Healthy Thai Chicken Salad

 So Happy New Year!  I think this time of year everyone has New Years Resolutions to eat healthier.  I know I do every year.  I can't help but to indulge in the holiday foods that are passed around and baked in my home!  Usually I gain at least 5 lbs from Halloween to New Years Eve, then vow to get it back off by April.  This year, I am happy to report I actually lost 10 lbs in the past 2 months.  It took a lot of self control to pass up the goodies, but I made sure not to deprive myself of my absolute favorites!!
Anyways, onto this Thai Chicken Salad.  Yumm!  I adapted this from of course my favorite food blog, OUR BEST BITES!!  I left a few things out, and changed portion sizes because I recalculated their calculations and they were way off.  They said it was 399 calories and it was way over!  So I made it 373 calories and very satisfying!!!

I use this PB2 powdered peanut butter in place of regular peanut butter to save a LOT of calories.  I use it in my Protein Shakes as well and it tastes great!!

Yeilds: 1 serving
373 calories using the PB2 rather than creamy peanut butter

1 Cup shredded cabbage
3/4 Cup cooked shredded chicken
1/4 Cup cooked and cooled Quinoa
1 Green Onion - Diced
1/4 Cup - diced celery
2 TBLSP- chopped cilantro

Dressing:
1 TBLSP - PB2 (powdered peanut butter) or creamy Peanut Butter
1 tsp - olive oil
1 TBLSP- rice vinegar
1 tsp - soy sauce
1 tsp - agava or honey

1 TBLSP- chopped cashews
1 lime wedge

Combine the top salad ingredients.  I like to bake my chicken with olive oil, salt, pepper and garlic at 350 for about 25-35 min, depending on size of chicken breasts.  And precook them by golly so your not having to wait soo long for lunch!!  The quinoa as well.  Pre-cook and store in refridgerator.
Combine all the dressing ingredients in a bowl and whip it until well combined.  Pour it over your salad and toss to combine.  Top with your cashews and a squirt of lime.
That my friends, is a good, healthy salad!!

Creamy Cilantro Lime Ranch - Cafe Rio Dressing

So this is my 3rd version dressing that I finally fell in love with!! My other two were either too runny, too strong, something was missing. But this one turns out just right!!! Enjoy! 2 cloves garlic-minced
1/2 cup mayo
1/2 cup sour cream
8 oz buttermilk
1 Dry packet Ranch dressing
1/2 cup cilantro - chopped
1 jalepeno- chopped
1 lime
2 tomatillos-
Stick everything in your blender and give it a whirl. I think the original recipe called for 1 cup mayo but I think you can do it either way. You can even change up the peppers and use half a banana pepper like I did (see the picture). This turned out soooo yummy! And goes perfect with any salad, but especially Cafe Rio pork or Chicken Salad!

Grilled Chicken Berry Salad with Berry Vinaigrette

So I've decided this might take me a long time to add all of my old favorite recipes on this blog because I keep searching for new yummy recipes and find that I LOVE them and have to add them to my blog asap! So this Berry Salad is delicious! I loved the feta cheese, and it's a must to toast the almonds! And I've found if I can't add peanut butter to a meal, then I add avocado. It's such a yummy touch to a salad, or sandwich, or breakfast burrito, or quesadilla, should I keep going? And this Berry vinaigrette was way good. I didn't have white wine vinegar so I used half red wine vinegar and half & half white vinegar and lemon juice. Turned out great!

http://www.ourbestbites.com/2011/06/grilled-chicken-berry-salad/

And the dressing:

http://www.ourbestbites.com/2011/06/berry-poppy-seed-vinaigrette/