Asian Chicken Salad

This post is for all you people who have asked for (and in some cases, begged for) the recipe for my version of Asian Chicken Salad. You know the one: it's the only thing that sounds good to you when it's too hot outside for you to think about cooking (but not too hot for you to think about me cooking... )

I make this salad too many times to count during the summer months. It's cool and crisp, light but satisfying, and easy. Really, really easy--all around the perfect summertime meal. But I make it all year long because it's just that good.

The problem with sharing the recipe with you is that I never follow an actual recipe when I make it. The salad is just a bunch of ingredients tossed together, and I've made the dressing so many times that I don't need to measure ingredients as I stir them together. The last time I made the salad, though, my mother in law asked for the recipe, so I figured it was a good time to measure and record exactly how I made it. Without further ado, the recipe:

Salad Ingredients:
2 Romaine lettuce hearts
1/2 English cucumber, sliced into half moons
2 Carrots, julienned
3 Green onions, sliced (green part only)
2 Grilled chicken breasts, sliced
Toasted almonds
Crunchy chowmein noodles

Dressing Ingredients:
Base: equal parts water, plain vinegar, low sodium soy sauce (A good place to start is with 1/4 cup each for a salad that will serve about 2-3.)
1 1/2 T sesame oil (more if you make more of the dressing base)
Sugar, to taste. I'd start with about 1/4 cup. You could use other sweetners if you want to, but I like plain old ordinary sugar best.

Method:
You could really prep the ingredients any way you like and toss the ingredients together in any proportion that you like. Here's the way I do it.

Slice the romaine lettuce into ribbons. I use one romaine heart per person. If you use a regular head of romaine lettuce, it goes farther (would serve 3-4 people, depending on its size). Slice the cucumbers into half moons; julienne the carrots; slice the green onions; grill & slice chicken. Throw everything into a big bowl and add almonds and crunchy noodles; toss with the dressing.  Enjoy! (the sooner the better, or the noodles will get soggy...)