My new internship has beefed up my daily schedule, imprisoning me to my trusty car for several hours in transit between my home, job number one, job number two, and back. The only times I have to eat lunch and two snacks is while I’m traveling or sitting in a parking lot. Let me tell you, if you haven’t had a car meal before, you are so missing out. From shame-eating a set of fast food ribs to trying to eat your healthy, perfectly-planned leftover roasted zucchini slices with your fingers because you forgot to pack a fork in your 10-year-old brother’s lunchbox, Chez Voiture is the perfect place for an awkward meal.
I needed something stoplight scarf-able that I could prepare on Sunday night, refrigerate, and pack in Tupperware for lunch for the week. Thus, I kind of Frankenstein’d this recipe for avocado chicken salad. To be honest, I wasn’t exactly sure how this would turn out, but I liked it! Feel free to mix in whatever you like; nuts are good for a protein boost and sweet fruit adds a little burst of flavor to counteract the saltiness.
If you’ve still got some New Year’s Resolution left in you (good for you) and are counting calories, ½ cup (packed) of this finished product has 186 calories, if it is prepared exactly as below. The salad keeps well, but the avocado turns from green to brown after about two days and it looks less appealing. Still tastes magnificent.
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 0 minutes
Total Time: 20 minutes
Servings: 4 cups
Ingredients:
2 ½ cups shredded chicken*
2 avocados
1 cup red seedless grapes
¼ cup sliced almonds
2 teaspoons lime juice
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon black pepper
½ teaspoon garlic powder
*I just used two large cans of premium chunk chicken in water and forked it apart
Other stuff you’ll need:
Large bowl
Fork
Rubber spatula
Measuring cups and spoons
Can opener
Cutting board
Fruit knife
Photo by Paige Pulaski
Directions:
1. Cut avocados in half. Remove the pit. Slice avocado in a grid formation.
Photo by Paige Pulaski
2. Push avocado pieces out by bending the avocado skin out. Add to bowl of shredded chicken.
Photo by Paige Pulaski
3. Mash pieces of avocado with your fork (the spatula in the picture above was just a red herring to make sure you’re paying attention). This is laborious work; try to mash every little piece of avocado to make it as smooth a mixture as possible.
Photo by Paige Pulaski
4. Cut grapes into halves or quarters. I switched it up so I had different sized grapes.
Photo by Paige Pulaski
5. Add grapes, almond slices, lime juice, salt, pepper and garlic powder to the mixture.
Photo by Paige Pulaski
6. Mix until combined.
Photo by Paige Pulaski
7. Eat that healthy, crunchy, sweet, salty, juicy goodness all up in your car.