{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.

Aunt Timna's Sesame Seed Salad

This salad green salad has been coming to almost every spring/summer/early fall family gathering for a long time. I anticipate it at every gathering. It is SO very yummy and not your normal green salad. Can't wait to have this recipe for my collection.

AUNT TIMNA'S SESAME SEED SALAD

INGREDIENTS:
Part 1-
1 lg head romaine lettuce, chopped
1 bunch spring onion, chopped (optional)

Part 2-
1 stick butter (I use less)
2 pkgs ramen noodles, crunched
1/2 c. Sesame seeds (use less)
sm. pkg slivered almonds (about 3 oz)

Part 3-
1 c. Oil (use less)
1/2 c. Sugar (use less)
1/4 c. Vinegar
2 T. Soy sauce
(You can make this all the written way first and then tweak to how you would like it. Never put all this dressing on the salad. It gets really soggy and too greasy.)

DIRECTIONS:
Put part 1 in bowl. 
Sauté part 2 all together. 
Whisk part 3 together. 
Keep parts separate until ready to serve. Toss. 

{our best bites} strawberry spinach salad with lemon poppyseed vinaigrette

Here's another delicious recipe from OUR BEST BITES! Have I mentioned I LOVE them?! All their recipes are tried and true, normal ingredients and very reliable!

Inexpensive, delicious strawberries are a sure sign that spring is coming! Slice up a handful and toss them in this light, fresh salad. For a cool, quick dinner add some diced grilled chicken.

Strawberry Spinach Salad

Ingredients:

1 (10 oz) bag fresh baby spinach

1/2-1 red onion, thinly sliced 

1 medium cucumber, seeded and sliced (you can peel it first if you want)

1 pint strawberries, hulled and sliced

1 c sliced almonds, toasted

1/2 lb grilled chicken breast, sliced or diced, optional 

Directions:

For the salad, toss ingredients together and serve immediately. You can also arrange the ingredients on individual plates for serving.

Lemon Poppy Seed vinaigrette

2-3 large lemons (use as needed to yield 1/3 c juice and 1 t zest)

1 t grated onion

1/4 c rice wine vinegar

1/4 c canola oil

3/4 t kosher salt

1/4 t freshly ground black pepper

1/4 c sugar

2 t poppy seeds

1 clove garlic, finely pressed

Directions:

Using a microplane or other fine grater, grate 1 t lemon zest and 1 t onion. Place in a small container with a lid. Add remaining ingredients and shake vigorously. If possible, refrigerate at least 1 hour before serving. Shake well before serving. 

{our best bites} Berry-kiwi salad with mint-lime dressing

Seeing as we've been TRYING to eat better, healthier, less-processed foods I was worried about Easter coming up and all the sweets that naturally accompany it. I was so excited to try this recipe as our healthy, yet sweet dessert option. We really liked this! All the kids and adults gobbled it down and I think I'll be bringing it to every family gathering and celebration. It was nice and sweet and GUILT-FREE!

Light, fresh, and easy, this fruit salad comes together in minutes and is an elegant addition to any baby or wedding shower, Mothers Day brunch or Saturday morning breakfast.

BERRY-KIWI SALAD WITH MINT-LIME DRESSING

Ingredients:

1/4 c freshly squeezed lime juice (1-2 limes)

2 1/2 T honey

1 T finely chopped fresh mint leaves

3/4 t poppyseeds

1 pint strawberries, hulled and sliced

1 c blackberries (or raspberries, I don't like the seeds from the blackberries)

1 c blueberries 

1 c kiwi, cut into 1/4" pieces

Directions:

1. Whisk together lime juice, honey, mint leaves, and poppy seeds in a small bowl. Set aside.

2. Gently toss berries and kiwi together in a medium-sized bowl. Drizzle dressing over the fruit and toss gently to combine. Serve immediately. 

*Note: Strawberries aren't quite in season yet so I cut them up first, put a little sugar on them and let them sit and macerate. Right before we were ready to eat I mixed in the fruit and dressing. It was delicious.

