recipe: Lisa's Salad

Sometimes you need a little somethin'-somethin' fast and tasty... maybe for a weeknight dinner, a party, potluck, or lunch.  For that, I almost always rely on Lisa's Salad... it's popular, fast, and budget-friendly.  Plus, you can as easily accommodate a larger group as you can a meal for a small family... or just for one!

Lisa's Salad was a concoction of a good friend of mine (Lisa, imagine that!).  She came up with this salad for a Fourth of July potluck.  It was so good, I found myself going back for fifths and sixths (I was way past the point of "seconds").  Thankfully, she let me take the rest of it home to nosh on some more.  What a great friend!  Turns out, it's really simple to make.  Sometimes we'll call it "chicken nugget salad", because... well, it has chicken nuggets/strips in it!  

Lisa's Salad aka Chicken Nugget Salad 

Note:  (stats depend on how much dressing/chicken you use, so measure if you're counting cals!)
Bag of mixed lettuce
Zesty Italian dressing
Poppyseed dressing
Cooked chicken strips
Optional:  tomatoes, croutons, other salad fix-ins.

1. Dump the bag of mixed lettuce into a large enough bowl so that you can toss without salad going everywhere (not that I'd know from personal experience...)

2.  Chop up chicken strips into bite sized pieces.  You can also use chicken nuggets/popcorn chicken.

3.  Pour in some Zesty Italian dressing and Poppyseed dressing.  Toss until covered.

4.  Top with other fix-ins.

you can catch a glimpse of it here on the left:  I topped it with croutons and tomatoes.

That's it!  Simple.  It's great for a hot summer night when you need an easy, budget-friendly salad with a little "oomph" to it.

I've served this salad many-a-time, and it never fails to be a popular item.  It's pretty fool-proof...  In fact, I sent it with my husband to a work potluck and he successfully put it together without any problems, and returned home with an empty bowl!  To do this, simply put the lettuce in a large tupperware container (and I mean LARGE, remember, you've got a lot of tossin' to do!).  I'll pre-cook the chicken and chop it and stick it in a smaller container, along with any other fix-ins in separate containers.  When it's time to serve, simply assemble, add the dressings, and toss.

The only "con" is that, once you toss, you better eat it up.  It doesn't keep well...  if you want it to keep, just toss dressing on the amount of salad you'll eat and keep the rest of it separate until you're ready to eat up again.