Lighter Oriental Chicken Salad

The hubs recently informed me that *ahem* "we" needed to lose weight.   After I finished giving him the mother of all stink eyes, I started considering all of the ways I could make him eat salad and fish for the next year.  That seemed to be a fair way to seek revenge on my meat and potato man while allowing me to have all of the "girl food" I could consume.  =P

Sooo...I started looking for salad recipes on Pinterest, my newest obsession time suck.  I love Asian flavors and while this "Oriental" salad from Mommy? I'm Hungry! is unlikely to be served in the Orient (unless they have an Applebees), it has incredible flavor.  (By the way, I loved this ladies blog.  Everything I've tried has been a winner.)

Because "we" are dieting, I decided to lighten the recipe up a bit with rotisserie chicken, light mayo and chow mein noodles instead of fried wontons.  If you want to cut the calories back more, leave out the chow mein noodles or almonds.  You get loads of crunch from the veggies and noodles, sweetness from the dressing and oranges and nuttiness from the almonds and sesame oil.  Next time, I plan to add edamame. 

This makes enough for 3-4 people, depending on how hungry you are and whether or not you are serving anything on the side.  My measurements are approximate, as I just kind of eyeballed the whole thing so adjust it however you'd like.

And for those of you worried about the well being of the hubs, he survived to live another day and has been given a normal food once again.  In all fairness though, he only made that comment because I go on and on all of the time about needing to lose weight and he wanted us to both work on losing weight together.  He always makes me feel like I am beautiful to him- just another reason I love that man. :)

Recipe
Adapted from: Mommy? I'm Hungry!

1 bag salad mix with Romaine lettuce and veggies
1 bag broccoli slaw mix
1 rotisserie chicken, skinned, deboned and shredded
1 14 oz can (no sugar added) mandarin oranges, well drained
8 green onions, green part diced
1/4 c sliced almonds
1/2 c chow mein noodles (optional)
Dressing (below)

In a large bowl combine all of the ingredients and toss with dressing.  If you're not going to be serving it right away, don't add the noodles or dressing until you are ready to serve it.

Dressing:
1/2 c + 1 Tbsp honey
4 1/2 Tbsp rice vinegar (not rice wine vinegar)
3/4 cup light or fat free mayo (not salad dressing)
3 tsp dijon mustard
3/8 tsp sesame oil

Whisk all ingredients together until thoroughly combined.