Raspberry & Grilled Chicken Salad {with Roasted Raspberry Balsamic Vinaigrette}

Hubby and I absolutely love our summers here in the northwest! One of our favorite things about it is picking fresh fruit from the local farms around our area, and berry season is an extra-special treat.

Unfortunately, due to vacation, company, and a generally busy schedule, we discovered that we had completely missed strawberry season! I am really disappointed because I like to freeze 10 lb. or so to have on hand for our Sunday night smoothies!

We were also sad to find out when we arrived on the bluff that a poorly timed hail storm had ruined many of the season's cherries! We managed to find some good ones amidst the splitting and small fruit, but I'm sure it's a blow to the farmers!

However, even in the bad news, there was a bright spot- raspberries!

We spent an hour or so in 90+ degree weather to glean these beauties, but they were worth it! I think I had forgotten how much I enjoy a good raspberry.

So, inspired by our bountiful supply of sweet and tangy berries, I decided to adapt Closet Cooking's recipe for a bright strawberry salad into a raspberry salad! It did not disappoint! The rich combination of goat cheese, pecans and bacon topped with succulent grilled chicken was perfectly complimented by the acidic bite of the beautifully pink roasted raspberry balsamic vinaigrette.

Tip: If you're tempted to skip making your own dressing in favor of a pre-made balsamic vinaigrette- don't! It only takes a few extra minutes, and it's well worth your time!

Raspberry & Grilled Chicken Salad

(printable version)

inspired by Closet Cooking

serves 4

For Salad:

1 lb. chicken breasts

1 cup roasted raspberry vinaigrette, divided (recipe follows)

5 cups fresh baby spinach

2 cups fresh raspberries

4 strips bacon, cooked crisp and crumbled

4 oz. goat cheese, crumbled

1/4 cup pecans

Place the chicken and 1/2 cup of the dressing in a large ziploc bag and marinate at least 30 minutes or up to overnight.

Heat the grill to medium heat and brush lightly with oil. Grill chicken until internal temperature reaches 170 degrees (7-8 min. per side).

Meanwhile, prepare salad. Toss spinach with raspberries, bacon, goat cheese, and pecans. Dress salad now, or serve dressing on the side if you prefer. When chicken is done, slice thinly and place on top of individual servings.

For dressing (makes 1 cup):

1 cup raspberries

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

1/4 cup olive oil

1 TB dijon mustard

1 tsp honey

1 large clove garlic, minced

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

Preheat oven to 425. Place raspberries in a single layer on a baking sheet lined with foil and lightly greased with cooking spray. Roast about 10 min., watching carefully so as not to burn berries. Allow to cool slightly.

Puree all ingredients, including roasted raspberries, in a food processor or blender until smooth, adding more oil or vinegar as needed if dressing is too thick. Store in the refrigerator.

{Copycat} Red Robin Whiskey River BBQ Chicken Salad

Hubby and I enjoy date nights about twice a month, and one of our favorite locales for a more casual night out is Red Robin. Known for their gourmet burgers, onion rings and thick shakes, they also boast quite a variety of alternate entrees- such as some stellar mouth-watering salads, sandwiches and wraps. 

You might be familiar with the Whiskey River BBQ trio- the burger, the chicken burger, and the wrap-, but have you met the latest addition to the family? 

Several months ago I tried the new Whiskey River BBQ Chicken Salad- and fell in love. 

I quickly made a note of all the ingredients on my smartphone so I could try to recreate it at home- and finally, I have! 

If you haven't tried it at Red Robin yet, I encourage you to do so- but I'm also thrilled to bring you the easy, cheaper, customizable DIY edition! 

I think my favorite thing about this southwest salad is that it's just fun to eat! Every bite is an adventure- there are so many ingredients, you just never know what's going to be in your next forkful! It pops with color, flavor, and texture, featuring black beans, grilled corn, jicama, and much more!

Tip: I had never worked with jicama before, but I discovered that if you slice it too early, it will dry out!

