I’ve chosen this as my first recipe post because it fully embodies all three elements of my holy trinity – Healthy, Cheap, and Easy.

Healthy – It depends on what kind of meat you use but when using chicken it’s under 500 calories a serving! And it’s base is a fiber rich vegetable. See the stats here.

Cheap - It’s really cheap since it can utilize left overs and the main ingredient is cabbage; you can often find the pre-made bags of coleslaw mix on sale. I bought one last week for $1.

Easy – What’s great about this is that you just cook extra meat for whatever you’re cooking the night before, or use whatever you have left over in the fridge. The first time I made it I used left over brisket, the next time was left over ham. In fact, I’ve never made it with chicken.

I got the recipe from Ellie Krieger on foodnetwork.com and made some very minor tweaks; here’s the original.

What makes this salad is the dressing. Yes, you could use a store bought dressing and it would be okay, but nothing compares to the flavor of fresh ginger and garlic!

Ingredients

• 4 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce, divided
• 2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil, divided
• 1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breasts or whatever protein you have on hand
• 1 bag of pre-made cole slaw veggies (green cabbage, red cabbage, carrots)
• 3 scallions, trimmed and thinly sliced, greens included (about 1/2 cup)
• 1 (8-ounce) can whole water chestnuts, chopped up
• 1 (11-ounce) can Mandarin oranges in water, drained
• 1/3 cup rice wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon grated garlic
• 1 teaspoon minced ginger
• 2 tablespoons canola oil or olive oil
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons chili-garlic sauce or chili sauce, such as Rooster Sauce
• 1/4 cup sliced almonds, toasted (optional)

1. If using leftover meat, skip to step three.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Combine 1 tablespoon soy sauce and 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil and brush onto chicken breasts. Arrange in a baking dish and bake until juices run clear, about 13 to15 minutes. Remove from oven, cool completely, and cut into 1/4-inch slices.
3. In a large bowl, combine cole slaw mix, scallions, water chestnuts, Mandarin orange and sliced chicken. In a separate bowl, whisk together 3 tablespoons soy sauce, vinegar, garlic, ginger, oil, 1 1/2 teaspoons sesame oil, brown sugar and chili sauce. Pour dressing over salad and toss to combine. Divide among bowls and top each serving with 2 teaspoons toasted almonds.

Tips

• Keep peeled ginger root in the freezer. It keeps forever and it’s easier to grate than fresh ginger.
• For best results pour sauce on about 10 minutes before serving. This gives it a little time to marinate but not get soggy. Not that it gets super soggy, it still tastes good the next day, just not a great as the night of.