Chicken, Pear, Blue Cheese and Pecan Salad

I've wanted to make this salad for a while now and while traveling a week ago, I had this in a restaurant and it was awesome. I'm using Brianna's French Vinaigrette dressing which is an all time favorite and I'm using plain pecans instead of candied pecans because I want to keep the salad savory, not sweet

Ingredients:

Mixed salad green

Brianna's french vinaigrette dressing

1 poached chicken breast, chopped into bite size pieces

1 bartlett pear, chopped

Maytag blue cheese, crumbled

chopped pecans

Salt and pepper

Preparation:

Rinse and dry the salad greens and place in a large salad bowl. Add the chicken, pear and salad dressing and toss well. 

To serve, place a portion of salad onto a serving plate and top with crumbled Maytag blue cheese, chopped pecans and a grind of salt and pepper.

Grilled Chicken Breast Salad

There is a simple beauty to a properly cooked seared chicken breast. The skin is somewhat crispy and the breast meat is tender and juicy, but how do you do it? The key is really hot pan. I've tried to get this right many times on my gas stove, but without success. I finally got it right when I used my grill pan on the BBQ. I kept the heat high, but not high enough to burn and allowed the chicken to cook long enough to get a really nice golden brown sear. Once the skin is perfectly cooked, I reduced the heat while the breast cooks through. Lastly, letting the chicken rest 5 minutes before serving is when you will get that moist juicy breast meat.

 

Indoor outdoor grill pan

Ingredients:

Boneless chicken breast with skin

Olive oil

Salt & pepper

Mixed greens

Brianna's Vinaigrette

 

Preparation:

Take the chicken breasts and place skin side down on a plate covered in paper towels. Let the paper towels soak up any moisture on the chicken breast. Salt and pepper the breast and then brush on some olive oil on the skin side of the chicken breast.

 

Place the grill pan on the barbeque on medium heat. Put the chicken breasts on the grill pan skin side down. Adjust the heat if necessary, but it should be hot and you should here the chicken sizzling away. Continue to cook skin side down until the skin is nice and golden brown. At this point the chicken should be 3/4 cooked. Reduce the heat to low and turn the breasts over and cook for the final 5 minutes until done. Remove the chicken to a plate and let rest 5 minutes before serving.

 

To serve, place some mixed greens in a large salad bowl and toss with some Brianna's Vinaigrette dressing. Place a portion of greens on a serving plate and top with sliced chicken breast.

Chinese Chopped Chicken Salad

Here's an easy to prepare salad that is so good because of all the different greens. I use shredded cabbage, shredded romaine lettuce, baby spinach and arugula, plus a few other ingredients listed below. To give the salad a little more substance, I add some cold angle hair pasta and use one of my favorite salad dressings, Boathouse Miso Ginger.

Ingredients:
It's hard to measure shredded cabbage, lettuce and baby spinach, so I'm just going to describe how I portion out the salad for 2.

1 large handful shredded cabbage
1 large handful shredded romaine lettuce
1 large handful baby spinach
1 small handful arugula
1 poached chicken breast diced
1/2 shredded carrot
1 bunch green onions
1/2 bunch cilantro
2 tablespoons chopped walnuts

Preparation:
Combine the shredded cabbage, shredded romaine lettuce, baby spinach and arugula in a large salad bowl. Add the diced chicken breast, shredded, green onions, cilantro and chopped walnuts. Add 2 tablespoons dressing, half the amount we'll use in total, and toss well.

To serve, place a serving portion of the Chinese Chopped Chicken Salad on a plate or large bowl. Drizzle on a little more dressing and garnish with a few more diced green onions and chopped walnuts.

Wild Coldwater Shrimp Salad

Costco has these amazing fresh Coldwater shrimp that looked so good that I just had to give them a try. There are plenty of ways to make a shrimp salad, like just tossing on a little cocktail sauce, but I like my shrimp salad with finely diced celery, onion, tomato, garlic and chopped Italian parsley and just enough mayonnaise to hold the shrimp salad together.

