WHAT WE'RE EATING? BANH MI SALAD

This is a homage to my sister Kenzie because of her obsession with anything salad & my mother-in-law Latayne because of her love for Vietnamese cuisine.

The other day I was watching The Chew while working out on the elliptical at the gym. Yes, I know what you're thinking, why is she watching a show about eating and cooking while trying to get rid of that butt she has from all that food she eats and cooks. But I love cooking shows. Anyway, someone on The Chew mentioned something about making Banh Mi's and I thought "Hey I could totally come up with my own sugar free, gluten free version of a Banh Mi." And so it began.

I served this salad a la carte but you could put it together before serving if you'd prefer.

Marinated Vegetables
In a saucepan: 1 C rice vinegar or apple cider vinegar, 1/2 C water, 1/2 C sugar or stevia. Bring to boil over medium heat. Cook 1 minute to dissolve sugar. Set aside and cool. Meanwhile using a mandolin, slice 2 peeled carrots, 4-6 radishes, 1/2 onion & 2 cucumbers into a bowl. You can also use a knife to cut very thinly or grater. Pour liquid over vegetables and store in refrigerator for at least 30 minutes to marinate and crisp up.

Roasted Chicken
Now you could spend hours roasting a chicken or you could just buy a roasted chicken from your local grocery store. De-bone & remove skin. Shred or cube chicken. Place in a bowl and set aside or in refrigerator until ready to serve.

Cilantro Lime Dressing
In a blender or food processor, blend until smooth: 1/4 C Mayo (I use no sugar added mayo from Whole Foods), juice of 1 lime & 1-2 T fresh cilantro. Place in a bowl and put in refrigerator until ready to serve.

TO SERVE
Serve spinach or lettuce with chicken, dressing, marinated vegetables, fresh slice jalapenos, fresh mint or basil leaves.

OPTIONAL
To add as a side or for those that aren't crazy about salads and would rather have a banh mi sandwich, you can always slice a fresh French baguette, place it under the broiler to toast.

KEEPING THE KIDS OCCUPIED ACTIVITY: In the doctor's office

Most of us either don't have a choice sometimes to leave our children with someone trustworthy or choose to take our children everywhere with us. Whatever the case, when going to the doctor's office, it can be daunting with your children with those wait times. Today was not exception. Two hours, yes, two hours was our total time in my doctor's office this morning. If I hadn't have brought colors, I might have lost it. I allowed my children to draw on the paper lined patient table in our room while we were waiting. I came up with little games like draw a square. Now draw a triangle on top of the square. Now a small rectangle at the bottom of the square, etc. Then they had to guess what it was. (a house) It was so much time waiting, I taught my 4 year old how to solve addition problems using dots + dots = answer then onto numbers. We made the best of it and had a great time together. So next time you are taking your children to the doctor's office, bring some colors.