Salads just aren’t my thing. I need something that holds up in the fridge so I can eat it for leftovers. So when you give me a spinach salad, I hate it within 4 minutes (because spinach is gross) and hate it even more the next morning when I pull it out of the fridge and it’s a limp mess. But when you give me a salad like this one, that just gets better the longer it sits, then I’m all about it. This salad ain’t no limp b*tch. It gets the job done, it does it well, and it tricks you into believing that you like salads and eating raw vegetables. No where else will you find me eating raw vegetables. But if you don’t trust me and you just want the chicken, you can just make that, too. Do you, baby boo.
On a super unrelated note, I’m so pumped because I have my second therapy appointment today! I started going to therapy last week after I finally made the decision that I needed to work through some stuff from my past so I could move forward from it. I feel like I have a great network of supportive people who almost all go to therapy so it’s just a really normal thing for all of us. We all have things we can work on and improve upon. I know I can improve as a person and I think a therapist can help me get there. But I forget not all people are comfortable with the idea of therapy, especially some of the older generation folk out there. I never thought it was a taboo topic until I talked to someone a little older recently and I almost felt ashamed afterwards. Well I hope that me talking about it here and what a great experience it has already been, helps you in your own therapy curiosity and finding a support system. Just remember that therapy is awesome and we can all use it in some way!
Ok let’s lighten things up a bit. And talk about INTERIOR DESIGN!! I’ve been talking about Havenly nonstop, both here on the blog and on instagram. But I’m so in love with the company and the process. Our designer just finished our bedroom and dining room, and now she’s finishing up our living room, then she will be moving to my office. I love the process so much, I kind of want to hire her to design our guest bedrooms, too. She’s just so talented and creative! And she’s really helped me bring the rooms to life and make our house feel different than everyone else out there. I didn’t want our house to feel cookie cutter and she’s making sure that doesn’t happen. You can see our room rendering here! I’m going to share the entire process on the blog once we actually get our room done, but if you’re interested in trying it out, you can use code PALEOMG to get $50 off your Full Package with Havenly! They sent over that special code yesterday and I’m so pumped to share it with you guys! Now I gotta go place our order for our dining room so we can get that done, too! This process and experience has been SO FUN! I can’t recommend it enough!
Sesame Chicken Crunch Salad
Ingredients
For the chicken
- 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cubed
- 1 egg, whisked
- 1/3 cup almond flour
- 1/4 cup tapioca flour
- 3 tablespoons black sesame seeds
- 3 tablespoons white sesame seeds
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- avocado oil spray
For the salad
- 1 napa cabbage, thinly sliced
- 1/4 purple cabbage, thinly sliced
- 1 red bell pepper, julienne sliced
- 2 carrots, julienne sliced
- 3 mandarin oranges, peeled and segmented
- 4 green onions, thinly sliced
- 1/4 cup cilantro, roughly chopped
- 8–10 mint leaves, roughly chopped
For the dressing
- 1/4 cup tahini
- 1/4 cup coconut aminos
- 3 tablespoons water
- 3 tablespoons coconut vinegar (or rice wine vinegar)
- 2 tablespoons sesame oil
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 teaspoon powdered ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper then place a wire rack on top and spray it with avocado oil spray.
- Cube chicken into small pieces. In a medium bowl, whisk an egg. In a large bowl, whisk together almond flour, tapioca flour, sesame seeds, salt and garlic powder. Add chicken to the bowl with the egg and toss to coat. Then add the chicken to the flour bowl and toss until completely coated. Place the chicken evenly throughout the wire rack then spray the avocado oil spray on top of the chicken. Put in the oven to bake for 15-18 minutes, until chicken is cooked through and no pink remains.
- While the chicken cooks, add all the ingredients for the salad to a large bowl and set aside.
- Lastly, add all the ingredients for the dressing to a small blender, blend until smooth.
- When the chicken is done cooking, pour the dressing on top of the salad then toss to coat the salad completely. Then top with chicken before serving!
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This looks like a great recipe to try! I bring my lunch everyday and this would be perfect. Also, I’m so sorry someone made you feel ashamed about therapy. I’ve done it several times and it’s really helped me to live a better life. My husband and I have done couples counseling too and it’s really improved our marriage and communication. Thank you for all you do.
that’s so cool to hear Kari!! i’m definitely excited for the future because of this!
Therapy is the BEST. There’s so much stigma around it…but like, you could be shitting rainbows every day and STILL benefit from therapy. You don’t have to be “crazy” or have “problems” to go, and it also doesn’t have to be a cry-fest each time (and it’s also okay if it is! release that shit!).
Anyway, so happy for you that you chose YOU and are doing yet another fab thing for yourself that will be so helpful in the long run. And even on days where you’re like, “this isn’t doing anything and I feel worse walking out than when I walked in,” stick with it anyway! Just like your post yesterday, takes a minute to see and feel the progress.
You’re the best! XO
only two sessions in and love it so far! it’s amazing how you can make these very minimal breakthroughs and see things from a different perspective and it can help in ways you didn’t think were possible!
This sounds really yummy & I am going to make a whole bunch of it! I bet it’s really good with stir fry veggies too.
absolutely!!
These days I feel more shamed by the world for *not* going to therapy. I had a handful of worthless and/or awful therapists when I was young, including one who should’ve had their license taken away – now I can’t get comfortable with anyone. It takes a *lot* of time and $$$$ to weed thru the shite ones, of which there are many (at least, in my experience).
That aside, this salad looks amazing!
girl, if you’re feeling shamed for NOT going to therapy, you need new friends! this is my first time ever going to therapy and 75% of my friends go to therapy, yet none of them have ever shamed me for not wanting to go in the past. don’t ever feel shamed for not going or for going. you have to find what works for you, your time, and your energy. and i would feel the exact same way if i had bad experiences with past therapists!
Both my husband and I come from families where therapy/counseling is whispered about with side glances and considered a last resort. When we started to notice patterns of extreme stress and anxieties in our 15 year old daughter that were leading to unhealthy coping skills (that we were taught/have from childhood) we didn’t think twice about having her see a therapist. Luckily it’s so much more accepted among people her age and she’s really open about it too. It’s been remarkable what progress we all have made in the last 2 months, it’s one of the best decisions that we’ve made as a family. Good luck on your journey, I’m confident it will be totally worth it!
Recipe looks delish, thanks for sharing!
This turned out amazing! I especially love the chicken. My kids loved the chicken as well so that’s always a win. Looking forward to leftovers!
glad you liked it sydney!!
Hey girl, hey. I want to print this recipe but the “print” link sends me here: https://paleomg.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/EN0A0116-1-scaled.jpg I’ll copy to word for now but thought you should know.
JH
thank you so much, jessica!! all these hiccups have been a pain, i really appreciate you pointing one out so it can be fixed asap! getting my team on it now!
So.Freaking.Good!!!
We all loved it, even my 11 year old who doesn’t eat vegetables because he’s not a ‘vegetarian’. 🤣
awesome!! so glad to hear it Melissa!
Curious if you have any recommendations for an almond flour swap? I’ve seen chick pea flour, do you think that would work?
i haven’t tried the recipe that way sadly!