Apple-Chicken Salad; and The E-factor

Let's talk a little about the "e-factor." This term coined by my dad and brothers during a summer on the farm refers to the effort required by a particular action, with the implication that, considering the e-factor, is the action worth it?

-"Hey Jenny, do you want to go shopping this Saturday? There's a day-only 80% off sale at Nordstrom!"
-Jenny is already maxed out from taking 21 credits this semester. She is also working part-time and volunteering at the local hospital to get experience for her med-school applications. Miraculously, Jenny has a few free hours early Saturday morning in which she could go to Nordstrom. She could definitely use some business casual clothing, but... "Uhh, sorry Kathy, I'm going to have to pass."
-"E-factor?"
-"Yeah."
-"I don't blame you. If I find some things in your size I'll pick them up for you." {Bless you, dear. You're a wonderful roommate.}

That is the e-factor. Just imagine a much more farmy, manly version in respect to my brothers...

So for a few months now, I've been wanting to eat more fruits and vegetables. My mouth loves things baked in an oven, but my body is screaming for things grown on a tree or in the ground. You can only get so far on carbohydrates and fiber. My hope is that a diet with more varied nutrients will help with the energy shortage I've been experiencing. *crossing my fingers*

The only trouble is the e-factor. Bread is so easy. Cereal is so easy. Crackers are so easy. Beautiful salads with all the fixin's? Less easy. Unless you have a full salad bar at your disposal. (Wouldn't that be lovely?) But after being completely drained out and grained out last week, I mustered up all my gumption to make the following Apple-Chicken Salad. To those of you who are blessed with copious amounts of energy, go ahead and whip this up and enjoy yourself. To those of you who regularly struggle with e-factor dilemmas, hang in there and I'll lead you through this salad. We'll make it through together and you will love yourself for having made this lovely salad.

Apple-Chicken Salad

4 c. lettuce pieces
2 c. apples (cut into bite-sized pieces)
1 can mandarin oranges
1 can cooked chicken
1/3 c. chopped walnuts

Dressing:
1/2 c. fat-free mayo
2 t. soy sauce
1 t. lemon juice

Mix dressing separately, then stir all ingredients together gently.

A few notes for e-factor buddies, fellow frugal obsessors, and other chefs:

• The lettuce. I used iceberg; next time I'm going to try romaine. I'll also probably put another cup or two of lettuce in--there's enough goodness in this salad and tasty dressing that I'd be cool with a higher lettuce ratio. *** You're at the store and you face this dilemma:  do I buy a head of lettuce to get a better value, or do I spend more money and buy the easy bagged stuff?  Answer:  If the thought of having to wash and cut up the head is going to make this endeavor crash and burn, spend the extra dollar and get the bagged stuff.  It won't be worth it to get the head if it just goes bad in the vegetable tray of your fridge and you end up pitching it anyway. Start small. Get the bagged stuff this time, and when you're empowered by your first triumph, you can wash and cut up the head next time.
• The chicken. You could cook some yourself because that would certainly be a better value than canned chicken. My opinion:  I'm a value nut, but to me, canned chicken is worth it. Like the lettuce, don't let the pursuit of frugality and the best value squelch the goal (in this case, the salad). I don't buy convenience food all of the time, but chicken is an exception for me. Besides, for this recipe, I really like the shreddy, tuna-ish quality of canned chicken.
• The walnuts. Once again, just bite the value bullet and buy the pre-chopped walnuts. Unless you use them frequently, one small bag will probably last you a while. I keep mine in the freezer.
• The mayo. "Fat-free mayo?!? Ewwwww!" I can understand how some would feel this way. I promise, I do. But this is a dressing and you'll have no idea that mayo is even in there once the soy sauce and lemon juice jointly achieve world domination. (Let's play Risk. But only after the salad's done.) Do what you want, but as for me, it's nice to have the fat-free dressing because then if I eat the whole vat of salad in say, three sittings (true story), I don't have to concern myself with the 80 fat grams that would have been in normal mayo. (Yep, I did the research to figure that out.) But like I said, not a huge deal either way--do what you want.
• The apples. I'd suggest doing something to help your apples not brown. I put mine in water with a little bit of lemon juice and it worked well.
• The dressing. I don't like my salad drowning in dressing, so I could probably cut the dressing recipe in half. I ended up putting some in the fridge and I'll use it for my next salad.
• It's tastier if the salad is chilled, so you might consider refrigerating all of your ingredients (cans included) if you're planning on eating it right after making it.
• One more thought on success... I find I have a higher likelihood of using my produce if I do something with it within 24 hours of getting it into the fridge. (Hopefully right when I get home from the store, but sometimes that's just not feasible.) Wash/cut up the lettuce, wash your grapes, wash your apples, cut up your celery, etc., so things are ready at hand to use.

Well that's it, folks. I hope you enjoy this as much as I have over the last few days. If you have any easy-to-throw-together salad staples that you want to share, please do. Happy Wednesday!