Note: I didn't even try to replicate Red Robin's secret Whiskey River BBQ Sauce- I have my own favorite! I highly recommend Sweet Baby Ray's (oh, and I really do love it...not getting paid for this product placement)! :)

Copycat Red Robin Whiskey River BBQ Chicken Salad

(printable version)

by Jenn

serves about 4

4 skinless, boneless, chicken breast halves

2 ears sweet corn, husks intact, silk removed

3 cups romaine lettuce, chopped

3 cups iceberg lettuce, chopped

3 Roma tomatoes, chopped

1/2 of a medium jicama, peeled and chopped into 1/2 in. cubes

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1/2 cup French fried onions

1 cup slightly crumbled tortilla chips

1/4 cup ranch dressing

1/2 cup Sweet Baby Ray's Original BBQ Sauce, divided

1 avocado, sliced

Preheat grill to medium-high heat. Grill chicken 15-20 min., turning once, or until internal temperature reaches 170 degrees F. Meanwhile, grill corn in husks 15 min., turning every 5 min. (For a great tutorial on grilled corn, click here). During last 5 min. of grilling, brush chicken with about a 1/4 cup of the BBQ sauce.

While chicken and corn are grilling, prepare salad ingredients. Toss romaine and iceberg together.

When corn is finished grilling and has cooled slightly, slice the kernels off of the cob (this works best in a bowl with the cob standing vertically!). 

Slice slightly cooled chicken thinly.

Assemble salad ingredients on individual plates as you like, though I suggest ending each serving with a drizzle of the ranch dressing, followed by the sliced chicken, a drizzle of BBQ sauce, and garnished with a few avocado slices.

Enjoy your "night out" at home!

Chicken {or Tuna} Noodle Salad

There is one point on which my husband and I do not agree (okay, so there's a couple, but really, not very many!). 

Tuna. 

He hates it. I enjoy it. 

I grew up on tuna- my mom LOVES it! She eats it almost every day, on crackers, on sandwiches, in salads...her mom also loves it, so I guess it's hereditary. 

However, even though my husband grew up eating tuna casserole (and I did not...hmmm...maybe we've got something there), he does NOT like tuna. So, like a good wife (haha) I do not force him to eat it. 

However, this summer I've had a craving for my mom's tuna noodle salad. The perfect summer meal, it doesn't require an oven, requires minimal preparation and uses simple ingredients you probably already have. The only point my mom and I disagree on is the temperature. She likes to serve it while the noodles are still warm- I like to make it ahead of time so it will be chilled. 

Anyhow, back to the problem. Tuna. I decided to make a compromise. I'd make the salad, but substitute canned chicken for the tuna! Hardly anybody can tell the difference between chicken salad and tuna salad anyway, so why not? Hubby will be happy not to have to eat tuna and smell that fishy smell in the house and I can have my salad. :) Yum!

Chicken (or Tuna) Noodle Salad

(printable version)

serves 4-6

1 pkg. spiral noodles (or shape of your choice)

1 large can of chicken (or tuna), drained

about 1/2 cup chopped celery

about 1/2 cup diced cheddar cheese

1/4 cup mayonnaise, or more to taste

2 TB mustard, or more to taste

salt and pepper

Cook noodles according to package directions. Drain and rinse with cold water. Place in a large serving bowl.

Add remaining ingredients to noodles and mix thoroughly to combine. Salt and pepper to taste. If desired, cover and chill.

Three Bean and Grilled Corn Salad

This salad is so good, I made it Saturday for dinner and couldn't stop eating it all weekend. We had leftovers for lunch after church Sunday, then I took a nap and when I woke up, all I could think about was eating more salad and granita. I think I practically had a dream about it. Sad, right?

Pre-grilling...

Post-grilling...

But seriously- this is so amazing! I think it just took up residence in the top slot of my "Favorite Summer Salads" list. The grilled vegetables and the abundance of lime juice take the flavors to a whole new level and the addition of creamy avocado is to die for. I went a step further and added a grilled chicken breast to "make it a meal" (the recipe was for a side dish), but it really isn't absolutely necessary. The beans are quite filling and there is plenty to go around.

