Asian Inspired Chopped Salad

All of this holiday running around can make a girl hungry! After many hours of walking the mall, I stumbled upon a restaurant smack dab inside a department store (hey, not far to travel and then I can get back to my shopping, right?).  I ordered their Asian chicken salad which was really good. On my way home I was thinking, I have all the ingredients to make this, and make it healthier with a couple of modifications.

These salads tend to be addicting because of all the fresh ingredients.  I was excited to see mandarin sections and thought now I have something to make with all of those clementines I picked up at the grocery store! The biggest change was the fried wonton strips. I had Joseph’s pita bread on hand so I cut them into strips and baked them at high eat for a healthy crunchy topping.

I cheated on making a dressing and used a sweetened stir fry sauce that I diluted with water to thin it out. You can certainly mix soy sauce, ginger, chili sauce and some brown sugar or Stevia for a quick dressing.

Recipe – Serves 1

2 cups of chopped spinach or other greens

1/4 red pepper, sliced thin

3 mini carrots, diced

1/2 cup of diced or shredded chicken (optional)

1 clementine, sectioned

1 tablespoon of chopped cilantro

2 tablespoons of sliced almonds

1 Joseph pita bread

1 tablespoon of oriental dressing or stir fry sauce

1 teaspoon of sesame seeds, toasted

Cut pita into thin strips and separate the front and back of the pita strips so you have double the amount. Add them to a non-stick baking sheet and mist with oil, salt and pepper. Bake at 350 for about 7 minutes or until brown. Remove from oven and let cool. Combine all of the salad ingredients and top with the strips.  Toss with dressing or sauce and sesame seeds.