A great chunky chicken salad sandwich and How to enjoy eating at a restaurant - At least until you get the bill!

Am I allowed to use the “L” word?  I am talking about leftovers.  In some homes (our own, for instance, when the kids still lived at home) leftovers was considered a four-letter word.  One of my sons still considers leftovers as food that has passed its expiry date. Even today, when he asks if a dish is made of (gasp!) leftovers, I would smile and say “Of course not”, in my best academy-award winning voice and smile.

The truth is that as none of the kids live at home, we rarely have any leftovers, but when we do, this is a great, points-friendly chicken salad sandwich!  This sandwich will make a satisfying Sunday lunch or supper after a long lazy Shabbat of food. With this kind of sandwich, it may even be worthwhile to make extra chicken for Shabbat, just so you have (enough) leftovers to prepare this dish!

Yochi’s Chunky Chicken Salad Sandwich

Ingredients:

1.   Leftover chicken.  Any part of the chicken is fine for this dish.

2.   Green onion

·        Basic spices:

o   garlic powder

o   freshly ground pepper

o   paprika

o   chopped fresh parsley

3.   Dijon mustard

4.   Mayonnaise (low-calorie version)

5.   Other sandwich fixings:

o   Lettuce or spinach

o   Tomato

o   Pickles

6.   Light, whole wheat bread

Portion size: The number of sandwiches you can prepare with this recipe depends on the amount of leftover chicken you have at your disposal.  Basic rule of thumb: One quarter chicken should be enough for two chunky chicken salad sandwiches.

How to work:

1.   Take the chicken out of the fridge and cut the meat away from the bone.  You do not have to wait for the chicken to become room temperature before preparing this dish.  In fact cold chicken is easier to handle and in my opinion a cold chicken salad sandwich is tastes better than a sandwich at room-temperature.

Cut the chicken into small chunky pieces. 

The following amounts of ingredients apply to the one quarter of chicken measurement for two sandwiches discussed above.

2.   Mince one green onion and add to the chicken.  Lately, I prefer to use only the white bulbs of the green onion for chicken/tuna salads and other dishes.  I use the leftover (there’s that word again!) green “leafier” parts of the green onion stalk for vegetable salads.

3.   Add one teaspoon of Dijon mustard.  Mix well.

4.   Add one tablespoon of low-calorie Mayonnaise.  If the salad is too dry, add an additional half to one tablespoon.  Mix well.

5.   Add spices.  I recommend adding freshly chopped parsley to this dish, it truly adds to the taste!  Mix well.

6.   I am not going to tell you how to make a sandwich – except to say that you should add two really heaping tablespoons of the salad to each sandwich.

7.   Serve with a good filling salad.

Be’Tay a’Von!

How to enjoy eating out - At least until you get the check!

Eating out can be dangerous to your health and to your wallet.  

Allow me to illustrate: You’ve heard about a certain restaurant forever! You read about it online.   You’ve made a reservation, you’ve cleared your schedule.  Got a baby sitter.  Got all dressed up: shaved, put on clean, freshly laundered (maybe even new) clothes, worn new shoes that may not have been completely broken into yet (another story for another blog), used a small purse that can only hold your phone, keys, cards and a lipstick and ... well you get the picture.

You get to the restaurant and now begins the HARD work.  No joking!  How do you order in a restaurant that will enable you to 1) enjoy your food  2) enjoy the restaurant’s atmosphere and 3) enjoy yourself afterwards, without fretting about points/calories/guilt?     

The simplest solution is to enjoy yourself, eat any and everything the menu has to offer and “begin again tomorrow” (for the innocent: restart your diet tomorrow). 

This is one way of dealing with eating out, if this works for you, more peace to you.  I don’t like it and I don’t recommend it; especially if eating out is part of your regular living and/or working pattern.

I believe you can fulfil both numbers 1 and 2 above by following the tried and true method: advanced planning and a bit of forethought.  How you ask? Simple! 

As far as I know, and you can correct me if I am wrong, there are no “Surprise! restaurants”.  That is, there are no restaurants where the waiter seats you, asks for 65 shekels and puts a covered plate of something in front of you and then skips off into the rear of the restaurant with a laugh. You need to read the menu, ask a question or ten, order and then are served (all hopefully within a reasonable amount of time). 

Certain dishes/ingredients will give you the cues and clues needed to know how “bad” or “good” the offered restaurant food will be for you and your diet.  Just recently I saw a news clip about the surprisingly large quantities of salt found in so-called ‘healthy’ salad dishes at well-known restaurant chains. Everyone was shocked BUT not me!

So let me tell you one of my carved-in-stone beliefs: IF your health and what you put into your mouth are REALLY important to you – then you would EAT ONLY IN YOUR OWN HOME; where you know EXACTLY what ingredients and what quantities of said ingredients are found in each dish you serve.

