Easy WINNER Dinner or Lunch

I have been letting the girls plan our menu for dinner this week and for tonight they wrote down chicken and raw carrots. To me that didn't sound so appetizing so I had to find a way to make it work. Then I remembered a recipe that is in one of our kids cookbooks "Finger Lickin' Chicken Salad" and I figured I hoped I could just add the carrots to the mix and it would be ok. Well I am so stinking happy they LOVED IT! Even Little G (doesn't that sound gangster) ate it all. R is taking it as leftovers in her lunch tomorrow and S said she would like me to make it for their lunches sometimes. (WE are always trying to come up w/ something different for lunch boxes).

I bought some beets today and usually I cut off the tops and pitch them because I either keep them in the fridge too long or I just don't know what to do w/ them. So tonight I decided I should try cooking them and found this recipe Beet Greens. These were perfect for me, a little sweet and a little spice (although I think I got a bit carried away w/ the spice on accident). I won't be throwing away beet greens anymore and I may just have to try collards this way. At first I wasn't too excited about the bacon grease but it was just one tablespoon and it really does add flavor (oh and I had some I saved from our last bacon meal). And knowing that the rest of dinner wasn't going to be heavy in fat I decided it was ok.

Finger Lickin' Chicken Salad (remember this recipe is for one serving adjust accordingly)
INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup diced roasted skinless chicken ( i just baked some boneless skinless breast)
1/2 stalk celery, cut into 1-inch pieces (we also added carrots)
1/4 cup drained mandarin orange segments
1/4 cup red seedless grapes
2 tablespoons fat-free, sugar-free lemon yogurt
1 tablespoon reduced-fat mayonnaise
1/4 teaspoon reduced-sodium soy sauce
1/8 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice or cinnamon

PREPARATION:

1. Toss together chicken, celery, oranges and grapes in plastic container; cover.
2. For dipping sauce, combine yogurt, mayonnaise, soy sauce and pumpkin pie spice in small bowl. Place in small plastic container; cover.
3. Pack chicken mixture and dipping sauce in insulated bag with ice pack. To serve, dip chicken mixture into dipping sauce.


Beet Greens

Ingredients

* 1 pound beet greens
* 1 strip of thick cut bacon, chopped (or a tablespoon of bacon fat)
* 1/4 cup chopped onion
* 1 large garlic clove, minced
* 3/4 cup of water
* 1 Tbsp granulated sugar
* 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
* 1/6 cup of cider vinegar

Method

1 Wash the greens in a sink filled with cold water. Drain greens and wash a second time. Drain greens and cut away any heavy stems. Cut leaves into bite-sized pieces. Set aside.

2 In a large skillet or 3-qt saucepan, cook bacon until lightly browned on medium heat (or heat 1 Tbsp of bacon fat). Add onions, cook over medium heat 5 to 7 minutes, stirring occasionally, until onions soften and start to brown. Stir in garlic. Add water to the hot pan, stirring to loosen any particles from bottom of pan. Stir in sugar and red pepper. Bring mixture to a boil.

3 Add the beet greens, gently toss in the onion mixture so the greens are well coated. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 5-15 minutes until the greens are tender. Stir in vinegar. (For kale or collard greens continue cooking additional 20 to 25 minutes or until desired tenderness.)