Italian Chicken Salad Lettuce Cups

 

These were the perfect bite for healthy eating after the holidays.  I absolutely love the beautifully big leaves of butter lettuce.  This dish has inspired me to figure out what else I can nestle into these leaves....  We served these as an appetizer before dinner one night and they were a huge hit.  Easy to pick up, and healthy too.  Needless to say, I took them to work over the next few days for lunch (I assemble at work though, not beforehand.  Otherwise the lettuce leaves would get soggy).  What's in them?  Shredded chicken - and yes, I went with rotisserie chicken for convenience.  It's already cooked perfectly so that shredding is a piece of cake!  The chicken gets tossed with red onions, which I sliced on a mandoline so they were paper thin in the hopes that none of my guests would bite down on an overwhelmingly large piece of onion.   Roasted red peppers, parsley, and parmesan were also finely chopped/shredded and thrown in the mix.  The dressing for the filling was what really drew me to these - when I think of chicken salad, the first thing I think of is..... mayo.  No thank you.  Mayo does nothing to help me out in holiday recovery :)  My sister-in-law must have been thinking along the same lines when she shared this recipe with me....This dressing is a lot lighter: red wine vinegar, fresh lemon juice, olive oil, honey, s&p.  Nice, right?  Of course, I used my mini-cuisinart so the dressing was perfectly blended.  

Make them again? I am interested in making lettuce cups of all sorts now :)  Especially because these were butter lettuce leaves, which are way better than romaine or iceberg lettuce due to the fact that the leaves are way more flexible when you fold them around your food.

Improvements:  Yes, this recipe will need some tweaking for my tastes.  It came from Giada, who chose to also put in almonds and capers, which I omitted.  Capers = no thank you.  Almonds - I just didn't have any on hand.  Next time maybe.  But I also felt that the dressing was too much for the ingredients - it seemed too 'wet' in my opinion.  I'd use less dressing in the future and also throw in more vegetables for crunch and texture.  Maybe cucumber or celery or fresh bell pepper.

Here's the recipe:  

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/italian-chicken-salad-in-lettuce-cups-recipe/index.html  

Thanks Giada!

The Ultimate Vinaigrette

 

With the holidays behind us and a fresh new year ahead, it's time to starting eating more salads.  And pretty much less of everything else:)  As much as I enjoy holiday eats and treats, I grow weary as December ends and my pants no longer fit.  I feel programmed to increase my healthy factor as soon as January 1 hits.  Now, as much as I love salad, and I really adore salad, I often struggle to find salad dressing that both tastes delicious and isn't too hard on my waistline.  My husband and I sample countless bottles from various stores and restaurants, but rarely do I find one that lasts.  I am beginning to think homemade dressing is the way to go.  The only thing that really prevents me is my own laziness - yes, at times I would rather unscrew the cap to some random bottle of dressing.  But after this recipe, I am dedicating my efforts to homemade!  Just the other day I received this, the Ultimate Vinaigrette, from my sister-in-law.  You have probably figured out by now that with the word 'ultimate' in the title that this creation belongs to none other than Tyler Florence.  Once I saw that, I was sold :)  I love Tyler Florence, he's such a cutie!  And both his shows and his recipes are truly fantastic.  This particular dressing went with a very simple salad of just arugula.  Personally, I sometimes envision vast fields of clover when eating arugula because of its taste.  The dressing has to be really good, otherwise I feel like I'm grazing.  This one did the trick - it was outstanding!  I added butter lettuce and radicchio for color and texture.  But that was it, nothing else needed.  This dressing stood on its own and was a fantastic complement to the variety of lettuces.  Oh yes, I did use one other thing......

 

This mini.  In went, whole shallots, dijon mustard, red wine vinegar, olive oil, salt, pepper, sugar and honey.  Fits right in with New Year's resolutions, right? The dressing was done in less that 5 minutes.  This mini has come in handy so many times that it has earned a permanent spot on our kitchen countertop.  Homemade dressing is now more attainable to me.  Also, I really prefer how incredibly well the olive oil gets blended with the rest of the ingredients due this mini's high speeds.  It leaves my whisking-by-hand in the dust.  Besides, I always detested the fact that I would whisk together a dressing and before I even poured it over the salad the oil separated from the vinegar.  A sincere thank you to my sister-in-law for finding this gem :)

Make it again? No question, we're having it tomorrow night!

Improvements?  Not a thing.  Unless you're in the mood for a little heat, then throw in some red pepper flakes or a dash of cayenne pepper. I also believe it would work with any lettuce, spinach or other vegetables you'd like to throw in.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/arugula-salad-and-ultimate-vinaigrette-recipe/index.html