BBQ Chicken Salad

Pin It I love BBQ chicken pizza.  If it is on a menu, I will order it.  So when I had some leftover BBQ chicken I was really tempted to make a pizza, but I was short on time and I decided that I could probably make a healthier choice. I decided on a salad.  It has all of the ingredients from a BBQ chicken pizza (minus the crust) with a delicious BBQ ranch dressing.  Healthy, yet satisfying.

BBQ Chicken Salad
1 boneless skinless chicken breast, grilled and basted with BBQ sauce
Romaine lettuce, chopped
Red onion, sliced
Red pepper, diced
shredded cheddar cheese

BBQ Ranch Dressing
2 Tbsp ranch dressing
1 Tbsp BBQ sauce

1. Arrange salad ingredients in a bowl.
2. Mix dressing ingredients together until uniform in color.
3. Pour dressing over salad

Strawberry Nectarine Poppyseed Salad

Pin It I've been on a salad kick for lunches lately.  I think it has something to do with all of the fresh produce that we have in the house from going to farmer's markets.  It inspires me to eat healthy.  I also just recently started making my own salad dressing.  It is surprisingly simple and so much healthier than bottled stuff because you know exactly what is in it.  I also used some of my Glazed Pecans for this salad to add some crunch.  This salad is crisp, sweet and healthy...all around summer perfection.

Check out Trick or Treat Tuesday for some craft and recipe ideas!

Strawberry Nectarine Poppyseed Salad
**Adjust amounts depending on the crowd you are feeding
Romaine lettuce
Nectarines, thinly sliced
Strawberries, thinly sliced
Glazed Pecans
Red onion, thinly sliced

Poppyseed Dressing
1 cup mayonnaise
2 tsp white vinegar
1 tbsp white sugar, or to taste (I like mine a little sweeter)
2 tsp poppyseeds

1. Whisk all dressing ingredients together until well combined.
2. Arrange salad with romaine on the bottom and nectarines, strawberries and onions on top.  Sprinkle with glazed pecans.
3. Drizzle with dressing when ready to serve.

Avocado Tuna Salad

Pin It There have been a lot of commercials on the radio about fresh avocados lately and one commercial suggests putting avocado with your tuna salad.  For some reason I always hear that one when I am starving so today I decided to try it out.  The verdict: delicious!  I don't know why I never thought of this before.  This was also a perfect lunch due to the record breaking heat wave we are having right now.  I made a sandwich today, but this would be just as delicious with crackers.   Enjoy!

Avocado Tuna Salad
1 can tuna, drained
1/2 ripe avocado, diced
3 Tbso Miracle Whip (or to taste)
3 Tbsp chopped walnuts, optional

1. Place all ingredients in a bowl and mix.  Store in the refrigerator until ready to serve.
2. If making a sandwich like mine, toast your bread and spread a light coating of Miracle Whip on each piece.  Top with tuna salad.

Pulled Pork Quesadillas

Pin It The pulled pork that I made yesterday made way too much for Albert and I to eat in a meal.  I love leftovers, but eating the exact same thing for 3 days in a row can get  very boring.  I made these quesadillas out of some of the leftovers and they were an amazing lunch.

Pulled Pork Quesadillas
I didn't include measurements because you can make these as big as you want
Pulled pork
flour tortillas
gruyere cheese (or cheese of your choice)

1. Heat up leftover pork.
2. Heat a skillet over medium heat and spray with cooking spray.
3. Lay out a tortilla and spread pork and cheese on one half.  Fold the other half on top and place in the skillet.
4. Cook 3-4 minutes per side until golden brown and cheese is melted.

Notes- I heat up my porkl first because I found that I don't cook the quesadilla long enough to heat the pork all the way through without the tortilla getting to brown.
I chose gruyere cheese because it melts very nicely and has a mild flavor that pairs well with the BBQ pork flavor.

Curry in a Hurry

Pin It I love Thai food, but I don't make it at home very often.  I saw a recipe for soup that uses Ramen noodles and that inspired me to make some curry with Ramen noodles as the base.  It was delicious and fast.  This would make a great lunch or fast dinner.  This is one of those versatile recipes that you can use any veggies or meat that you want. 

Curry in a Hurry
2 cups chopped veggies (I used red and green peppers, onions, carrots)
1 can lite coconut milk
2 Tbsp red curry paste (or to taste)
1 package Ramen noodles (any flavor)
1/2 lb shrimp, peeled

1. In a small pot, boil the Ramen noodles until cooked.  Don't use the seasoning packet.
2. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, saute veggies in a little olive oil until tender.  Add the shrimp to the pan and cook until pink.
3. Add coconut milk to skillet and stir in curry paste.  Allow sauce to come to a boil and simmer for about 5 minutes.
4. Add cooked noodles to the skillet and toss with sauce.

