Lunch To Go: Pineapple Chicken Salad Pitas

So I'm always struggling with what to take for lunch.  I want to eat a balanced meal, but it's tough.  So I bought a new book for Lunch ideas.  It's below.

One of my secret favorites is Chicken Salad.  It's horribly bad for you most of the time, but this delightful little book has several different varieties.   The one I tried tonight is "Pineapple Chicken Salad Pitas. 

Ingredients:  21/2 cups of chopped chicken, 1/2 cup matchstick-cut carrots, 1/3 cup sliced almonds -- toasted, 1/3 cup light mayo, 1/4 cup finely chopped green onions, 1/4 cup plain fat-free yogurt, 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce, 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, 1 (8oz) can crushed pineapple in juice (not syrup), Whole-Wheat Pitas and Romaine.

I was going to use a de-boned rotisserie chicken because our local store usually has already de-boned meat available, but they were out today so I just bought a lb of chicken breast tenders and decided to poach them.  So I put them in the pan, covered them with water, salted the water a tad, and added about a tablespoon of chopped garlic to add some flavor.  I lightly simmered them for 15 minutes -- don't boil them it will make the meat hard and gross. 

While the chicken was cooking I put the almonds in a dry pan and toasted them.  Be careful -- they burn fast.. mine got a little too brown and I had to pick some of the darker ones out.

While that was going on, I started measuring out the remainder of the ingredients starting with 1/2 cup of carrots.

The carrots and the almonds -- notice some of them were a bit browner than I planned -- they didn't taste bad though.

1/3 cup of light mayo. 

add the green onions, finely minced.

1/4 cup of plain fat-free yogurt.  I used Greek Yogurt here.  It's creamier and not as runny as regular yogurt because it's strained.

 1 tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce.  (Wersh-ter-sheer)  My family always struggles with how to say it.. that's how I say it. :)

 1/2 teaspoon Garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon of both salt and pepper.

1 (8-ounce) can of crushed pineapple in juice not syrup.  It says in the recipe to drain it, but with the Greek yogurt I decided not to and it worked out well and added to the creaminess without adding more mayo.

Then I gave it all a stir so that the ingredients could begin to meld while I dealt with the chicken.

When the chicken was done cooking I drained it and rinsed it in cold water to let the cool off before I chopped it.

Here it is all mixed together.  I gave it a quick taste to see if it needed anything and it was PERFECTLY YUMMY!!

Here is a whole wheat pita, with a leaf of Romaine, stuffed with the salad.  YUMMY!!!

You could, of course, use whole wheat bread, or even a whole wheat wrap.  I chose pita because with chicken salad, it tends to fall off the bread and the pita serves as a little chicken salad cup.  I hate getting my hands messy so it's perfect for me!! :) 


Note:  Comparing Whole wheat bread and Whole Wheat pita:

Whole Wheat Bread = 120 calories, 250 Milligrams sodium, 4 grams of fiber
Whole Wheat Pita = 140 calories, 130 Milligrams of sodium, 3 grams of fiber.

In my head the sodium is the one that scares me so I go with the pita-- 1/2 the sodium makes the extra 20 calories and the 1 gram less of fiber well worth it.