Berry Delicious

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This blog was first posted on 6/18/11
 
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In my never ending quest to shed a few pounds, I keep an eye out for fast food meals that are somewhat healthy, especially ones that are A) foods I can eat "on the go" and B) something I can replicate in my own kitchen.

I try to avoid going to drive-through places, simply because of their typical high fat and high sodium content (note: I said "try"). But, like most folks I know, I sometimes find myself in a predicament where I need to grab a bite far from home. My daughter and I were out grocery shopping right around dinner time last night, when the "hungries" attacked, and there was Wendy's right around the corner with a giant sign featuring a lovely, crisp salad...

We both got the new Berry Almond Chicken Salad at $6.50 each for the full sized version ...I half expected wilted greens and overripe fruit, but I'm happy to say I was wrong. It came with the almonds separately (I imagine to keep them from getting mushy) and two packets of raspberry vinaigrette.

There was a good helping of chicken with this meal, and I was positively stuffed when I finished eating it. I think, perhaps, I'll get the half size next time, though. The nutrition facts on this one are not too bad... 450 calories, 16g fat, and (yikes!) 1300g sodium*... I think we can count a lot of fat and sodium via the chicken, Asiago cheese and vinaigrette.

To wash it down (and it was a hot day, best beloved) we each got a large Wild Berry Frosty shake (about $3.50), which was a dreamy, creamy delight ... However, I think this should be only the rare treat, since it contained 750 calories, 120g of sugar and also 16g of fat. Just remember, though, it is ice cream, and that is a large size.
I took this picture with my phone on the way home from Wendy's ... At that point, I had already devoured the whipped topping. I think this would have been even better with a blueberry or cherry on top.

Like I mentioned earlier, I try to make my own versions of foods I enjoy at home... after all, there are five people in my family, and money's kinda tight nowadays. So ... we're going to do a little math with this recipe... (in U.S. dollars)
1 container strawberries - 1.75 (in season)
1/2 container blueberries - 1.25 (whole container was 2.50)
1 head green-leaf lettuce -1.88
1/2 bag almond slices 1.25 (2.50 for whole bag.. I'll use the rest for a second batch of salad)
1/2 wedge Asiago cheese -2.50 (approx. 4oz)
3 tbs. Raspberry Vinaigrette - 1.80 for a whole bottle of Wal-Mart brand.. so, we'll call it 30 cents...
1 pkg pre-cooked frozen grilled chicken - 6.50



so, that's a total of $15.43 for salad to feed all five of us, with some left over. I estimate the whole bowl I made equalled about 7 full sized salads at Wendy's conservatively... which would be over $45 to eat out. Don't get me wrong, I will certainly get another of Wendy's salads the next time I'm out and about, but you'll be sure to find my version on the dinner table at my house. I think they would probably be about equal nutritionally... but there are ways to cut back on things. For example, I used about 3 tbs of vinaigrette for the entire salad, but I got the honey roasted almonds instead of plain. I suppose substituting Swiss cheese for the Asiago would not only cut back on fat and sodium, but it's probably cheaper, as well.

By the way, my kids practically inhaled this salad, and came back for seconds. I hope you enjoy it as much as they did :)

*This information was available through Wendy's website here. (clicky clicky)

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