Dinner Time: Chinese Chicken Salad

Sometimes amid all the heaviness of winter foods, a nice crunchy, summery salad provides the perfect cure to your casserole overload or post-Thanksgiving puffiness.  One of my dear friends recently gave me a version of this recipe and its bright colors and fresh taste were just what I needed on a gray December day. 

This Chinese chicken salad can be mixed up according to your preferences, but I'm a "more is more" kind of eater, so I add in many delicious bits.

Chinese Chicken Salad (ahem...there really isn't anything Chinese about this, but that's a technicality, my dears)
Ingredients:
Salad-

• Half of a red cabbage, shredded
• Half of a green cabbage, shredded
• Two green onions, sliced thinly
• 2-3 chicken breasts, chunked (I used a Rotisserie chicken)
• a handful of shredded carrots
• 1 can mandarin oranges, rinsed and drained
• 1/2 cup sliced almonds
• 2 packages of dry ramen noodles, broken up
• 1/2 cup green peas (frozen, they'll thaw in the salad)
• Chow Mein noodles (for crunchy topping, if desired)

Dressing-

1/2 cup sugar

3/4 cup canola oil

1 tsp. pepper

2 tsp. salt

6 Tbsp. rice vinegar

1/4 cup sesame oil

2 Tbsp. soy sauce

Combine salad ingredients, set aside. 

Combine ingredients for dressing. Toss dressing and salad together. Chill.  

Can sit for 3-4 hours in dressing. Enjoy!