Lately I've been trying to cook smarter so we have more leftovers to use throughout the week for lunches. Especially for The 2-year-old and me. The other two mostly fend for themselves, and for as much as I'd like to control everything the 8-year-old puts in his mouth, there comes a time when he has to be trusted to make his own decisions. Breakfast and lunch are still my domain, lunch time he gets a little freedom.
I've been trying to cook more simple meals at home, and last week I received my first box from a new CSA (community supported agriculture) in my area called Friends & Farms.
Our first share was amazing!
This particular CSA includes meats, dairy and breads as well, and I love the idea of incorporating all these farm-fresh foods into our diets.
My biggest challenge this week is a container of full-fat yogurt.
I'm trying to get over my fear of fat in dairy. I'm not a fat-o-phobe but I've trained myself to always grab the fat-free yogurt simply because there are fewer calories. But full fat is pretty well rounded nutritionally, too.
Since I've gotten the container I've been using it in the kids' pancakes and waffles. I just thin it with a little water.
At the moment I happen to have a container of fat-free Greek vanilla in the fridge as well so I'm still been snacking on that, but I may make a parfait with this later in the week. Yesterday, I decided to use the yogurt as a mayo replacement in a simple chicken salad idea and it worked perfectly.
I made three extra pieces of chicken a few nights ago while roasting dinner. This makes it easy to cube some chicken for The Toddler and salads for me, or in this case a sandwich. I combined the chicken with some pomegranate seeds (can I tell you how ecstatic the 8-year-old is that they are back in season!) and a bit of the yogurt to stuff in a pita.
It's was a tasty, satisfying, light lunch, despite using full-fat yogurt.
Here's what I did.
Ingredients
- 3 oz leftover cooked chicken
- 1 oz pomegranate seeds (arils) (Click here to see how we open the pomegranate to get the seeds)
- 4 g slivered almonds
- 1 oz full-fat yogurt
- ¼ teaspoon ground sage
- â…› teaspoon kosher salt
Instructions
Weigh out the chicken and shred or chunk as small as you like.
Top the chicken with the rest of the ingredients.
Mix well to combine.
Stuff in your favorite pita!
No pita? Wrap it, try an English muffin or even top a bed of your favorite greens!
Nutritional Information is for the salad only. Add in your bread choice.
Disclosure: I've partnered with The Laughing Cow. Click here for more info and click here to see all my ideas using the Laughing Cow!
📖 Recipe
Leftover Chicken & Pomegranate Salad With Almonds
Ingredients
- 3 oz leftover cooked chicken
- 1 oz pomegranate seeds arils (Click here to see how we open the pomegranate to get the seeds)
- 4 g slivered almonds
- 1 oz full-fat yogurt
- ¼ teaspoon ground sage
- â…› teaspoon kosher salt
Instructions
- Weigh out the chicken and shred or chunk as small as you like.3 oz leftover cooked chicken
- Top the chicken with the rest of the ingredients.1 oz pomegranate seeds, 4 g slivered almonds, 1 oz full-fat yogurt, ¼ teaspoon ground sage, ⅛ teaspoon kosher salt, 3 oz leftover cooked chicken
- Mix well to combine.
- Stuff in your favorite pita!
Josh B.
Wow! That looks good. My wife has been looking for some easy and healthy recipes for us, I believe I found them.
The farm fresh fruit/ veggies look so much better then store bought speed grown.
Connie C.
Where do you find pomegranate seeds in the store?
roni
I haven't seen just the seeds in awhile, we just buy the fruit from the produce section. Here's how we eat them…. https://greenlitebites.com/2008/10/29/eating-pomegranate-video-post/
Karen
I actually bought a bag of frozen pomegranate seeds at Costco one week and sent them home with my daughter who lives out of state. I figured I would get a bag for myself the next time I went -- of course they have not had them since! That was the only time I've seen them anywhere. That's what made me decide to just buy the pomegranates when they are in season and seed and freeze them myself.
Karen
I use full fat plain Greek yogurt all the time as a mayo substitute -- try mashing an avocado in this salad recipe also -- yum! Roni - if your 8 year old loves those pomegranate seeds, you don't have to wait for them to be in season -- they freeze wonderfully! I have them in my freezer all year round -- I just seed a bunch of them and put them in zip bags for munching on all through the year -- great superfood!!!
Janice
I have used yogurt as a mayo substitute for years because I do not like mayo or similar products. It works well and lets you play a little more with other flavors. This is a great simple idea. And with a WWP value of 5 it makes a great lunch!
Krista S.
I used to be freaked out over full fat dairy, too, but now I reach for 2% Greek plain most of the time and for a treat, I love getting a local cream-top yogurt. The texture used to be an issue for me, like I could feel fat or something on my lips.
My family is really picky with leftovers so I have in the past had a really hard time with serving them until I realized that if I make something *entirely* different with the leftover ingredients, they don't seem to notice much.
Lately I've been experimenting with all things spaghetti squash, but I still can't get the teens to even try it unless it's in muffin form. I was hoping they'd outgrow the pickiness, but so far, not so much.