Chicken Salad Pitas with a Tropical Vibe

What happens when mom is sick for a week and has no energy to cook, clean or write?
Take out.

Everyone always says its so nice to go on vacation because you don't have to cook for yourself.
I beg to differ.
When I get back from vacation I cant wait to eat my own home cooked meals. 
This is how I felt come Sunday when I finally started to feel better.
We had eaten fast food almost every night last week.  And when I say fast food I don't mean EVERY meal was from a drive up, take your bag of fried food and go home feeling fat meal, but close to it.

I just wanted to eat a whole watermelon and chew on some spinach.

A light dinner was in need.
It had to be flavorful yet healthy so we could get our vitamins back.

I popped into the local store and picked up a ready made chicken, some oranges and cilantro.  I was sure I could come up with something when I got home.
If nothing else we would have chicken soup with vitamin C for dessert ;)

Noticing a can of coconut milk in my cupboard I decided that it could work with the oranges as a light flavored dressing.  Maybe a hint of spicy?  Great, I had a jalapeno kickin around.
Some escarole and leaf lettuce are ready in the garden.
Let's throw this together and into a pita.

I was a tad concerned this wasn't going to sit well with Little Ugh however he ate it up and said it had a nice refreshing taste.

I'm Listening to: The Way You Do The Things You Do - UB40



Orange Coconut Chicken Salad Pita

2 navel oranges
1/4 c. coconut milk
cayenne pepper or black pepper
few squeezes of anchovy paste
1 jalapeno
1 pre cooked chicken
2 tbsp. cilantro, chopped
1 carrot, julienned
1 head of lettuce of your choice (we used 1/2 red leaf 1/2 escarole)

First begin by peeling 1/2 orange and segmenting and making small sections.  Eat the other half.
Remove the breasts from the chicken and dice into bite sized portions.  Keep the skin on if you'd like or throw that into your mouth too, don't waste the flavor!
Wash and dry your lettuce.  Tear into pieces.
Chop up your cilantro.
Seed and dice your jalapeno.
Wash and peel your carrot and julienne.
Toss all of this into a bowl.

In a separate bowl combine 1/4 c. of freshly squeezed orange juice with 1/4 c. coconut milk and anchovy paste.  Stir together with a whisk.  Add in the pepper.
Pour over the salad (you may not need the entire mixture so start slow)
Toss together.

Fill your pita with the chicken salad.