In this post, I would like to share a balanced, healthy, and fairly quick lunch idea with you. This delicious healthy lunch includes all kinds of seasonal winter ingredients, such as beetroot, apple, walnuts, carrots, and so on. The salad and the honey-garlic chicken made a stunning pair. The lunch was a bit tangy, a bit sweet, salty…it was perfection. Truly scrumptious.

Another great thing about this meal was that it had all kinds of textures. The walnuts and the crouton provided crunch, the chicken was juicy and tender.

Happy baking/cooking! Jó étvágyat!

Let me know if you try this recipe…Use #cutecuisine on Instagram. I would love to see your creations.

Ingredients /4 servings/

Arugula salad

• 1 cup of arugula salad (I used 1/2 portion arugula, 1/2 portion lamb’s lettuce)
• 1 apple
• 250 g beetroots (1,5-2 cups) (washed, peeled, and cut into cubes) (I bought pre-prepared, it was already cooked an chopped.)
• 2 small carrots (washed, peeled, cut into match sticks)
• 2 eschalots (chopped)
• a handful of walnuts (chopped)

Salad dressing

• 2 teaspoon maple syrup (or agave syrup or honey)
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 1 teaspoon fennel seeds
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 2 tbsp. olive oil
• 1/2 tbsp. balsamic vinegar

Garnish

• walnuts
• garlic croutons or just simple crutons

Honey-garlic chicken

• 500 g (1 lb) chicken breast or chicken thigh (boneless, skinless)
• 60 g flour (1/4 cup)
• 4 garlic cloves
• 1 1/2 tbsp. apple cider vinegar
• 2 tbsp. soy sauce
• 3 tbsp. honey
• 3 tbsp. butter
• salt
• pepper
• chili flakes (optional)

Instructions

Salad

1. Make the dressing: Combine all the dressing ingredients in a small bowl.
2. Wash all your veggies (salad, carrot, beetroot if not pre-prepared), and the apple.
3. Peel the carrots and cut them into matchsticks.
4. Peel and dice the eschalots.
5. Cut the apple into quarters (four equal chunks), carefully carve out the core, then thinly slice the quarters. (Slice it according to your preference, you can also peel the apple if you don’t like the skin.)
6. In a large mixing bowl, combine the carrot sticks, diced eschalots, beet cubes, sliced apples, salad, and 1/2 of the dressing.
7. Toss until combined. Add the remaining dressing, if desired, and season to taste with a few pinches of sea salt (if necessary).
8. Serve topped with walnuts or toasted nuts, seeds, and croutons.

Honey-garlic Chicken

1. Cut the breasts (or thighs) in half horizontally to create 4 steaks in total. Sprinkle each side with salt and pepper.
2. In a cup combine vinegar, soy sauce, and honey. You can add some chili flakes if you like spicy food.
3. Place flour in a shallow dish. Coat chicken in flour, shake off excess.
4. Melt 2 tbsp. butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat – hold back about 1 tbsp for later.
5. Place chicken in skillet and cook for 2 – 3 minutes until golden. Turn and cook the other side for 1 minute.
6. Turn heat down slightly to medium.
7. Make a bit of room in the pan and add garlic and top with the remaining dab of butter. Stir garlic briefly once the butter melts.
8. Add the vinegar-soy sauce-honey mixture. Stir/shake pan to combine. Bring sauce to simmer, then simmer for 1 minute or until slightly thickened.
9. Turn chicken to coat in sauce. If the sauce gets too thick, add a touch of water and stir.
10. Remove from stove immediately. Place chicken on plates and drizzle over remaining sauce.

The potatoes were store-bought frozen jacket potatoes.

Assembly

50 % of my portion was salad, 25 % was the honey-garlic chicken and 25 % was the jacket potatoes. I like to follow this easy guideline to balance my lunches or dinners.

Nutritional Value

1 portion provides about 800 calories, 38 grams of protein, 88 grams of carbohydrates, 34 grams of fat.