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.

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.

Shrimp and Spinach Salad with Warm Bacon Viniagrette

Pin It Sorry for the delay in posting.  I've had some hail storm/car damage issues to deal with.  But no worries.  All is well and now I can get back to normal life.  Now that the weather is warm I like to eat more salads.  Number 1 to be healthy and number 2 to have lighter meals.  But don't worry, just because this is a salad doesn't meal it won't fill you up.  The warm dressing wilts the spinach just enough, the shrimp adds some protein and the onions and peppers add nice color. This is a great light dinner or you could make smaller servings as an impressive start to a meal.

Shrimp and Spinach Salad with Warm Bacon Viniagrette
1 lb bag baby spinach
1/2 red onion, diced
1/2 c roasted red peppers, diced
6 strips bacon, cubed
1/2 cup rice  vinegar (white vinegar would work too)
4 tsp sugar **or to taste
2 tsp dijon mustard
1/2 lb shrimp
garlic salt
pepper

1. Cut bacon with kitchen scissors into small cubes.  Place in a small saucepan and fry until bacon is cooked, stirring frequently.
2. Remove bacon and allow to cool on a paper towel.  Leave bacon grease in pan and remove from heat.
3. CAREFULLY add vinegar, sugar and mustard to pan. (It will bubble and sizzle) Season with salt and pepper.Whisk to combine.  Warm over low heat for 2 minutes.  Place dressing in a serving dish.
4. Sprinle shrimp with garlic salt and add to the same pan that the dressing was in.  Cook 3-5 minutes or until pink.
5. Assemble salad with spinach topped with peppers, onions, shrimp and bacon crumbles.  Drizzle dressing on top.
6. Salad tastes best when you allow the dressing to wilt the spinach a bit.  I usually pour it on and then get my drink or rest of my meal ready and it is perfect.