Healthy Eating - Chinese Chicken Salad

Our trip to Cabo last month marked the end of working out and eating healthy... and let's be honest... there are just too many yummy looking things on Pinterest!  Damn you Pinterest and your ooey gooey Au Gratain potato recipes and homemade Oreo cookies!

With the holidays coming up, I knowwww I have lots of parties (and lots of food) in the not so distant future, so I need to be dedicated to watching what I eat, and working out.  I am not the type of person to cut out the foods I love the most, so this means that I need to start eating healthy foods that don't taste healthy.

Last night, I made an amazing (and easy) recipe for a healthy Chinese chicken salad.  They say, you eat with your eyes first, and this dish was as beautiful as it was yummy.

Ingredients:

Salad:
   Cabbage (half head per serving)
   Carrots (one full carrot per serving)
   Cherry Tomatoes (12 tomatoes per serving)
   Roasted Chicken Breast (one breast per serving)
   Bean Sprouts (a handful per serving)
   Chopped Peanuts (one tablespoon per serving)

Dressing:
   Soy Sauce (two tablespoons)
   Apple Cider Vinigar (three tablespoons)
   Grated Ginger (one teaspoon)
   Cilantro (one tablespoon - or if you like more... go all out)
   Olive Oil (three tablespoons)
   Garlic (one clove finely chopped)
   Red Pepper Flakes (one teaspoon)
   Sesame Seeds (one teaspoon)
   Salt + Pepper (to taste)

I'm not going to lie, the dressing was the hardest part to make (not that it was hard), so if you are feeling lazy, pick up some reduced fat Ginger Soy dressing and call it a day, but I swear to you - this dressing is fresh, and spicy, and delicious.

For the salad:
Shred the cabbage and grate the carrots, and mix together in a bowl with the bean sprouts.  Half the cherry tomatoes, chop the chicken into bite size pieces, and chop the peanuts finely.  Add those to the bean sprout, carrot, and cabbage mixture.

For the dressing:
Combine all the ingredients, mixing quickly to get the dressing to emulsify.  If you don't like spicy (chili flakes), or hate cilantro, leave those ingredients out.

Dress carefully - you likely won't need the full mixture.  Just save what you don't use, or double the recipe if you are making the salad for a larger group.

This salad was really yummy, and really filling, and per serving it has just 380 calories.  THAT's what I'm talking about!!