Lunch or Dinner Suggestion: Super Easy and Super Yum BBQ Chicken Salad

I'm always making salads for lunch, and just decided to concoct this one one day, throwing things into a Tupperware with wild abandon. It's really tasty, really healthy, and really low-cal (especially if you leave out the avocado and/or the corn). Yay!

In a Tupperware or other non-trademarked container layer in this order, from the bottom up:

chopped tomato (I like halved cherry tomatoes)
1/2 a chopped cucumber
1 grated carrot (or a handful of pre-grated carrot from Trader Joe's)
2 stalks of chopped celery (you can even include some of the leaves)
diced cooked chicken breast or black beans (or a little of both) OR soy chickenless chicken strips
2-3 T of chopped fresh cilantro
1 chopped green onion
a little chopped avocado if you like
1/4 to 1/2 cup of corn kernels if you like - I like the roasted corn kernels that are frozen from Trader Joe's
2 handfuls of torn lettuce - any kind. I like romaine for this one.

In a smaller container make the dressing - I like to use 1 T of Annie's Natural BBQ sauce and thin it out with a little vinegar (about 20 calories worth of dressing). You could also use a pre-made cilantro dressing if you like and thin it out as well. Pack the small container of dressing into the bigger container with the salad, throw in a few slices of lime if you like (you can even squeeze a little of the lime over the avocado (if you used any) to keep it from turning brown). Store in the fridge til ready to eat. This keeps for a few days in the fridge. Be on the lookout for more salad creations from yours truly. I've been going a little crazy lately!

Wine: Novella Zinfandel (Trader Joe's - $6.99)

I love red zins. I especially love red zins that taste much more expensive than they are. This wine is cheap enough to crack open at home for that one or two glass evening in front of your fave TV show (with or without food). It also tastes expensive enough to take to a party without breaking the bank - and bonus, you won't be embarrassed. Please, please -- never, never show up to a party toting Two Buck Chuck. Ever. Please. Thank you.

If you're like me and can't be bothered with all of the vacu-save-wine-pump-gadgetry out there, then you will be perfectly satisfied corking the bottle, leaving it on the counter, and having a glass the following day. If you need to throw out a glass or two never fear - at $6.99 a bottle it is not the end of the world.

This Paso Robles wine is medium bodied, very jammy, with lots of cooked cherry and maybe a bit of licorice. My untrained palate thinks it detects a teensy bit of vanilla on the finish, which was confirmed when I ran a few searches. Yay! Maybe one day I will actually become confident in my tasting abilities. Novella has some other wines at TJ's as well, though I haven't yet tried them. I'll just wait til they run out of the zin before I venture out.