Chicken Tortilla Salad with Pineapple Pico de Gallo

The inspiration for this salad comes from a salad I had at Cheddar's. I don't remember what they called it. All I remember is how much I enjoyed the Pineapple Pico de Gallo with the southwest flavors in the salad. I am not going to lie, this is more work then what I usually do to make a salad. But it is worth it. I can't think of a single item I would leave out. The stand out ingredient is still the Pineapple Pico. I just love the sweet spicy pieces it adds to the salad. It would also be good with chicken, pork or even shrimp. In fact I may try this salad with shrimp one day. The other amazing ingredient is the Avocado Ranch Dressing. It is creamy, tangy and fresh. Just a little twist on typical ranch. I love the avocado and herbs together. It would be great on tacos too. So when you find yourself will a little time on your hands treat yourself to this salad. If you are short on time just try the Pineapple Pico or the Avocado Ranch. They are so good!

Chicken Tortilla Salad with Pineapple Pico de Gallo

Makes 2 large dinner salads

Ingredients

For Tortilla Strips:

2 corn tortillas, cut into 1/2” by 2” strips

Olive oil cooking spray

Salt

For the chicken:

1 boneless skinless chicken breast

Sazon, to taste

Lime juice

Olive oil

For the salad:

1-1/2 hearts of romaine lettuce, chopped

1/4 cup can black beans, drained and rinsed

1/4 cup can corn, drained

2 green onions, sliced

1/4 cup Avocado Ranch Dressing (recipe below)

1/2 cup Pineapple Pico de Gallo (recipe below)

1/4 cup reduced fat, sharp cheddar cheese, grated

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Cut the stack of tortillas into strips and arrange the strips in a single layer on a baking rack on top of a cookie sheet.

Spray each tortilla strip with cooking spray until slightly moist. Sprinkle strips with salt.

Bake for 10 – 12 minutes, rotate the pan halfway through. Bake until the strips are crisp, but not too brown. Set aside.

Preheat grill to medium-high heat (10 min).

Season chicken breast with sazon. Drizzle chicken with olive oil, lime juice and turn to coat. Grill chicken 4 to 6 minutes a side, until cooked through. Set a side to rest for 10 minutes. Dice chicken into bite size pieces. Set aside.

Toss the lettuce with black beans, corn, green onion and avocado ranch dressing. Sprinkle with cheese and top with pineapple pico de gallo, diced chicken and tortilla strips.

Pineapple Pico de Gallo

Makes approx. 5 cups

Ingredients

2 medium tomatoes, diced

1/2 medium red onion, diced

1 Tbsp pickled jalapeno peppers, minced

1/2 bunch cilantro, chopped

1 (20 oz) can pineapple tidbits drained, 1 Tbsp juice reserved

3 Tbsp lemon juice

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl. Stir to combine. Refrigerate, stirring occasionally until chilled and flavors have combined. Serve with tortilla chips, over grilled chicken/fish or salads.

Avocado Ranch Dressing

Makes approx. 1 cup

         

Ingredients

1/2 medium/large avocado

1/4 cup light mayonnaise

1/4 cup light sour cream

2 Tbsp low fat buttermilk

1-1/2 tsp lime juice

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp cilantro, minced

1 tsp green onion, minced

1/2 tsp dill, minced

1/2 tsp garlic, minced

Dash black pepper

A sprinkle cayenne pepper

Directions

Place the avocado in a bowl and mash with a fork until it is smooth. Add in the rest of the ingredients. Stir until everything is mixed well. Place, covered in the refrigerator to let flavors blend. Serve as a salad dressing or dipping sauce.

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Buns In My Oven: What's Cookin Wednesday

Malibleu Beach Salad with Grilled Chicken

A co-worker introduced me to this salad years ago. We would go to dinner at Semolina’s Restaurant. She would always order the Malibleu Beach Salad with Grilled Chicken. I developed this recipe after our Semolina’s closed. It is delicious with or without chicken. The sweet raisins are great with the blue cheese. And I love the tart tang of the sun-dried tomatoes. This salad has a lot of great texture too; the apples and walnuts add great crunch. It makes a great chopped salad. Just chop everything in similar size pieces.

Malibleu Beach Salad with Grilled Chicken

Serves 2

Ingredients

For the chicken:

1 boneless skinless chicken breast

Salt, to taste

Black pepper, to taste

Red pepper flakes, to taste

Lawry’s Seasoned salt, to taste

Olive oil

For the salad:

1 bag of Spring Mix salad greens

6 sun-dried tomatoes, sliced

1 Granny Smith apple, chopped

1/4 cup Raisins

2 Tbsp walnuts, chopped

1 scallion, sliced

1/4 cup blue cheese, crumbles

Balsamic Vinaigrette (recipe below)

Directions

Preheat grill to medium-high heat (10 min).

