Thursday, May 19, 2011

Strawberry, Mozzarella and Candied Pecan Salad

About a month ago Jeff and I had dinner at our friend Lauren & Fritz's house where Lauren made as simple yet amazing salad for us! It has since become one of my favorite lunches. I make a similar version to the one Lauren made and can't wait to share it with you today :) If you need to bring a dish to a cook-out or dinner this summer, this is the dish you should bring. It is bright, healthy and refreshing!


Before you make the salad, take a few minutes to make some candied pecans! Be careful though, these are addicting. I ate a ton of them last night while making them ;)


Ingredients (for candied pecans):
  • 1 1/4 cup of chopped or whole pecans
  • 1 teaspoon canola oil
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/8 cup water
-Place the pecans on a baking sheet and bake for about 20 minutes at 300 degrees in the oven. Be sure to turn them over and mix them around every 5 minutes so they do not burn.

-While the pecans are baking, mix all of the ingredients together on the stove top and heat.

-Remove the mixture once heated and pour the pecans in. Pour out the coated pecans onto parchment paper and let sit for about 30 minutes.

Ok, let's get back to the rest of this salad...


Ingredients (for 1 serving of salad):
  • 1 small grilled chicken breast, cut
  • 4 small strawberries, sliced
  • 5 balls of fresh mozzarella cheese
  • 1/4 cup candied pecans
  • mixed greens of your choice
  • balsamic vinaigrette dressing

This is a sweet summer salad. If you are like my dad and cannot stand when anything sweet (like fruit or dried cranberries) is on your salad, then this might not be for you. The cheese and chicken make it super filling. Just be careful not to add too many candied pecans since they aren't the healthiest thing in the world!


Newman's is my favorite dressing, plus is it gluten-free. I pick up these packets at a local health grocery store because they are easy for me to take to work. It's better than carrying around an entire bottle of dressing in my purse (which I have done many times).


Can you tell which part of the salad is my least favorite? Don't worry, I ate a little bit more of the greens...but not much ;)

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Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Family Dinner

Jeff and I just got home from a family dinner at his sister Kristina's house! The past few weeks we have gotten together with his family for a weekly dinner to celebrate birthdays, Mother's day and simply family. Today we were celebrating his aunt and uncle who were in town for the week! The last time Jeff and I saw them was on our wedding day, so it was nice to catch up with them. I didn't take many shots with the camera, but here are the few I did...


We have the cutest nieces and nephew!


We enjoyed dinner together, played some Wii and then ate a lot of yummy dessert.


It's always nice to be able to see family mid-week.


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Monday, May 16, 2011

Jeff's Famous Chicken Salsa

On our "meet us" page, I state that Jeff's favorite dish to make is called Chicken Salsa, however we have never blogged about it! Today is the day. Fun fact about Jeff: he has worked at a take-out Chinese restaurant for 8 years. He started working in high school and occasionally works there now on weekends. Not only has he learned the entire menu in Chinese, but also how to make some of their amazing dishes. You see, this isn't any ordinary Chinese take-out place. They have a very good "health menu," and serve hundreds of body builders and athletes each day. Chicken Salsa is one of their healthy dishes and has become one of our favorites!


(Don't judge a book by it's cover! This may not look that appealing, but believe me, it is).

Ingredients:
  • 1 lb Organic chicken tenders or breasts
  • 1 large green pepper
  • 1/2 large onion
  • 1/2 can kidney beans, drained
  • 1 cup salsa
-First, cut the chicken. Slice it thin and chop into pieces or keep thin "slivers."

-Next, cut the pepper and onion.

-Boil the chicken in water. This should take about 5-10 minutes depending on how thin or small the pieces are.

-Saute the vegetables and beans. Add a tablespoon of olive oil and cook on medium in a pan for about 5 minutes or until they are softened.

-Add the chicken and salsa sauce to the pan with the veggies in it and cook for a few minutes until mixed well! Add some water if you want the sauce to be a little "saucier." The salsa we bought this time was a little less watery and therefore the sauce wasn't too thick.


I have never made this dish-it is Jeff's go-to meal! And he is great at making it. He first made it for me when we were dating in college and still makes it every once in a while now. Maybe it was his amazing cooking talent that made me fall in love with him? ;)


His eyes were severely irritated shortly after this photo was taken due to the onion.


This dish comes together in only a few minutes and is super healthy! Sometimes we eat it on top of brown rice. I love this because it isn't your normal "meat and potatoes" dinner. It is something different that I promise you will love.

I'm off to work on a few headbands for my Etsy shop! I sold 2 more today and am now running low :) Time to make some more! The new season of Real Housewives of NJ is on at 9:00...yes, I waste an hour of my life every week watching this.

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