Ingredients:

Shrimp Salad
1 pound Wild Coldwater shrimp
1/8 cup fine dice celery
1/8 cup fine dice medium yellow onion
1 fine dice Roma tomato
1 minced garlic clove
1 tablespoon chopped Italian parsley
2 tablespoons lite mayonnaise

Salad
Mixed greens for 2
4 tablespoon's Brianna's Vinaigrette salad dressing
2 Roma tomato's
1/2 medium cucumber
1 ripe avocado

Preparation:

Place the shrimp in a large mixing bowl and add the celery, onion, tomato, garlic, parsley and mayonnaise. Mix the shrimp salad gently, cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for an hour.

Use a vegetable peeler and remove the skin from the cucumber and cut 10 thin slices. Take the Roma tomato's and cut into 4 or 5 slices each. Take the avocado and cut in half, discard the pit and slice each half into 6 pieces.

Place the mixed salad greens in a large salad bowl and toss with the Brianna's salad dressing.

To serve, place a large portion of salad greens on a serving plate. Use a small bowl as a mold for the shrimp salad and place the shrimp salad on top of the mixed greens. Place the cucumber, tomato and avocado slices around the shrimp salad. Garnish the plate with chopped Italian parsley and a grind of salt and pepper.

Pear, Avocado and Pecan Salad with Mustard Vinaigrette Dressing

This is a really tasty salad combination. The vinaigrette dressing is very light in flavor that doesn't overwhelm the pear and avocado. The key to this salad is to have perfectly ripe pears and avocados.

Ingredients:
1 head red leaf lettuce
2 ripe pears
1 large avocado
Pecan pieces
Red onion slivers
4 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 large garlic clove crusted
Pinch of sugar
Pinch of salt and pepper

Preparation:

Prepare the dressing by adding the olive oil, red wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, crushed garlic clove, sugar and salt and pepper to a mixing bowl. Take a whisk and mix completely until well emulsified.

Cut the lettuce into bite size pieces and rinse and dry using your salad spinner. Place the dry lettuce into a salad bowl and add the dressing and toss.

To serve, place a portion of salad on to a serving plate. place some pear, avocado, slivers of red onion and pecans on the salad and enjoy.

Greek Salad

I know it's not a classic Greek salad ingredient, but I wish I added some sliced mild banana peppers. Next time for sure...

Ingredients:
1 head romaine lettuce
2 medium tomato's
1 large cucumber
Red onion sliced thin
1 cup Kalamata olives, pit removed, 6 olives reserved for the dressing
Diced Feta cheese
2 cloves minced garlic
4 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar
Grind of salt and pepper
Lemon

Preparation:

Wash and dry the lettuce in your salad spinner. Cut the romaine lettuce into bite size pieces and add to a large salad bowl. Cut the tomato's into 6 wedges each and then cut each wedge in half and add to the salad bowl. Peel and remove the seeds from the cucumber, dice into large pieces and add to the salad bowl. Add the onion slices, Kalamata olives and Feta to the salad bowl.

 

To make the salad dressing, combine the olive oil, vinegar, minced garlic, minced Kalamata olives, sugar, salt and pepper in a bowl or shaker. Whisk or shake until the ingredients are well combined.

 

To serve, place a portion of salad on a serving plate, squeeze on some fresh lemon and finish with a grind of fresh ground pepper.

Avocado, Tomato and Green Onion Salad with Cucumber Dill Greek Yogurt Dressing

Here's a wonderful light and bright salad that knocks it out of the park with the Bolthouse Farms Cucumber Dill Greek Yogurt Dressing. Bolthouse farms never lets you down!

 

Ingredients:

1 head green leaf lettuce

2 tablespoons per person Cucumber Dill salad dressing

1 diced avocado

1 cup cherry tomato's sliced in half

1 bunch diced green onions

 

Preparation:

Prepare the lettuce by cutting into bite size pieces and then rinsing in cold water and drying in a salad spinner. Toss the lettuce into a large salad bowl and add half the avocado, tomato's and green onion. Add the salad dressing 1 tablespoon at a time mixing really well until all the dressing is incorporated into the salad.

 

To serve, place a portion of salad onto a serving plate. Add some of the remaining avocado, tomato and green onions to the top of each salad and grind on a little fresh pepper and you're done.

