Real Food for Real Life

Monday, March 4, 2013

A favorite restaurant dish redo...

 Kool Nachos Salad

While we are still eating out on occasion, it has slacked off considerably since we have been on Weight Watchers.  Last Wednesday I had our dinner planned, prepped, and even had the table set, but then found a Facebook posting from a favorite local restaurant.  Ten percent of their sales that day were going to The Caring Closet, so everything was put away and we headed over come dinner time.  Besides having great food (the bleu cheese dressing is a must have), and  reasonable prices, the restaurant has been an ardent supporter of TCC, so will always get our business.

The boy always likes to get boneless wings with sweet BBQ (the wimp) with chips or curly fries (with cheese, please), Ben likes a burger or boneless wings with extra hot sauce (although we have both gone for the triple on occasion), while I have started ordering the Kool Nachos almost every time we go.  Although on the starter menu, these nachos are enough for dinner.  On this visit I asked for the chicken to be grilled instead of breaded and fried, and half the amount of chips.  The chicken did not suffer in the least for the skinny treatment, and I still didn't finish all the chips, so a win win.

All through dinner, Ben was checking out my plate, and said he was going to order it next time.  But in the meanwhile we could make it at home, so that is what we did.  Making this skinny wasn't too tough, but their bleu cheese dressing is the best, so I wasn't even going to attempt to "skinnyfy" it.  I used fat free sour cream for the creaminess and cooling and will save the bleu cheese as an occasional indulgence.  Those with more tender palates may wish to sub BBQ sauce for the hot sauce.

I had already started eating when I realized I left off the jalapeños and olives!

Kool Nachos Salad

For each serving:
2 oz. Baked Tostitos
1 oz. 2% milk Velveeta (we used the Aldi store brand)
1 oz. skim milk
4 oz. plain baked chicken breast
hot sauce of choice, to taste (we used Frank's Extra Hot)
2 handfuls shredded romaine
diced red onion and tomato, to taste
sprinkling of of sliced green (or black) olives
pickled jalapeños (we used mine, because the are the best :)
1/4 cup fat free sour cream

To prepare the chicken:
Take the desired number of boneless, skinless chicken breasts and trim them of all visible fat.  Place the chicken on a baking sheet lightly sprayed with cooking spray and season generously with salt and fresh ground black pepper.  Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.  Remove and let cool to the touch before cutting into bite sized chunks; set aside.  I made more chicken than we needed for dinner, so the leftovers are waiting in the fridge for another easy meal.

To prepare the salad:
 Melt the Velveeta with the milk for about a minute in the microwave at 50% power; stir until smooth.  I was making several salads so I did this in a large glass measuring cup, allowing me to easily measure out the correct amount for each.  If you prepare this larger amount, you will need to adjust your cooking time.
Place the baked Tostitos in the bottom of your bowl(s) and drizzle with the cheese sauce; toss to coat the chips with the cheese.
Top the chips with the lettuce, tomatoes, onion, olives, and jaaapeño slices.
Toss the desired amount of chicken in a small bowl with the chosen sauce before piling on top of the salad.
Top with the sour cream.  Eat.  Enjoy.

WW PointsPlus Values:
Baked Tostitos, 3pt  per ounce
Cheese sauce as prepared, 2pt per serving
Chicken with hot sauce, 1pt per ounce, add apt per T for BBQ
Romaine, tomato, onion, jalapeños, and olives (in small amount) are free
FF sour cream is 1pt for a quarter cup

Note:  This post has been edited to remove links and references to the name of the restaurant as it would appear that the ownership was displeased with this post for some reason.  I would hate to continue providing them with free advertising.

4 comments:

  1. Oh, this sounds good to me! And I like that it's not loaded with calories. Since I grew up outside of Columbus, I know where Hamilton is but don't live near it now--as in Chicago area now. The "closet" sounds like a good deed for the restaurant! Happy to find your blog!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks, Pam. I love your blog and have been a reader for quite a while, in fact, you'll find it in my blog sidebar and on the Facebook page. I have never actually been to Chicago, we tend to go south when we travel. Enjoy your day, I'm heading outside now to enjoy the sunshine and (semi) warm day.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi! I've been following your blog for a while now and finally got the courage to go ahead and give you a shout out from Houston Tx! Just wanted to mention keep up the fantastic job!

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    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks for the shout out. We have family in Huston, are you by chance a family friend?

    ReplyDelete

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