Rainbow Chicken Salad
What Color Is Your Diet?
| The changing color of ripening fruits and vegetables signifies when they are at the peak of their taste and nutritive value. Many of the phytonutrients are actually the pigment molecules that lend ripe fruits and vegetables their distinctive hues.
Carotenoids are chemical compounds that absorb visible light and so determine that carrots are orange and tomatoes are red. Approximately seven hundred different carotenoids have been isolated from plants and animals. These carotenoids are specifically broken down by the body, during the process of absorption into the bloodstream from the small intestine. They make their way to specific tissues and organs where they have been shown to protect against the type of oxidative damage that can harm your DNA. The different colors are important because the different plant compounds they represent have different effects on the body. For example, anthocyanin, which are powerful antioxidants found in blueberries, blackberries and strawberries, have a beneficial effect on heart disease by inhibiting blood clot formation. Lycopene, found in tomatoes, helps prevent the oxidation of cholesterol, thereby slowing the development of atherosclerosis. The green found is broccoli and Brussels sprouts contains sulforaphane, isothiocynate and indoles, which stimulate the genes in your liver to turn on the production of enzymes that break down the cancer-causing chemicals in the body. Source: What Color is Your Diet by David Heber, M.D., Ph.D. |
I've just about covered the rainbow in this dish. It's got red, yellow, orange and green peppers. Some more orange with the carrots, a little white with the jicama and some green/white in the table onions. Serve this over a bed of mixed salad greens and you can pick up some purple, or if it fancies you, throw in a few seedless purple grapes as well. Either way, this salad is loaded with color, beautiful for the eyes and the body.
Rainbow Chicken Salad
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Serves: 4-6
Ingredients
- 2-3 lb. Organic Free-Range Chicken, Cooked
- Green, Red, Yellow, Orange Bell Pepper
- Celery
- Jicama
- Carrots
- Green Onion
- Lacto-Fermented Mayonnaise
- Celtic Sea Salt & Coarse Ground Black Pepper
- Oven-Roasted Pecans, Walnuts or Sliced Almonds
Optional Fruit Add-Ins
- Purple Seedless Grapes, Sugar-Free Dried Cranberries, Green Apple, Raisins
Directions
- Choose whatever method you prefer and cook the chicken. When making a chicken for the shredded meat (as opposed for the presentation), I use the pressure cooker. It's done in 20 minutes. Once chicken is cool enough to handle, clean, saving all remnants, skin and bones to make bone broth. Chop or shred chicken and place in a large mixing bowl.
- Lay out nuts on parchment lined cookie sheet and oven roast at 350º F for 10 minutes or so. If using pecans or walnuts, you will chop once roasted and cooled.
- Get a sharp knife and cutting board out and begin chopping all your veggies. I like to really bulk up the salad, so I use a lot of veggies. If using fruit, dice it up now as well. You decide how much you want to use. Throw veggies on top of the chicken.
- To the chicken and veggies, plop two large dollops of mayonnaise on and mix. Add as much mayo as you want. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Finally serve and top with roasted nuts. Enjoy!
