I don’t profess to be an expert in the kitchen.  I like to cook, I like to experiment, and I like to “jazz” things up.  Sometimes my experiments are tasty, sometimes they are not.  I’ve been a Type 1 diabetic for nine years (aka juvenile diabetes or insulin-dependent diabetes) and have to account for everything I eat with the appropriate amount of insulin, so I try to eat healthy the majority of the time. (But I have figured out how to have the junk food I like too!) This is one of my more health conscious concoctions.

Summer Spaghettini Salad

-Cook and then cool pasta/noodles of your choice (I used Catelli Smart spaghettini because it has added fibre)  I normally don’t rinse pasta for a hot dish, but I did for the salad and then tossed with a bit of olive oil. Put in the fridge to cool.

-Cook chicken breasts. Whatever method you like – I baked them in the oven after marinating in sweet thai chili sauce.  (I cooked three breasts at 425 degrees for about half an hour – a meat thermometer is my favourite kitchen utensil.  There will be enough chicken leftover to make chicken salad sandwiches tomorrow). When the chicken was cool enough, I shredded it by hand and put in the fridge to cool further.

*I did these two steps this morning before it got too hot outside.  I have air conditioning, but my kitchen still gets really hot.

I mixed up the dressing mid-afternoon, while watching a dumb movie (A Perfect Getaway) to escape the heat – it was plus 44 with the humidex (that’s about 111 degrees fahrenheit) this afternoon.

I started with:

¼ cup olive oil

¼ cup rice vinegar

2 tbsp lime juice

2 cloves minced garlic

torn fresh basil and mint

salt/pepper

1 packet of Splenda

*Whisk together and then add more of whatever you think the dressing needs. (I actually started with a different version by adding soy sauce, but it tasted weird, so I threw out that batch).

I finely sliced cucumber, red and yellow peppers, mushrooms, and carrots.

Toss chicken, veggies, pasta and dressing together.  Let it sit in the fridge for a couple of hours if you have the time because the chicken will absorb a lot of the dressing and be moist and flavourful.  If you don’t have the time, it will still taste good.