Mara's favorite Chicken Salad

I made this chicken salad for Mara a few weeks ago, and she now asks me for it ALL the time! She has definitely developed a love for salads-chicken, egg, her avocado salad....

This chicken salad couldn't get any easier, and its definitely a toddler-pleaser. Even Analese-who is a "peabutter and jelly kind-of-girl", loves to eat this for lunch. We serve it on the Chebe Flatbread-which is truly the best gluten-free, soy-free, and dairy-free bread for sandwiches and salads.

As for measurements, again we just kind of throw everything together, so feel free to add as much or as little of something, depending on what you like.

Ingredients

• boneless, skinless chicken breast, cooked and chopped or shredded
• apple, diced
• celery, chopped
• dried prunes, chopped thinly
• canola mayonnaise (we use Spectrum's Canola Mayo, but safflower mayo would work, or any other acceptable choice that works for you)
• Salt and pepper to taste
  

Combine ingredients. Done! Serve on a bed of lettuce or spinach, or on warm flatbread....yum!
My husband has also added the following to his: curry powder, or old bay seasoning...both were very good!
(I do recommend making it a few hours beforehand so that the ingredients can combine together in the fridge for better taste, but this isn't absolutely necessary.)

Recipe: Broccoli Salad

Here is the broccoli salad I made for Thanksgiving. It was delicious! I found this recipe on The Kids Wellness website, and the only thing I changed was the type of mayo used and we omitted the onions. We had actually ran out of the safflower mayo we normally used, so my husband made some home-made safflower mayo for me. It was delicious, and probably made the salad even better :)

Ingredients:

6 cups chopped broccoli

1/4 cup finely chopped red onion (optional)

3/4 cup sweetened dried cranberries or raisins

1/2 cup pumpkin seeds, (or chopped walnuts, or any nut of choice)

3/4 cup light mayonnaise of your choice

2 tablespoons raspberry vinegar

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

2 tablespoons flax seed

In a large bowl place broccoli, onion, cranberries, pumpkin seeds and flax seed. In another bowl, combine mayonnaise, vinegar and sugar. Mix well. Pour over salad, toss well. Chill before serving.

Recipe: Curried Chickpea Salad

This is our favorite dish to bring to a party, and it seems everyone loves it as much as we do! My girls love this-Mara can eat a whole bowl full, which is amazing to me. We usually bring pita chips with this dish for other guests to enjoy. At home, it's great over a bed of lettuce.
I got this recipe from Whole Foods, and haven't done too many changes to it except leave out the onions (which I kept in the recipe below).

Ingredients

• 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
• 2 tablespoons lime juice
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 teaspoons curry powder
• 2 teaspoons maple syrup
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 4 cups cooked chickpeas (two 15-ounce cans)
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• 2/3 cup red onion, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup cilantro or parsley, chopped
• 2 teaspoons cumin seeds

In a small mixing bowl, stir together vinegar, lime juice, olive oil, curry powder, maple syrup and salt. Add raisins and set aside. Combine chickpeas, bell pepper, onion and cilantro in a medium bowl.Heat a small skillet over medium-high heat and toast cumin seeds until slightly browned and fragrant, about 1 minute. Stir cumin seeds along with dressing-raisin mixture into chickpea salad. Season with additional salt if desired.



Enjoy! This dish is so much better the next day :)