First! (Buffalo Chicken Salad)

I have a feeling my blog is going to be a little different from other blogs, in that, I don't plan on writing multiple paragraphs at a time, unless I plan on telling a story.  For those who know me... that may take a couple paragraphs and go off on a few tangents until I circle back to the close of the story.  Instead, I'm going to provide my first recipe for the buffalo chicken lovers out there (ah, I consider myself a buffalo chicken connoisseur).  It's a simple salad that I make whenever I have a buffalo craving.  This recipe contains 3 tips! Enjoy!

You'll need:

- baby spinach (or any leafy green that you enjoy)

- 1 boneless, skinless chicken breast or 2-3 tenderloins (tip #1 try to buy cage-free, hormone-free chicken - read your labels)  Trader Joe's sells bags of frozen chicken tenderloins for $7.99! They last me at least two weeks and are hormone and cage free with no added preservatives (preservatives are BAD)

- Buffalo hot sauce (I like Frank's) (yes, there's a lot of sodium so watch your intake throughout the rest of the day)

- 1/4 avocado

- Veggies (whatever you have! green beans, carrots, tomatoes, red/orange peppers).  Today I only had green beans and avocados and it was still delicious

- Blue cheese dressing

- Greek yogurt (tip #2 this should be a STAPLE in your refrigerator)

- 1 tbs of feta or part-skim mozzarella

- Chicken broth (tip #3 this should be another staple in your refrigerator - use it instead of olive oil when cooking in the frying pan on your stove top)*

- Salt, crushed red pepper, pepper (staples)

How to:

- Arrange your leafy greens on the plate

- Cut the quarter of the avocado into chunks (save the rest for the rest of the week)

- Add in your veggies of choice

- In your frying pan - pour in the chicken broth, add salt & pepper and throw in the chicken - cook on both sides until it's done 

- Put the chicken in a bowl and toss it with your buffalo sauce then add to the salad

- Toss on the cheese

Dressing:

- Take 1 tbs of the blue cheese dressing (because the fat free kind is gross and has more sugar in it) and 1 tbs of greek yogurt, mix together and add a little white vinegar if you have it... pour it over salad 

You're done! Mangia! 

Notes: by my calculations, this salad has about 300-400 calories, depending on how much chicken and cheese you use. It will definitely fill your buffalo craving.  Is it one of my healthiest dishes in terms of antioxidant levels, and sodium? No, but that's not the point of today's meal.  Today's meal was filling a craving and had good fats from the avocados, lean protein, and vitamins and minerals from the leafy greens.  Plus, we cut down the fat levels in the dressing but still kept the flavor.  I hope you enjoy!

*note: I'm a HUGE proponent of Extra Virgin Olive Oil and use it in most of my cooking (which you will see), however, this meal is FAST so I use the chicken broth, plus, it doesn't need any extra fat considering that the dressing is not homemade (i have the perfect homemade dressing recipe that will be included in my next blog)


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