Summer Spinach Salad & Toasted Chicken Sandwich

Let me tell you what I ate for dinner tonight, and you can just try not to be jealous! I first made this salad a few months ago after finding it as a featured recipe on my allrecipes.com iPhone app. My version is actually just a spin-off of the original, and I use a bottled poppy seed dressing from Trader Joes instead of making the dressing the recipe calls for.




Summer Spinach Salad

1 bag or 1-2 bunches of baby spinach
12 oz fresh strawberries, sliced
6 oz can of mandarin oranges
1/2 cup of toasted sliced almonds
Poppy seed dressing


This salad should be assembled in layers because if you try to mix everything into the spinach, it will all just sink to the bottom. I start with a little pile of spinach leaves, sprinkle with strawberries & oranges, and repeat. I add all of the almonds on the top and they kind of sift down through the salad on their own.

I found this sandwich on Real Mom Kitchen after linking to another of her recipes from foodgawker. It required a special trip to the store today to get a fresh loaf of french bread, but it was worth it. I snuck a little taste of the chicken mixture before sticking it all in the oven and I could already tell it was going to be good. We all loved it! Isaac had already eaten dinner but he ended up eating dinner #2 once he had a taste of this sandwich. I will definitely make this one again!


Toasted Chicken & Cheese Sandwich

1 loaf french bread, cut lengthwise
2 cups cooked, shredded chicken
1/2 cup light mayo
1/2 cup reduced fat sour cream
2 green onions, thinly sliced (white and green parts)
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1/3 cup fresh parsley, chopped (or 2 tablespoons dried)
2 cups shredded cheese (I used a jack & cheddar blend)


Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place french bread on large baking sheet. Mix all topping ingredients together in a bowl. Spread topping evenly on top of both lengths of french bread. Bake for 15-20 minutes until bubbly and edges are lightly browned. Slice into pieces and serve immediately.

I only used half the loaf of bread because I'm saving the other half to make some garlic bread for tomorrow night's dinner. I think if you needed to stretch this to feed more people, a whole loaf would work, but for a small family the half loaf was fine. The topping was a little heavy, but not enough to overwhelm the bread. Oh, and I left out the parsley too because I didn't have any on hand. I didn't miss it. The garlic salt & green onions add plenty of flavor.

And as if dinner wasn't enough of a treat, I pulled out this little surprise that I picked up while getting my bread today.

When was the last time you had these?! I hadn't had them in years. And I never even realized how much I missed them until now. I doubt this bag will last more than a few days. Good thing I've started running again!