Fresh, crisp veggies infused with smoky grilled flavor, colorful beans, juicy tomatoes, topped with buttery avocado and sparkling with zesty lime...

Is your mouth watering yet?

Three Bean and Grilled Corn Salad

(printable version)

adapted slightly from Myrecipes

serves 12 as a side dish, 6 as a main dish

1 cup halved grape tomatoes

1 tsp salt, divided

3 ears shucked corn

1 med. yellow onion, cut into 1/4 in. thick slices

1 jalapeño pepper

2 chicken breasts (optional)

about 1 TB olive oil

1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro

1/3 cup fresh lime juice

1 can pinto beans

1 can black beans

1 can kidney beans

2 diced, peeled avocados

Preheat the grill to med.-high heat.

Place tomatoes in a large bowl and sprinkle with 1/2 tsp salt. Let stand 10 min. Drain and rinse beans.

Brush corn, onion, jalapeño and chicken evenly with olive oil. Place on grill rack. Grill chicken until cooked through, turning once. Grill onion and jalapeño 8 min. or until lightly charred, turning halfway through. Grill corn 12 min. or until lightly charred, turning halfway through. Let vegetables stand 5 min. 

Cut kernels from cobs. Coarsely chop onion. Finely chop jalapeño, discarding stem and seeds. Dice chicken.

Add corn, onion, jalapeño and chicken to tomato mixture; toss well. Add remaining salt, cilantro, lime juice and beans to corn mixture; toss well.

Top with avocado.

Thai Crunch Chicken Salad

I've been on a bit of a Thai food kick.

I think it began with the delicious chicken satay...

then was encouraged by the amazing stir fry I made using the leftover peanut sauce...

and continued by the great little Thai restaurant my friends and I found in Mukilteo on our reunion...

and now, even as I bring to you this scrumptious salad, a Thai pizza recipe has gotten awfully cozy with next Friday night.

I'll confess. I'm not a huge fan of curry. I'm allergic to coconut. I don't even like spicy food. So what is it that draws me to Thai food?

What do you think?

If you guessed "peanuts" or "peanut butter" you would have hit the nail on the proverbial head. Let's be honest. That's all I'm really in it for. The excuse to spread peanut butter all over salads, pizza, noodles, chicken, whatever.

This salad lives up to its name. Crunch. Just about every ingredient in here gives that satisfying feeling. Starting with my new friend.

Readers, meet napa cabbage.

Napa Cabbage, meet readers.

I had never had the privilege of acquaintance with such a cabbage before, in fact, I did not even know such a variety existed until I looked for it at our local supermarket! It is very pretty, chops up nicely, and looks more like iceberg lettuce than its more well known comrade, green cabbage.

Next on the crunch list are carrots and cucumbers. I don't need to tell you about them, do I?

Then we have edamame. Oh, elusive edamame. I could not find these green soybeans anywhere, so what did I do? I subbed in another crunchy lookalike. Sugar snap peas! They worked like a charm with their fresh taste and signature snap. Oh, and I also substituted chives from my garden for the green onion. Yum.

Last on the crunchy lineup are, of course, peanuts. Yay peanuts!

And what is poured on top of all the crunchy goodness? This fabulous tangy-sweet dressing.

Can you guess what's in here? PEANUT BUTTER.

Oh, and other things.

Thai Crunch Chicken Salad

(printable version)

slightly adapted from How Sweet It Is

serves about 6

1 napa cabbage, chopped
1 red cabbage, chopped

6 green onions (or a bunch of chives)

1 large cucumber, peeled, sliced and quartered

2/3 cup chopped or sliced carrots

2/3 cup chopped sugar snap peas (or edamame)

2/3 cup torn fresh cilantro

2/3 cup chopped peanuts

3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (grilled is delicious!)

