Healthier Chicken Salad, School Lunches, Lunch Boxes, Etc.

School is back in session and for me that means school lunches - not for kids, but for me.  School lunches are always a conundrum for me.  I mean, I am always trying to eat healthy or at least I don't want to waste my calories on lunch at school, but at the same time, I don't want to be starving.  Add to that basically no refrigeration - well there is that tiny little refrigerator in the work room.  You know, like the smallest sized one you buy for a college dorm room, for one hundred sixty teachers... like I said no refrigeration.  And, there is one microwave, but there are about twenty of us that might need to use it at once.  Truthfully, only three or four use it in any given day, but with only twenty-four minutes to get to where we are eating, eat, and get back, it is easy to run out of time to eat if you use the microwave.  So, no refrigeration, no microwave, twenty-four minutes, and I want something decently healthy.  So, as I come across things that help me with this, I am going to share them with you.  

This is a chicken salad I made and stored in one of those insulated bento boxes, and it stayed pretty cold, but you could use a cold pack.  If you are interested, I have a Mr. Bento, and so far it is working great!  The chicken salad is super quick and easy to make and very low in fat and high in protein because it uses fat free Greek yogurt instead of mayonnaise.  Trust me, you won't miss the mayonnaise at all!  The garlic makes it extra tasty and the carrots and celery give it just the right amount of crunch.  The only time consuming part is cooking the chicken, but I just cooked some extra when I was cooking some for a casserole, so it really wasn't any extra work.  And, in case you don't already know this.  If you put the chicken in your stand mixer with the paddle attachment, you will have wonderfully shredded chicken as seen in the not so great photo below in about a minute.

Healthier Chicken Salad

yield:  2-4 servings depending on the size

2 cups cooked chicken, shredded

6 oz. fat free Greek yogurt

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 cup carrot, chopped

1/4 cup celery, chopped

salt and pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients together until well combined.   I ate it by itself, but it would be great in a sandwich too.

This recipe was shared on Foodie Friends Friday.