Chinese Chicken Salad (Crock Pot Dish)

Perfect for a night like tonight; the days are getting shorter; pitch black at 7pm and for some reason really feeling it today.  This dish I made and froze for a rainy day; which was today.  Got home and warmed up; compiled salad ingredients and dinner was done.   A hit on all counts! One of those meals where it doesn't hit you at how full you really are until after the fact.  Hubby enjoyed & felt the cashews really complimented the flavours in the dressing.  And there were next to no  dinner dishes!  Got to love that!  At only 191 calories per serving; can't be wrong.

Ingredients:

2 lbs of chicken thighs (I used skinless, boneless)

1 c chopped celery (2 stalks)

1/2 c chopped onion (1 medium)

2 cloves of minced garlic

1/2 c hoisin sauce

3 T soy sauce

2 T grated fresh ginger

1 T dry sherry

2 t Asian Chili sauce

1 t sesame oil

1/4 c rice vinegar

8 c shredded romaine lettuce

1  c shredded carrots

1/2 c unsalted dry roasted cashews, broken

Directions:
Sprinkle chicken with pepper.  Place chicken, celery, onion and garlic in slow cooker.
In a small bowl, combine hoisin sauce, soy sauce, ginger, sherry, chili sauce and sesame oil; pour over chicken mixture and stir to combine.
Cover and cook on low for 5-6 hours or on high for 2.5 - 3 hours

If want to freeze, at this point cool and store and store in freezer for future use.
As I was able to remove fat from broth/gravy when it was thawing; believe calorie count lower than shown.

Remove chicken from cooker, reserving 1/2 c of the broth/cooking liquid.  When chicken is cool enough to handle, remove chicken from bones (I did not have to do this as used skinless, boneless).  Using 2 forks or your fingers, pull chicken apart into shreds.

For the dressing:
Combine 1/2 c of the broth/cooking liquid with 1/4 c rice vinegar (6 servings)
3 servings = 1/4 c of the broth and 2 T rice vinegar
1 serving = 1 T of the broth and 1.5 t of vinegar

To assemble:
Arrange romaine lettuce, chicken, carrots and cashews (if desired) on dinner plate
Shake dressing and drizzle over salad.

191 calories per serving

Dish serves 6;   2 - 1.5 servings tonight; 1 serving for lunch tomorrow and remaining 2 back in the freezer and will make over the weekend.