This post was written in a paid partnership with Manitoba Chicken Producers. As always, all opinions are my own and I only promote products and services that I use and love.

Something we all tend to struggle with now and again is trying to get out of a food rut.  Trying to find new ways to enjoy the foods we already love but eat way too often.  Keeping the same flavors you already enjoy, but changing the way they’re presented is an excellent way to add variety to your menu.

This Asian Grilled Chicken Salad recipe from Manitoba Chicken Producers is a great base for spinning off other recipes.  It serves 4-6 people, so you have the option of serving it family-style for dinner or splitting it up into containers for lunches. You could also make a smaller portion of the salad and use the remaining ingredients to make one of the three completely new meals that I’m sharing today. These three meals use all the same ingredients, along with a few extras:

• Cashew Chicken Lettuce wraps
• Asian Chicken Flatbread
• Chicken Summer Rolls

Why is this a good idea?

If you already have the ingredients on hand, you may as well use them to their full potential. This prevents food waste and allows for flexibility and variety on your menu.  Once you have already purchased some of these ingredients, for example the hoisin sauce, sesame oil, and sweet chili sauce, you’re going to have more than enough to use in a few more meals, so you’re going to want some ideas to mix it up a bit. Also, if you make one of these recipes for dinner, you may want to use up the remaining ingredients to make a few lunches for the rest of the week.

Prep strategies

If your life is busy like mine is, you’re going to want to save every minute you can in the kitchen, so you can have more time for relaxing and spending time with your family.  There are many ways you can save time executing this dish. Here are a few:

• Batch cook your chicken
  • If you plan on using these ingredients in the same week in different ways, grill up all your chicken at the same time.  Slice it up and it’s ready to go for the salad, the summer roll, the flatbread and the lettuce wraps. If it isn’t a nice day, baking the chicken works just fine. Whichever cooking method you choose, be sure to use a meat thermometer to check for doneness. This chart will help you ensure your chicken is perfectly cooked.
• Chop all your veggies at the same time
  • This will be especially helpful if you plan on using them in more than one meal in the same week.
• Double the sauce, as needed.
  • Depending on which of the four recipes you will be making, double up the sauce if necessary. This will save you from having to make a second batch later.

Did you know that you should only store cooked chicken for three to four days in the fridge?

This guide is helpful for storing all cuts of chicken in your fridge and freezer.

Cashew Chicken Lettuce Wraps

I used romaine hearts for these because I love the crunch, but you could definitely use any larger leaf lettuce that could contain the filling. If you don’t have cashews, peanuts would be an excellent substitution.

Asian Chicken Flatbread

This recipe is basically a salad on a pizza, minus the cheese. You will be topping it with the ingredients that can be served warm before popping it in the oven, then dressing it with a “salad” of julienned veggies, herbs and a squeeze of lime, once it comes out of the oven.

Chicken Summer Rolls

These Chicken Summer Rolls make a great lunch or appetizer. They are a bit more time-consuming to prepare than the other recipes, so you’ve been warned! You can use any amount of the sliced veggies for these rolls and you don’t really have to measure, which I love. If you don’t have some of the listed vegetables on hand, you could also try avocado and cucumber as substitutes.

These rolls tend to stick together when stored in the fridge, so it’s a good idea to either individually wrap them in plastic wrap, or a greener option is to place a lettuce or cabbage leaf between each roll when storing them in a container.

Chicken is versatile and nutritious

Chicken is an excellent ingredient for deconstructing and reconstructing because it is so versatile. If you’re looking for other ways to reconstruct and make the most out of the ingredients you buy, check out this post called Greek Chicken – Three Ways or head to manitobachicken.ca for more recipes using Manitoba chicken so you can try some reconstructing on your own!

Share your creations with us by tagging @toobusylivin204 and @manitobachicken on Instagram.

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Cashew Chicken Lettuce Wraps

These fresh lettuce wraps make a great lunch or dinner.

