In “A Losing Proposition” a new category introduced to CvilleBuzz readers last week, we will be exploring dishes that are both appetizing and healthy, healthy in that it will help us shed a few pounds. A diet is only be a temporary bandage on a more serious wound if it doesn’t taste good and isn’t satisfying.
In my experience, a critical part of losing weight comes at lunch. I know lots of folks on “diets” that only eat salad for lunch. Salad is okay if you are part rabbit or as an accompaniment to a juicy T-bone steak, but a salad just doesn’t do the trick for me at lunch. I want something more filling.
I have found that if I don’t eat a decent lunch, I will be ravenous come 5 PM and a sucker for snacks. Snacks, for me, were more lethal to my weight losing plans than desserts. Often, I would be so hungry, I would get out the crackers and peanut butter or devour a can of nuts, all the while rationalizing that a little snack wouldn’t hurt – would it?
Yes, it will and does, so I need to eat something substantial for lunch.
Chicken in a sandwich fits the bill.
First, I eat healthy bread at 130 calories for two slices and I’m halfway there. You can put a lot of chicken on that bread for 60 calories or less, and a total 200 calories for lunch is a weight-loss program for me.
Last week, I knew we needed some chicken or turkey in the house for sandwiches so I went to Kroger’s, thinking I would stop by the deli and get a pound of sliced chicken. But the line at the deli was three deep, meaning a long wait. I hate those prepackaged chicken and turkey slices, so I needed a Plan B. I went back to the meat department and picked up a whole chicken for less than $6.
After dinner that night, while the oven was still hot, I put the chicken in at 350, added some salt and pepper and cooked it about an hour ands a half – till the legs wiggled easily and the juices ran clear. When cooled, I put the whole bird in a zip lock overnight. The next morning, I pulled off all the skin and deboned the bird, chopping the meat into bite size portions and I made a huge batch of chicken salad. I have made chicken salad in the past, but I can’t ever recall making it from a whole bird – it was usually from leftovers.
To the chicken, I added a cup of light mayonnaise, a half-cup of diced celery and a quarter cup of chopped onion, lost of salt and pepper and a half-cup of the secret ingredient – Classic Ranch Yogurt Dressing from Bolthouse Farms. This is really good stuff, and there are just 45-calories in a two tablespoon serving. It’s become my go-to salad dressing as well.
Nancy enjoyed her chicken salad as a salad, with some lettuce, while I piled mine high on a sandwich. At dinnertime, I was hungry but not starved and that is a “Losing Proposition.”
What Have You Got To Lose Chicken Salad
1 whole chicken
1 cup light mayo
½ cup ranch yogurt dressing
½ cup diced celery
¼ cup chopped onion
Kosher salt and pepper
