There are a lot of things to love about salad. It's healthy. It's quick to make. When you add a little chicken or ham, it becomes a whole meal. But salads can also become a little boring, especially if you're serving them several nights in a row (which, when there are only two of you eating, is often the case).
Ben's solution for salad excitement is to cover it in hot sauce and blue cheese dressing and pretend it's a plate of wings. A novel approach for sure, but not for everyone.
That's why I liked Martha Stewart's Everyday Food ranch chicken salad suggestion. All the usual suspects (lettuce, carrots, cukes, radishes), plus homemade ranch dressing and hand-breaded chicken. Nothing too crazy but enough to make a plate of greens a little more interesting.
To keep the salad healthy, the dressing uses light ingredients: two parts low-fat buttermilk, one part light mayo and one part light sour cream. To that add a little vinegar, minced scallions, a couple pinches of dill and salt and pepper.
For the chicken, trim a few boneless, skinless breasts. In a food processor, create bread crumbs from four or five slices of whole-grain bread and a little olive oil. Pour 1/2 c. of the dressing in a shallow bowl and dip the chicken in the dressing, then the bread crumbs. Transfer to a rack on a baking sheet; bake at 375 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes.
Breading chicken using ranch dressing? It's a good thing.
It sounds good... however, I'm curious did that dressing taste anything like ranch? I am wondering if you could use the base, but add a HV Ranch seasoning packet? (I'm such a ranch dressing lover, that I am wondering if a similar "imposter" would be ok w/ me? LOL) I do love a good salad too. In fact, we just had large salads for supper tonight.
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