Course Appetizer, Main Course

Keyword chicken, lettuce wrap

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes

Servings 4

Author SL

Ingredients

• 1 cooked chicken breast, chopped
• 1/2 red pepper, diced
• 1 cup baby corn, sliced in circles
• 1 Tbsp fresh mint, chopped
• 1 Tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped
• 1/2 cup cashews
• 2 romaine hearts
• 1 lime

Sauce

• 1/3 cup hoisin sauce
• 1/3 cup sweet chili sauce
• 1 Tbsp sesame oil

Instructions

1. Grill or pan fry chicken breasts until thermometer reads 170F (about 5-7 minutes per side).

2. While chicken is cooling, chop the corn, red pepper, mint and cilantro.

3. Wash and dry romaine leaves, keeping them whole.

4. Combine sauce ingredients and stir.

5. Chop chicken.

6. Heat chicken, red pepper and corn in the frying pan until warm, about 3 minutes.

7. Add sauce and stir until combined and heated through.

8. Transfer to a bowl and top with a squeeze of lime, mint, cilantro and cashews.

9. Serve in romaine leaves.

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Asian Chicken Flatbread

A fresh take on a pizza, this flatbread makes a great lunch for one or cut it in triangles for an easy appetizer.

Course Appetizer, Main Course

Keyword asian, chicken, flatbread

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 5 minutes

Servings 1 flatbread

Ingredients

• 1 naan
• 1/2 cup cooked chicken , sliced
• 1/4 red pepper, sliced
• 1/4 cup snow peas, julienned
• 1/4 cup carrots, julienned
• 1/4 cup cashews, chopped
• 1 Tbsp. fresh mint, chopped
• 1 Tbsp. fresh cilantro, chopped
• 1/2 lime

Sauce

• 1/3 cup hoisin sauce
• 1/4 cup sweet chili sauce
• 1 Tbsp. sesame oil

Instructions

1. Grill or pan fry chicken breasts until thermometer reads 170F (about 5-7 minutes per side).

2. Set aside to cool, about 10 minutes, then slice thinly.

3. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

4. Combine sauce ingredients and spread on pizza.

5. Top with sliced chicken and red pepper.

6. Place in the oven until heated through and crust is lightly browned. (About 5-7 minutes. )

7. Remove from oven and top with snow peas, carrots, cashews, mint and cilantro.

8. Finish with a squeeze of lime.

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Chicken Summer Rolls

These Chicken Summer Rolls make a great appetizer or lunch and pack a lot of flavor.

Course Appetizer, Main Course, Side Dish

Keyword chicken, rice paper, summer roll

Servings 6 rolls

Author SL

Ingredients

• 1 chicken breast, cooked
• 1 carrot, julienned
• 1/2 red pepper, julienned
• 6 baby corn cobs, julienned
• 1 handful snow peas, julienned
• fresh mint leaves
• fresh cilantro leaves
• 2 cups thin rice noodles, cooked
• 6 rice paper wraps

Sauce

• 1/3 cup hoisin sauce
• 1/4 cup sweet chili sauce
• 1 Tbsp sesame oil
• 1 lime, juiced

Instructions

1. Grill or pan fry chicken breasts until thermometer reads 170F (about 5-7 minutes per side). Set aside to cool.

2. Cook noodles according to package directions and run under cold water to cool. Set aside.

3. Combine sauce ingredients and set aside.

4. Julienne all veggies.

5. Wash and dry mint and cilantro leaves.

6. In a bowl of warm water, soak one rice paper wrap at a time, gently moving around until pliable. It should not feel stiff.

7. Spread out the wrap on a cutting board. As you're working on your first roll, place another wrap in the water to soak, so it is ready to go when you have finished making your roll.

8. Layer fillings in the following order: mint leaves, 1/4 cup noodles, julienned veggies (small handful), 3 slices of chicken, cilantro.

9. You don't want to overfill the wraps. It's good to make a test roll, to assess how much filling will fit in your wrap.

10. Fold over the left and right sides of the wrap, holding in the filling.

11. Start at the top or bottom end, and continue rolling, tucking the filling into the wrap, like you would a burrito.

12. Dip in sauce to serve.

Recipe Notes

If you’re making this for several people, you may choose to make extra sauce, so that everyone has their own bowl for dipping.  

When storing prepared summer rolls in the fridge, individually wrap them in plastic wrap, or separate them with a lettuce or cabbage leaf in a container to prevent them from sticking together. 

Other julienned vegetables can be used here such as cucumber, avocado, snap peas, and green onion.