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!

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.

{Skinny} Grilled Chicken and Roasted Broccoli Alfredo

You want to know what really makes this recipe fantastic?

No, not the juicy grilled chicken.

No, not even the amazingly rich and creamy sauce that harbors no such lurking fats like cream or butter (well, ok, if I'm going to be serious, the sauce is pretty darn fantastic. But I digress...).

What, then??

The broccoli. Oh my.

If you have never tasted roasted broccoli in your life before, please take a few minutes and treat yourself. Yes, I mean, go now, to the store and buy a head of broccoli (are they called heads?), chop it up, throw some oil on that baby and start it roasting.

Ok, where were we? While your broccoli is roasting we can finish our discussion. About what? Oh, yes. Roasted broccoli. By they time I have you drooling your own roasted broccoli will be done and then you'll thank me, ok?

SO.

My husband is a self-proclaimed broccoli disliker (he is so sweet, he would never use the word "hate"). So, even though I like it, I usually forgo it to make other veggies we both like.

Asparagus, for example.

Anyway, when he bit into a piece of the roasted broccoli included in this fabulous meal, he said something to the effect that if everyone made broccoli like that, no one would be a hater. Well, maybe not in those words. But you get the idea. He loved it! I told him that the blogger on the site where I learned how to work such magic said it was better than biting into a steak and he actually said, "I could see why she would say that..."

!!!

Something about the roasting really brings out the good side of broccoli and gives it that oh-so-yummy sort of crispiness. And doused in a fair amount of Alfredo? Don't get me started.

So, SO different than steamed broccoli. K?

Seriously, there's no way you'd know this was a "skinny" recipe if I didn't tell you.  The sauce is rich and creamy and melty like any good Alfredo. I kept having to remind myself that there was no butter and no cream involved. Crazy! I guess the Greek yogurt must be the secret weapon, because there's hardly even any milk!

So go ahead. Pretend like you're indulging.

{Skinny} Grilled Chicken and Roasted Broccoli Alfredo

(printable version)

from Celebrations .com

makes 4 servings

2-3 chicken breasts, grilled and cut into chunks (about 2 cups)

2 cups broccoli florets

8 oz. fettuccine

2 TB olive oil

2 tsp minced garlic

2 TB flour

1 cup chicken broth

1/4 cup nonfat Greek yogurt

1/4 cup skim milk

1/4 tsp pepper

pinch of nutmeg

3/4 cup fresh Parmesan cheese, grated

To roast broccoli, preheat oven to 425. Toss florets with a small amount of olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast on foil lined cookie sheet 15-20 min. or until crisp-tender. Set aside.

Cook pasta according to package directions.

To make sauce, heat olive oil in a medium saucepan over med-low heat. Add garlic and cook, stirring frequently, until garlic is golden, about 2 min. Whisk in flour until smooth, about 2 min. Gradually whisk in the chicken broth, yogurt, milk, pepper and nutmeg. Bring to a low boil, stirring constantly. Lower the heat and simmer about 3 min. or until the mixture thickens, stirring gently. Stir in cheese until melted.

Toss pasta, chicken, broccoli and sauce to combine and evenly coat.

Chicken Satay {with Peanut Dipping Sauce}

Every once in a great while, I tiptoe into the rather frightening region of Asian cooking. Something about the new and different flavors and ingredients makes my normally fairly bold cooking personae grow shy. However, when I saw this delicious looking recipe for a Thai-inspired chicken satay (which I recently learned is the name for meat grilled on a skewer and served with dipping sauce), I couldn't resist the pull of a challenge. And of course, as you know, I am a sucker for anything with peanut butter in it.

This recipe proved to be like most Asian recipes I try- full of things I don't have on hand! In particular, coconut milk, fish sauce, and sesame oil. Coconut milk was out- I'm allergic (I think) to coconut. I decided to just substitute with regular milk. Now fish sauce, that's just plain scary. The words "fish" and "sauce" should not be together. I expected some slimy, gray oily paste when I arrived in the Asian section of my supermarket. However, once I finally located said fish sauce, it was a rather innocent looking brown liquid- no more off-putting than, say, soy sauce. So it's made out of anchovies- who's to know? Other than me. Oh, well. Moving on. The last special ingredient I needed was sesame oil, but, even though I did locate it, when I spied the price tag I ended up deciding to use regular oil. I knew I wouldn't use it often enough to warrant the cost. Maybe those of you who use sesame oil on a regular basis can tell me if it's worth the extra dough!

All the fun ingredients in hand (okay, so I guess we just narrowed it down to the fish sauce), I prepared the marinade and let the chicken soak for a few hours. Then I threaded them on skewers and hubby grilled them. While he was manning the grill, I prepared the dipping sauce. The dip was a promising concoction of peanut butter, soy sauce, fresh ginger and other yummy additions. Due to my bland-food-loving-anglo-saxon roots, I decided to halve the amount of cayenne pepper. I couldn't resist snagging a sample- it was delicious! Sweet and smooth, with just the right amount of zing on the tail end.

Paired with rice and grilled asparagus, this made a fantastic meal. We thoroughly enjoyed dipping the curry and cilantro flavored chicken in the flavor-packed peanut sauce. If you feel the need to take an exotic journey to the east, look no farther than your backyard grill and a fabulous chicken satay!

Chicken Satay with Peanut Dipping Sauce

(printable version)

adapted from AllYou Magazine

serves 6-8 (I halved it for us!)