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

Dressing and Marinade

1 cup sweet chili sauce

1/2 cup rice vinegar

1/2 cup lite canned coconut milk (or regular skim milk if you're allergic like me!)

6 TB brown sugar

4 garlic cloves, pressed or finely minced

2 TB creamy peanut butter

2 tsp sized knobs of fresh ginger, grated

2 limes, juiced

1 TB soy sauce

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray baking pan with nonstick spray. Season chicken with salt and pepper, then place in the baking dish.

Combine all sauce ingredients in a saucepan, whisking to combine. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook for 3-4 min. until slightly thickened. Remove from heat and pour half of the sauce over the chicken, turning chicken to coat completely. Set remaining sauce aside to dress salad.

Bake chicken 25-30 min. or until cooked through.

While chicken is cooking, combine all salad ingredients (except for peanuts) in a large bowl and toss. When chicken is done, let cool a few minutes, then shred or chop.

Serve salad, top with chicken, peanuts and dressing.

Autumn Chopped Salad {and Homemade Balsamic Vinaigrette}

I know, I know. It's winter. It's not autumn. And it's not salad weather. Well, maybe it's "salad weather" where you are, but here in the Inland Northwest we have piles of snow and icy slush everywhere. However, despite the cold (or perhaps because of it...) I decided a salad sounded quite tasty. Most of my winter cooking consists of soups, casseroles and other hearty, soul-warming food, but today was a salad day. Something about a crisp, green salad piled high with beautiful looking veggies (or fruits, in this case) takes the edge off those winter blues.
This is a fantastic salad. Come summer time, I am sure it will become a staple! I tweaked it from the original version, which I discovered on Pinterest (making a lot of good discoveries there these days!), and boy, was it tasty! It is a beautiful and filling main dish salad, or you could leave the chicken out and serve it as a lovely side to some tasty barbecue.
If you're having a "winter blues" kind of day, or if you just need to shake up the same ol', same ol' routine, whip up this salad and you've got the cure!

Autumn Chopped Salad
(printable version)

serves 4 as a main dish

7 to 8 cups chopped romaine lettuce

2 chicken breasts, cooked to your preference (I pan-fried mine in olive oil and butter, drizzled with a little balsamic vinegar!) and cubed

1 pear, chopped

1 apple, chopped

1/2 cup dried sweetened cranberries

1/4 cup chopped walnuts

7 slices bacon (I used turkey bacon), crisp cooked and chopped or crumbled

1/4 cup feta cheese, crumbled

Poppy seed salad dressing (I used approx. 1/2 cup)

Balsamic Vinaigrette (I used approx. 1/4 cup- recipe for homemade follows)

Combine all ingredients except dressings in large salad bowl. 

Drizzle generously with poppy seed dressing. Follow with a drizzle of balsamic vinaigrette. Add more if necessary.

Homemade Balsamic Vinaigrette

(from back of Pompeian vinegar bottle)

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

3/4 cup olive oil (or, since olive oil is expensive, I use part olive oil, part other oil)

1/2 tsp garlic powder or 1 TB fresh garlic, minced (I like the powder since it dissolves)

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Put all ingredients in bottle or jar with a tight fitting lid and shake vigorously to combine. Store in the refrigerator.

Source for Salad: Espresso and Cream Recipes

Berry-Spinach Salad with Grilled Chicken

It is difficult to know what to name this beautiful salad. Balsamic Chicken Strawberry Blueberry Spinach Salad is just a wee bit long...so I shortened it. Maybe when this post is up, you all can let me know what you think it should be named. I can't quite be credited with creating it, but I couldn't find its exact match readily available on the internet either so... Anyhow, one fateful day as I was running out of the gym on my way to something else at about lunch time, I stopped at the gym's deli and grabbed an interesting looking salad. It was spinach and strawberries, blueberries and feta cheese, with some sliced almonds and grilled chicken lying on top. I have always been a bit wary of fruit in salads, but boy, I can tell you, this salad has won me over permanently.



