I’m always modifying recipes, just in case you haven’t noticed. Here’s a “healthified” crunchy asian salad recipe from the Kraft recipe that I’ve tweaked and converted into main dish by adding leftover chicken. The salad ingredients are simple and whole foodish, if that’s not a slang I don’t know what is. I strive for eating as many whole foods as possible because I know it’s better for your body.
The Asian dressing is super easy and you can make it in a snap with just 5 pantry items. You could use the dressing on other items as well. Think cold noodles or just regular old salad.
The following is the original recipe from eatbetteramerica and I’ll share how I tweaked mine and you can make your own substitutions based on what’s in your pantry.
Dressing:
1/3 cup canola oil
1/3 cup rice vinegar
3 Tablespoons sugar (I used brown sugar)
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
Salad:
1 package ramen noodles only (I used chow mein noodles)
1 bag coleslaw mix (I used my new food processor and thinly sliced 1/4 of a head of cabbage)
8 medium green onions (I used about 4)
1/2 sliced almonds (I used slivered)
1 medium red bell pepper, cut into strips (I omitted because I didn’t have one on hand)
2 seedless oranges, peeled, coarsely chopped (I used clementines and oops, I forgot to chop; you can substitute a can of mandrian oranges)
2 cups coarsely chopped fresh baby spinach leaves
In a large bowl, beat dressing ingredients with wire whisk until sugar is dissolved and well blended. Break up ramen noodles in bag and discard seasoning. Add noodles and all remaining salad ingredients except oranges and spinach to dressing; toss to mix well. Stir in oranges and spinach; serve immediately or refrigerate up to 8 hours.
**You know me; I cheat on the directions. I just toss it all together and then I leave off the dressing until I plate it, then I add the dressing to the portion we are serving. This keeps the entire salad from wilting and getting soggy. It will keep up to 2-3 days without the dressing on all of it. If I were serving it to a large crowd, I would toss it all with the dressing, but since it’s just hubby and I eating on it, I’ll wait.
Hope you enjoy your salad any way you fix it! This recipe is linked to Tasty Tuesday for more inspiring ideas.
