I made salad for dinner tonight. It's the first time I've made a salad that the kids asked for more of. So I thought I'd post photos and a quick description of what I did to make the salad.
The Chicken
I should have made more chicken. I cooked up two chicken breasts for 3 kids. I heated a cast iron skillet and melted a huge hunk o' coconut oil in it. (Maybe 1/4 - 1/3 cup of coconut oil.) I cooked the chicken on high heat until both sides were well browned. When the chicken was about two thirds done it dawned on me that now would be a good time to add seasonings. So I started with salt and pepper. Then I decided to pull out the big guns and throw some Trader Joe's 21 Seasoning Salute on there. That stuff could make cardboard yummy. Once the outsides were nicely browned, I put the chicken into the oven which had been preheated to 350. I have no idea how long it was in there. I basically decided to pull it out when I was done checking my email, so 20 - 30 minutes?
The Salad
I had bought one of those prepackaged salad mixes. But I knew that wouldn't be enough. So I used half a head of leaf lettuce, then topped that off with boxed lettuce mix, then sprinkled toppings on top of that. Toppings included pitted kalamata olives, chopped red onion, and sundried tomatoes. I had meant to add feta as well, but I forgot to toss it in. Ditto with some pomegranate seeds. Both would have gone well with the salad, but as I said, I got kudos from the kids even without those things in there. The only thing I might want to add that wasn't in here was some nuts - maybe pine nuts. Slice the chicken and put it on top. For myself I sliced up an egg instead.
The Dressing
This dressing is super easy to make and super yummy. The key is having quality ingredients. I put in a huge scoop of mustard (maybe 3 tablespoons worth?), the rest of the balsamic vinegar in the bottle (maybe another 3 - 4 tablespoons), and a whole lotta olive oil (maybe 1/4 -1/3 cup?). I whipped it up with a fork until it was emulsified. I drizzled some on top of mine, but Naomi had asked for hers on the side, so I put it on the side for all three kids. They ended up using it all up.
The Chicken
I should have made more chicken. I cooked up two chicken breasts for 3 kids. I heated a cast iron skillet and melted a huge hunk o' coconut oil in it. (Maybe 1/4 - 1/3 cup of coconut oil.) I cooked the chicken on high heat until both sides were well browned. When the chicken was about two thirds done it dawned on me that now would be a good time to add seasonings. So I started with salt and pepper. Then I decided to pull out the big guns and throw some Trader Joe's 21 Seasoning Salute on there. That stuff could make cardboard yummy. Once the outsides were nicely browned, I put the chicken into the oven which had been preheated to 350. I have no idea how long it was in there. I basically decided to pull it out when I was done checking my email, so 20 - 30 minutes?
The Salad
I had bought one of those prepackaged salad mixes. But I knew that wouldn't be enough. So I used half a head of leaf lettuce, then topped that off with boxed lettuce mix, then sprinkled toppings on top of that. Toppings included pitted kalamata olives, chopped red onion, and sundried tomatoes. I had meant to add feta as well, but I forgot to toss it in. Ditto with some pomegranate seeds. Both would have gone well with the salad, but as I said, I got kudos from the kids even without those things in there. The only thing I might want to add that wasn't in here was some nuts - maybe pine nuts. Slice the chicken and put it on top. For myself I sliced up an egg instead.
The Dressing
This dressing is super easy to make and super yummy. The key is having quality ingredients. I put in a huge scoop of mustard (maybe 3 tablespoons worth?), the rest of the balsamic vinegar in the bottle (maybe another 3 - 4 tablespoons), and a whole lotta olive oil (maybe 1/4 -1/3 cup?). I whipped it up with a fork until it was emulsified. I drizzled some on top of mine, but Naomi had asked for hers on the side, so I put it on the side for all three kids. They ended up using it all up.
barefootmeg | January 10, 2014 at 6:32 PM
This is a test... just to see if comments will work for me. I've had two people tell me they've left comments on my site and when they submitted them they just disappeared. :-(