CRAVE-able Chinese Chicken Salad

This is one of those dinners that, when I make it, Wade, the boys, and MY DAD are stoked. My parents live next door, so my dad will join us for dinner occasionally. I will make a huge pile of this salad, and we very rarely have leftovers. It is tasty. Another reason I love this salad is because you can make it all ahead of time, and when it is time for dinner, you just have to toss all of the pre-prepared ingredients together!! I love that!

(Ok, seriously, I have got to lose my retro green Tupperware)

(This is not a chicken murder scene. That is soy sauce.) Sorry this pic is atrocious. So what I do is throw one large boneless, skinless chicken breast in the oven, with a sprinkle of soy sauce, and bake it, covered with foil, at 375 for about 45 minutes. Cut it and make sure it's done. After it's cool, shred it, and put it in the fridge for later.

Then you want to fry up some yummy, crispy, crunchy won ton strips for the salad. You can buy these in the produce section (Don't ask me why they're in the produce section. Also, don't ask the produce guy at my Stater Bros. He will just look at you as if to say, "lady, leave me alone!") They are usually next to the bean sprouts.

So, I use one full stack from the package. It comes with two full stacks. I slice the stack into 4 strips like this, and then heat up a few inches of oil in a frying pan. I drop a tiny piece of one of the strips in the oil, and if it immediately starts cooking and floats to the top, the oil is ready. fry them in 2 or 3 batches, and drain on a paper towel.

I let the kids steal some and act like I don't see. It makes up for the times I holler at them for no reason, right??

Here's my dressing recipe, I got it from an AWESOME lady that used to be a youth group leader at my church when I was in High School. Love you Linda! Here's what you need in case you can't read the photo:

• 1 Tb Sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 3 Tb rice vinegar
• 1 Tb sesame oil
• 1/4 cup salad oil (I used canola)

This is the sesame oil I use- it's from Trader Joe's. You can find sesame oil in the "Ethnic" section of your grocery store, if you don't have a Trader Joe's where you live. Also, you should move if you don't have a Trader Joe's where you live.

So I mix up all the dressing ingredients and stick that into the fridge also.

So at dinner time I take out my chicken

And my big old bowl of shredded lettuce (I usually use iceberg but it looked sketchy at the store, so I used romaine with a little cabbage thrown in), some slivered almonds, and the won ton strips. You could also add mandarin oranges and green onions, if you don't live with Wade.

So toss all the "stuff" together, then pour the dressing on and toss it again!

Yum!

So, today is grocery day! Thus far I have made it the last two budget cycles with sticking to my $250 (for a two-week period) grocery budget!! So I have kept to $500/month! This is REALLY exciting for me, because since I don't work to earn money, when I can reduce our spending I feel like I am sort of contributing to the household income. (Does that make sense? I feel like when I make the most of what we have, I am doing my part and I like that!) I have just started exploring more with coupon websites, but still haven't done a ton with it. I use coupons, but I know I could save more! I am going to really work on that this summer.

Have a great day!!