Peggy's Thai Chicken Pasta Salad

For a recipe to make it into The Nelson Family cook book, you know it's going be good. The Nelsons love food, and they love good food. This is Peggy's famous Thai Chicken Pasta Salad. It's a wonderful cook ahead meal that refrigerates well and makes delicious left overs. Its full of healthy vegetables and proteins and has a subtle asian flavor to it. 

Ingredients: 

Marinade: 

1 tbs seasame seed oil

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup rice vinegar

1/4 cup soy sauce

1 clove garlic

1 tbs grated ginger root

1 tbs lime juice

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts

Dressing: 

1/2 cup oil 

2 tbs soy sauce

1 tbs sesame oil

1/4 cup rice wine vinegar

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 clove garlic, minced

 1 tbs fresh grated ginger

1 tbs peanut butter

2 tsp fresh lime juice

10 drops hot sauce (optional)

Salad: 

8 ounces vermicelli

1 bunch green onions (sliced) 

1 ted pepper (thinly sliced) 

1 cup carrots (shredded)

1/4 cup roasted peanuts

Directions: 

Combine marinade ingredients. Marinate chicken for 1 hour. Cook chicken until juices run clear or until white inside. Chop into small pieces and chill. Make dressing and mix well. Refrigerate and allow flavors to blend. Cook pasta, drain, and run cold water over the pasta to cool. Combine noodles, veggies, chicken. Just before serving, mix in the dressing and peanuts. Makes 6 servings. 

Goat Cheese Arugula Salad with Butternut Squash Mushrooms & Bacon

So I made up a salad today with some left over ingredients I had laying around, and it was SO DANG GOOD.  The pantry gods were smiling down upon me, and everything in this dish comes together so beautifully. Its got a lovely savory and satisfying flavor due to the mushrooms and bacon, and its got great for you buttery vegetables and a peppery bite from the arugula. I love eating meat free or very little meat meals. It just feels like a healthy idea. This was a great way to eat vegetables for dinner and not feel sad about it. 

Ingredients: 

1 butternut squash peeled and cubed into 1 inch squares

3 cups bag fresh arugula 

3 slices of bacon, cut into small pieces

1 pkg baby portobello mushrooms, sliced

6 ounces crumbled goat cheese

salt and pepper 

Directions: 

Cook bacon in a large skillet over medium heat until it begins to crisp up and renders some of its fat. Add your mushrooms, salt, and pepper, and cook until the mushrooms are tender. Remove the mushrooms and bacon from the pan and set aside. Stir your squash into the remaining bacon grease and cook until the squash is cooked through and crispy on the outside. Pour your arugula into a bowl, top it with the squash, then the bacon/mushroom mixture. Sprinkle with cheese. Roasted walnuts would be a wonderful add on as well if available. 

This salad was supremely delicious and came together quickly. A quick, healthy, tasty, low meat meal. Winner winner (not a chicken dinner) in my book!

Enjoy!

Easy Caesar Salad with Homemade Croutons!

Caesar Salads are one of our easy go to meals. We aren't big on bottled dressings around here. In fact, I don't think I've bought a bottle of salad dressing in years! Why would you want to when you can whip up a homemade version that tastes better, is less expensive, and just as easy? This salad is so good. A garlicy dressing with a savory bite to it, the salty parmesan  and don't get me started on these crunchy on the outside chewy on the inside herbalicious croutons. So so good.

Dressing: 
1 tsp salt
1 garlic clove (minced in a garlic press)
3 tsp anchovy paste
2 egg yolks (no whites!) 
1 tbs dijon mustard
Juice of 2 lemons
2 tbs water
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup grated parmesan 
1/2 tsp pepper 
Mix all of your dressing ingredients in a mini prep food processor as you add them so that the olive oil can emulsify. If you don't have a mini prep, you can use a whisk, just beat it super hard until it all mixes together.)

Salad: 
2 heads romaine lettuce, washed, spun in salad spinner, and cut up into bite sized pieces
Homemade croutons (see recipe below)
1/3 cup grated parmesan
1-2 breasts cooked chicken, cut up into bite sized pieces and cooled

Croutons: 
Cut 1/2 of an Italian loaf bread into large squares. 
Spray the bread with your olive oil mister. (Or just drizzle if you don't have a mister).
Sprinkle liberally with Italian seasoning.
Season with salt and pepper. 
Bake in oven at 425 for 10 minutes. 
These are flavorful, crunchy on the outside yet a little tender on the inside. They are much healthier and yummier than any type of crouton you can get in the store. Look at these beauties!

Once you have your dressing and croutons made, you can simply assemble your salad and serve it immediately  This will make about 4 meal sized salads. This is the type of caesar salad you would expect to be served at a lovely restaurant, only now you can enjoy it at home in just minutes. 

Bon Appetite!

BBQ Ranch Chicken Salad

There are so many wonderful things I have to say about this salad, that I barely know where to start. This is the very first recipe I tried ripping off from a restaurant. My husband loved a particular island grill fast casual place and would make me go there constantly. I didn't really love anything on their menu particularly until I found this delicious BBQ Chicken Salad. I craved it constantly and spent a hefty portion of my meal budget on it weekly. I decided I could make it for much less at home, so this recipe was born. It took a little tweaking, but it is amazing. This is the type of salad where I want to lick the bowl when I'm done. Its hearty, tangy, full of goodness. Even my 2 year old gobbles it up, and you will too.