So let’s cut the act, eating out means more flavor enhancers such as monosodium glutamate, salt, sugar, colorings and flavorings, butter and oil than you need; because the simple truth is that without these goodies your food would not taste or look as delicious and appetizing as it does!  And if the food doesn’t look and taste really good, you would not be willing to PAY (a lot) for it!  That’s the truth and don’t let anyone tell you any differently. 

The plebian tuna sandwich tastes a thousand times better in a restaurant than at home.  Why? Flavor enhancers, otherwise why, why for the love of everything, would you spend 45 NIS on a sandwich that costs six shekels to make at home (and that includes the bread, lettuce and tomato)?

So, now, boys and girls, let’s discuss restaurant menu choices and how to enjoy ourselves (at least until we get the check).

Remember the MOST IMPORTANT RULE OF ALL: never enter a restaurant hungry!  (I know Jewish mothers around the world are shedding tears…)  Eat a small meal an hour or two before you plan to arrive at the restaurant.  This way you will be less likely to order everything on the menu as soon as you sit down and/or eat everything in sight as soon you are served.  Take it easy.  Take a deep breath before you begin to order and to eat.

When discussing your average steakia (steak/meat restaurant) (not the pricey ones) keep in mind that the never-ending parade of starter salad dishes you are served at the beginning of the meal – many times even before you actually order your meal – are full of mayonnaise, salt and oil.  They may come in tiny bowls, but more often than not, the restaurants refill these bowls several times during the meal.   Don’t be fooled by the bowls’ small size – every bite equals heavy points and calories.

Most “steakiot” offer the same fair: meat, lamb, chicken and fish.  These standard items are served as ‘steaks portions’ (with or without a bone), on skewers (called shi’pudim.  The word ‘Kabob’, by the way, usually signifies a chopped meat and spice dish that is moulded onto a skewer) or in a pita or laffa (large pita).   In general the best choices are either pargeet (Cornish hen) or chicken on a skewer or as a ‘steak’ (boneless), rather than the fattier meat choices. 

What should you eat: one to two skewers of chicken, some of the least mayonnaise-y/oily salads and a green salad.  If you must have any of the meats – at least these restaurants traditionally prepare the meats on an open grill and not fried.  However, be careful with the fish, many times they are offered either fried and then grilled or just fried.  Try to get the fish grilled only.  Skip the pita, fries and chumus and you’ll be fine. 

Dairy salad restaurants/”Italian-style” dairy restaurants. These restaurants usually offer a wide selection of salads.  But be careful, the salt and oil content of these salads can reach dangerous levels.  Ask the waitress if you can have all dressings put “on the side”.  Cooked cheesy dishes are another matter.  Cheese really is not our friend and I am not telling you anything new.  If you really enjoy a cheesy dish – go for it.  My only advice is to listen to what your mother always said and share!  Share the heavy dishes with a friend.

Now to my favorite: the pricey restaurants.  What do I mean by that? I mean the restaurants you visit to celebrate special occasions. Today nearly every restaurant (including many steakiot) have website where you can review the menu, pricing, etc.  Do your homework and plan your meal.  Look for the menu items you would love to eat and will enjoy, otherwise WHY are you going to the trouble of going to this restaurant in the first place? 

For me, the best plan of action is to skip the starters and order only a main course and fruit and coffee or tea for desert.  If you are with a crowd and everyone is ordering a starter, you can order a starter salad so as to be able to eat with them.  You could of course order water and make fun of everyone eating their points-wasteful dishes, but that’s me.

Sid and I always order a large pitcher of water when we first sit down at any restaurant.  I drink a lot of water during the meal.  I know there are those folks who do not drink at all during the meal.  I don’t believe it in and think it is counterproductive to easy eating.  By the way, in restaurants where we are told that we can only get “glasses” of water and not a pitcher, well let’s just say that the waiters get tired of bringing us glasses after glasses of water throughout the meal and we rarely return to these “wonderful” establishments.

I believe that the better the restaurant the easier to order dishes that can be “disassembled”. I take out what I do not want and put in what I would like.  I do this with nearly every restaurant, but in this case you usually have more options.  I am always removing olives, corn and a host of other “non-edibles” from my dishes, salads, etc.

If you must have “something sweet” at the end of a meal – you can go the fruit and coffee route; it’s watermelon season folks and a juicy, thinly sliced watermelon at the end of a good meal is wonderful!  But if you must have something sweet and points-heavy, you know the golden rule SHARE IT! But before you order, honestly ask yourself if it is REALLY WORTH THE POINTS.  If it is: ENJOY IT!

Shabbat Shalom!