An Inspirational Lunch to Boost Creativity

I admit it – sometimes I knock my own socks off when it comes to food.

It helps that I try to outdo myself.

Lunch today was unbelievably scrumptious! And ironically, it was the result of my not wanting chicken salad!

But G was starving – he had been in front of the computer since about 9:00 and it was already 1:30. He didn’t get breakfast today, since I slept poorly last night and ended up going back to bed after I put The Little Ninja on the bus to school. I didn’t get up until after eleven. :-O

Soooo, when I opened the refrigerator to see what was there besides the leftover roast chicken from the night before last, I was feeling less-than-inspired.

But, since feeding him yogurt or a Kinder Egg wasn’t really an option, and we had sandwiches yesterday, I decided to get creative. I pulled out:

1.  the chicken,which I had already shredded a bit (knowing it would end up in ramen or salad)
2. a rib of celery
3. a green onion
4. some cilantro in a baggie
5. a jalapeño
6. a lime
7. an avocado
8. a pomegranite
9. the mayo

With all the interesting ingredients out of the fridge, I went to the cupboard. (I’m not going to show you voyeurs my cupboard because it’s a disaster.) I grabbed the sliced almonds, and since there were only a few in the bag I got some pine nuts, too. And the pièce de résistance: La Choy Rice Noodles.

(Okay, I’ll give you a peek…)

With all my ingredients assembled, I started toasting a handful of nuts in a little frying pan on the stove. While that was happening, I diced up the celery, green onion and half the jalapeño. I squirted a bunch of mayo onto the chicken (I like my chicken salad to hold together but not be too mayo-ey.) Then I squeezed a bit of lime juice on it, and a bit on the avocado half, too, which I diced up. I wrangled with the pomegranite and managed to get most of the seeds out and into a little bowl. (Thank God I was wearing a dark blue shirt because it’s almost impossible to deal with pomegranite seeds and not get a stain on your clothes!)

Preparation:

• Assemble salad – chicken, celery, green onion, cilantro, mayo, lime juice. Sprinkle with Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper.
• Put some greens in a pretty bowl (I used baby arugula, my favorite)
• Drizzle some Balsamic Vinegar and a nice oil over the greens (I used Lemon Olive Oil)
• Put a generous scoop of chicken salad on top
• Sprinkle the avocado chunks, pomegranite seeds, toasted nuts and rice noodles over the top

I’m telling you, it was absolutely fabulous! So good, in fact, I poured us some champagne with a splash of St. Germaine and a few pomegranite seeds for good measure. G forgave me straight away for not making breakfast.

If this isn’t a lunch to get your creative juices flowing, then try this.

And for another interesting chicken salad recipe, check out the link at the bottom.

Happy Eating! And if you’ve got an amazing salad recipe, please share it… I don’t always feel so inspired.

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• Vietnamese Chicken Salad with Cilantro Dressing Bento #73 (theroxxbox.com)