Grilled Cheese... on the Grill

Ok so it's not regular grilled cheese but this fun recipe I saw on the Whole Foods website: Grilled Goat

Cheese and Artichoke Toasties. Except they weren't really grilling them. They cooked them in a grill pan on the stove. Bummer... because they are delicious on the grill. I even accidentally took a video! -->>>

Simple to make with a few pantry staples, this is a healthy app for a party and/or a nice lunch.


8-10 ounces goat cheese
1 (14.1-ounce) can artichokes, packed in water, drained and chopped (I like big chunks you can taste!)
1/2 cup jarred pimientos, drained and finely chopped
2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh oregano
4 green onions, trimmed and finely chopped (this was way too much - next time we might leave it out altogether or cut back to just one.)
8 thick slices whole wheat hearth bread (Publix bakery makes a nice round loaf of multigrain bread)
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

Preheat a grill to medium-low heat. In a bowl, mash together goat cheese, artichokes, pimientos, oregano and green onions. Spread evenly on one side of each slice of bread. Arrange on the grates and cover (with the grill lid). Grill until bread is deeply browned on the bottom and cheese is warm, about 5 minutes. Top with parsley and serve.

Original recipe here.

In the spirit of the Summer of Salads, can this be considered a spreadable salad? It's full of veggies... and would also be good on crackers or as a dip with even more veggies.

Grilled Coconut Lime Chicken Salad with Quinoa and Tropical Fruit

This recipe was a real experiment. I took parts of different recipes and adapted them to what I envisioned.

Thomas had requested a salad with pineapple (and cantaloupe... but that part will have to wait!). Lime coconut chicken sounded like a good complement for pineapple. I hoped to add quinoa but wasn't sold until I found a recipe for lime quinoa. Add some mango and viola! We had this for dinner Monday night and it was amazing!!

Grilled Coconut Lime Chicken Salad with Quinoa and Tropical Fruit

Serves 4.

For the marinade and dressing:
5 Tablespoons peanut oil

1 Tablespoon coconut oil
Grated zest of 2 limes
2 teaspoons ground cumin
3 teaspoons ground coriander
4 Tablespoons reduced sodium soy sauce
3 teaspoons kosher salt
4 Tablespoons sugar
4 teaspoons curry powder
1 cup coconut milk

2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breast, pounded out to an even thickness, about 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick

Whisk together all the marinade ingredient in a medium sized bowl. Place the chicken and 3/4 cup to 1 cup of marinade in a gallon ziploc bag. Squeeze any air out of the bag, then continue turning the bag to make sure the chicken is coated in marinade. Place bag in refrigerator for at least two hours. Reserve the remaining marinade as dressing for the salad. Cover and refrigerate. Grill the chicken approximately 5 minutes per side over high heat, or until cooked thoroughly. Remove from grill; allow to cool and then slice for the salad. 

For the lime quinoa:

1/2 cup uncooked quinoa, rinsed
1 cup low-sodium chicken or vegetable stock, or even water
1 tablespoon coconut oil
1 lime, juiced and zest freshly grated
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

Add the quinoa and stock (or water) to a saucepan over high heat and bring it to a boil. Once boiling, reduce the heat to low and cover the pot. Cook for about 15 minutes, or until all the liquid is absorbed. Stir in the coconut oil (you can swap butter), lime juice, zest, salt and pepper.

For the salad:

Romaine lettuce, chopped, about 5 ounces

Spinach, about 8 ounces

Prepared chicken

Lime quinoa

Mango (we used 2 nice ripe ones; one would be enough for 4 people)

Pineapple (we grilled half a pineapple the day before and chopped it for this salad; would be fine raw as well)
1 red bell pepper (we used left grilled red and green pepper and onion), sliced

4 carrots, cut into match sticks (or whatever shape you like!) 

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

1-2 limes, cut into wedges

To assemble the salad, make a bed of lettuce and spinach on each plate then add each of the toppings. Sprinkle cilantro on the chicken, or the whole salad. Serve with the reserved coconut lime dressing (which is especially delicious on the lime quinoa!). 

Lime coconut chicken recipe from Fine Cooking here; came to me via pinterest from this adaptation from Chaos in the Kitchen here. Lime quinoa recipe found here on How Sweet It Is.

Grilled Ginger-Sesame Chicken Salad

I found this Curtis Stone (remember Take Home Chef??) recipe on pinterest, posted by Menu Musings. It's easy and delicious! We adapted the recipe a little, including adding mandarin oranges.

Marinade, chicken and dressing
¼ cup reduced-sodium soy sauce
3 Tbsp very finely chopped peeled fresh ginger
3 Tbsp canola oil
2 Tbsp hoisin sauce
1 Tbsp toasted sesame oil
1 tsp sriracha
¼  tsp kosher salt
2 (9-oz) boneless, skinless chicken-breast halves
¼ cup red wine vinegar
½ cup minced red onions, white and green parts

Salad
2 lb napa cabbage, halved lengthwise, very thinly sliced crosswise
5 carrots, shredded or cut into matchstick-size strips
3 green onions (white and green parts), thinly sliced on a sharp diagonal
⅔ cup lightly packed fresh cilantro leaves
½ cup sliced almonds, toasted
2 tsp white sesame seeds, toasted
1 can (11-ounce) mandarin oranges, drained (we used the kind packed in light syrup)

1. Marinade: In a medium bowl, whisk soy sauce, ginger, canola oil, hoisin sauce, sesame oil, sriracha, and salt to blend. Transfer 4 Tbsp of the marinade to a gallon ziplock bag, add chicken, and turn to coat. Cover and refrigerate at least 30 minutes, turning after 15 minutes.

