I ran into a friend toward the end of my pregnancy that keeps up with my blog – she asked me if I thought I was having a girl. I said, yes, but why do you ask? She said “you’ve been posting lots of sweet baked goods lately”. It’s true, my 80/20 rule of healthy eating was more like 20/80 in those last few weeks. The fun, my friends, is over.
Over in the sense that newborns are no fun, and also over in the sense that the weight from a second baby comes off much sloooowerr. I don’t go down the ice cream aisle at Giant NOR do I make cheesy indulgent dinners. Veggies and more veggies are the name of the game, at least this time around (last time breast feeding made me into a furnace that could consume scary amounts of food and still somehow drop the weight).
This dinner was great for summertime as it could be made ahead and stuffed into pitas five minutes before dinner. It’s full of veggies but also full of flavor (healthy eating secret – if you use flavorful ingredients like soy/ginger/cilantro your meals are fun to eat without the excess calories). I served this with a salad to make it even more brain-less. It was so “healthy”, in fact, that we figured a drive to McDonald’s for cones was absolutely necessary.
Asian Chicken Salad Pitas
Serves 2-4
2 tbsp. almond or peanut butter
2 tbsp. chicken broth
1 tbsp. apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp. freshly grated ginger (or 1 tsp. ground ginger)
1 tbsp. low sodium soy sauce
1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes
2 chicken breasts (12 oz), cooked and chopped
4 scallions, ends chopped off, sliced
1/2 c. finely chopped carrot
1 yellow or red bell pepper, chopped
1/4 c. chopped fresh cilantro
1/4 tsp. kosher salt
2-4 whole wheat pitas, 1/4th removed and discarded
1. Whisk almond/peanut butter, chicken broth, vinegar, ginger, soy sauce and pepper until combined in a small mixing bowl.
2. In a larger mixing bowl, combine chicken, scallions, carrot, bell pepper, and cilantro. Add dressing and gently mix to combine.
4. If serving in pitas, add salt and combine (if eating as salad, omit salt).
5. If serving in pitas, fill and serve.