Re-hydrate sun-dried tomatoes (if using dry packed).

Season chicken breast with salt, black pepper, red pepper flakes and Lawry’s. Drizzle chicken with olive oil and turn to coat. Grill chicken 4 to 6 minutes a side, until cooked through. Set a side to rest for 10 minutes. Slice chicken into bite size pieces.

Toss the salad greens with some(4 to 6 Tbsp.) balsamic vinaigrette and top with tomatoes, apples, raisins, walnuts, and scallion. Sprinkle with blue cheese and top with sliced chicken.

Balsamic Vinaigrette

Makes approx. 1/2 cup

Ingredients

3 oz olive oil

1 oz Balsamic vinegar

1 tsp Dijon mustard

1 garlic clove, minced (approx. 1/2 tsp)

1 tsp honey

1 tsp parsley, chopped

1 tsp basil, chopped

Salt, black pepper and red pepper flakes, to taste

Directions

Mix vinaigrette ingredients in a small mason jar. Secure with lid and shake until emulsified. Store remaining dressing in the refrigerator for up to a week.



Linking to:
Life on Lakeshore Drive: A Bouquet of Talent Linky Party
Ms. enPlace: See Ya in the Gumbo
This Gal Cooks: Marvelous Mondays
Jam Hands: Recipe Sharing Mondays
Buns In My Oven: What's Cookin Wednesday

Avocado Delight

This is one of those sandwiches you just can't put down. Yes it is that good, but the real reason is that it will fall apart. This can be a very messy sandwich. You have been warned. You really should pick up a half and not let go until it is gone. 

I can't take credit for this sandwich combination. It is from the menu of Counter Culture Yogurt. While I can't make their yogurt at home, I can make this delicious sandwich. I use light and reduced fat ingredients to try to lower the calories a bit. I promise there is so much flavor in the fresh ingredients you will not miss the full fat ones. I love the avocado, mayo and cheddar combination. Pick a perfectly ripe avocado and you can't go wrong. Don't worry if you cannot find sprouts. It is great without them, but if you find them they do add great texture. Lastly, go to a Counter Culture if you can. Their yogurt is wonderful and I love the "David's Drink" there.

Avocado Delight

Serves 2

Ingredients

4 slices of soft light wheat bread

1/4 cup light mayonnaise

1/2 cup reduced fat, sharp cheddar cheese

2 lettuce leaves, ribs removed

2-4 tomato slices

Alfalfa sprouts (optional)

1 medium/large avocado, diced

Jane’s Krazy Mixed-Up Salt to taste

Directions

Spread mayo on one side of each piece of bread. Top two slices of bread with cheese. Layer with lettuce, tomato and sprouts, sprinkle with Jane’s. Top with avocado, also seasoned with a sprinkling of Jane’s. Assemble sandwich and cut in half.

Linking to:
Life on Lakeshore Drive: A Bouquet of Talent Linky Party
Ms. enPlace: See Ya in the Gumbo
This Gal Cooks: Marvelous Mondays
Jam Hands: Recipe Sharing Mondays
Buns In My Oven: What's Cookin Wednesday

Crab and Avocado Sandwich

Once upon a time there was a restaurant in the Heart of Bossier shopping center called Louisiana Bar and Grill. It was one of the few places the family would drive "all the way" to Bossier for a meal. Mom, sister and I would always order the Crab and Avocado Sandwich. Funny, that is really one of the only things I remember about the place. It was a little loud, combination bar and restaurant with this great sandwich. Now it is a billiards slash bar kind of place. It closed when I was in college. Since then we have been making the sandwich at home. It couldn't be easier and it is so delicious. I love the creamy filling of avocado, crab and thousand island. They really complement each other. The pepper jack cheese adds a little spice and the sourdough a tangy crunch. Try it next time you want a grown up grill cheese.

Crab and Avocado Sandwich

Serves: 2

Ingredients

4 slices Sourdough Bread

Light Butter

4 slices Pepper Jack Cheese

1/2 cup Lump Crabmeat

1/8 cup Thousand Island Dressing (recipe follows)

1 medium/large avocado, sliced

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Spread butter on one side of each piece of bread. Place two slices of bread butter side down in a skillet. Layer with pepper jack, crab meat, dressing and avocado, season with salt and pepper. Top with another piece of pepper jack and remaining slices of bread butter side up. Turn skillet on to medium high heat. Grill sandwich until golden brown. Carefully flip sandwich and continue to grill until second side is golden brown. Remove from pan and cut in half on the diagonal.