2. Dressing: Whisk vinegar and green onions into the remaining marinade. Set aside.

3. Heat the grill to medium-high. Remove chicken from marinade, add to grill, and cook about 4 minutes per side, or until chicken shows no sign of pink when pierced in the thickest part with the tip of a small sharp knife. Transfer to a cutting board and let rest 15 minutes.

4. Cut chicken crosswise into ¼-inch-thick slices.

5. Salad: In a large bowl, toss chicken, cabbage, carrots, scallions, cilantro, and half of the almonds with enough dressing to coat lightly.

6. Mound salad in center of 4 plates. Re-whisk dressing and drizzle a little over and around salad. Sprinkle with the mandarin oranges, remaining almonds, and sesame seeds.

See Curtis's original recipe here, and Menu Musing's post about it (step by step photos!) here.

Southwestern Salad

Summer of Salads continues: Southwestern Salad

It's the dressing that makes this salad really sing and for that we have the blog Damn Delicious to thank for this recipe.

Salad:
8 ounce package romaine hearts, cleaned and chopped
6 ounce package baby spinach
2 ears sweet corn, grilled, kernels removed from cob (we had corn the night before so I just prepared a couple extra ears)
1 14.5-ounce can seasoned black beans, drained and rinsed
2 avocados, pitted and cubed
1 pint grape tomatoes, sliced in half if large
1 portion of chicken of your choice per person (I used frozen chicken tenders we had in the freezer, cooked them ahead and let cool before serving - or omit the meat if you prefer!)

Cilantro Lime Dressing
1 cup cilantro leaves
1/2 cup Greek yogurt (we used Fage 2%)
2 cloves garlic
juice of one lime
2 pinches salt
2 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar
4 Tablespoons olive oil

The original directions used the food processor for this, but T loves the blender so we tried that. Put the cilantro, yogurt, garlic and lime juice in the machine of your choice. We added the vinegar as well so there'd be enough liquid to get the contents going. Once it's smooth, with the motor running, slowly add the olive oil. No need to make it in advance, but I'd recommend making it first and then assembling the salads. Letting it sit just that 10 minutes brings the flavors together. It stores well in the fridge too.

Serves 4

Summer of Salads

Mothers' Day keeps on giving .:)

I order Cobb salad a lot at restaurants and it never occurred to me until last year to make it at home. Crazy, right? It's super easy and just as delicious when you assemble it yourself.

Last Monday night we had Cobb salad from our Mothers' Day leftovers - some applewood smoked bacon (from the BLTs we had from lunch) and steak from dinner. Add some grape tomatoes, blue cheese and hard boiled eggs on top of romaine lettuce and dinner is done. Even Thomas ate it all (with a healthy amount of blue cheese dressing).

It was so tasty that I thought, hey, this should be the summer of salads. Keep the kitchen cool. Experiment with some new recipes. Eat a lot of veggies... It's a win-win. And I'll plan to share the best recipes here on the blog.

For inspiration, I set up a group pinterest board (let me know if you want to join!)

Follow Amy's board Summer of Salads on Pinterest.

Moroccan Vegetable Salad

For dinner tonight, I adapted a recipe from an old WeightWatchers cookbook from the Turn Around Program. We added butter lettuce and grilled chicken to the original. Delicious, crunchy and filling.

Ingredients
1 pint grape tomatoes, larger ones halved
1 large red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 medium cucumber, seeded and chopped
4 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1 cup canned chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1/3 cup fat-free sour cream (or yogurt)
2 grilled chicken breasts, sliced
1 head butter lettuce, cleaned and cored

Directions
Combine the tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers in a medium bowl with 2 Tablespoons of lemon juice and the salt and pepper. Stir well, cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes to give the flavors a chance to marry.
Meanwhile, heat the oil in a small skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook, stirring constantly, about 30 seconds. Add the cumin and toast, stirring constantly, about 1 minute.
Puree the chickpeas, sour cream, remaining 2 Tablespoons of lemon juice in a food processor. Add the garlic mixture; pulse until combined.
Put several leaves (about 1/4 of the head) of butter lettuce on each plate, then top with one-fourth of tomato mixture. Top with about 1/3 cup of the chickpea puree and about half of a chicken breast.

Serves 4.

Creamy Cucumber Salad

Adapted from the Barefoot Contessa.

Ingredients

4 hothouse cucumbers, thinly sliced (3 to 4 pounds)
2 small red onions, thinly sliced in half rounds
Kosher salt
4 cups (32 ounces) plain low-fat yogurt
1 cup (8 ounces) low-fat sour cream
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1/2 cup minced fresh dill
1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Mix the cucumbers, red onions, and 1 1/2 tablespoons of salt in a bowl. Pour them into a colander and suspend it over a bowl. Wrap the bowl and colander with plastic wrap, and place in the refrigerator to drain for at least 4 hours or overnight. Make sure there's plenty of space in the bottom of the bowl for the water! Discard the liquid that collects in the bowl.

Pour the yogurt into a sieve lined with a paper towel and suspend it over another bowl. Wrap the bowl and sieve in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight. Discard the liquid that collects in the second bowl.

When the cucumbers are ready, roll them up in paper towels or a kitchen towel and press the towel lightly to remove most of the liquid. Place the cucumbers in a large bowl. Make the dressing in a smaller bowl by combining the yogurt with the sour cream, vinegar, dill, 2 teaspoons salt, and the pepper. Add enough dressing to the cucumber mix to completely coat them. (You can always add more, but once it's in, you can't undress the salad!) If you have extra dressing, store separately. Toss well and refrigerate for a few hours to allow the flavors to blend. Sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper and serve chilled.