Month-of-One-Pan Meals: Leftovers Curried Chicken and Fruit Salad

Welcome to my annual Month-of Recipes on this blog. Go rummaging in the attic here and you’ll find past recipe months for appetizers, chicken, soup, mini-desserts, and more. The way it works is, for each day in February I post a recipe that fits the category. This month is one-pan meals, excluding pizza, most casseroles, and slow cooker recipes.

I’ve mentioned using leftovers several times. I always make extra rice, mashed potatoes, and other carbs so I have flexibility in meal planning. Also, when roasting a chicken, we can have a traditional Roast Chicken Sunday Dinner and then use up the rest of the chicken with chicken tacos, chicken enchiladas, chicken curry, chicken and dumplings, chicken soup and on and on. Cook once and let the other meals come together with little prep and sometimes no extra cooking time.

When you read the recipe below, you’ll see that I just cleaned out the refrigerator! Again (as with the stuffed peppers recipe at https://bit.ly/2TrtwPE)

Living in a warm part of the United States, we eat salads for dinner a lot. This night’s meal was pan-less after the original cooking.

I used a single bowl to mix my leftovers together with condiments and curry, and then served the chicken salad on romaine lettuce. All the protein from the nuts and the chicken make this a filling and nutritious meal. And it’s easy peasy. Add a dinner roll, and dinner is served!

Leftovers Fruit and Curried Chicken Salad (serves 2-4) 

2 cups leftover chicken meat

2 tablespoons curry powder

2 tablespoons honey mustard

½ cup cole slaw dressing

¼ cup dried cranberries

¼ small onion, diced

¼ cup celery, diced

¼ cup walnut pieces

¼ apple, diced

½ orange, cut into small pieces

salad bowls of romaine lettuce, torn into chunks 

Mix all ingredients except lettuce together in a medium bowl. Divide among the salad bowls of lettuce.

DH’s Rating: 5 tongues Up

The fruit adds a flavor layer he really liked. He also liked the crunch of the celery and walnuts for texture. I had never used cole slaw dressing and honey mustard together before, and he really liked it! That’s a keeper for the future.