Greek Salad with Rotisserie Chicken

Mmm, salad! Mmm, Greece ;) I can't guarantee this tastes as good as baklava, but it's still yummy - and I'm willing to bet lower in fat, too!

Ingredients:

• 1 head of Romaine lettuce, chopped
• 1/2 bunch of spinach, washed and chopped
• Kalamata olives (black olives are just fine, too)
• feta cheese
• red onion, sliced thin
  
• grape tomatoes, cut in half (diced Roma tomatoes work well, too)
• avocado, chopped
  
• Greek Salad dressing
• Rotisserie chicken, stripped
• croutons (optional)

Directions:

1. Toss all the ingredients, except the croutons, with the dressing until evenly coated. Add croutons and toss once more.

*This recipe is versatile in that you can add as little or as much of the ingredients as you want (surprise, surprise). Also easy to convert into a more vegetarian friendly meal - just omit the chicken! And as always, enjoy! *B

Salad: Blue Cheese, Toasted Walnuts and Sweetness

Ok, you can choose to either buy the pre-made salad mix, which is found next to the cesare salad mix, or you can buy everything and make this. I may end up opting for the other, because it's so easy and cost might be irrelevant in all reality. I'm not even sure if they have this eact mix, but you'll find something similar to this. But here's the recipe anyway, for your grandkids...

Ingredients:

• Romaine Lettuce
• Dried Cranberries
• Blue Cheese, crumbled
• Walnuts, roughly chopped
• 1 T. butter, melted
• 1 T. brown sugar
• pinch of salt
• Raspberry Vinegarette

Directions:
1. Dry roast walnuts in pan until you can smell their loveliness; remove and let cool.
2. Toss greens with cheese and dried fruit, and a little dressing (or you can let everyone add the dressing themselves).
3. Toss nuts with melted butter, sugar and salt.
4. Top salad with nuts and eat it, pinky up! Serve with a sliced baguette and Bree cheese (heck, if we're going all out, go all out!). Any crusty bread will do...

Thai-Vietnamese Salad

This is just a classic salad, with your choice of fixins. Some suggested: bean sprouts, radishes, carrots, scallions, cucumber, tomatoes, red onion, mint, basil and nuts. But we'll be doing it cheap and basically dress our salad with whatever we have on hand! The real star player here is the dressing. Yes, it's another peanut butter-based sauce. The other option was to make a chili garlic sweet-hot dressing, which called for a little more pricy and "exotic" ingredients that I would never use again. So, being the p.b. lover and newfound penny-pincher, I opted for the satay dressing.

Ingredients:

• 1/4 c. soy sauce
• 2 T. olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste
• 4 chicken breasts (enough for leftovers)

Peanut Dressing:

• 3 T. vinegar (white/rice)
• 1/2 c. apple juice concentrate
• 3 T. peanut butter
• 1/4 t. to 1/2 t. ginger powder
• 1/2 t. cayenne pepper
• 1/2 c. olive oil

Directions:
1. Combine soy sauce and oil; add chicken, turn to coat and season; cook (grilling is preferred. Go GF!)
2. Prepare salad and dressing while chicken rests.
3. For peanut dressing, combine all ingredients but the oil in a blender; blend for 30 seconds, then stream in oil (keep the blender on!).
4. Cut chicken into diagonal strips and serve it all together.

Pecan Crusted Chicken (salad)

The first few steps are very similar to the Chicken Parm recipe. But the end results are totally different! And this meal is far less time-consuming than the other. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

• Olive oil, for frying
• 4-6 chicken breasts (boneless, skinless, etc.)
• 1 c. flour
• 2 eggs
• 4 T. water (like you don't have it on hand, sheesh. But it's an ingredient nonetheless)
• 1 c. bread crumbs
• 1 c. pecans, finely chopped - food processor
• 1/2 t. nutmeg
• zest of 1 orange (optional)
• mandarin oranges/dried cranberries/bacon (also optional; see steps 7-8 below)
  

Directions:
1. Set up your dipping work station (3 lipped plates or shallow bowls: (1) flour; (2) egg and water, mixed: (3) bread crumbs, pecans, nutmeg and orange zest, mixed).
2. Cut chicken into strips (or you can butterfly them if wanted as a main dish) and season with salt and pepper, to taste.
3. Heat oil, enough to cover bottom of pan, over medium heat.
4. Dip chicken in each station, sequentially as laid out in step 1.
5. Cook meat in hot oil (place it away from you, being careful about the hotness factor) and brown and crispy, on each side. About 5 minutes total.
6. Place cooked chicken on paper towels to drain while finishing up the other batch(es) if necessary; add more oil when/if needed.
7. Serve with salad (greens and makings of your choice, althoug some mandarin oranges would be a tasty enough addition that I would recommend it).
8. Top with your choice of dressing. We'll be using a BBQ flavored dressing, but blue cheese dressing would work well (omit the mandarin oranges and substitute dried cranberries). And ranch dressing would be just fine, too (omit oranges/cranberries and substitute cooked bacon, chopped).

Curried Cashew Salad

I cannot even begin to describe how tasty this salad is! Mmmm. You'll just have to trust me and try it. I would almost guarantee that you'll love it, unless you don't like one of the ingredients... then it's a crap shoot. But we love it, and everyone I've made it thoroughly enjoys it also.

Ingredients:

• 1-2 heads of romaine lettuce (or any other kind)
• 1/2 c. red grapes, halved
• 3/4 c. cashew halves
• 1 T. melted butter
• 1 t. fresh rosemary
• 1 t. curry powder
• 1 T. brown sugar
• 1/2 t. salt (unless the cashews are already salted)
• 1/2 t. cayenne pepper
• 4 slices bacon, chopped OR bacon bits (optional)
  

Dressing:

• 3 T. vinegar
• 3 T. Dijon mustard
• 2 T. honey
• 1/2 c. olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste
  

Directions:
1. Toast chashews in a dry skillet over medium-high heat, until golden brown. Remove from pan to a separate and cooler location.
2. Cook bacon until crisp. Chop and set aside.
3. Mix the melted butter, curry, sugar, cayenne, salt (if needed), cashews and rosemary- shake it up in a tupperware for added ease and storage. If you do not have fresh rosemary, you can use the dried spice in half the amount. (Any recipe that calls for fresh herbs usually calls for twice the amount of its dried counterpart. For example, 2 t. of fresh **** = 1 t. of dried ****). However, I recommend fresh rosemary because it's not so poky in the mouth, and we don't want you spitting out your unmasticated rosemary; that would be bad table manners.
4. Now it's time for the dressing. I've used those dressing containers, but I find that this method works best: a bowl and whisk. So, with that being said, stir together the vinegar, mustard and honey. Then, slowly whisk in the oil. Add salt and pepper according to your taste.
5. Toss the greens, grapes and bacon and top with the tasty nut ensemble. Serve the dressing on the side to be added according to everyone's preference.
6. Let your tastebuds acclimate to the different, yet harmonious and exotic flavors that will be parading around in your mouth.