I use to buy bottled Thousand Island Dressing for this sandwich. You are welcome to do so, but I found I was always throwing away the rest of the bottle. It would just go unused and sit in the refrigerator until it expired. So this time I decided to make my own. It turned out great. This is more than a salad dressing. It just might become my special sauce recipe for burgers too. It is creamy, tangy and a little crunchy from the pickle and onion. Best of all, it makes less than a cup. 

Thousand Island Dressing

Makes: approx. 3/4 cup

Ingredients

1/2 cup light Mayonnaise

2 Tbsp. ketchup

1 Tbsp. white vinegar

2 tsp. sugar

2 tsp. sweet pickle relish

2 tsp. onion, finely minced

1/8 tsp salt

1 dash black pepper

1 smidgen cayenne pepper

Directions

Combine all of the ingredients in a small bowl. Stir until well combined.

Place dressing in a container with tight fitting lid. Refrigerate for several hours. Stir occasionally, so that the sugar dissolves and the flavors blend.



Linking to:
Life on Lakeshore Drive: A Bouquet of Talent Linky Party
Ms. enPlace: See Ya in the Gumbo
Jam Hands: Recipe Sharing Mondays
Anyonita Nibbles: Tasty Tuesdays
Buns In My Oven: What's Cookin Wednesday

Catching Up

I'm back! I guess I have been a lazy blogger. I have not stop cooking, just traveling and working. Here is a short recap to catch you up on what I have been cooking.

I went to central Texas for a long Memorial day weekend. We had a wonderful relaxing weekend. We did do some cooking, but I did not take a single photo. Lucky for you all the recipes we cooked were from America's Test Kitchen or from another food blog on Pinterest. Below is a link to the recipes and our review.

Home Fries
I had seen an episode of America's Test Kitchen where they made Home Fries. I love Home Fries, I love potatoes any old way. So we decided to try making them on our long weekend. When looking for this recipe, I discovered My Year with Chris. This is a wonderful blog chronicling cooking recipes from America's Test Kitchen, Cook's Illustrated and Cook's Country. I will be going back to this blog often. We actually followed their post to cook our Home Fries. The technique is perfect. You really do get that crisp, brown coating on the potatoes with a soft fluffy interior. It would be easy to prepare home fries for a large family this way. Our only disappointment was the seasoning. We are use to spicy home fries from the diners around here. So we added some Cajun seasoning at the end. But the seasoning does not stick at that point. The time to season is before they go in the oven. We both agreed, we will try again with our own seasonings.


Fresh Pasta without a Machine
We also tried our hand at making fresh pasta. It is another recipe from America's Test Kitchen. We actually followed along with a recording of the episode. It was really easy. We took turns rolling out each sheet. We soon learned you need a lot of counter space to prepare this recipe. Our chopping board was a little too small to roll to the length recommended. Next time we will clear the counter and roll it out there. It really did roll out very easy. We also learned it is important to have counter space to let the sheets dry a little before you cut them. We had a few over lapping each other and they were harder to separate into noodles. I will definitely make this again. The flavor and texture was great, well worth the effort. I can't wait to make wide style pasta like pappardelle or tagliatelle. I have a hard time finding it here. I also want to try making noodles for soup. I may need a countertop addition.


Restaurant Style Filet
This is one of those Pinterest recipes you should try. It comes from Whit's Amuse Bouche blog. It is a great tutorial for a restaurant-style filet. Dear sister and I made it once at my house. We decided it did not need all the salt that is recommended. But it was definitely worth trying again. So we tried again Memorial Day weekend. This time I seasoned it with salt and pepper as I would any steak, but I followed the recipe for everything else. This time the seasoning was perfect. The only thing I want to experiment with is the compound butter. Whit's was good, but we are not use to lemon on our steaks. We will keep experimenting with this technique. It really makes for a moist, tender and flavorful steak.

Go check out all these recipes.

Ponzu Soba Noodles with Broiled Flank Steak

After Mother's day, I made this Ponzu Soba Noodles with Broiled Flank Steak from Cuisine at Home. It was delicious! I really like ponzu. It is a light citrus flavored soy condiment. It is great on anything you want to give an Asian flare. It went surprisingly well with the basil too. But let me warn you this salad is best fresh. I noticed the basil sort of took over all the other flavors the next day. So if you plan to make ahead add the basil just before serving. The steak was nice and tender. I know some of you are looking at this photo and thinking is that steak cooked. It was a perfect medium rare. I find that flank steak gets tough if you over cook it. So if you like your steak well done choose another cut of beef. This was my first experience with soba noodles. They are so silky in texture. At least that is what dear sister said. I will definitely make this salad and soba noodles again.

