Pad Thai Inspired Chicken Jar Salad

Dear Friends,

Again, I am very sorry for the delay.  I am still maven-ing, weekly but seldom have the time to write up recipes and entries.  But I am going to try.

So this week, I was feeling a Thai vibe.  I had a sample of a pad Thai kit at Market Basket, and that got me thinking about coconut milk, and lime, and peanuts and chilies.  So that’s where this one came from.

I borrowed some from a Cooking Light Recipe and made my own modifications.

I added edamame.  Because, really, when is there NOT a need for edamame?  I buy it frozen and shelled.  I cooked this in the microwave in a little bit of water, strained them and salted them a little bit to bring out the flavor.

I decided to try the chili lime peanuts because I thought they would add some extra zip.  Because all aspects of my life must have some sort of compounding factor, I messed up on the initial store trip and bought what I thought were Siracha Peanuts that turned out to be almonds; so I had to go back to the store.  I think this is one of my major life issues; I could have used the almonds, and it would have been fine, but in my mind, nothing other than chili-lime peanuts would have been right.

This definitely satisfied my need for a little bit of spice and a little bit of tang.  I would definitely make this again.

Next time, I would add garlic to the dressing, one clove maybe, just to add a little more flavor.

Pad-Thai Inspired Chicken Mason Jar Salad
Makes 12 salads

Dressing:

½ cup Reduced Fat Creamy Peanut butter

1 can (13 oz) Thai Kitchen Lite Coconut Milk

¼ cup soy sauce

2.5 T Light Brown Sugar

3 T Lime juice (Fresh-squeezed if possible)

2 T chopped cilantro (optional)

Cayenne pepper (ground) to taste (I used a good ration, but I like things a little zippy)


For the Salad:

4 Cups carrots (shredded)

1.5 cups celery chopped

3 cups shelled Edamame

2 bunches scallions (greens and bulbs), chopped

21 oz Bean Sprouts

1lb Rotisserie Chicken Without Skin

6 cups chopped romaine lettuce

3 oz Planter’s Chili Lime peanuts, chopped

Directions

1. Mix all dressing ingredients in a shake jar, or maybe a food processor/blender.

       2. Assemble salads starting with dressing (45 oz. or so), and then work your way down the ingredient list, topping with peanuts).