 

Kale and Vegetable Salad with Blue Cheese Vinaigrette Dressing and Shredded Blue Cheese

I like some of the prepackaged salad mixes because of the unique combinations of leafy greens and vegetables, but most of the time the dressing has too many calories and fat. Here's a salad that I really like that I changed up by adding Bolthouse Farms blue cheese vinaigrette dressing and shredded blue cheese. By shredding the blue cheese you're not really adding that much cheese, maybe a tablespoon and the dressing only has 3 grams of fat. This salad is rich tasting and really healthy. 

Ingredients:

1 package Sweet Kale vegetable salad

Blue cheese wedge
Bolthouse Farms blue cheese vinaigrette dressing
Fresh ground pepper

Preparation:
Place the contents of the salad mix in a large salad bowl. Dispose of the salad dressing that came in the package. Add 2 tablespoons of the Bolthouse Farms blue cheese vinaigrette per person and mix really well.

To serve, place a portion on a serving plate and grate some blue cheese over the salad. Finish the salad with a grind of fresh black pepper.

Avocado Cilantro Salad

Here's a really tasty salad using one of my favorite salad dressings from Bolthouse Farms, cilantro avocado. This is a yogurt based dressing that got a little kick to it.

 

Ingredients:

1 head green leaf lettuce
Bolthouse cilantro avocado yogurt dressing
1 avocado diced
1 Roma tomato diced
6 green onions diced
1/4 cup cilantro leafs
Sprinkle of shredded cheese
Crispy tortilla strips

Preparation:
Wash and dry the green leaf lettuce. Cut into bite size pieces and place enough for 2 servings into a large salad bowl. Add the avocado, tomato, green onion, cilantro and cheese and mix well. Add 2 tablespoons of dressing and mix the salad really well. Place a portion of salad on a serving plate and garnish with crispy tortilla strips.

Asian Cucumber Salad

Crisp, crunchy and delicious!

Ingredients:
1 large cucumber
2 diced green onions
1/4 diced red bell pepper
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
sesame seeds

Preparation:
Peel the cucumber and cut in half lengthwise. Use a small spoon and scoop out the seeds. Slice the cucumber into 1/4" thick pieces. Place the cucumber into a 1 quart Ziploc bag and add 1/4 cup rice wine vinegar. Marinate the cucumber for an hour or more if possible.

Drain the rice wine vinegar from the cucumber and place into a bowl. Stir in the red bell pepper, green onions and cilantro. Place a portion of cucumber salad into a serving bowl or plate and sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Banana Pepper Cesar Salad

The mild banana peppers and cherry tomatoes are a nice addition to your traditional Cesar salad.

Ingredients:
1 head romaine lettuce
1/2 cup sliced mild banana peppers
1 cup sliced cherry tomatoes
4 tablespoons Gerard's light Cesar salad dressing
Parmesan cheese

Preparation:

Cut the romaine lettuce leaves into bite size pieces. Wash the lettuce in cold water, rinse and dry in your salad spinner. Place the lettuce into a large salad bowl and add the banana peppers and cherry tomato's. Add the salad dressing and mix really well to make sure the salad dressing is well incorporated.

To serve, place a portion of salad on a serving plate and garnish with parmesan cheese.

Roasted Beet and Blue Cheese Salad

I love the roasted beet and blue cheese combination. The key to this salad for me is to keep it as healthy as possible by using the proper ingredients. I like Treasure Cave reduced fat blue cheese and Opa brand Greek yogurt blue cheese salad dressing. This dressing is so good and only has 6 grams of fat per serving.

  

Ingredients:

1 head green leaf lettuce

Opa Greek yogurt blue cheese salad dressing

Roasted beets. Found in most grocery stores and Trader Joe's

Treasure cave reduced fat blue cheese

Fresh ground pepper

 

Preparation:

Prepare you lettuce by cutting the lettuce into bite size pieces washing in a salad spinner. Make sure the lettuce is perfectly dry because if there is water on the lettuce, the salad dressing will get watered down and won't be nearly as good. Place the prepared lettuce in a large salad bowl and toss with the blue cheese dressing.

 

To serve, place a portion of the salad on a plate. Top with chopped roasted beets, blue cheese and a grind of fresh ground pepper.

