barefoot thursdays: chinese chicken salad

yes, it's incredibly early -- 7:08am here in sunny (!!) happy valley, pa. i have class from 8-11 (well, 8:-12:30 but i'm skipping that last one to have lunch with my daddy -- shh!), and then leaving for home after, and i wanted to be sure i got this in! 

the first april barefoot recipe was something i was incredibly excited about. i love fresh salads, especially with interesting ingredients and light dressings. i was also pumped because it finally didn't involve cheese (i'm still working on how i'm going to do the second recipe so that i can eat it...), so my variations were because of what i had in the fridge, not because i can't eat it!

thank you, McKenzie of Kenzie’s Kitchen, for picking this lovely chinese chicken salad. you can see the full recipe there, but i'm going to give you my personal variations. in stead of cooking chicken, i used pre-cooked turkey strips. i'm not a huge chicken fan, and these little pre-cooked turkey things are my go-to for salads, fajitas/wraps, and rice dishes. i grilled them lightly on a grill pan and decided just to throw on the asparagus instead of blanching it. the grilling gave it a really good texture and a fantastic nutty flavor, which ended up being a great compliment to the peanut butter in the dressing. i forgot to buy green onions, so i just grilled a few white onions (i hate raw onions in salad) and added them in. i followed her directions for the dressing, omitting some of the oil (necessity) and sesame seeds (forgot these too -- i even made a list and left it on the counter at home... such is my life). i tossed all of the veggies and turkey in the dressing and then spooned that on top of some mixed greens. 

it was a perfectly crisp salad; just spring-y enough, but the warmth of the asparagus and turkey with the peanut dressing kept it a little homey and cozy. next time, i'd like to try shredding the turkey and dicing the vegetables smaller to make a really great salad for sandwiches or wraps. it'd perfect for a little weekday lunch with some lemonade and a juicy, crisp apple. 

i'm heading home for easter, so look forward to lots of posts about peeps and eggs and pineapple souffle. =)

ciao,

j