over medium heat, stirring often, until golden brown.

Yield:
4 servings

Cranberry Turkey Salad

Ingredients:

• 2 cups cooked turkey breast, cubed
• 4 cups romaine lettuce, torn into small pieces
• 1 large red apple, cored and cut into small pieces
• 1 orange peeled and segmented (or use a small can of mandarin oranges)
• 1/4 cup dried cranberries
• 3 tablespoons walnuts, coarsely chopped
• 3 kiwifruit, peeled and sliced
• Dressing Ingredients:
  1 cup jellied whole-berry cranberry sauce
  1/4 cup frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed

Preparation:
1. In a medium bowl, combine turkey, apple pieces, cranberries, orange, and walnuts.
2. In a small bowl, mix cranberry sauce and orange juice concentrate.
3. Arrange lettuce leaves among four plates.
4. Just before serving gently toss turkey mixture with dressing.
5. Garnish with kiwi slices.

Yield:
4 servings

 

 

Santa Barbara Chicken Salad

This pasta and fruit chicken salad is perfect for a picnic in the Santa Barbara wine country.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups cooked whole-wheat blend pasta (or use regular pasta)
• 1 cup roasted skinless chicken breast meat, cubed
• 2 stalks celery, finely diced
• 1 large apple, peeled, cored, and chopped
• 1/2 cup seedless grapes, halved
• 6 ounce can (in juice) pineapple tidbits, drained
• 3 tablespoons light mayonnaise
• 3 tablespoons fat-free sour cream
• 1 tablespoon fat-free half-and-half or low-fat milk
• 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt (optional)
• 1 pinch ground black pepper
• 1 pinch ground nutmeg

Preparation:
1. Chill pasta and chicken thoroughly.
2. Mix chicken, celery, apples, grapes, pineapple, mandarin oranges, and pasta in large bowl.
3. Mix the light mayonnaise, fat-free sour cream, fat-free half-and-half or low-fat milk, sugar, salt (if desired), pepper and nutmeg.
4. Combine mayonnaise and chicken mixtures and toss. Store in the refrigerator.

Yield:
4 side-dish servings (or 2 entrée servings)