
The following is a recipe a friend found at kraftfoods.com. After she raved about it, Hubby and I tried it and really like it.
First I’ll give you the recipe exactly as it was given. Then at the end I’ll tell you the modifications I had to/wanted to make.
Crunchy Poppyseed Chicken Salad
4 C. broccoli slaw
2 large red peppers, thinly sliced (about 2 C.)
4 medium carrots, shredded (about 2 C.)
1 can (8 oz.) pineapple tidbits, drained
1 pkg. (6 oz.) Louis Rich Oven Roasted Chicken Breast Cuts
1/2 C. Kraft Special Collection Creamy Poppyseed Dressing
1/4 C. Planters Cashews
Combine all ingredients except dressing and cashews in large bowl.
Add dressing; toss to coat.
Sprinkle with cashews.
Makes 4 servings
Kraft’s Note: You can find broccoli slaw in the produce section next to other coleslaw blends. This salad is also great with Planters Almonds instead of the cashews.
Okay. Now here’s the reality of how this recipe actually worked out when I made it. You really don’t need to read the rest of this unless or until you are going to make this. Then this information might help.
~ I used a 12 oz. bag of broccoli slaw. That was after the produce worker at the grocery talked me into buying two bags because, after all, 12 oz. means 1 1/2 cups, right? Well even though I was pretty sure that equation didn’t work in this instance, I let her talk me into buying two bags (maybe she’s on commission). But at home when I could actually measure it, one bag was approximately the 4 C. needed.
~ I used only a half of one red bell pepper because Hubby isn’t crazy about bell peppers. But the red bell pepper gives the salad a great extra flavor, so next time I make it, I’m going to at least use one whole pepper.
~ We aren’t huge carrot fans and the broccoli slaw has a few carrots in it, so I didn’t add the carrots. (I felt comfortable doing this because the friend who loved the recipe, hadn’t added the carrots either.) But I’m sure they add nutrition, bulk and fiber, so I have now bought a bag of shredded carrots and I am going to add some next time.
~ I couldn’t find the specific packaged chicken breast suggested. So the first time I made this I bought one of the rotisserie chickens the grocery cooks themselves the day before I was going to use it. (I needed to refrigerate it, because I certainly didn’t want to use hot chicken in it.) That worked all right, but I inadvertently mixed in some darker meat, and I just don’t like the stronger taste of dark poultry meat. So the next time I used canned chicken. It was okay, but sort of disappeared because when the salad was stirred, that chicken would crumble into smaller and smaller pieces. The next time I make it, I’m going to cook some chicken just for the purpose of making this salad.
~ I couldn’t find the special dressing listed in the ingredients, so just used regular Kraft poppyseed dressing.
~ The cashews are very good in it, but nuts have alot of calories, so after the first time, I enjoyed the salad just as much, but without the nuts.
Other than that, I made this dish exactly as listed.