I doubled this recipe for our Easter dinner of 13 and had just a couple servings left. I will probably always at LEAST double this if not triple or more. I think this will probably be my "go-to" dish for all get togethers this summer and whenever else. It was a BIG HIT and so good for you! Hooray!

pear pomegranate salad

I was looking for a nice fall green salad and found this one in my "savoring the seasons" cookbook. It is wonderful, delicious, and SO beautiful with various greens, red pomegranate seeds, white feta cheese and light pears. This will be added to our rotation! We really, really like it!

Sadly, I do NOT have a picture for you. Just KNOW that it is beautiful and SO delicious and you need to make it TODAY! :) You'll thank me.

PEAR POMEGRANATE SALAD 
by Our Best Bites

Sweet juicy pearls and tart pomegranate seeds are tossed with tangy feta cheese and a sweet red wine vinaigrette for a beautiful I, festive salad that is perfect for the winter months. If you're having a hard time finding fresh pomegranates, you can substitute fresh raspberries.

Ingredients:

1/2 c chopped pecans

1/4 c sugar

1 head romaine lettuce

1 (14oz) bag baby spinach

Seeds from 1 pomegranate (about 1 cup)

2 ripe pears that are still a little firm

Juice of 1 lime

4 oz crumbled feta cheese 

Directions

1. Spray a sheet of aluminum foil with nonstick cooking spray and set aside. 

2. Combine pecans and sugar in a small nonstick skillet. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until the sugar melts and coats the nuts (about 15 minutes-however mine were done in about 8 minutes). Place on the prepared foil and set aside. 

3. Core and slice pears. Toss with a little lime juice to prevent browning. 

4. Toss together lettuce, spinach, pomegranate seeds, pears, lime juice, and cheese, adding the candied pecans right before serving. Drizzle Sweet Red Wine Vinaigrette (see below) over the salad and serve immediately. 

Sweet Red Wine Vinaigrette 

1/2 c red wine vinegar

1/2 c sugar

1-2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon coursely ground black pepper

1/2 c canola oil

Combine vinegar, sugar, garlic, salt and pepper in a blender (or food processor in my case) and process on high. Lower speed and while blender is running, add oil in a steady stream. (This is a very important process in making a salad dressing. This emulsion brings everything together. If you don't do this, the dressing with separate and be yucky SEPARATE on your salad). Dressing may be stored in refrigerator about 2-3 weeks. Shake well before serving. 

{unbelieveable!} Cafe Rio Salad

We Cafe Rio and are so happy to have found some great copycat recipes that we can recreate here at home. (Find those recipes here, here and here.) The last time we went to Cafe Rio I had their sweet pork on a salad. It was phenomenal!! I wrote down all the ingredients so I could recreate it here at home and I did! Hooray! It's wo wonderful! I can't wait for you to try this one!

Ingredients-

1 recipe Cafe Rio Sweet Pork

1 recipe Cafe Rio Black Beans

1 recipe Cafe Rio Green Chile Rice

1 recipe Cafe Rio Cilantro Lime Ranch Dressing

Romaine lettuce, chopped

Cotija cheese (found with the specialty cheeses at the grocery store)

Lime juice 

Cilantro, chopped, for garnish

Tortilla strips or tortilla chips, lightly crushed

If you want to assemble it like they do at Cafe Rio, then follow the instructions below; otherwise, assemble however you like. 

The Cafe Rio way-

Put a burrito-sized tortilla on your plate, cover with cheese, add you rice, pork, and beans and heat in the microwave or oven to melt cheese. Then top with romaine, add cotija cheese, a drizzle of lime juice (which really makes a big difference), a few tortilla strips and a little cilantro. Get your fork and dig in! You are in heaven!

If you're wanting to make this more low- carb, then skip out on the base tortilla and tortilla strips on top. 

I made a batch of the Cafe Rio foods and my hubby and I happily (almost excitedly) ate this salad every day for lunch for at least 4 days. It was fantastic every time and it will be put on "the rotation". So delicious and fresh! I love this food!