Reb's Road Trip Salad

Hey friends.  Rebecca here.  I love a good road trip but always struggle figuring out how to eat well while on the road.  Spending long hours in the car with mediocre (or even bad, ugh) food in my belly leaves me feeling irritable and cranky.  So last Spring I invested in a good cooler and decided I would see if I could swing trip prep and meal prep.  I’m not gonna lie, prepping food for a road trip up to Maine while getting ready for a road trip up to Maine nearly killed me.  But then I had cooler packed with cold watermelon, berries, veggie sticks and hummus, protein bars, yogurt and homemade granola, and one of my favorite salads and IT WAS AMAZING!  I could not believe how much better it felt to eat nutritious, homemade food most the day and then pick one awesome local restaurant each night to eat out and experience the local cuisine.  Every trip since then I’ve happily carved out time to prep and pack healthy food for myself and any family members who are traveling with me.  This is our favorite lunch to eat on the road – my husband and kids love it as well and affectionately call it “Road Trip Salad”.  It would make a great make-ahead lunch to prep on the weekend and take to work all week, or makes a great meal if you just want to eat it the same day (in which case you can add any veggies you want vs. ones that won’t wilt or get squishy).  The recipe is below:

Reb’s Favorite Road Trip Salad

For the Salad:

1 box of long grain rice mix (I use Far East brand) cooked with the seasoning packet and cooled
3 chicken breasts cooked and diced (I throw them in my instant pot, or use meat from an organic rotisserie chicken)
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 yellow or orange bell pepper, chopped
3 oz snow peas (if I can’t find snow peas I’ll substitute kale, chopped fine)
4 green onions, chopped
*2 medium avocados
*1 cup chopped pecans, toasted
(we also add fresh corn cut off the cob in the summertime …)

For the Dressing:

2 cloves garlic
1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
½ tsp salt
½ tsp sugar
¼ tsp pepper
1/3 cup rice wine vinegar (or white vinegar if you don’t have rice wine)
¼ cup avocado oil
Juice of a lemon

Cook the rice according to package directions and cool completely (I spread it out in a shallow layer on a dinner plate, cover and put in the fridge).  Toast the pecans (if using).  Prepare the chicken.  Combine the rice, veggies and diced chicken and top with salad dressing and mix it all up.  Adjust the seasoning and lemon to taste.  Add the avocado and pecans just before serving.  If eating at home it’s great served on a bed of lettuce.  Otherwise we just eat it straight up, with cold watermelon or berries on the side, oohing and ahhing over how good it tastes on the road.