Over the weekend I set out to make a recipe that I found on Pinterest; a healthy one, for chicken salad. It had wheat berries and chicken, almonds, Brianna’s lemon dressing, honey and grapes. oh, and onion. I was pumped to try it.
Until I realized I did not have wheat berries, the dressing or the onion. or the feta.
I’m not proud of what I’m about to tell you. Typically I ignore recipes when it comes to cooking. If I see a recipe that I like, often I will go for it, surrendering one ingredient and replacing it with another, that kind of thing. When baking I would never, ever do that – but, somehow with cooking I take liberties. lots of them.
Sometimes it is a delightful serendipity. But, Michael will tell you that sometimes it is bad. There are no guarantees in my kitchen. And I will say that my successes are typically mishaps. Like this recipe.
What I made this weekend turned out super yummy, on accident. And I will make it again soon! I give you:
Crunchy Quinoa Chicken Salad.
Ingredients:
1 lb of chicken breast
a bunch of grapes, cut in half
1 heaping cup of cooked quinoa
1 tbsp of honey
1/4 cup of poppy seed dressing (I used Brianna’s)
1/2 tbsp of vinegar
2 tbsp lemon juice
chopped or sliced almonds
(I didn’t have feta, but I intend to use it next time)
Instructions:
Bring two pots of water to boil. Boil the chicken for about 20 -30 minutes. Cook the quinoa, as directed in the other pot. (I cooked a cup of quinoa – which yields about 3 cups – I only used a heaping cup of cooked quinoa in the salad.)
While the chicken and quinoa cook, chop the grapes, and roughly chop the almonds if you’d like. Then whisk together the olive oil, honey, poppyseed dressing, vinegar and lemon juice. Pop it in the refrigerator to chill.
Drain your quinoa when it is finished cooking and let it cool. When the chicken is finished cooking and cooled enough to handle, shred it and add some salt and pepper. Combine your ingredients in a bowl, and top with the feta and almonds.
I ate mine with black pepper triscuits, but you could eat this over a bed of greens, or in a pita, or wrap. I think it could be good lots of different ways, so be creative!
daily portion 