It was a blazing 110 degrees outside and I had my oven on, briefly, to bake chicken. The plan was to then let it cool, cut it up and add chopped scallions, slivered almonds, crispy chow mein noodles and mandarin oranges to a bag of “Asian Style chopped salad.”

The added kick to my salad, besides the ingredients listed, was marinating the thin breasts for a few hours in Kroger’s “Hawaiian” dressing that is made “with tropical fruit juices.” I ignored the 30-minute marinating time suggested on the bottle but didn’t go longer than six hours as there is nothing worse than chicken that becomes waterlogged by soaking too long in anything, IMO.

The ingredients and the final product are pictured below. I paired it with my Domaine de Canton ginger martini (using the ginger liqueur to replace boring vermouth), which proved to be a perfect “cool” companion to the salad. No leftovers for my family of three.