Southwestern Chicken Caesar Salad

This is a really nice diversion from the standard chicken Caesar salad. The roasted corn, black bean cilantro and peppery crunchy croutons fit right in with the garlicky Caesar dressing.

Ingredients: Serves 2

Romaine lettuce
4 tablespoons Girard's light Caesar dressing
1 large grilled and diced chicken breast
2 crushed garlic cloves
3/4 cup roasted corn
3/4 cup black beans
1/2 bunch chopped cilantro
Croutons, home made if possible
Parmesan cheese
Black pepper

Preparation:
Mince 2 cloves of garlic and mix in with the salad dressing in a small bowl and set a side.

Rinse, dry and cut up into bit size pieces 1 large head of romaine lettuce and place in a large salad bowl. Make sure the lettuce is very dry because if there is any water on the lettuce it will dilute the salad dressing and dilute the flavor.

What I like to do is mix in half the chicken, corn, black beans, and cilantro and toss with the salad dressing. I then take the other half of the ingredients and place on top of the salad.

Finish the salad with croutons and fresh grated parmesan cheese and ground black pepper.

Bacon, Lettuce and Tomato Chopped salad with Blue Cheese Yogurt Dressing

I've been wanting to make this for a while and it turned out better than I thought. All the flavors work wonderfully together and with the yogurt dressing, it pretty healthy as well.

Ingredients:
1 head iceberg lettuce
2 tablespoons real bacon bits
Sliced cherry tomato's
Opa Greek yogurt blue cheese salad dressing

Preparation:

Take the head of iceberg lettuce cut in half and remove the core. Slice each half of the lettuce as thin as you can ending up with a pile of shredded lettuce. Take half the amount of dressing and toss into the lettuce and place a serving portion on a serving plate. Drizzle on a little more salad dressing and top with bacon bits and sliced cherry tomato's. Finish the salad with fresh ground pepper.

Asian Chopped Salad

Here is another great product I tried and it's worth posting on the blog because it's so good. This is Asian Chopped Salad by Taylor Farms. They also make a couple other salad kits; Southwest Chopped Salad, Kale Chopped Salad and Italian Chopped salad. I'm definitely going to try each one. Give this a try some day, you won't be disappointed!

 

Ingredients:  

1 package Taylor Farms Asian Chopped salad

 

Preparation:

Add the salad mix to a large salad bowl. Mix in the dressing and you're ready to plate.

 

Garlic Caesar Salad with Homemade Croutons

I've been making this garlic Caesar salad for years and it's so good. The dressing is Girard's lite and in my opinion the best Caesar salad dressing going! However, when you add raw minced garlic...it's even better. The key to a perfect Caesar salad is making sure the lettuce is perfectly dry before putting on the salad dressing. Any moisture on the lettuce waters down the dressing and the flavor.

 

Ingredients:

Grilled chicken breast
Romaine lettuce
Girard's light Caesar salad dressing
1 large or 2 medium cloves minced garlic
4 tablespoons fresh grated parmesan cheese


Preparation:
To make the crouton, take a french baguette and slice and dice into 1/2" pieces. Place the bread on a baking pan and drizzle some olive oil and toss. Add some salt and pepper and bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Once golden brown remove from the oven and set a side.

   

Prepare you lettuce by cutting the lettuce into bite size pieces washing in a salad spinner. Make sure the lettuce is perfectly dry because if there is water on the lettuce, the salad dressing will get watered down and won't be nearly as good. Place the prepared lettuce in a large salad bowl.

 

Take the salad dressing and add to a small bowl. Add the minced garlic to the salad dressing and mix well. Add the salad dressing and parmesan cheese to the lettuce. Mix the salad very well so the dressing is evenly coats the lettuce.

 

To serve, place a portion of the salad on a plate. Top with the croutons, grate on a little more parmesan cheese and a grind of fresh ground pepper.

 

Caprese Salad

I've been wanting to make this all summer and finally got around to it. This is a classic combination that is so good it deserves to be served more than once a summer. The key to this dish is the tomato. You want to look for a organic beef steak tomato that's ripe but still firm. Drizzle the whole salad with some olive oil and some fresh ground salt and pepper and you've got perfection.
 

