Southwest Chicken Salad

This is another tasty dinner brought to me by a friend after I had Solomon. It tastes super fresh and the dressing was so flavorful but light. She had the veggies below on it as well as avocado and yellow bell peppers. She also seasoned the chicken with the same seasonings from the dressing for added flavor. That's what I love about taco salads like this - you can add just about whatever veggies you have around and it's still delicious.

Southwest Chicken Salad I

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup lime juice
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 3 tablespoons chopped cilantro
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 4 cups shredded romaine lettuce
• 4 cooked skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, cut into strips
• 1 (15 ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1/2 small red onion, sliced into rings
• 1 large tomato, chopped
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 6 ounces tortilla chips

Directions

1. In a covered jar, mix the lime juice, olive oil, salt, garlic, cilantro, chili powder, and cumin. Cover, and shake until well blended.
2. Place the lettuce in a large bowl. Toss with the chicken, black beans, onion, and tomato. Just before serving, toss with the dressing mixture and Parmesan cheese. Serve with tortilla chips, either crushed over the top of the salad, or on the side.

From here.

Spinach Strawberry Salad

Some friends had us over for dinner last month and served this salad. I've eaten it at least once a week since then. Did I mention I'm not much of a salad-eater?

Spinach Strawberry Salad

1 bag of spinach, washed

1 cup strawberries, quartered

1 cup walnuts, candied* and chopped

1/2 cup feta cheese

Dressing:

2-3 T red raspberry jam (with seeds)

2 T red wine vinegar

1/3 cup walnut oil or olive oil

Blend together

* To candy nuts, simply heat a 1/2 cup sugar over medium-low heat. Stir regularly. As the sugar liquifies, stir in walnuts until coated. Remove from heat immediately. Pour covered nuts onto a cutting board to cool and chop again if necessary.

One other note: When they are in season, I like to substitute pomegranate seeds for strawberries.

asian cole slaw

ingredients:

slaw:
green cabbage
red cabbage
cilantro
carrots
red or yellow pepper

dressing:
rice wine vinegar
sesame seed oil
soy sauce
sesame seeds
salt

the cabbage is the main part so i'd say for every three cups of cabbage there should only be about one cup of shredded carrots and pepper.

the cilantro should be finely chopped.

the red cabbage gives the salad some colour so don't put too much in.

dress the salad as you see fit.

Coleslaw Reinvented

 

This is my mother in-law's recipe that I had kind of forgotten about until last night. It is called coleslaw, but it is more of a Chinese chicken salad. Super healthy, easy and really tasty. Even Jared thinks so. 

I can hardly call it a recipe actually. You just cut up red and green cabbage into small slices, throw some slivered almonds into the oven on broil until golden brown, cook some cut up chicken breast (small cubes) in olive oil on the stove, and then throw it all together with some Sesame dressing. I found a vinaigrette Sesame dressing at the supermarket that is really tasty, but Kraft also has a Toasted Asian Sesame Dressing that is good as well. All of the proportions just depend on how much you want to make. I never measure it out, I just kind of throw in how much I've got. 

That's it!  

Greek Salad

Ok, so I know summer is pretty much gone, but this is still such a great, fresh salad to have as a snack or on the side for dinner. Off the top of my head, here's what I put in it:

tomatoes

Black olives (whole)

Cucumbers

Red onions

Feta Cheese

Add olive oil, salt and pepper to taste. Garlic if you want too.

( I crumble the feta cheese.)

Mix in a bowl and it's ready to serve.

*some people add lemon juice and a little bit of oregano too. Whatever you like!