For a while I wrote a fun series of posts on Babble called “3 Kids, A Mom & a Kitchen.” For one of the article the girls and I made a super tasty Barbecue Chicken Salad recipe. I just clicked through to link to that recipe for today’s weekly menu and discovered that Babble did a website update, which means the captions that had the recipe included are missing! So, I’m reposting the recipe here, for posterity’s sake. Well, actually, mostly for my sake so I can have the recipe handy. 😉

This is one of those recipes that’s not really a recipe – no measurements necessary and feel free to add or omit ingredients at will. I pretty much stole the idea for this salad from a restaurant called Croutons. Enjoy!

Barbecue Chicken Salad

 

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Adapted from a dish served at a restaurant called Croutons

Author: Jane Maynard

Ingredients

• Grilled chicken breast
• Barbecue sauce
• Romaine lettuce, chopped
• Shredded cheese, cheddar or mozzarella
• Canned black beans, rinsed and drained
• Canned corn
• Chopped tomato
• Cornbread croutons (if I can find these at the store I toast cubed cornbread in the oven until crispy)
• Chopped Granny Smith Apples
• Ranch dressing

Instructions

1. Shred grilled chicken and toss in barbecue sauce to coat.
2. Toss everything together and serve with ranch dressing. Voila!
3. No set amount for ingredients - plan for about ½ chicken breast per person and adjust ingredients as necessary for the size of the salad!

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The giveaway in this post is now closed. But there’s a recipe, so keep reading!

When it comes to my kids’ lunches, I try to do a decent job of feeding them a balanced meal. There’s not much sugar, always a protein of some kind, and definitely fresh fruit. The one area where I am lacking, however, is vegetables. Once in a while I throw in sliced cucumbers or carrot sticks, but more often than not I miss vegetables entirely.

Libby’s® recently contacted me about developing a quick and easy single serving recipe using Libby’s 4 oz. Vegetable Cups. To help with developing the recipe, Libby’s mailed our family a box of the vegetable cups to try out and experiment with. My daughter Anna, who loves trying food and cooking with me, was genuinely excited about the cups.

Anna: “Mom, what are these?”

Me: “Those are the veggie cups I am going to use for a recipe.”

Anna: “Ooooo! Can I have some green beans? Please?!”

Um, yes, she actually said that. And she actually liked the green beans! She liked the carrots, too, and she looooooved the corn. Anna is 100% supportive of me packing the Vegetable Cups in her lunches.

For the recipe I developed I decided to go with a super quick and easy 3-bean salad for one! This makes for a “fancy” after-school snack or even a quick side dish with dinner when life gets busy. And this recipe utilizes one of my favorite magical ingredients: Italian Dressing. Italian dressing has a way of making pretty much any recipe easier, including salads of all kinds.

In addition to today’s recipe, we also have a giveaway! Not only will the winner receive an assortment of Libby’s Vegetable Cups, but they will also be gifted with this ridiculously cute Amanda’s Kids’ Lunch Playset from Food52.com. I wish I could enter the giveaway, all three of my kids would love this playset! (Maybe I’ll just have to go buy it!)

To enter the giveaway, please do the following (comments must be posted by Midnight PT 9/3/15):

• Simply leave a comment on this post! That’s it!
• Bonus entry: Follow Libby’s on Pinterest (leave a separate comment indicating you follow)
• Bonus entry: Like Libby’s on Facebook (leave a separate comment indicating you follow)
• Bonus entry: Follow This Week for Dinner on Pinterest (leave a separate comment indicating you follow)
• Bonus entry: Like This Week for Dinner on Facebook (leave a separate comment indicating you follow)

The randomly-selected winner of this giveaway was comment #22 Kelly, who said, “What a great idea! My Mom used to make 3-bean salad, but I never thought about sending it in the kids’ lunches. Thanks for the recipe!”

And now for the recipe! It seriously took me less than 5 minutes to toss this salad together. It doesn’t get easier than that. Enjoy!

3-Bean Salad for One

 

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Prep time

5 mins

Total time

5 mins

 

Author: Jane Maynard

Serves: 1

Ingredients

• 1 Libby's 4-oz. Green Bean Vegetable Cup
• 1 tablespoon garbanzo beans
• 1 tablespoon kidney beans
• 1 teaspoon chopped red onion
• 2 teaspoons Italian dressing

Instructions

1. Mix all the ingredients together in a small bowl. Voila! You're done!

Notes

Cost: Appx. $0.60/serving

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When I linked to Pat’s Asian Chicken Salad recipe on my menu earlier this week, I was surprised to discover that I had never actually written a post about it before. I decided it was about time!

I love this salad. It is one of my favorite go-to dinners and it’s super tasty. As with many of my great go-to dinner ideas, this one comes from my mother-in-law Pat. I don’t know what I would do with her! So, seriously, this is a great go-to dinner. Just last night I was convinced I didn’t have time to make dinner but was able to pull this together faster than if we’d done take out. And everyone in the family loves it!

(>> Find out more…)