Bariatric Foodie Play with your food
~by Nikki
We often tell you all to play with your food. Well, I thought I’d show you how I take our own advice!
This recipe was originally posted by my friend Shari (who someday will have her own awesome website with all her wonderful recipes). When I play with recipes, they tend to be hers. She shares my affinity for getting a lot of food for not a lot of calories and a freakishly large amount of protein. We are kindred spirits that way.
Anyhoo…I changed this up a bit to make the prep time a little quicker.
Nik’s Buffalo Chicken Salad
(my spin on Shari’s Buffalo Chicken Dip)
Ingredients:
1 large can chicken breast meat
1 tbsp light mayo (surprisingly, Wal-Mart brand seems to have the best stats)
2 tbsp 0% unflavored Greek yogurt
1 tbsp bleu cheese dressing (you can do light if you want…I don’t)
2 tbsp Frank’s Red Hot buffalo wing sauce
Diced onions
A dash of onion powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper
Optional: very finely diced celery if you are a year out or more. Celery is very stringy and can bother newer pouches! Some plans even prohibit it for life so check yours before using it.
Instructions:
In a bowl, fork shred your chicken chunks (they come out of the can HUGE) and mix them with the onions and celery, if you are using it.
In another bowl, mix together all wet ingredients. Taste test and adjust as necessary. I usually find myself adding more of the wing sauce if it’s just for me. The divas are content with the two tablespoons.
Mix your dressing into the chicken and coat it well. Chill for a bit before serving to let the flavors “get acquainted.”
I served mine on a lightly salted rice cake (from Aldi!). This also goes well on a multi-grain wrap or simply by itself for a nummy treat!
If you don’t like cold chicken salads, you can also do this as a hot one by nuking it for a few seconds after you’ve mixed everything together.
Here are some other great chicken salad options:
Nik’s Angelic Eggs (featuring chicken salad)
Nik’s Curried Chicken Salad
And stay tuned…later this week Jen is going to do a recipe remix with the buffalo chicken theme that will knock your socks off!
I didn't know that about celery!
Looks good!
I love Buffalo wings too, but chicken wings have so much fat to begin with, and then they are usually deep fried on top of that. And even if you find the baked kind, it is like 80 calories for each one, so if you are trying to keep things around 250 calories or less, you are kind of stuck. I am far enough out that 3 wings doesn't cut it anymore, sadly. :/
@Maggie…my surgeon's office warned me about it. I do fine with celery but I've heard of people who have not.
@Avierra – me too! Buffalo wings are one of the foods I miss the most. Shari makes her dip hot by combining canned chicken, buffalo wing sauce, crumbled blue cheese, onion powder and garlic powder. It's yummy that way too but takes a few minutes longer plus I am partial to cold chicken salads! But do try that version if you like it warm.
Lord have mercy this was delicious. It's going to be a staple in my refrigerator, I'm sure.
Looking forward to making, thanks for the recipe; )..
Omg! You are a genius. Totally solved my wing craving. This was so easy on my band and allowed me to feel satisfied and not cheated. Thank you ! It's now in my regular rotation!
Where can I find the recipe for Shari's warm buffalo chicken salad? Thanks!
That is essentially the recipe, she just had a few more ingredients that I combined into easier ingredients. Shari doesn't have a blog so this recipe is all I've got!