Southwest Chipotle Salmon Salad

Pin It It's summer and that means cool lunches.  This is a healthy lunch that packs a ton of veggies.  I made this with salmon because I had a lone salmon fillet in my freezer, but feel free to substitute chicken or shrimp.  I enjoyed this on top of a bed of lettuce for a fancy salad, but you could easily eat it as a complete light meal.  Enjoy!

Southwest Chipotle Salmon Salad
**serves 2 for a light lunch
Dressing:
1/2 cup light sour cream
1 Tbsp ground chipotle (or to taste, can be spicy!)
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground corriander
juice of 1/2 a lime

Salad:
1 salmon fillet, grilled and diced
1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
1/2 avocado, diced
1 cup southwest blend frozen veggies (corn, black beans, onions and peppers)
1/2 red pepper, diced
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
juice of 1/2 a lime
1/3 cup queso fresco, crumbled

Lettuce of your choice, chopped (optional)

1. Mix all dressing ingredients in a bowl and set aside.
2. In a medium sized bowl combine tomatoes, avocado, veggies, pepper.  Stir in salmon and cilantro.  Squeeze lime juice on top.
3. Pour dressing over veggie mixture and stir gently.  Crumble cheese on top.
4. Serve over lettuce or alone.  Sprinkle with extra cilantro and cheese if needed.

Southwest Dr. Pepper Beef Quinoa Salad

Pin It I had some leftover Dr. Pepper beef and wasn't really in the mood for tacos again.  I bought quinoa for the first time and decided to make a summer lunch salad.  I was a little worried that the quinoa would take forever to cook and would be too grainy and healthy tasting, however, I was pleasantly surprised.  It worked perfect in this salad!  I also had some leftover queso fresco so that got thrown in too.  It's amazing what you can make out of leftovers! 

I'm also participating in some awesome blog sharing events. Check out all of the links at Six Sisters' Stuff and Life as a Lofthouse! All bloggers can share some of their favorite posts. There are some amazing ideas on both of these sites!

Southwest Dr. Pepper Quinoa Salad
1 cup quinoa, uncooked
1 cup Dr. Pepper beef, with juices
1 avocado, diced
1/2 cup grape tomatoes, halved
1 cup southwest blend frozen veggies, thawed (mixture of black beans, corn, onions and peppers)
1/2 red pepper, diced
juice of 1 lime
1/2 cup queso fresco, crumbled

1. Cook quinoa according to package directions.  Allow to cool before mixing with other ingredients.
2. While quinoa is cooking chop your veggies and add to a bowl with beef and lime juice.
3. When quinoa cools stir in with veggies and top with crumbled cheese.  Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Buffalo Chicken Salad

Pin It When I was in college our favorite restaurant to go to was Cheddar's.  I know that Cheddar's is a national chain, but we don't have any in St. Louis so it was a real treat to go down in Springfield.  My absolute favorite thing on their menu was the Buffalo Chicken Wrap.  I don't think I ever had anything else my whole 4 years down there.  It was lettuce, cheese, chicken, pickles and dressing all wrapped in a tortilla.  What made it even better was that you always had leftovers so you didn't have to cook for a day.  This salad was inspired by those awesome wraps.  Enjoy!

Buffalo Chicken Salad
** I didn't use measurement because this can be made for one or a crowd.
Iceberg Lettuce, chopped
Shredded carrots
Dill pickle slices
Shredded colby jack cheese
Chicken tenders or chicken nuggets/bites, cooked
Hot sauce of your choice
Ranch or Blue Cheese Dressing

1. Arrange lettuce in bowl.  Top with carrots, pickles and cheese.
2. Toss chicken pieces with hot sauce.  Lay on top of salad mixture.
3. Drizzle with dressing of your choice.

**This is most delicious when the chicken is still warm so it melts the cheese a bit.

Couscous and Shrimp Salad

Pin It I guess we need to blame it on global warming, but I could take a few more of these 60 degree days in the middle of winter.  Because of the beautiful weather I was inspired to make a summer salad for lunch.  The tartness of lemons, the aroma of dill and the crispness of cucumbers make this a wonderfully refreshing dish.

Couscous and Shrimp Salad
*makes 3 lunch size servings
4 oz cooked couscous (1/2 of an 8oz box)
juice of 2 lemons
2 T honey
4 T olive oil
salt and pepper
1 T dill
1/2 lb cooked, peeled shrimp
1/2 red onion, diced
1 cup seedless cucumber, sliced
1/2 cup feta cheese, crumbled

1. Cook couscous according to box directions.  Drain and rinse under cold water to cool.
2. Meanwhile combine, lemon juice, honey and olive oil in a small.  Whisk until well combined.  Adjust honey to desired sweetness.  Season with salt and pepper.
3. In a large bowl combine couscous, shrimp, onion, cucumber and feta.  Stir gently to mix.  Pour dressing over mixture.  Sprinkle dill on top and mix.

**This will keep well for several days in the fridge, however, if you aren't planning on eating it right away, you probably want to leave the cucumbers and feta out until you are ready to serve.  Otherwise they will get soggy.
**You can substitute orzo for the couscous