Marinade:

1/2 cup coconut milk (or regular milk)

1 TB fish sauce

2 tsp curry powder

1 tsp sugar

1 TB chopped fresh cilantro

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

2 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into thin strips

Peanut Sauce:

3 TB soy sauce

2 TB rice vinegar

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (more to taste)

2 TB sugar

1 tsp fresh grated ginger

1 TB sesame oil (or regular oil)

1/2 cup smooth peanut butter

1/2 cup low sodium chicken broth

Whisk marinade ingredients together. Put chicken in a large ziplock bag; pour in marinade. Seal bag; rub marinade into chicken. Chill for 3 hrs, turning occasionally.

If using bamboo skewers, don't forget to soak them in water for 30 min. prior to using!

Make sauce: combine all sauce ingredients in a pan and bring to boil over med. heat, whisking until smooth, about 2-3 min. Thin with more broth if desired. Remove from heat, let cool.

Preheat grill to medium. Remove chicken from marinade; discard marinade. Thread each piece of chicken onto a skewer. Grill for 5 to 7 min., turning once, or until chicken is cooked through and no longer pink. Serve with sauce.

Spiced-Rubbed Pork Chops

The past week or so, our weather here has been absolutely fantastic. I mean, between 70 and 80 degrees almost every day! That is not super common for this part of the country in May! So we have been enjoying it! Hubby's been out working in his garden (we have a couple of raised beds), I went all crazy and planted some clematis to climb up the beams on our front porch (a dream of mine for awhile now), and we've been grilling. I am so excited about the advent of the grilling season! It is such a nice "shake up" to my usual recipe routine- it opens wide doors of new possibilities! I am amazed that we lived our first 2 married summers without a grill (well, we sort of had one the first summer, but it doesn't really count because it wasn't really ours and the side of it was broken off, plus we only lived there for two months- and we didn't grill much...did you really need that explanation? Oh, wellll...). I am also reminded how delicious food tastes fresh off the grill. Any food. Fruit, bread, meat (of course), pizza (so I've heard), vegetables, you name it.

See? Massive chops.

So for a fun change, I took this simple and scrumptious pork recipe that is intended for the frying pan (and is fantastic that way as well) and grilled it instead! It worked great. The pork chops I bought were huge, so they took a bit of extra time (almost 20 min. on the grill), but they were delicious. Juicy, with a yummy coating of spices and sweetness.
You'll be wanting that recipe now?

We served our pork with grilled garlic bread and artichokes. Yum!

Spice-Rubbed Pork Chops

(printable version)

adapted from MyRecipes.com

serves 2

2 boneless pork loin chops

1/4 tsp garlic salt

1/2 tsp ground coriander

1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp brown sugar

2 tsp olive oil (if pan frying)

Conventional Method: Combine all rub ingredients. Heat skillet over med-high heat. Sprinkle 1 side of each pork chop with spices, using half the mixture. Allow to sit a few minutes; turn and sprinkle other sides with the other half of spice mixture. Add oil to pan, swirl to coat. Add pork to pan and cook 2 min. or until browned (longer if your chops are thicker than 3/4 in.). Turn over and cook another 4 min. or until done.

Grilling Method: Spray grill rack with non-stick grill spray. Heat grill to medium heat. Follow preparation method as above. Grill pork 15-18 minutes, or until internal temperature reaches at least 160 degrees, turning halfway through.

Lime-Cilantro Pork Tacos {or Fajitas?}

I am in a debate with myself today. Maybe you can help me. This delicious recipe calls itself a taco. But is it a taco? It seems more like a fajita to me. Maybe it's all the onions...when we ate them last night, Hubby and I decided they were most definitely fajitas. But after reading several online articles this morning debating the differences between tacos, fajitas and burritos, I fear my meal is having an identity crisis!

Anyhow, I am dying to try this fantastically flavored dish on our grill this summer. Ah, summer...it seems so far away as I look out my window to a snow-covered yard. But alas! Even without the grill, this taste-of-summer fare was superb. Juicy thin slices of pork, seared sweet onions and jalapeno simmered with tomatoes in a lime-cilantro sauce...have I mentioned my obsession with cilantro?

Oh. Well, it's high time! The addition of fresh cilantro to a dish simply brings a bright, clean flavor and a spark that cannot be imitated. I tried dried cilantro...once. Ick. There is no comparison. I was so excited to learn that you can freeze fresh chopped cilantro! YAY! This is good news to a cilantro-loving girl who lives in a rural community and shops once a month. Fresh cilantro only keeps about a week in the fridge, so being able to freeze it for future use is a huge discovery for me. Coupled with lime, it infuses such a bold flavor into these juicy tacos...er, fajitas? Anyhow. They're bold. Who cares what you call 'em?

Lime-Cilantro Pork Tacos

(printable version)

adapted from My Recipes

serves 4 (2 tacos per serving)

1 lb. pork tenderloin, trimmed and cut into thin strips

1/4 tsp salt

1/8 tsp freshly ground black pepper

2 tsp olive oil

1 med. onion, thinly sliced

1 small jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped

1/2 cup chicken broth

1 med. tomato, chopped

3 TB chopped fresh cilantro

2 1/2 TB lime juice

8 (6 in.) flour tortillas

Sour cream, if desired

Heat a large skillet over med-high heat. Sprinkle pork with salt and pepper. Add oil to pan. Add pork and saute about 4 min. or until browned. Remove pork from pan and set aside.

Add onion and jalapeno to pan; saute 5 min. or until tender. Add broth, reduce heat and simmer 1 min. Stir in tomato, simmer 2 min.

Return pork and any juices to pan. Stir in cilantro and lime juice, cook 1 min. or until pork is done.

Warm tortillas and serve with about 1/2 cup pork mixture per tortilla. Top with sour cream if desired.

Source: myrecipes.com

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