Kale, Quinoa, Avocado & Roast Chicken Salad

My mind has been preoccupied with redecorating my house lately. I have been trying to make my living space more cosy and live-in. Since I have been renting all this while, my existing furniture feels temporary and shabby. And so you know, it is no shabby chic. 😛

I don’t know what’s changed but I feel it’s time for me to pretty up my space. I have been focusing one space at a time..starting with my living room by getting a brand new couch. Now, I’m on the hunt for a dining set. I am eyeing for an industrial style dining table and boy, it doesn’t come cheap! For the past few days, I have been contemplating whether to “take the plunge” or not.

Busying with my project makeover, I have been keeping my meals really simple. I have been living on the roast chickens from The Mills. And no, I am not yet sick of roast chicken. I don’t think I can ever be. 😉

There are so many dishes you can churn out with store-bought roast chicken and case in point, this salad. Despite its lengthy name, it doesn’t require much effort to make this hearty salad. The “cooking” effort required for this salad is basically to saute the kale with some garlic and cooking the quinoa. Sounds pretty effortless huh?

Kale, Quinoa, Avocado & Roast Chicken Salad

What you’ll need to feed 2 people, pretty generously:-

• 1/2 cup uncooked quinoa
• 1 cup hot water (to cook the quinoa)
• 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• 1 small handful of flat leaf parsley, finely chopped (yielding about 1 tbsp of chopped parsley)
• A bunch of kale, washed and finely sliced
• Olive oil (to saute the kale and to make the dressing)
• 1/2 store-bought roast chicken, shredded
• 1 avocado, halved, pitted & peeled
• Salt to taste
• Freshly grind black pepper

Method:-

Cook quinoa according to the packet instructions. Generally, cook the the quinoa until the water is fully absorped over low-medium flame. To make the dressing: add 1 clove of finely chopped garlic with a pinch of salt while chopping the parsley. Then add the chopped parsley to the garlic and salt and top it up with 3-4 tbsps of olive oil. Stir to combine and set aside. In a large pan, add the remaining chopped garlic and olive oil. When the garlic starts to sizzle, add kale and a pinch of salt and saute until slightly wilted. While waiting for the kale to soften, shred the roast chicken. Just before serving, halve, remove the pit and peel the avocado with a spoon. To serve: place the kale, quinoa, avocado and shredded chicken on a plate and drizzle with the parsley-garlic dressing. Finish off with black pepper. Enjoy! 🙂

For those who have entered the Groupon giveaway, I will announce the winner either tomorrow or the day after on my blog and I will also send an email to notify the winner. Over 200 entries have been received and I would like to thank all of you who have entered! 😀

I am thinking about doing an international giveaway. At the moment postage is my biggest concern so it will be a gift card type giveaway. Any suggestions in terms of which shopping sites are desirable? Your suggestion in the comment box below will be very much appreciated. Thanks!