Ponzu Soba Noodles with Broiled Flank Steak
Source: Cuisine at Home
Makes 4 servings 

Ingredients

1/3 cup ponzu sauce
1-1/2 tsp chili garlic sauce
1 tsp vegetable oil
1 lb flank steak, trimmed, seasoned with salt and black pepper
8 oz dry soba noodles
5 cups coleslaw mix
1 cup shelled edamame, blanched
3/4 cup shredded fresh basil 

Directions

Preheat broiler to high with rack 6 inches from element.

Whisk together ponzu, chili garlic sauce, and oil for the dressing in a large bowl.

Broil steak 5 minutes per side. Tent steak with foil and lest rest 5 minutes, then slice thinly against the grain.

Cook soba noodles according to package directions, then drain and rinse with cold water.

Toss noodles, coleslaw, edamame, and basil with dressing; season with salt. Top noodles with sliced flank steak.

Per serving: 432 cal; 10 g fat(3 g sat); 32 mg chol; 614 mg sodium; 54 carb; 7 g fiber; 31 g protein

Pork and Shrimp Dumplings

This has to be my favorite dish from our Mother's Day Menu. It was the most fun to make, the tastiest and most aromatic. I saw the recipe on the Chew. The original recipe called for ground chicken. I substituted lean ground pork because it is available at my store. Ground chicken is not. Mom and I had so much fun! We snacked on Asian Party Mix, sipped wine and folded dumplings. We got quite good at it if I do say so myself. From the very beginning I thought this was going to be amazing. The raw filling smelled so good. The aroma only got better as they steamed. The filling was moist, soft and full of flavor. The blend of pork, shrimp, garlic, ginger, soy and sesame oil was perfect. I would not change a thing. I will make again very soon!

Some helpful hints about folding the dumplings: I dusted a plate with cornstarch to prevent them from sticking. I also covered the finished raw dumplings with a damp paper towel. I steamed some dumplings right away for us as appetizers and saved some for when sister arrived. I steamed about 8 at a time and transferred the finish cooked dumplings to a plate. I covered them with foil to keep them warm and to prevent them from drying out. You will need tongs or chopsticks the help remove them from the steamer. I also discovered you can warm the steamed dumplings in the steamer for 3 minutes and they are fresh as when they were first steamed.

Pork and Shrimp Dumplings

Adapted from: the Chew - Clinton Kelly’s Chicken and ShrimpDumplings

Makes 24 to 28 pieces

Ingredients

28 wonton wrappers

1/2 pound lean ground pork

1/2 pound shrimp (peeled and deveined)

2 garlic cloves (chopped)

2 teaspoons fresh ginger (grated)

3 scallions (chopped)

1 tablespoon soy sauce

2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil

2 teaspoons cornstarch

2 cups chicken stock

nonstick spray

Directions

For the Dumplings: Bring 1 quart of water and 2 cups of chicken stock to a boil in a medium stock pot. Reduce to a simmer.

Place the pork, shrimp, garlic, ginger, scallions, soy sauce, sesame oil and cornstarch in a food processor and pulse until fully combined.

Brush a wonton wrapper with water. Place 2 teaspoons of the mixture into the center of the wrapper and bring the four corners up to the center and pinch to seal while pressing out any excess air. Repeat with the remaining wrappers and filling.

Place the dumplings into a steamer basket that has been lightly sprayed with nonstick spray, in one layer making sure the edges do not touch, working in batches.

Place the steamer basket into the stock pot and cover with a lid. Cook for 12-15 minutes.

Gently remove the dumplings to a serving platter along with the dipping sauces.

Notes:

Do not pulse the shrimp too finely.  Large pieces of shrimp are delicious in the filling.

Make sure there is space between the steamer and the water. Also, do not overcrowd the steamer.

Watch the water level in the steamer, add more if the level drops.

As for the sauces, I was not a big fan. They were okay, but needed to be altered a bit. On the Chew they suggested using take-out sauce packets to make the dipping sauces. I think that may have contributed to my lack luster approval of the sauces. They were a little bland or stale tasting on their own. I added lemon juice, honey and/or mustard to taste. My family enjoyed the sauces. I think I would try again with premium jar sauces not take-out packets.


Sweet and Sour Dipping Sauce

Ingredients

1/2 cup duck sauce

1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 tablespoon Sriracha

Directions

Whisk together the ingredients until fully combined.

Note: I added honey and lemon juice to taste.

Spicy Mustard Dipping Sauce

Ingredients

1/4 cup spicy Chinese mustard

2 tablespoons hot water

2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar

1 teaspoon brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon toasted sesame oil

Directions

Whisk together the ingredients until fully combined.

Note: I added honey, lemon juice and Dijon mustard.



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