At the deli, the salad did not come with it's own dressing suggestion, so I chose my own, randomly picking the balsamic vinaigrette (which surely must have been destiny and not random), thinking somewhere in the back of my mind I had heard balsamic vinegar paired well with strawberries.

It was love at first bite. If you are something of a foodie, you know that there are some moments that live in your memory, when you take that first bite of something wonderful and delicious and heretofore unknown and your taste buds simply stand up and sing and you swear you can hear the hallelujah chorus as everything else fades away and all you know is that taste and the feeling that you've just made an life-altering discovery. Maybe I'm being a bit dramatic (maybe I've been reading too much Anne of Green Gables), but I know it was all I thought about on my way home. At every stop sign I took another marvelous bite. I began to think to myself, I must recreate this!

So, on our next shopping trip, I wrote down everything that I remembered from the salad and found a great balsamic vinaigrette recipe to make from scratch. The first time I recreated the salad, we had it alongside steak, so I omitted the chicken and it was fabulous by itself. But the next time I made a meal out of it, and took it up a notch by marinating the chicken in a bit of the dressing before grilling. Oh, yeah.

You have to try this- it's a fantastic easy salad that is perfect for a hot summer day when you don't feel like cooking! And it's versatile too, so put in whatever nuts you like (I used walnuts the second time) and your favorite cheese (although how can you go wrong with feta??) and change it up!

When we made this last night, I also had hubby grill some fresh peaches as a side/dessert.



They were so good! Sprinkled with just a bit of balsamic vinegar and liberally powdered with brown sugar and grilled until tender (a few minutes per side, depending on how ripe they are), the peaches were smoky and sweet, with a lightly charred, crispy sugar topping.

Berry-Spinach Salad with Grilled Chicken
(printable version)
a KitchenJoy copycat recipe

serves about 4 (main dish servings)

About 1 bag (10 oz.) fresh spinach

1 cup (or more) fresh sliced strawberries

1 cup fresh blueberries

1/4 cup (or however much you like) crumbled feta cheese

1/4 cup (or just a handful) sliced almonds or other chopped nuts

enough chicken to go around (we used 2 breast halves for the 2 of us and there was some leftover), marinated in the fridge at least an hour in about 1/2 cup of the dressing, then grilled.

1 recipe Emeril Lagasse's Simple Vinaigrette Dressing

Toss spinach, berries and cheese. Top with nuts and grilled chicken. Coat lightly with dressing on individual plates. Enjoy! Good served with rolls and grilled peaches if desired.

Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad

Travis and I bought a barbecue grill last month! We are so excited and have spent many evenings experimenting and loving every flame-licked piece of meat or veggie that has come off the rack. All last summer we talked about getting one, but never did. This summer we were determined to put out a little bit of cash so we could experience the joy of outdoor cooking. My brother is partly to blame, writing mouth-watering, laugh-out-loud funny posts on his wife's blog, detailing his love of all things grilled, as well as the grilling experience itself. Even onions (one of the few things we disagree on) have been decreed passable when kissed by the flame. Anyhow, we now have a grill and are happily employing it. This recipe is only partly grilled, but it makes all the difference. I discovered this salad on Kraftrecipes.com last summer and made it many times either baking the chicken or grilling it on my counter-top George Foreman. But now that we have done it correctly- I don't know if I can go back! Grilling the chicken outdoors, after it had been marinated, gave the salad a whole new lease on life! I love Caesar salads anyway, but this one took it up a notch.

To start, I marinated the chicken breasts in a balsamic vinegar marinade. I LOVE balsamic vinegar. It really gave the chicken a fantastic flavor and made it super tender. I let them marinate at least a half hour, then Hubby grilled them to perfection.

The rest of it is extremely simple, really. Chop up a lot of romaine lettuce,

add Parmesan cheese (we've used grated or shredded and both work well- use whatever you have on hand!),

croutons (I usually get the garlic Caesar variety),

and Caesar dressing (I like Ken's lite creamy Caesar more than the recipe's Kraft dressing) and you have a fantastic, light, summer meal!

