a fresh dinner

My friend Alisha posted a picture on facebook of a dinner that she made.

It looked delicious.

Why hadn't I thought to make that?

It's Chicken Taco Salad. Here's the recipe I've roughly followed. Roughly, because it sounded easy enough to try without using a recipe.

So I tried.

Without the recipe.

Now if you know me at all, you know that I routinely follow recipes. Only on occasion do I branch out and try recipes with my own spin. It's not that I'm scared, or have a fear of ruining it. I am a rule follower. Plain and simple.

And it was good.

It's fresh.

It's flavorful.

It's perfect for summer.

I've made it two more times since then.

It makes a lot.

It's my go-to dish.

Here's how I make it:

I season a chicken breast with olive oil, salt, pepper, cumin and chili powder. I bake it like Ree does for her Chicken Tortilla Soup, at 375 for 20 minutes. I'm guessing you could also grill it, but I haven't tried that because I'm not turning on our behemoth of a grill for one little chicken breast. I think I made the first one our our Forman grill though.

While it cools, I assemble the rest. I use romaine, because it's hearty and has nutritional value. I just made the "sauce" using plain yogurt (as opposed to Greek, I'm currently boycotting it for its byproduct), before I had just used some homemade ranch and sour cream. The yogurt/mayo combo is SO much better.

I use all fresh herbs (I need to blog about that, I need to take some pictures of my potted herb garden on our deck); cilantro, dill, oregano, parsley and thyme (those are the same herbs in my homemade ranch, in case you were wondering) plus some dry herbs and spices like garlic powder, onion powder and whatever else Bill tells me is in taco seasoning. Plus the same things I used to season the chicken.

I add two roma tomatoes, the can of black beans and however much frozen corn I feel like adding. I also shred monterey jack cheese and cheddar. The avocado is like the icing on the cake.

Or the nacho chips are.

I can't decide.

I like a crunch, so the chips add something extra. Plus they take the place of needing utensils.

I hope you try it. Again, I think it's perfect for a hot summer night. Refreshing, filling, and healthy. Until you add the cheese. And the nacho chips. But healthier than ice cream.

But it's summer, so ice cream is necessary.

So is this salad. Let me know if you try it!

Saturday, it was a good day

Are you enjoying your holiday weekend? We are. Dinner last night was delicious. So was dinner tonight. 

We had steaks and veggies on the grill. 

What veggies?

I'm glad you asked.

A zucchini, asparagus and a yellow squash. 

We also had a salad with the homemade Caesar dressing.

We got a lot done too. I planted veggies with D.d. in our community garden plot. We have a couple pepper plants, lettuce, a tomato, an eggplant and sunflowers. We are excited to see our little plot thrive!

Then, when Heather W. arrived, we did a little shopping. We went to three garden centers. We also visited several stores searching for furniture. Heather is looking for a couple of specific pieces; a sideboard and a sofa table. We did not find what she was looking for. 

After our lovely dinner, Heather and I worked in the backyard, pulling the grass out of the bricks.

Then, strawberry shortcake.

It's been a good day.

here's what's in store...

for the weekend.

Starting tomorrow evening, we'll be having Heather O. over for dinner. On the menu: Hamburgers (cheese optional), homemade baked beans (the beans are soaking now), homemade potato chips, and strawberry shortcake.

Saturday, Heather W. will be coming for her traditional Memorial weekend visit. We have sandwich fixin's for lunch. For dinner we'll be having either steaks or ribs and whatever else we feel like eating. Then Sunday night dinner will be whichever meat is left over.

Extras include; corn dip, potato salad, onion rings, homemade biscuits, apple pie, and Bill's big Sunday breakfast. 

Oh yeah, we have salad fixin's too. 

And there will be ice cream!!!

Have a safe and fun weekend!

dinner last night

Last night for dinner I made a salad of sorts. Let me explain.

I found this recipe and decided to try it. It called for rotisserie chicken, romaine lettuce, olives and day old focaccia bread. We had some romaine and ciabatta bread; so I bought chicken breasts and olives. It called for a Mediterranean seasoning packet to use to make the dressing but I knew, between Bill and I, one of us could create something.

I grilled the chicken by simply drizzling it with olive oil and seasoning it with fresh ground salt and pepper. I put it on the Foreman grill for about seven minutes a side (I do flip it once to get good grill marks on both sides) then I check the temp (which is always over 160) and remove the chicken, letting it rest until it's cool to touch. While it cooled, I cut up the ciabatta bread and put it in a frying pan with olive oil until it was lightly toasted. I removed the bread and added the olives. By this point the chicken was cool enough to slice, so once I did that I added all of it back to the pan and tossed it all together. Bill made the dressing using olive oil, vinegar and some basic seasonings. I divided the romaine between two plates and piled up the chicken mixture on top of it. Then I topped both plates with grated parmesan.

It was delicious! While I didn't expect it to be a hearty winter dish, the warmth of heating everything up in the pan made it so. We had protein and carbs, a vegetable and a fruit. We had it all and it was filling. A salad but so much more.

I hope we can put it on the Mellon Collie menu, I'm trying to think of a good name... suggestions? I'm thinking, "The Healthy Dose", "If you must eat your veggies... salad", or "Hearts of estranged salad" (get it? Because nothing else is healthy). Maybe Bill will have a better name. He's got all the cleverness between us.