Low-Carb Lesson #14: Caesar Salad & Sunshine Cantaloupe

Written by Di Bauer November 3, 2001, Updated by Andrew DiMino July 18, 2016

Low Carb Cooking 101: Low Carb Lesson #14: Caesar Salad & Sunshine Cantaloupe

This evening’s meal, Chicken Caesar Salad, is the ultimate make-ahead dinner or lunch.

Everything is prepared ahead of time, so that when it comes time to serve your meal all you have to do is toss it all on the plate. It’s great for those evenings when everybody is going in different directions and no one is eating at the same time. With everything already prepared, everyone can fend for themselves. This is my kind of cooking!

Chicken Caesar Salad also travels well, and is a great lunch to take to work. If you broil and slice the chicken breasts over the weekend and chop up your vegetables, you can have quick lunches for the week in a snap.

Here’s This Evening’s Low-Carb Recipes

• Chicken Caesar Salad
• Sunshine Cantaloupe

Here’s The Gameplan

You can do all this up to three days ahead of time:

Prepare the Sunshine Cantaloupe, cover it tightly with plastic wrap, and put it in the refrigerator to set up.

Mix up your Caesar dressing and set aside 1 cup. Leave the rest in a sealed container in the refrigerator to dress the salad at mealtime.

Marinate the chicken breasts. It doesn’t matter whether the chicken breasts are frozen or thawed. Simply place them in a large Zip Lock bag and pour 1 cup of the bottled Caesar salad dressing over them. Close the bag securely and turn it to make sure that the salad dressing is evenly distributed over the chicken breasts. Toss the bag in the refrigerator to marinate several hours or overnight.

Broil the chicken breasts until the juices run clear. Let them cool and then slice them into bite-sized pieces. Put the cut up chicken in a plastic container in the refrigerator. Discard the marinade.

Prepare the other vegetables for the salad. Seed and coarsely chop the tomatoes and dice the green onions. Quarter and slice the cucumbers if you choose to have them, but don’t peel them. The skin is an excellent source of both vitamins and fiber! Store all the vegetables separately in covered plastic containers in the refrigerator.

Hard boil the eggs, let them cool and then peel them and chop them coarsely. Store them in covered plastic containers in the refrigerator.

Cook the bacon until it’s crisp, let it cool, and crumble it into a plastic container and put it in the refrigerator.

I like to put the cheeses in plastic containers too because no one in my family ever closes the plastic bags correctly and they’re always spilling shredded cheese all over the refrigerator.

To serve the meal, set the table. Don’t forget to put the rest of the Caesar salad dressing (or a salad dressing of your choice) on the table so people can serve themselves.

Slice the Sunshine Cantaloupe and place the slices on salad plates on the table.

Divide the salad greens evenly between four dinner plates. Take all the prepared items out of the refrigerator and set them up in a convenient place so that people can serve themselves, then call them to dinner.

And sit down to a well-deserved, relaxing meal.