BBQ Chicken Salad

October 10, 2011 - The first time in ten years that the Detroit Lions have hosted Monday night football! Between the Tigers in the ALCS Championships and Monday night football, I felt compelled to make something for dinner that would taste somewhat like "bar food", but still enable to me to use all of the goodies I bought at the Birmingham Farmer's Market the day before. I decided on a BBQ chicken salad. I had an assembly line of foil packages going! Sliced red peppers, ears of corn drizzled in olive oil and tucked in their foil. I also brushed two boneless chicken breasts with honey barbecue sauce and threw everything on the grill for about 15 minutes. While the grill worked its magic, I assembed the salad:

Artisan lettuce
2 TBSP chopped black olives
sliced red onion
1 cup light red kidney beans

I chopped the grilled chicken, cut the corn off the cob and removed the peppers from the package. I added all to the salad, and sprinkled with shredded sharp cheddar. For dressing, I used Litehouse Lite Salsa Ranch dressing. Picture below. On Top Chef, I would have gotten points knocked off for the errant corn kernels and cheese on my plates. But alas, things are a little more laid back at my house!

Pear and pine nut salad

We were blessed this weekend with 80 degree weather in the second week of October! After church, we went to the Birmingham Farmer's Market. We scored some gorgeous red and green leaf lettuce.

Did you know that 1.5 cups of red leaf lettuce gives you 40% of your daily requirement of vitamin A? As I made my way through the market, I gathered things for the salad that I was envisioning. Here are the ingredients for a delicious fall salad. Bon Appetit!

Lettuce - your choice.
Please, no iceberg! For nutritional value, romaine packs the best punch.

sliced button mushrooms

sliced red onions

toasted pine nuts

Trader Joe's dried orange cranberries

1 diced Barlett pear

Must have been the lovely weather, but I was feeling inspired enough to even make my own dressing.

1 tsp minced garlic

2 tsp Napa Valley hot sweet mustard

2 TBSP white wine vinegar

1 tsp sugar

1/3 cup olive oil

Shake, shake, shake. Drizzle it over your salad and dig in!

First Installment

This year, we decided to invest in a share of an organic farm, so we can eat healthier and support a CSA (community supported agriculture). Our share will take us through 20 weeks....3/4 a bushel at a time. For our first installment, we received some purple bunchining onion, garlic scapes, asian greens, butterhead & romaine lettuce and snow peas. I couldn't wait to get started...but had to get creative. What could I make? I decided on an asian salad, which was a real hit. I washed and ripped the lettuce and greens, sauted the snow peas briefly in a bit of sesame oil and followed up by sauteing some slivered almonds in a bit of the same. I added mandarin oranges and sliced chicken. Finally, I made a yummy dressing that tastes like the one on Applebees oriental chicken salad. The dressing was easy: 3 TBSP honey (Michigan made Good-Rich Honey), 1.5 TBSP rice wine vinegar, 1/4 cup Hellman's light mayo, 1 tsp sweet/spicy mustard (Napa Valley Brand), 1/8 tsp sesame oil. Shake, shake, shake and you're good to go!