This is delicious served with garlic bread, as you can see we did on the grill as well. Yum!!

Find the recipe here: Favorite Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad

A Taste of Summer (Barbecue Chicken Salad)

Yesterday was a beautiful day! The sunshine, singing birds, blooming flowers and warm temperature allowed me to finally put away thoughts of winter and look ahead to the warm season approaching. In fact, I got so caught up in the feeling, I donned my summer skirt and tank top and set to work making the switch in my closet. I brought down all my summer clothes from the box upstairs and happily bagged up the sweaters and heavy coats I have grown tired of wearing. How delightful it is to put away heavy material and dark colors and exchange them for light cottons, bright colors and floral prints!

Waffles were on the menu for dinner, but with the sun streaming in the window and the hour or so spent sunbathing on my porch, I simply couldn't bring myself to fix something so heavy. So, switching with a different day, I prepared a fairly new recipe find, "Amy's Barbecue Chicken Salad" (another one from the allrecipes.com cookbook!). It is fresh and light and full of flavor!

Since we don't have a barbecue yet, the last time I made this salad, I grilled the chicken on my George Foreman grill.

This time, however, I pan fried it. I'm sure it would be very tasty right off the grill, and I hope to try it that way one of these days! The recipe doesn't call for any seasoning on the chicken, but I sprinkled mine with a Barbecue seasoning from my Grandpa's company's line of seasonings: Dean's Natural Grill. Yum!

While the chicken was cooking, I washed a head of green leaf lettuce and chopped it and also a bunch of cilantro.

The recipe calls for a head of green leaf lettuce and a head of red leaf lettuce, but I leave the red out since Travis and I are only 2 people! The original recipe serves 8 as a side (Probably about 6 as a main dish). I forgot the tomato this time, so I went without, but I wish I had had one on hand! I also opened a can of corn and a can of black beans. I mixed all this together in a big salad bowl then added the chopped chicken. You could also serve the chicken on top of the salad in slices, if you like. I like mine mixed in.

Now for what goes on top! Instead of putting French fried onions on the whole salad, I sprinkle them on our individual servings, because if there are any leftovers, the onions get soggy. Then I mix together the dressing, a half and half combination of ranch and barbecue sauce.

I always use Hidden Valley Ranch and "Sweet Baby Ray's" barbecue sauce because of course, "the sauce is the boss!" :) We also save the dressing for our individual servings, for the same reason I mentioned before. For just the two of us, I halve the dressing recipe as well (the original makes 1 cup of dressing which is just too much for only one head of lettuce!).

This is a meal in itself, so you can serve it alone, or with some warm rolls or fresh fruit. It is a fresh, crispy taste of summer!

Amy's Barbecue Chicken Salad
(printable version)

by "Amyeh" on allrecipes.com

serves 8 as a side, 4 to 6 as a main dish

2 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

1 head red leaf lettuce, rinsed and torn

1 head green leaf lettuce, rinsed and torn

1 fresh tomato, chopped

1 bunch cilantro, chopped

1 can whole kernel corn, drained

1 can black beans, drained

1 2.8 oz. can French fried onions

1/2 cup ranch dressing

1/2 cup barbecue sauce

Preheat grill for high heat. Lightly oil the grill grate. Place chicken on the grill and cook 6 min. per side, or until juices run clear. (You can also bake, fry or indoor grill the chicken- you decide!) Remove from heat, cool and slice (or chop!).

In a large bowl, mix the lettuces, tomato, cilantro, corn and black beans. Top with chicken and French fried onions.

In a small bowl, mix dressing and sauce. Serve on the side as a dipping sauce or toss with the salad to coat.

