Mango chicken salad

I am behind in posting dinners due to an iPhoto fail that happened while I was in Europe. John being the tech savvy guy he is was able to save all my pictures and fix iPhoto but it did come with a lot of complaining about my mac (he's a pc guy). But I'm back in business!

Eating in Europe was delicious I had some pretty amazing meals but it lacked a good old veggies and fruit, (the Swedes like their meat and potatoes) so a big salad was in order this week.

I marinated some chicken in a lime chili marinated which consisted of:

• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 1/2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 1 lime, juiced
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• cayenne pepper to taste

After grilling the chicken and setting it to the side to cool I cut up some mango and avocado, then threw in  the chicken once it was cooled.

Then placed on top of some Italian mixed greens

Since I can't eat salad with out dressing I mixed up a few ingredients.

• 2T of olive oil
• 2T of white wine vinegar
• pinch of sugar
• salt & pepper to taste
  

Bag salad again

Sadly it was time to make the drive back to Boston. I finally got my butt in gear to leave around 3pm packed up the car and headed out. Before leaving though I grabbed a bag salad to eat for dinner, I thought it would be healthier then rest stop food. I chose the perfect harvest salad which had apple cider vinaigrette, dried cranberries, sliced almonds, shredded carrots and a mix of lettuce, endive and radicchio.

I just mixed everything up in the bag and ate it with a plastic fork Sarah had given me.

source

I didn't get home until about 8:30 and I was exhausted! I unpacked and hit the couch and counted down until bed time. I desperately wanted to go to bed then but I figured 8:30 was to early. :)

Bag salad

After work this evening I hit the gym followed by picking up some much needed things at Target. Our target has now a grocery section so I was looking through the refrigerated section when I came across the bagged salads. You know the ones they have everything in it to make a salad, for some weird reason I have been craving caesar salad all week so when I saw this I had to buy it.

And this is what I had for dinner the whole bag! I used the lettuce, and croutons it came with the the parm cheese was looking a little gross so I add some fresh grated I had at home.

Along with some tomatoes and I only used half the dressing packet.

Mixed it all together, and enjoyed!

Tomorrow night we have plans to go see the RPI and Harvard hockey game with a bunch of friends. John and a bunch of his friends went to RPI and our friend Timmy went to RPI and now teaches at Harvard.

Warm Winter salad

All I have to say about tonight's dinner is that it was yummmyyyy! Make it.
Warm Winter salad (adapted Eating well)

• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 apples, sliced
• 2 small shallots, minced
• 6 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 4 teaspoons Dijon mustard
• 3 cups shredded cooked chicken
• 1 large head radicchio, thinly sliced
• 1 large fennel bulb, cored and thinly sliced
• 2 large carrots, cut into matchsticks
• 2 tablespoons chopped walnuts, toasted
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• 12 large butterhead or Boston lettuce leaves
• 1/2 cup feta

1.  Heat oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat. Add pears and cook, stirring occasionally, until they start to brown, about 2 minutes. Transfer to a bowl with a slotted spoon.
2. Whisk shallots, vinegar and mustard in a small bowl; add to the pan and cook, stirring constantly, for 30 seconds. Add turkey (or chicken), radicchio, fennel, carrots and walnuts. Cook, stirring occasionally, until just wilted, about 3 minutes. Return the pears to the pan and season with salt and pepper.
3. Divide lettuce leaves among 4 plates. Top with the warm salad and sprinkle with cheese.Serves 2 

Per serving: 384 calories; 15 g fat ( 4 g sat , 6 g mono ); 83 mg cholesterol; 32 g carbohydrates; 33 g protein; 9 g fiber; 548 mg sodium; 1284 mg potassium.

I put the chicken salad over top some mixed greens and added a little feta

Salad

In continuing with the leftover theme tonight's dinner was a mix of vegetables made into a salad. Started with some lettuce and added carrots, cucumbers, peppers, some leftover steak pieces, tomatoes and of course some feta. I topped it with some balsamic vinegar salad dressing and dinner was served!

Afterwards I noticed the mangos we had were finally ripening up so I decided to make some of my super secret recipe for mango salsa ! Well it's not that super secret but every time I make it everyone always ask me if I put something special in it because it's really good. My answer nope! Here's what I do:

• dice a red bell pepper 
• dice up a red onion
• cut up some fresh cilantro
• finally cut your mango into small chunks

Mix all together add a little lime juice and your done! Simple, easy and the best mango salsa you'll ever have. I think if there is any trick it is to make sure your mango's are perfectly ripe. It really does make a difference I made some with not quite ripe mango's and it just wasn't the same.

I had some with water crackers because we were out of tortilla chips :(  It was between the crackers and ruffles potato chips I thought the crackers were a better choice. :)

Night!

Salad & leftovers

Dinner tonight was an easy one I threw together salads for John and I and we reheated up some cabbage rolls from Sunday night's dinner. I hate throwing food away so I always try to have a "leftover" night and the rest I usually bring to eat for lunch.

In the salads I added lettuce of course :) tomatoes, cucumbers, yellow peppers, feta cheese and carrots.

I had a small cabbage roll and gave John the bigger of the 2.

Tomorrow is our Friday!! I have off for Veterans day and it is John's off Friday, we have no plans except the gym in the morning. Maybe I'll finally get around to make those donuts to finish my 5 days of apple recipes!

Salad

Tonight John has a bachelor party to go to so that means dinner for one tonight. I didn't feel like cooking so I decided to go with a salad. Salad is one of those things that for some reason is always much better when someone else makes it for you then when you make it. But I think I figured it out!!

There is a Sebastian's near my work that has this amazing salad bar but is crazy expensive, their salad is always really good. I wanted to recreate a salad that I could get from their salad bar but way less expensive. In the salad I put assorted romain lettuce, black beans, corn, beets, cucumbers, carrots,  tomatoes, and feta. I put all the ingredients in a bowl and added some balsamic vinaigrette, then mixed it together using tongs. Now I know this is going to sound silly but for some reason the salad taste so much better when its all mixed together with the dressing then when everything is all piled on top of each other layer by layer in the bowl. I am sure you all know what I mean. :)

The rest of the evening I'll be catching up on my DVR'd shows we are up to 89% filled!

Panzanella

Tonight's dinner was simple and easy using up some produce and bread we had left over. Panzanella is something I have came across many of times while looking for dinner recipes but something I never made. I wasn't sure really what it was so I googled and found it is originally a Florence dish made in the summer which was originally based on onions but in the 20th century switched to tomatoes which is fine by me. :)

I started by chopping red and yellow bell peppers, tomatoes, and cucumbers put them in a bowl and added some capers, salt and pepper.

Next I cut the left over bread into cubes and toasted them in the oven for a little until they were crispy.

John mixed together the dressing ingredients which were olive oil, white wine vinegar, salt, pepper, garlic and mustard. 

Then mix all together and there you have it a panzanella salad!

For dessert tonight we are having butterscotch meringue bars, which has a layer or cookie bar then melted chocolate chips and top it off with a meringue layer. (I'll add the recipe to my recipe tab)  Mmmmm John is in love with these!!