Mandarin Orange Chicken Salad

I used to love to get the Mandarin Chicken Salad from Wendy's back in the day ... I thought I was being super healthy, you know?

Of course, that was before I learned about reading labels and such ... amazing how something so "healthy" could be so very bad for you.



So ... when I came across THIS salad at My Natural Family not too long ago, I knew I had to give it a try ... and, man, I'm so very glad I did! Talk about an awesome, flavorful salad ... and even better, when I opted to make it at the last minute, I had EVERYTHING on hand so it fit the bill!

Here's what you need:

2 boneless/skinless chicken breasts
head of lettuce (romaine) chopped in bite size pieces (I used one artesian baby romaine head)
1 red pepper, sliced and chopped in bite size pieces
1 large carrot, coarsely shredded
1/4 of a small red cabbage head, sliced thin
15 oz can of mandarin oranges, drained
4 green onions, sliced thin
1/4 cup sliced almonds, lightly toasted
and then ... the dressing:
1/3 c honey
3 tbs vinegar
2 tbs mayo (bonus points if you make your own! Go ahead and try, it's easy!)
1 tsp sesame oil
1/2 tsp salt

Ready? Season your chicken with salt & pepper (and oh, what the heck, garlic POWDER if you have). Bake in the oven at 350 for about 30 minutes or so, til cooked through. Remove and allow to cool. Once cool, go ahead and cut into bite size pieces. Alternatively, if you want to be "pretty" you can slice thinly but then you will still need to cut when you are eating, so I say, just cut in to bite size pieces ;-)

Add all the veggies, oranges and almonds to a large bowl. Top with the chicken.

Whisk the honey, vinegar, mayo, oil and salt in small bowl and drizzle over the salad. Better yet, toss all in a canning jar, cap it tightly, and shake it like you mean it.  THEN drizzle over the salad, toss to coat and serve up.



Enjoy!

 Looking forward to sharing with some of these great parties ... make sure you check them out! Wake Up Wednesday,  Instagram Blog Hop, Pin Worthy Wednesday, Wake Up Wednesday, Hump Day Happenings, Wednesday Roundup, My Stay At Home Adventures, Wonderful Wednesday, Hearth & Soul, Fluster Buster Creative Muster,  Show Me What Ya Got, What's Cooking Wednesday, Its a Party!, Works For Me Wednesday, Sugar and Spice, Hump Day Happenings, Waste Not Want Not,  Wake Up Wednesday, Whatever Goes Wednesday, Wednesday Whatsits, Real Fun, Work It Wednesday, Lovely Ladies, Weekly Creative, Domestic Superhero, All Things Thursday, The Weekly Creative, Together on Tuesday, Tasty Thursday, Full Plate Thursday, Create It Thursday, Fabulously Frugal Thursday, Crafty Thursday Obsessions, Thrifty Thursday,  Showcase Your Talent, Think Tank Thursday, Simple Lives Thursday, What To Do Thursday, No Rules Weekend Bloghop, Foodie Friday, Fabulous Friday, Get Real Frugal Friday, Frugal Fridays, Freakin Did It Friday, Pure Blog Love, Feature Friday, The Pin Junkie, Freedom Friday, Friday Favorite, Foodie Friday, A peek into my paradise, Weekend Social, Foodie Friends Friday, Celebrate It!,  Weekend Retreat, What’s Shakin,  Weekend Potluck, Get Him Feed Anything Goes,  Lil Luna Link Party, Foodie Friday, Foodie Friends Friday, Weekend Potluck, TGI Friday Friday with Friends, Simple Living Foodie Friday, Inspirations, Weekend Wander,  Saturday Night Fever, A Bouquet of Talent, The Party Bunch, Show Off Saturday, I Gotta Create, Show Off Weekend, Show Stopper Saturday, Sweet and Savory, The Weekend Creative, Weekend Potluck, Will Cook For Smiles, Strut Your Stuff Saturday,  Super Saturday Show & Tell, Sunday Features,  Potluck Party, Sunday Showcase, Snickerdoodle Sunday, Sundae Scoop, Super Sunday, Mop It Up Monday, Merry Monday, Creative Monday, The Scoop, Melt In Your Mouth Monday, Pinch of Joy, Pin It Party,  Made By You Monday, Hunk of Meat Monday,  What’d You Do This Weekend,  Making It Cuter, Time To Sparkle, Inspire Me Monday, Mealtime Monday, Time To Sparkle, Makin You Crave Monday, Clever Chick, Motivational Monday,  Mix it Up Monday,  Save Money Monday, Monday Funday, Anything Goes Monday, Making Monday, Lou Lou Girls, Inspire Me Monday, Marvelous Monday, In and Out of the Kitchen, Memories, Tasty Tuesdays, Tuesdays At Our Home, How To Tuesday, Handmade Tuesday, Making a Home, Show Me The Goods, Totally Tasty Tuesday, All My Bloggie Friends, Retro Repin (Pinterest linkup) Share Your Stuff Tuesday, Tuesday Talent Show, Fat Tuesday, Penny Pinching Party, The Gathering Spot, Anti-Procrastination Tuesdays, Tasty Tuesdays, Two Cup Tuesday, Create, Link, Inspire, The Makers, Wow Me Wednesday, Create and Shareloa, Best of the Weekend

