Saturday, May 1, 2010

Grilled Buffalo Chicken Salad

Well with the Broad Street Run coming up this weekend, I "tried" to eat a bit more healthy this week. By eating healthy, I mean I had a salad for dinner once. But there is no reason a salad can't be great. If you have eaten at any chain restaurants in Philly recently, you have undoubtedly noticed that your meal was ruined by looking at the calories next to the item on the menu. It completely ruins my indulgence in bad food, as now I am forced to actually think when I order. The best part of seeing the calorie count is that salads tend to have FAR more than other menu items and, not to mention, an excessive amount of saturated fat. I do love buffalo chicken salads, so I decided to go with grilled chicken instead of fried. The results were terrific. I used store bought buffalo sauce, as it had no fat or calories. I also used chicken breast tenderloins. These small pieces are tender and delicious, and go great on the grill.



I initially just hit them with some olive oil, sea salt and cracked pepper, and when they were cooked on the bottom side, I flipped and started basting with buffalo sauce. I didn't make my own because I didn't want the butter to burn on the hot charcoal grill. When they were sufficiently crispy and had received a healthy dose of sauce, I pulled them and cut them up. The salad dressing is yogurt based chunky blue cheese. It is much lower in fat and calories than standard blue cheese dressing, which allows you the luxury of adding actual blue cheese crumbles to the salad! It also has a great creamy texture and tastes fresh and indulgent. Some tater tots to add some carbs, and this was a great quick weeknight meal.


I also drizzled some buffalo sauce on the salad, and it was perfect.


Here is a shot of me prior to the Out and Back Run last week. Although I love to ride bikes, running helps me keep off the weight that I could easily pack on quickly given my love for all things food.

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