Super Salads: Mango, Spinach And....

I had a GREAT salad for lunch the other day - got the original recipe from the Weight Watchers website, but naturally I had to make changes based upon what I had on hand. The salad part remained the same (plus cucumbers), but I think I inadvertently improved upon the dressing!

The original salad is Chicken, Mango and Spinach Salad - I used leftover baked chicken, seasoned only with salt and crushed red pepper, baked on a bed of vegetables and white wine. (That was another recipe!). This one caught my eye because I just happened to have two bags of baby spinach and two mangos, both looking to become a part of something edible before they became inedible themselves. That and the leftover chicken, along with my addiction to MySpiceSage.com, where I procured Maharajah Curry Powder, lead me to this recipe. The original dressing called for prepared honey-mustard - I had none, so I used 1 tsp. honey and 1 tsp Trader Joe's Dijon Mustard. That wonderful, spicy mustard really put this over the top, and as I sat at my desk at lunchtime, in the midst of a particularly bad, sad week at work, I found that the sweet, spicy, smoky, sour-y salad really hit the spot. Curry in a salad dressing is pretty unusual for me, but I really enjoyed this.

So this afternoon, I decided to have another helping for lunch - I was out of chicken so I used chick peas instead, and found that not only is this a super salad, it's a marvelous meatless light meal, too! So I think I'll be seeing more of this.... I do like it better with chicken, though, and I think next time I'll glaze it with some of the dressing before baking/broiling/grilling the chicken. This wonderful blend of flavors would also compliment a number of proteins - thinly sliced steak, grilled shrimp, tuna or salmon.

Here's the recipe (chicken version) with my tweaks:

Mango, Chicken and Spinach Salad with Mango-Curry Dressing

Salad:

4 cups baby spinach

2 small mangoes, diced

1 cup diced English cucumber

2 chicken breasts, cooked and cut into bite-sized pieces (or beef, or chick peas, or shrimp...)

Dressing:

Whisk together:

1/3 cup mango nectar (or puree half a mango with a little water)

1 tsp honey

1 tsp dijon mustard

1/2 tsp curry powder

1 tbsp cider vinegar

1 tsp grapeseed or canola oil

1/2 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp sea salt

Arrange salad on plate and pour dressing over top.

Enjoy!

(Chick pea version!)