{our best bites} grilled chicken caesar salad

Somehow we're having an indian summer in the middle of October. The past couple of days we've seen temps at or above 80*!! So instead of making soups as I'd planned, I'm thinking of summer foods, like Chicken Caesar Salad.

I LOVE that I can make this delicious salad all on my own, in my own home! Makes me feel like I'm "out to lunch" when I'm actually just at HOME having lunch. Thank you OUR BEST BITES for another great recipe.

GRILLED CHICKEN CAESAR SALAD
It's not hard to throw together a Caesar salad with ready-made ingredients, but making one from scratch really brings the classic restaurant dish to your table. Fresh garlic, lemon juice, Parmesan cheese, high-quality mustard, and cracked black pepper make this at-home version so much better than anything from a bottle.

Yield: 4-6 main dish servings, or 10-12 side dish servings

Salad dressing ingredients:
1/3 cup mayo
1 1/t T. dijon mustard
3-4 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
3 T fresh lemon juice
1/2 T. white wine vinegar (or just white vinegar in my case)
1/4 t. kosher salt
1/4 t. black pepper
1 c. pure or light olive oil
2-3 T milk, if needed

Salad ingredients:
8 oz boneless, skinless chicken breast (about 2 medium) butterflied
1-2 heads romaine lettuce (12 cups torn)
1/2 c shredded fresh Parmesan cheese, plus more for garnish
Croutons
Lemon wedges, for garnish

DIRECTIONS
Salad dressing: Combine mayo, mustard, garlic, lemon juice, vinegar, salt and pepper in a blender (or food processor) and process until smooth. With blender running on low speed, slowly pour olive oil in a steady stream just until fully incorporated. Only if needed, add milk by the tablespoon until desired consistency is reached. Place 1/2 cup dressing in a zip-top bag with chicken breasts and marinate at least 30 minutes or as long as overnight. Place remaining dressing in refrigerator to chill.

Chicken: Preheat grill to medium heat. Remove chicken breasts from marinate and let excess drip off. Grill chicken 4-5 minutes on each side until cooked through or internal temperature reaches 165* F. Remove from grill and let rest at least 5 minutes before slicing. Let cool to room temperature and then store in refrigerator until ready to use.  This step can be done ahead of time.

Salad: Wash lettuce and tear into bite-sized pieces. Place in bowl and toss with Parmesan cheese, croutons and prepared chicken. Toss with dressing, to taste. Top each serving with additional Parmesan cheese, freshly cracked black pepper and lemon wedges.

Conference Store

{Oct 1-2, 2016}

I've been doing a "Conference Store" for about the last 2-3 years and it's been great for all of us.

The kids pick coloring pages, word searches, decoding messages, etc and cash them in for prizes at the store.

Here are the GOODS for the store this session. (They usually have more papers and points than we have prizes so they cash in their extra papers for $$.)

Jackson is very strategic. He picks pages with the MOST points (like complex coloring pages or word searches etc). He also enjoys word searches so it's a win WIN!

Alivia is getting old enough that we told her she could take notes and earn points, and she did! She switched back and forth from paper and pencil to typing her notes on Mom's iPad. I love to see this because this is how I learn- I hear it, write it, and read it and then I retain it better.

Levi does such a great job coloring that he racks up some serious points too!

I like doing this Conference Store. The kids LOVE it and look forward to it and hopefully they'll make the connection that Conference is something to look forward to and enjoy, not just for the pages and goodies, although those are nice bonuses. ;)