Chicken and Herb Salad

The problem with living life as a hedonista is that you tend to get fat - all of that overindulgence eventually catches up with you. I have a friend who refuses to let that get him down - he laughs and pops another cholesterol pill with his saucisson, and says that life would be meaningless without good food. I however, also take pleasure from wearing beautiful clothes, and at the moment, all I fit into is tents from Carrefour.

So. Diet. But what diet for a hedonista? The Atken's Diet of course. Well, maybe an abridged one - I simply avoid all starches (rather than all carbohydrates including sugars) every second day, and amazingly, it works. When things get really bad, I have to go weeks on end without starch, but that has a particularly cranky side effect. 

Here is my favourite healthyish dish. You can substitute the herbs for your favourites, you can decide the quantity of the creamy dressing you use, you can make it with or without chicken or egg. You can add carrot, capsicum, avocado, toasted almonds, pomegranate seeds. The basic thing to remember is to use crunchy lettuce like iceberg or cos, otherwise the dressing turns the salad to soup.

Ingredients:

• cos lettuce - half a smallish one, chopped coarsely
• purple cabbage (raw) - 1 cup, chopped finer than the lettuce
• chives - 1/4 cup, chopped coarsely
• mint - 1/4 cup, chopped coarsely
• avocado - firmish one - diced
• chicken - 1 breast fillet pan-fried, cooled and diced (season with salt and pepper before cooking)
• 2 tbsp light mayonnaise
• 2 tbsp light yoghurt
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• 1tsp olive oil
• squeeze of lemon
• salt and pepper

Instructions

1. put the last six ingredients in a bowl and mix. If you like a loose dressing or if you are more committed to losing weight, you can halve the ingredients and water down slightly
2. put other ingredients in a big bowl
3. drizzle with dressing and mix. 

If you are not on a diet, this is fantastic served with whopping great garlic crostini. (baguette sliced on a severe diagonal, buttered and oven baked, then rubbed with a cut garlic clove while still hot). Serves two as a main meal or four as a side dish.