Salad for dinner

Chicken, apple and walnut salad with citrus vinaigrette

The Chenail’s have an impending beach vacation…which means that the Mr. and Mrs. are doing their best to get into bathing suit shape! The last tropical vacation Brett and I took was to St. Lucia…on our honeymoon. And while I don’t expect to be in the same shape I was in then (I’ve long said goodbye to my bikini days), I’d like to at least feel “decent” about myself. What that means for us is watching what we eat and lots of great workouts. For me project “workout branchout” is well underway – and I’m feeling SORE! I consistently get in 3 runs a week and lift a few days a week. I also hit Pilates class when I can and overall, I think this is a pretty well rounded workout routine. This week though, I decided to try out some of the workouts on demand to round out some different areas. Hmmmm…10 minute sexy legs? Sounds perfect – a quick workout of an area I don’t focus on too heavily. Today? OUCH! I have to say that I’m pretty embarrassed. How can I barely walk after 10 minutes…really?


Anyway, the second part of this was the eating. I’m trying to incorporate more salads. I find that salads always make me feel more satisfied than I expect and it’s a great way to get lots of veggies and protein.


Where this recipe came from
In a effort to eat more salads, but not get bored with the standards (I’m slightly obsessed with Cesear dressing right now), I decided to create my own “signature” salads. This particular day, I looked around to see what we had that would go together and voila. Signature salad number 1 was born!


Making the recipe
It’s a salad – so obviously pretty easy. I decided to bread and bake the chicken because I had some extra time that day – but you could just as easily season with some season salt and grill or sautee. I don’t make my own salad dressing often, but was feeling ambitious. It was SO much easier than I expected! On the salad recipe, you’ll notice I don’t have a “measurement” for the greens. I’ve been trying to do a lot more measuring (or at least guessing how much I use) of ingredients for recipes for this blog – but I just can’t measure salad. How much lettuce do you like in your salad? Great, use that amount!


The results
My kids won’t eat salad – but this was easy enough to give them the parts of the salad. Cheese, apples, chicken and a few cut up veggies and we were a go. Brett and I both really enjoyed the salad. I was expecting him to be a bit put-off by the apples, but was glad he liked it!


The recipe
Chicken
¼ cup walnuts
1 cup whole wheat breadcrumbs
¼ cup panko (I used this to make the breading crispier)
½ tsp garlic powder
Salt and pepper
4 chicken breasts
2 eggs
2 tbsp olive oil


Heat the oven to 400. Put the walnuts, breadcrumbs, panko , garlic powder and salt and pepper in a food process and process until smooth.

Put the mixture into a shallow bowl. Beat the eggs with olive oil and salt and pepper in another shallow bowl. Dredge the chicken in the egg mixture, then breading. Put on a baking sheet sprayed with cooking spray.

Bake for 20 minutes.


Salads
Salad greens (I use the 50/50 blend spinach/Spring mix)
¼ apple, thinly sliced
2 slices cheddar cheese, cubed
A handful of walnuts, toasted
1 breast of chicken, cut into chunks

*Note: this makes one salad. The chicken recipe makes four servings. Brett and I each had a salad and had enough leftover chicken for the kids dinner and salads the next day.


Dressing
Juice of ½ lemon
3 tbsp orange juice
1 clove garlic, minced
Pinch of ground thyme
1 tbsp honey
Salt and pepper
¼ cup olive oil


Put all ingredients, except for the olive oil, into a small bowl. Whisk in olive oil slowly and serve over salads.