Post and recipe brought to us by Cathy “Chikay” from North Carolina, US.

It’s always been hard for me to think what to fix for dinner. Sometimes, I would just go to the grocery store and grab something at the frozen section, come home and stick it in the microwave or oven and voila! Instant meal for me!

Sometimes, buying a ready-to-eat meal is convenient, especially if you are a working mother and don’t have enough time to prepare a meal for the whole family. But, it doesn’t work that way most of the time, especially when you are on a very tight budget and you have no choice, but to be creative and use whatever you have in the fridge.

A few nights ago, that was my dilemma. I wanted to go out for dinner, but the budget wouldn’t allow it. So, I have decided to raid my fridge and see what I can come up with and I remember this salad that I normally order at Mimi’s Café here in NC – the Crispy Chicken Salad (my second favorite meal after the Corn Chowder and Carrot Raisin Muffin).

So, I thought of making my own version of it. I had all the ingredients except the chicken so I used the fully-cooked frozen chicken popcorn that I have in the freezer. Here’s how I made it:

Chicken Popcorn Salad

INGREDIENTS:

Salad: Lettuce, chopped Carrots, julienne Sweet corn kernels, 1 tbsp. Chopped tomatoes (optional) Scallions – chopped (optional) Croutons Grated cheese 1 hard-boiled egg, sliced thinly
 Chicken: Thinly sliced chicken breast or chicken strips 1 egg Milk, about ¼ cup Panko bread crumbs Vegetable oil for cooking
Thousand Island Dressing: I used my own judgement on the measurements so whatever I put in here is just an estimate. ½ cup mayonnaise Tomato ketchup, about 2 tsp. White vinegar, or in my case, I used apple cider vinegar, about 2 tbsp. 1 hard-boiled egg, chopped Sweet pickle relish, about a teaspoon Minced white onion, about a teaspoon Sugar, salt and pepper to taste

PROCEDURE:

1. First, you have to make your dressing ahead of time so it will be nice and cold by the time the salad is ready. Just mix all the thousand island dressing ingredients in a medium bowl and keep it cold in the fridge for at least 1 hour or so. Make sure you use a cling wrap if you don’t have any lid to keep it fresh.
2. Preparing the salad. Mix all the salad ingredients (except the croutons, cheese and scallions) starting with chopped lettuce, carrots, corn kernels, tomatoes and egg. Keep it cold in the fridge.
3. Prepare the chicken. Mix the egg and milk together in a medium bowl using a fork or wisk. Put the chicken breast/strips over the mixture. Then, roll in panko bread crumbs and fry till golden brown. Afterwards, slice them, set aside and let it cool. If you don’t have time to do this, you can also use frozen chicken nuggets/strips or in my case, I used the frozen popcorn chicken that I had in the fridge and fried it.
4. Take the salad and the dressing out of the fridge. Top the salad with croutons, cheese, scallions, chicken and the dressing. Serve and enjoy!

Post and recipe brought to us by Cathy “Chikay” from North Carolina, US.

Thank you, Chikay! *hugs*

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