Ingredients:

1 large organic beef steak tomato

Fresh mozzarella cheese
Basil leaves
Olive oil
Salt and pepper

Preparation: Slice the tomato into 6 pieces and arrange on the plate. Add some olive oil on to the tomato's. Slice 6 pieces of mozzarella cheese and tuck in between the tomato's. Pick 6 nice basil leaves off the bunch and slide in between the mozzarella and tomato slices. Drizzle with a little more olive oil and a grind of  salt and pepper and your done.

Grilled Red Potato Salad

I got a new barbeque basket and really didn't know what to make of it and so it sat around for a while unused. Then I was watching a Bobby Flay barbeque show and he made this recipe. So, here's my attempt to make Bobby Flays grilled potato salad with stone ground mustard vinaigrette. I must say the dish turned out perfect and one would expect nothing less from Bobby.

 

Ingredients:

1 pound small red potatoes

2 tablespoons stone ground mustard

6 tablespoons olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

 

Preparation:

The key to this dish is the preparation of the potatoes. First, start by washing the potatoes. Next cut the potatoes into bite size wedges. Now you want to par boil the potatoes. Par boil means to partially cook. Cook the potatoes in a medium sauce pan with plenty of water at a very slow boil for 7 minutes. By doing this the potatoes will brown and crisp on the grill and have a wonderfully soft interior.

 

When the potatoes and done, strain and lay out on some paper towels in order to cool and dry. The potatoes need to be dry before you start grilling or the potatoes will stick to the grill.

 

Place the potatoes into a large bowl and add 1 tablespoon olive oil and toss. Place the potatoes in the grill basket and then on the barbeque and cook at medium heat until all sides are brown and crispy.

 

While the potatoes are grilling, take the stone ground mustard and add to a small bowl, Whisk in the remaining 5 tablespoons of olive oil. Add a grind of salt and pepper to the dressing and your done.

 

When the potatoes are done, remove from the grill to a large serving bowl. Pour on the stoneground mustard vinaigrette, toss and serve. Garnish the dish with chopped Italian parsley and fresh ground black pepper.

Mexicana Style Green Salad

This is a wonderful summer salad. Crisp cold iceberg lettuce, fragrant cilantro and green onions with mixed in sliced cherry tomatoes, black beans. I use a yogurt based ranch, Bolt House farms, what else... and topped with a  1/2 avocado. This is super healthy, crispy, crunchy and awesome. 

 

Ingredients for 2 portions:

1/2 large head iceberg lettuce

1/2 bunch cilantro

4 -5 green onions

12 cherry tomatoes

1/4 cup black beans

1 medium avocado

 

Preparation:

Take your head of lettuce and cut in half, then in quarters. Thinly slice the lettuce so you basically have shredded lettuce and place into a large salad bowl. Dice the green onions, rough chop the cilantro and add to the lettuce.

 

At this point I like to plate the salad. Put half of the lettuce on each plate and top with cherry tomatoes. Add about 2 tablespoons ranch salad dressing and top with 1/2 sliced avocado. Give a grind of pepper and you're done. 

Grilled Chicken, Shrimp and Asparagus Caesar Salad

Here's a salad that you can serve as a main dish for dinner. It's really pretty easy to prepare and the flavor combination of the chicken, shrimp, red onion and parmesan cheese work very well together. As usual, I use my favorite salad dressing, Bolthouse Farms and this is the Caesar Parmigianino Yogurt Salad Dressing.

 

Ingredients: Serves 2

1 head romaine lettuce, washed and cut into bite size pieces

1 grilled chicken breast

8 medium cooked shrimp
4 asparagus cut into 1" pcs

Sliced red onion

shaved parmesan cheese

Bolthouse Farms Caesar Parmigianino Yogurt Salad Dressing.

 

Preparation:

Take you prepared romaine lettuce and put into a large salad bowl. Add the sliced grilled chicken, shrimp, asparagus, red onion and 4 tablespoons Caesar Parmigianino Yogurt Salad Dressing and toss. Plate the salad and be sure to have 4 shrimp per serving. Garnish with shave parmesan cheese.