Old Faves, New Craves (Oriental Chicken Salad/Focaccia Bread)

You know how there are some foods that are simply family traditions? Maybe your great-great-great-grandma brought it over from "the old country" quite a few generations ago. Maybe it entered your family more recently. Take my mom's famous Oriental chicken salad. Not so very old, the recipe was given to my mom by her sister, but it has taken its hold on our family. It has attended two of our families' weddings, many potlucks and family get-togethers, and my older brother has even been know to say that it would be his food of choice were he to ever be stranded on a deserted island and had to eat one food for the rest of his life (assuming he had a choice). The uncovering of the salad bowl is usually accompanied by several "ooh"s and lip-licking is sure to follow. Why is it so desirable? Maybe it's because of the pretty blend of colors or the satisfyingly crisp crunch of the cabbage. Maybe it's the lightness of it on a hot summer evening. Or maybe it's the memories we have of the house filled with smells of toasting almonds on a Saturday night. Or the ones I have of sitting at the kitchen counter chopping piles after piles of cabbage while listening to Adventures in Odyssey on the radio or chatting with my dad or a young sibling beside me who is "learning how it's done." Sometimes it seems with family favorites the flavors and aromas are so intertwined with the memories that it is difficult to separate the two.

I had decided today to make my mom's sought-after-salad, since it is a hot summer day and something like a cool, crunchy salad seemed just the thing. My first thought for a side dish was to get out some of my freezer roll dough to make bread sticks, but I only had enough dough for three, which isn't quite enough for my hubby and I! So I thought, well, I'll just have to make my own! And while searching for a bread stick recipe, I stumbled upon a recipe for focaccia bread, which looked absolutely delicious, but not too difficult. So, in-between my usual Friday/Saturday duties of getting the bulletin and the PowerPoint done for church, I mixed, kneaded and let my focaccia bread rise. It is very aromatic, sprinkled through with rosemary!

Later on, as the last of the rising was happening on my stove top, I cooked up a large chicken breast, and began chopping away at a head of cabbage, memories flooding over me. Into the oven went the focaccia bread, along with the sesame seeds and slivered almonds to toast. Needless to say, I cut the recipe in half. This really feeds a crowd, so even halved, my husband and I have leftovers!

When everything was sliced, diced and toasted to perfection and the bread was giving a wonderful scent to my kitchen, it all went together into a pretty salad bowl. When mixing up the dressing, I had to make one substitution...mom always made the dressing with rice vinegar, and since I had none on hand I replaced it with cider vinegar. This resulted in it not tasting just like mom used to make, but pretty close! :)

I tossed the dressing with the salad just as the bread was cooling. Taking a bite of each, I decided that the old held up its reputation with honor and the new made a delightful addition!

Mom's Oriental Chicken Salad
(printable version)

serves about 12

2-3 cups cooked chicken (diced)

1/2 cup sesame seeds

3/4 cup slivered almonds

2 pkgs ramen noodles

1 lg head green cabbage, thinly sliced

1 bunch green onions, sliced

Dressing:

1 cup oil

6 tbsp rice vinegar

2 tbsp sugar

flavor packet from ramen noodles (chicken flavor)

salt and pepper to taste

Toast sesame seeds, slivered almonds, and ramen (broken apart) on cookie sheet in 350 oven for 10-15 min. Let cool. Combine all ingredients (except dressing) and mix well. Pour dressing over all and toss to coat.

Betty Crocker's Focaccia Bread
(printable version)

makes 2 loaves

2 1/2 to 3 cups flour

1 tbsp dried rosemary

1 tbsp sugar

1 tsp salt

1 pkg yeast

3 tbsp olive oil

1 cup very warm water

2 tbsp olive oil

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Mix 1 cup flour, rosemary, sugar, salt and yeast. Add oil and water. Beat with mixer 3 min. Stir in remaining flour. Knead 5 to 8 minutes. Grease lg bowl, place dough in bowl and turn to coat. Cover loosely and let rise 30 min. Grease two round pizza pans. Deflate dough with fist and divide in half. Shape into 10 in rounds on pans. Cover loosely and let rise 30 min. Make depressions in dough with fingertips 2 in. apart. Brush with olive oil and sprinkle with cheese. Bake in 400 oven 15-20 min.