Curing The Craving...

I was craving a yummy, chicken salad sandwich today. Not just any chicken salad though, it had to have grapes in it. I found this delicious recipe on Kuki's Kookbook:

Amber's Grape Chicken Salad

• 4 cups chopped grilled chicken
• 2 cup red grapes, cut in half
• 1 cup celery, diced
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup mayo
• 1/2 cup green onions, chopped
• 1/2 cup almonds (optional)

mix all ingredients together and then chill at least two hours before serving.

Tips:
It definitely satisfied my craving. Next time I'd cut back on the mayo, just a bit to much for my taste. I ended up using two cans of white meat chicken. I omitted the almonds; not because I don't like them, I simple didn't have them. I substituted dried cranberries instead. It was scrumptious. I'll definitely do half a cup of mayo next time & add the almonds (I'm sure they will give great texture). Enjoy!

PS. You don't have to necessarily let it chill for two hours. I served mine right away.

Fajita Salad.

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Have you ever tried a dish at a restaurant and said to yourself, "I could make this at home!?" Well I have! One of my favorite mexican restaurants to eat at in Utah is Cafe El Lago. Mainly because of their AMAZING chips & salsa, but also for the FAJITA salad! My daughter always teases me because I ALWAYS get the same dish when I go...."Fajita salad please!'

Finally about a month ago I thought to myself, I can totally make this salad. I know I can.
So here it is...

Ingredients
Chicken breast
Romaine lettuce
tomatoes
sweet onion
green, yellow &/or red pepper
colby jack cheese
taco seasoning packet
olive oil

Directions
First chop up lettuce and place in a big bowl. Set aside.

If you have a "Foreman" grill, go ahead and place your chicken to cook adding a little of salt & pepper for flavor. If you do not have a grill, then cook chicken in skillet until done. Set aside.

In another skillet, add a couple tbsp of olive oil. Slice up your onion & peppers and saute in skillet. Once sauted, add in the taco seasoning with a couple of tbsps of water to make the sauce thin. Add cooked chicken and mix well .

Once the peppers, onion, chicken mixture is tossed well in the taco seasoning, you can now place the mixture in the bowl of lettuce. Grate some colby jack cheese on top so that the cheese melts on the chicken mixture. Cut up tomatoes to add. Once cheese is melted, toss salad.
Viola!

Add ranch for dressing if you prefer. At Cafe El Lago, they have a cilantro dressing or ranch dressing to serve with it. The cilantro dressing will for sure be my next venture to learn so that my Fajita salad is perfect! Hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Options
I made this dinner tonight for my parents. They loved it. My mom and I were discussing additional items you could put in the salad, like black beans, corn and/or tortilla chips. Just remember, the more you add the more calories you intake.

Bowtie Tuna Pasta

Ingredients:

1 lb. bow tie pasta
1 1/4 cup light mayo
4 oz. feta cheese, crumbled
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1/2 c. Parmesan
1 can (6 1/2 oz) solid white tuna
1/2 cup diced red peppers
1/2 cup celery, diced
3/4 cup black olives, halved

Directions:

Cook pasta, drain and rinse with cold water. Set aside. Combine mayo, feta, garlic, black pepper and parmesan to make dressing. Set aside. Drain and flake tuna. Add bell peppers, celery, and olives to the tuna. Then add dressing to tuna mixture and mix well. Slowly add pasta to the mixture. Gentle mix- flipping bottom to top slowly. Salt and pepper to taste.

Notes:

This is another HUGE hit in our home! My kids LOVE it! I found the recipe off of a PUBLIX bowtie pasta box. It stuck to our family ever since. I generally do everything as is, but sometimes I might be short an ingredient--like celery--for some reason I don't have celery a lot in my home. You MUST have the feta, garlic, parm, tuna, red peppers, & olives to get a good flavor though! I don't always use the amount of mayo--I tend to cut back. I also like to get Athenos Tomato/ Basil to give it more flavor. I have used just plan feta though which works fine. Sometimes I'll throw in some Italian seasoning. The parmesean I use is just the sprinkle kind you get for spaghetti in the plastic container. You could do fresh though! Oh and you can eat this dish HOT or COLD. My hubby loves it HOT, but the rest of us likes it cold. I'll post a picture next time I make it!

7 Layer Salad

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Ingredients:

3 tomatoes
2 cucumbers
1 onion
6 radishes
1/2 lb. fresh mushrooms, sliced
1 head of lettuce
1 pkg. frozen green peas
6 slices bacon, cooked crisped and crumbled
8 oz. sharp cheddar cheese, grated
1 pt. mayo

Directions:

Layer salad in given order. Place mayo on top. Cover and seal in airtight container. Allow to sit for 8 to 10 hours before serving.

Notes:

I can't believe I'm giving this recipe! This is my famous HUGE salad that was given to me once again by my momma. She had a friend name Neil give it to her...so it's not a family secret. It is INCREDIBLE. Every time I make this salad I get compliments. It is a HUGE salad, so if you don't want it too big you can half the ingredients or take some out. We generally make this salad for any special holiday! If you decided to remove some ingredients, make sure you leave in the frozen peas, tomatoes, and bacon at least! The more the salad sits in the refrig, the better it will be. I generally cut back on the mayo too. Once you have dug into the salad though, you can't really keep the leftovers...they tend to get all soggy by the next day.....SO make sure your guest eat this up!

Mexican Chopped Chicken Salad

6 cups of shredded lettuce
3 cups of tortilla chips
2 cups cubed chicken
1 1/2 cups canned black beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup ranch dressing
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
tomatoes and black olives for garnish

Combine all ingredients in large bowl. Garnish with tomatoes and olives. Makes 6 servings.

Notes: This salad was OH SO GOOD! If you like taco salads but really don't like to consume all the calories in that big huge shell, this may just be the salad for you. I didn't use the full measurements for the lettuce, chips, and cheese. I just kind of "eyed" it to get a good proportion. The more you cut back, the healthier too. If you'd like to change it up a bit, I would probably use corn, avocado,and bacon bits. I grabbed this recipe off of a hidden valley label. My whole family LOVED it! Sorry no picture.

Ranch Picnic Pasta Salad

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Ingredients:

16 oz. pkg of angel hair pasta (I have used spiral pasta as well)
4 firm, ripe tomatoes, diced
2 1/4 oz. can black olives, drained & sliced
2 medium cucumbers, peeled seeded & diced
1 small onion, finely diced
1 small green pepper, seeded & diced
1 small yellow bell pepper, seeded & diced
3 (1oz) pkgs ranch dressing mix
1 pkg Italian dressing mix
1/2 cup olive oil
1/3 cup red wine vinegar

Directions:
Cook pasta according to package directions. Prepare Italian dressing mix according to directions, but using 1/2 the oil called for. Mix ranch dressing mix with oil and vinegar. Drain pasta and rinse with cold water. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and toss well. Refrigerate for at least a few hours, to combine flavors. Toss again before serving.

Notes: You don't have to use angel pasta. Pretty much any pasta will work. I typically will toss in the last bit of oil last because each time I make this...I think there is too much oil in the ingredients. So I save the remainder oil for last & slowly add what I think is best so the salad is not drenched in oil. I picked up this recipe at Macey's grocery store. It's a hit for our family & great to take to social parties.