Chicken Caesar Salad Pitas

 
I really love Caesar salad. I love going to a restaurant and ordering a side Caesar salad to go with my meal. But want to know something funny? I actually don't like getting Caesar salad at really fancy restaurants. At least it seems like whenever I do the dressing tastes way too different. I think because its homemade/fresh. And I don't like it at all. I've had homemade Caesar dressing at people's houses and I don't like it there either. I'm all about the preservatives, baby. (Okay, not really, I think in homemade dressing people put too many anchovies)

But really. I love Caesar dressing from a bottle or a jar. And that's what I used for this recipe. But if you don't like bottled Caesar dressing, feel free to make your own. I just really don't like that stuff one bit.

This is another recipe, where I was inspired of of Pinterest. But, its too simple of a recipe to change much of anything. So here's my inspiration. And here's my recipe:

Chicken Caesar Salad Pitas
1 head of romaine lettuce
2 chicken breasts, seasoned
1/2 cup croutons
4 slices of bacon
8 oz caesar dressing
pitas

1. Grill chicken breast until cooked.
2. Cut chicken breasts into inch sized pieces.
3. Cook bacon until crispy.
4. Crumble into pieces

5. Cut or tear lettuce head into inch sized pieces.
6. In a large mixing bowl, put lettuce, chicken, croutons, bacon and Caesar dressing.

7. Stir to combine.
8. Stuff pita pockets with salad mixture.

9. Enjoy.

This was really tasty, even for Nate who doesn't really like salad. We put a lot of chicken in it, so I think that helped him to like it more.

  Do you prefer bottled Caesar dressing or homemade?

Chicken Taco Salad

It was 11:30 and we had just gotten home from church.  I felt like I was starving, breakfast had been 5 hours ago and it was light, consisting of a vanilla instant breakfast.  I didn't want to just eat junk and wait several hours for dinner so I thought what can I make quickly and also with items that I would probably throw out in a few days if not eaten today. 

Ta Da..... Chicken Taco Salad  (I know this is nothing creative but it was quick and easy and that is what I was looking for)

Ingredients:

chicken tenderloins
yellow or white onion
yellow, red or orange pepper
tomatoes
lettuce
pinto beans
avocado
cheddar cheese
sour cream
salsa
tortilla chips
cumin
chili powder
paprika
salt

Amounts depend on the size of your family and how much you like of each item.  I made enough for Craig and I and 1 small leftover salad for Craig's lunch tomorrow.

I used 4 tenderloins - cut bite sized.  1/4 of a pepper - chopped bite size.  1/6 of a large yellow onion chopped bite size.  Add all these to a frying pan and cook until done.  While sauteing sprinkle with the spices to taste.

While chicken, onions and peppers are cooking - tear lettuce into bite size pieces (we used about 1/2 of a romaine lettuce head), chopped tomatoes into bite size pieces (I used 3 small tomatoes), open can of pinto beans and drain, (sometimes I use kidney beans or black beans but I saw the pinto first in the pantry),  peel and cut avocado (1 small to medium avocado was used) and grate cheese (I had about 3/4 cup of grated cheese).

I put each item in their own serving bowl and placed it on the table. Sometimes I used chili cheese Fritos but today was the last handfuls at the bottom of the Costco Kirtland Tortilla Strips.  Yes, they were a little crumbled and broken already but you break them up for your salad anyway.




back row - chicken, onions and peppers
next row - avocado, tomatoes, pinto beans, lettuce
front row - cheese, tortilla chips



Close up of the chicken, onions, peppers and spices

Assembly your salad as you please, topping with salsa and sour cream.  If you have thousand island dressing you might try it as your dressing, it is a different taste but I personally really like it.  We just didn't have any in the house.




Assembled salad, ready to eat

 This meal was prepared from freezer (the chicken needed defrosting) to table in 30 minutes or less. Quick, easy and uses yummy vegetables.

Spicy Avocado and Black Bean Salad

I found this recipe at Real Simple. I was looking for a different kind of salad that also passed for a side dish. I really enjoyed the vinaigrette and thought the salad was even better on the 2nd day after marinating together overnight.

Spicy Avocado and Black Bean Salad

1 15.5 ounce can black beans, rinsed
1 orange bell pepper, seeded and sliced (I only had a red so it was not as sweet but still good)
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and sliced (I had a homegrown mild jalapeno pepper, be careful seeding this and cutting it, any of the juices burn)
2 T fresh lime juice
2 T olive oil
3/4 tsp ground cumin
kosher salt
black pepper
1 avocado, sliced
1/2 C chopped cilantro leaves

1. In a medium bowl, combine the lime juice, oil, cumin, 1/2 t salt and 1/4 t pepper.
2. Add the beans, bell pepper, and jalapeno.
3. Fold in the avocado and cilantro.
4. Serve