Salad Ingredients:

1 head green leaf lettuce, washed dried and chopped

1 avacado, sliced into cubes

1 chicken breast, grilled and cubed, cooled 

1 can corn, drained and rinsed

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed

1/2 cup tortilla chips, crumbled

1/2 cup cheddar cheese, shredded

Dressing:

1/2 packet of hidden valley ranch dressing mix

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1/2 cup milk

3 tablespoons bbq sauce

2 tablespoons water 

Assemble your salad ingredients (lettuce, cheese, avocado, chicken, corn, beans, chips) in a large bowl. One quick tip is to use your salad spinner that you just cleaned the lettuce with, to also drain and rinse your beans and corn. Its a great way to wash all your ingredients while removing the excess moisture that can make a salad soggy. For your dressing, combine all your dressing ingredients in a mason jar or something similar with a lid. Stir it all together or shake it up until combined. Refrigerate dressing for at least 30 minutes. When you are ready to serve, add your dressing to your salad and mix until incorporated. This will serve approximately 4 people. 

I'm not kidding when I tell you that this is a salad that I crave. It has enough protein to keep you full and satisfied, the chips add a nice carb to keep us carb addicts happy too, and the dressing, well lets just say its a little bit of heaven. You will not regret making this for dinner. Enjoy!

Crunchy Orange Salad

Here is another delicious salad that comes directly from my mother in law's recipe book. I love citrus salads. There is something about a sweet dressing that meets the savory crunch in this salad that will just make your taste buds sing. (Mine sing off tune, but they sing non the less.) 

Salad Ingredients: 
1 large head red leaf lettuce
1 red onion thinly sliced
2 oranges peeled and thinly sliced
1 small jicama peeled and cut into julienne slices
4 oz sliced almonds
3 tbs. sugar

Dressing Ingredients: 
1/2 tsp grated orange peel
1/2 cup fresh orange juice
2 tbs red wine vinegar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 tbs sugar
1 tbs dry italian seasoning mix

Place your first 4 ingredients in a salad bowl, chill. In a skillet, sprinkle sugar over almonds. Cook over medium heat until almonds are coated and sugar is dissolved. Let cool. Mix dressing ingredients in a jar, chill. Pour over salad dressing. Sprinkle with almonds. Toss and serve. Serves 6-8. 

Please don't look too closely at my photos of this. I took the picutres before I added the red onion and almonds to the salad. They not only add delicious flavor and crunch, but that add lots of color too, making this salad very beautiful. The flavor profile on this is wonderful. Even non salad lovers will enjoy it. You can even make it a main dish by adding cooked chicken or topping it with crunchy chinese noodles. 

Bon Apetite! 

Warm Goat Cheese Salad

This salad is one of my favorites. It's satisfying and savory and delicious. Make sure you buy fresh herbs vs dried. It makes a huge difference. 

Buy enough goat cheese so every person can have one 2 inch slice of the goat cheese log. 

Buy a spring mix of lettuce. 

Marinate your goat cheese slices (like hockey puck sized) in 2 cups of walnut oil. You can sub olive oil if needed. Add 2 tablespoons each of freshly chopped rosemary, tarragon, thyme, and chives. Macerate the herbs in the oil before you add the goat cheese pucks. Marinate at least 4 hours, overnight is best. 

Take pucks out of oil and bake on sheet pan at 400 degrees for about ten minutes. Cheese will begin to spread out and about double in size. 

Dress your spring mix in the left over oil and then serve immediately once pucks are placed on individual salads. 

This is sooooo good. 

Thai Chicken Pasta Salad

This is a lovely savory half salad half pasta dish. I love when a pasta dish is full of veggies and I love when it has a dressing that makes it really satisfying. This salad is served cold and is very easy to whip up. 

Chicken Marinade:

1 tbs. Sesame seed oil

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup rice vinegar

1/4 cup soy sauce

1 Garlic clove

1 tbs grated ginger root

1 tbs lime juice

(Or if your feeling lazy, you can use any teriyaki marinade you have on hand. Just don't tell my mother-in-law.) 

Combine marinade ingredients. Marinate chicken for 1 hour then bake chicken till 180 degrees. Chop chicken into small pieces then chill. 

Salad Dressing:

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 tbs soy sauce 

1 tbs sesame oil 

1/4 cup rice vinegar

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 clove garlic minced 

1 tbs grated ginger root

1 tbs peanut butter 

2 tsp lime juice

Make dressing, mix, chill.

Salad:

8 ounces vermicelli (or whatever pasta you choose. Tonight I used Asian corn noodle.)

1/2 bunch green onions chopped 

1 red bell pepper thinly sliced

1 1/2 cup shredded carrots

1/3 cup roasted peanuts 

Cook pasta, drain, run under cool water to chill. Combine all ingredients and mix and serve. Serves 6. 

Chinese Teriyaki Chicken Salad

Sorry I didn't get a better picture. I was hangry (hungry/angry) when I made this salad and I pause for no man. 

This is a yummy little Asian Salad. Very filling, quick, reminds me of chopped lettuce wrap almost. 

Mix together:

1 head iceberg lettuce (or 1/2 head iceberg and 1/2 head napa Chinese cabbage) 

4 chicken breasts sliced and pan fried in 3 tbsp olive oil, then warmed in a few tablespoons of teriyaki sauce. 

Chinese noodles for crunch or wonton skins cut in strips then fried

Orange slices 

3 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds

1 cup (2 cans) water chestnuts 

1/2 cup chopped cilantro 

4 green onions 

Dressing:

4 tbsp sugar

2 tsp salt 

8 tbsp rice wine vinegar 

1/2 cup vegetable oil 

Strawberry Salad

1/2 cup veg oil

1/4 cup white wine vinegar

1/4 tsp paprika

1 tbsp poppy seeds

1/2 cup sugar

5 simple ingredients make up this yummy salad dressing. Chop up some strawberries, slivered almonds, lettuce and you've got yourself a simple easy lunch!