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This is not where I expected to find myself at this point in my life. On a free Saturday afternoon; dragging my family around from grocery store to grocery store, singling out the ones that sell a particular brand of halal meat, then standing in different line-ups to purchase said meat. I do not even need to eat halal meat.
Yet here I was…..the proud owner of 100 coupons for $5.00 off halal meat, that needed to be used, ONE PER PERSON, by June 30, 2016.
I, along with 9 other lucky recipients, received this as a secondary prize in a Canadian home cooking competition.
The grand prize was a $10,000.00 kitchen make-over. Yep. Really….
Now, that isn’t to say this is a typical prize in a cooking contest and that I haven’t won a lot of pretty sweet prizes over the last number of years. In fact, I have I been pretty lucky, winning many prizes that include:
- cash
- prohibitively expensive cookware
- aprons
- spatulas, fancy flippers, graters, an official CHOPPED knife (my fave!) and various other cooking utentils and accessories
- an expensive and super cozy blanket
- small appliances (Professional Kitchen Aid Mixer, Wolfgang Puck pressure oven, rice cooker etc.) YAY!
- a digital SLR camera! DOUBLE YAY!
- grocery store gift cards- very practical!
- trips (a quickie trip to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida to shoot a segment on Better Living TV) FUN & VERY sweet!
- my original recipes published in a Home and Garden cookbook and in several print and online publications,
- a couple of TV appearances
But I’d have to say that the coupons definitely win the prize as the most bizarre prize I’ve ever won….
Chicken is expensive!
Well, I had to get something out of this prize and chicken is really expensive, right? So, off I went to case Cowtown’s grocery stores for halal meat.
You’d be surprised how many stores actually carry that one particular brand of halal met. Lucky for me!
So, having chicken on the brain, I wanted to share my Thai Chicken Salad with Peanut Lime Dressing Recipe. This is not only the best Thai Chicken salad recipe ever, it’s dear to my heart. It is THE FIRST recipe I ever created, about 25 years ago. And that’s pretty special.
Oh and this Thai Chicken salad recipe also won a recipe contest. Sadly, I can’t remember the name of the contest, so you won’t find it in my contest wins. But it was the 2013 Healthy something contest. I wasn’t very good at recording these things in the beginning, but since then I have definitely become better organized with tracking contest wins. When I first started out contesting, I really didn’t anticipate that need.
But at only 6 Weight Watchers Smart Points, this Thai chicken salad is definitely a Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!
If you like this recipe, please PIN IT!~
Thai Chicken Noodle Salad with Peanut Lime Dressing
This award winning Thai chicken noodle salad, made with grilled chicken, vermicelli noodles and spicy peanut lime dressing is healthy, delicious and easy to make. It's also Weight Watchers friendly at only 6 smart points per serving!
Ingredients
Salad:
- 1 head of romaine lettuce
- ½ cup sliced yellow or red pepper
- 2 grilled chicken breasts
- ½ cup grated carrot
- ¼ cup green onion
- 1 cup cherry or grape tomatoes
- 1 ½ cups instant vermicelli noodles
- ¼ tsp garlic powder
- ¼ tsp cajun seasoning
- 3 cups water
Dressing:
- 2 ½ tsp white granulated sugar
- 1 ½ tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp grated ginger
- ¼ cup lime juice
- 2 tbsp honey
- 2 tbsp soya sauce
- 2/3 cup hot water
- 2 tbsp peanut butter * I use light peanut butter so it has less fat than calculator notes
- ¼ tsp minced garlic
- 1 tsp dry mustard
Instructions
-
Season chicken with garlic powder and cajun seasoning and grill on BBQ (or cook on stove top) until cooked through.
-
Wash and chop vegetables, mix together. Soak vermicelli noodles in hot water for 5 minutes. Drain and add to salad.
-
Add all dressing ingredients together and microwave for 45 seconds. Remove and stir with whisk. Return to microwave for another 45 seconds. Add, chicken, noodles, dressing and toss. Serve with garlic toast, if desired
Recipe Notes
Bonus recipe:
Quick Garlic Toast:
Ingredients:
6 slices Thick Italian bread
3 tbsp butter
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp parsley
Instructions:
Toast bread. Mix butter, minced garlic and parsley together. Spread on bread. Serve with salad.
*Note-Variations:
VEGETARIAN *Use peanuts and raw sunflower seeds instead of chicken for vegetarian meal
*Substitute vegetables if you have aversions or preferences
*Substitute seasoning of your choice for the meat
Time savers:
*Buy pre-grated bag of carrots
*Buy whole roasted chicken from grocery store and chop up breast meat.
** I use light peanut butter, so it has less fat and calories than noted in this nutritional analysis (as light peanut butter was not an option)
Haha love the vision of you dragging the kids about town to use your coupons. Maybe not quite as good as a camera but a prize none the less! 🙂
yes, Sue Slaght – they were thankfully quite compliant and helpful! And we saved a lot of money on chicken this year. And who doesn’t love saving money on chicken?!