DAY 9 Dog Day Afternoons

DAY 9
    
     The hot days of summer have arrived. We're trying not to succumb to the 90 degrees by turning on the AC. If it gets much hotter I may loose this battle. The house seems hottest in the late afternoon around 3:30 - 4:00 when we like to eat our biggest meal.
     I was all set to have my husband grill us some burgers which I intended on smothering in mushrooms, onions and green peppers but, as the temperature went up my zeal for standing over the stove went down.
     What kind of cool and delicious foods can we conjure up on days too hot for soup?  Just about the time that thought popped into my head I heard the familiar bird call letting me know I had a text message. Received from my daughter was picture above with the message LUNCH.  After seeing that, I got such a hankering for chicken salad, I had to whip up a batch for my husband and I.
     The rotisserie chicken intended for soup stock now became our chicken salad lunch. It didn't dawn on me until we were licking our plates clean that I should have taken pictures too. Shucks! It wasn't as pretty as Leah's above but I am willing to say it was almost as good. Why do I say almost? Because Leah took the time to make her own mayonnaise. Boy, she's good.
     We are making great strides to eat well here at The Barnett household. Over the next few months i'm sure our "diet" will see many changes but, I don't know if i'll ever get to the point of making mayo from a recipe. We use it so infrequently that I am unconcerned at this point about the fat content. The only concern I have with it the natural flavorings. We all know that means MSG. The sugar content on label is so little that it doesn't appear in the Nutritional Facts. I have thought about trying the Veganaise from the health food store but i'm not convinced it's that much healthier and that mayo in small amounts is that bad.  It's the binder that holds chicken and tuna salads together. That's my opinion for now and i'm sticking to it.

     Speaking of salad dressings. What? I thought someone mentioned them. Many of you may not be at the point in your healthy lifestyle changes where you question salad dressing, and that's ok. My suggestion to you is instead of pouring dressing all over your salad, put it in a small dish and dip your salad into it. Better yet, just dip your fork in the dressing before spearing your salad. It's amazing how much less dressing you eat but still enjoy your salad.
     Some salad dressings, while tasty, are often full of fat, sodium and sugars that you don’t need when you’re trying to slim down and get healthy. But there are alternatives that are healthier for your body yet still taste good.

     One option is to mix olive oil or flaxseed oil with red wine, raspberry infused or balsamic vinegar.
You need one part oil to one part vinegar a pinch of salt and pepper and shake ingredients together.
     While olive oil and flaxseed oil have fat and calories, they are a healthy source of fat that your body needs. "In fact, flaxseed oil is used by so many organs of your body that it’s almost impossible for it to be converted into fat cells."-- Jillian Michaels

Julie's Chicken Salad
(depending on what's available in the house)

2 breast of rotisserie chicken
1/3 - 1/2 cup mayo (I don't measure so I'm unsure)
1/2 stalk celery chopped very small
1 green onion and stalk
15 seedless grapes halved (red or green)
and a good shake or two of Mrs. Dash Original

The chicken salad was piled on two large Romaine leaves that had vinegar and oil spritzed on them.
My husband gave it a 10.