Recipe for Asian Spinach Salad with Chicken, Mushrooms, Peppers, and Almonds

I've been kind of working my way through the greens for Weekend Herb Blogging, and I realized I hadn't done anything with spinach. I like spinach in any form, but especially raw spinach in a salad, or barely sauteed spinach with a little garlic and some fine balsamic vinegar.

Spinach is famous for being very nutritious, and in fact it's considered one of the Superfoods. It's also listed as one of The World's Healthiest Foods, The Top Ten Healthiest Foods for Spring, and is a good source for Vitamin A, Folic Acid, Vitamin C, and Potassium. Spinach is low in calories.

Spinach should be planted in early spring, and leaves can be picked off as needed and the plant will continue to produce. When the weather gets hot, the spinach will go to seed quickly, so it is best grown as a spring or fall plant.

I actually created this salad to use up some leftover dressing from the Asian Spinach Salad Many Ways. When I ended up liking this recipe almost more than the original salad, I decided it deserved a posting of its own.

Asian Spinach Salad with Chicken, Mushrooms, Peppers, and Almonds
(Makes 2 servings, recipe created by Kalyn)

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 cup sliced sweet mini-peppers (red, yellow, or orange)
4-6 oz. sliced mushrooms, sauteed
1/4 cup slivered almonds
2-3 green onions, sliced
4 handfuls baby spinach (I buy prewashed spinach, wash if needed)

Dressing: (cut in half if you don't want leftovers)
1/2 cup olive oil
3 T rice vinegar (don't use seasoned vinegar, it contains sugar)
3 T soy sauce
2 tsp. Splenda or sugar (use Splenda for South Beach Diet)
1 tsp. dark sesame oil
1/2 tsp. ground ginger (not powdered, below)

Whisk together dressing ingredients, set aside.

Trim all visible fat and membranes from chicken breasts. Season both sides with salt and pepper and grill until well done (I used a stove-top grill pan). Let cool.

Slice mini-peppers into rings, discarding stem and seeds. Saute mushrooms in small amount of olive oil until soft, about 5 minutes. Cut chicken breasts into bite sized pieces.

To assemble salad, layer spinach, mushrooms, peppers, and chicken. Drizzle dressing over (you will need less than half of the dressing). Sprinkle almonds and green onions over and serve.

This dressing would also be good as a dressing for Shirataki Noodles, or used as a dressing for a more traditional Chinese Chicken Salad.

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About Ingredients:
Ground ginger is finely ground ginger root, sold in small jars, usually in Asian markets or the Asian foods section. If you can't find it, many grocery stores sell a product called ginger puree, which is similar, but not quite as finely ground. Fresh ginger root grated with a zester would also work for this recipe.

South Beach Suggestions:
Made with Splenda, this would be a great main-dish salad for any phase of the South Beach Diet.