Ok, I'm doing the gym thing to lose weight.  I've begun lifting weights because building muscle is important for little old ladies like me!  So the next thing to do is eat right.  Today's lunch?  Chicken salad!  Before you say, "Tricia, chicken salad is bad for you!", I say read on...

A regular chicken salad with mayo is verrrrry bad for you.  It tastes delish, but you defeat the purpose of the good, lean protein of chicken when you drown it in mayo.  What to do?  Well, check out my take on chicken salad.

loading...

I made this salad after I got home from the gym and it's pretty skinny jeans friendly.  The ingredients are leftover roasted chicken, cheese, lettuce, dried cranberries, and a bit of dressing.

I roast a couple of chickens every week so I can have it cold for lunch or use it to make other stuff for dinner.  In my salad, I used about a cup of cubed chicken, about an eighth cup of whatever cheese you like, a tablespoon of dried cranberries, and a drizzle, about a tablespoon each, of raspberry vinaigrette and honey mustard dressing.  An eighth cup of cheese sounds like a pretty small amount, but it is just for a little flavor.  Too much cheese will wreck the skinniness of the salad.  The calorie count of the salad dressing is about 100 calories total.  Use too much dressing and you might as well make chicken salad with mayo!  Oh, and I use about a third of a head of regular iceberg lettuce.  It's a lot, but all that roughage is good for you and it fills your dieting tummy up!

Easy roast chicken:  wash and dry a whole chicken.  Make sure you get a roasting chicken and not a fryer, and make sure you take out the neck and gizzards from the cavity.  Yes, you'll have to stick your hand inside the bird.  It's dead.  It won't mind.  Drizzle olive oil over the whole chicken, breast side up.  Shake salt, pepper, garlic powder, rosemary, thyme, and sage lightly over the chicken.  Turn it over and do it again on the back side.  Cook breast side down at 425 degrees for an hour to hour and a half or until the juices run clear when you pierce the leg. 

I've never, never, never been one for calorie counting or depriving myself of ANYTHING, but a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do!  September 24th, here I come!

More From 93.1 KISS FM