Buckwheat Chicken Salad for Lunch

My dad loved Kasha, which is buckwheat. He grew up with it but the rest of us weren't very keen on it. My mom made it for him occasionally, but we left it all for Dad! And here I am, a million years later, ogling buckwheat recipes. Who thought it would become popular?

What's the hardest meal of the day for you to prepare? For me, it's lunch. I can handle breakfast and dinner, no problem. I think part of the issue with lunch is that I don't want to stop what I'm doing to fix anything. Consequently, I often roam the kitchen and scan the fridge for leftovers. They rarely make a decent meal. And you know what that means! Noshing!

The recipe I had been ogling and have since lost, used chicken with buckwheat as sort of a salad. To be honest, I almost never have leftover chicken. Millie and Baron see to that! But this time, I roasted a chicken and squirreled away a little bit of chicken breast for my buckwheat experiment. I also added enough veggies and fruit to make my goal of five fruits and veggies a day! It's a filling lunch that's also healthy.

I had some doubts about the avocado, but it adds a nice creaminess.

If you haven't cooked buckwheat before, it's pretty much like cooking rice. Follow the instructions on the package. Mine said to pour 1 cup of buckwheat into 2 cups of boiling water. Anyone can do that! I took the pot off the burner after 16 minutes so the buckwheat would still have a little shape to it.

By the way, dogs can eat buckwheat, so if you have leftover plain cooked buckwheat, mix it into their dinners.

This recipe is very flexible. If you like spice, add a splash of sriracha.  It's a great way to use up the bits and pieces of leftovers in the fridge, too. Turkey or beef would work instead of chicken. I loved the grapes, which seemed entirely counter-intuitive. Avocado with grapes? Loved them! And now I have 2-3 lunches that will keep me out of the cookie jar.

Buckwheat Chicken Salad 

2 cups cooked buckwheat

1 cup chopped cooked chicken

1/2 red pepper

1/4 cup onion

1 avocado

1 teaspoon parsley (dried or fresh)

1/2 teaspoon salt

pepper to taste

10 red grapes, sliced in half (optional)

2 grape tomatoes for garnish

Vinaigrette

1/4 cup olive oil

2 tablespoons champagne vinegar

1 tablespoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

Cut the red pepper into bite-sized pieces. Dice the onion. Slice and cube the avocado. Add the parsley and toss. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and toss. In a small bowl or mixing cup, whisk together olive oil, vinegar, sugar, and garlic powder until emulsified. Pour over the buckwheat salad and toss.