Chopped Chinese Chicken Salad - Joanne's Savory Summary

Since Sunday was the nicest day we've had in a long long time, I opted to make the salad Monday night.  Instead we decided to spend Sunday morning with our best friends, Pat and Nicole, and their beautiful daughter Ella going to brunch and then to the park.  Plus, after I looked over the recipe, I figured it was easy night to do after a full workday. 

I bought all of my ingredients at Wegman's, including mistakenly picking up radicchio instead of red cabbage.  It still worked well with the recipe despite being different from what was specifically called for.  I decided to use almond butter instead of peanut butter as well.  This, however, was more of conscious choice since I prefer to eat almond butter and didn't really want to bring peanut butter into the house. 

I have to be honest.  I was disappointed with the chicken.  I expected more flavor.
Instead I could have easily topped my salad with plain grilled chicken and not known the difference.  What the chicken lacked in flavor was absolutely made up for with the amazing dressing.  I didn't follow the letter of the recipe but instead kept adding the three ingredients until I got a perfect blend.  I ended up going heavier on the almond butter than suggested but the result was a nutty flavor with a salty bite.  Finally, although the recipe called for limes, I didn't see them anywhere in the instructions.  And after making the complete meal, I'm not sure where they would have ended up anyway.   

Once tossed with the chicken and salad, the plain chicken became instantly better.  In fact, next time to save time, I may make this recipe without the extra prep on the chicken.  The dressing does more than enough to coat the chicken.  Overall I thought this was a delicious meal and incorporated a lot of healthy ingredients in an unusual way.

Happy eating!
Joanne