Comments

  1. Lisa EhrmanWednesday, June 03, 2015

    What a beautiful salad, and healthy, too :) I'm so glad that you shared your post at Together on Tuesdays!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. karenThursday, June 04, 2015

    this looks really good...thanks for sharing Stopping by from #TheGatheringSpot

    ReplyDelete
  3. SwathiMonday, June 08, 2015

    Delicious and colorful salad thanks for sharing with Hearth and soul bloghop. pinning.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Lou Lou GirlsMonday, June 08, 2015

    I absolutely love this! Thanks for sharing it with us. Pinned and tweeted. I hope to see you tonight at 7 pm. We can’t wait to party with you! Lou Lou Girls

    ReplyDelete
  5. NewMrsAdventuresMonday, June 08, 2015

    I cannot get enough salads this time of year and this one looks perfect! Thank you so much for linking up at Tasty Tuesday! Your recipe has been pinned to the Tasty Tuesday Pinterest board! Please join us again this week!

    ReplyDelete
  6. AnonymousTuesday, July 28, 2015

    Thank you for brining this delicious salad to Fiesta Friday! I have some left over chicken and I have to try your recipe!
    Going forward please link the participating blog post to Fiesta Friday so tha more bloggers can find, and hopefully, join us! Here are the guidelines http://fiestafriday.net/fiesta-friday-guidelines/
    I am already looking forward to what you will bring us next time! :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. MariaTuesday, August 11, 2015

    Thanks for sharing the orange chicken salad at my last Fabulous Friday, I am taking a break from this party and doing another party where I co host and its called Dream Create and Inspire. Stop by if you have a few minutes
    Thanks Maria
    http://www.simplenaturedecorblog.com/dream-create-inspire-link10/

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Smelly Shoe Fix!

Image
Honestly, we have real good hygiene habits in my house, I can assure you of that! But, lets face it, living in paradise with 125% humidity can be a little trying sometimes ... my running shoes (which have NOT seen much running action for quite a while) get a little ripe smelling ... and oh man, you should smell the shoes that Hubby wears outside in the yard, patio, garage and boat that constantly get wet ... enough to suck the oxygen right out of your body ... whew! Then you have the Boy ... who works out pretty darn hard and doesn't always wear socks, nor does the Princess ... I mean, seriously, I've had to throw shoes away because you could smell them just sitting there. No one wants to be the person that people are wrinkling their nose at when they are walking by you! So when I saw the featured post for the Smelly Shoe Solution (and dang, I'm still trying to find the original post because I had no need to bookmark it, such a simple fix!) Yes. That's IT!...
Read more

Non Toxic Mosquito Spray

Image
Let's face it, living in Paradise does have a few drawbacks with the #1 complaint being ... BUGS. Yeah, bugs.  Mostly mosquitoes that can just ruin an evening of relaxation on the patio ... those pesky little guys can really do a number on you quickly!  Heaven forbid if you are one of those who are very sensitive to the bites (the Boy), you will have welts in no time. So Hubby always decides to spray AFTER everyone starts swatting the air and scratching. We have to gather up our drinks and appetizers, go indoors and wait for 20 minutes or so for the toxic fog to flat away ... only to be swatting and scratching AGAIN in 30 minutes. After seeing THIS tip a few too many times, I figured, what the heck, $5 at Walmart is worth it to try, right? Guess what?  It seems to work!!!  I need to do a few more nights to say for certain but I say it's WAY better than that can of toxic stuff ... and cheaper to boot! You must use the ORIGINAL fl...
Read more

Rice Cooker - Hard Boiled Eggs

Image
One of the things I picked up at Costco was a new Rice Cooker. The one I have, well, I gave that to the Boy when he went away to college (so he could make his macaroni and cheese), not to mention, it was small as heck, like mini size! So, I figured, you know, Hubby likes to make rice occasionally. The Boy makes brown rice in the microwave every other day and leaves the bubbly residue behind for ME to find when I go to heat something up (I hate a dirty microwave, totally wigs me out and sends me running for the windex!) ... so I grabbed the rice cooker ($29.95), a 10 pound bag of organic brown rice and a 20 pound bag of Basmati rice. I'm asking myself now, a whole week later, what the hell am I going to do with 20 pounds of Basmati rice? Anyways. Then I was reading the recipe booklet that came along with the cooker. They had one recipe that said to add the eggs, unshelled, to the steamer basket.  Ok. That made me re-read it a few times. Unshelled? Did they mean out of the shell?...
Read more