Honey Chipotle Lime Chicken Bowl with Cilantro Lime Rice

I found this recipe the other day and it sounded so fresh and summer-y!  We are loving grilled chicken right now (maybe because we don't have a kitchen...) and all the flavors in this bowl worked so well together.  It was delicious!

Honey Chipotle Chicken Marinade

by: melskitchencafe.com

2 Tbsp. oil

2 Tbsp. lime juice

2 Tbsp. honey

2 Tbsp. chopped adobe peppers in chipotle sauce (get as much sauce as you can)

1 Tbsp. Dijon mustard

2 tsp. minced garlic

3 Tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro

1/2 tsp. kosher salt

pinch of black pepper

2 lbs thin cut chicken breasts

In a bowl, stir together all the ingredients and then add the chicken.  Marinate it for 2-24 hours.  I did mine for most of the day, and it was so tender!  Cook your chicken on the grill or in the oven, or however you prefer.  Slice it in strips.

Cilantro Lime Rice

adapted from: melskitchencafe.com

1 Tbsp. butter

1 1/4 c. rice

2 1/2 c. chicken broth

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. freshly ground pepper

juice and zest of 1 lime

2 Tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro

1/4 tsp. ground cumin

I make my rice in a rice cooker, so I just added all these ingredients to my rice cooker, stirred them, and then cooked them as usual.  

Bowls

add to your bowl any of the following:

marinated chicken breast strips

cilantro lime rice

lettuce

sliced avocados

chopped tomatoes

lime wedges

creamy tomatillo dressing

Copycat Zupa's Mango Berry Salad

The Mango Berry Salad from Zupa's Cafe is my very favorite salad.  I get it every time I go there.  I think I could happily eat this every day!  (And, I did, for about a week, so that none of the delicious dressing or berries would go to waste!)

Mango Berry Salad with Mango Dressing and Cinnamon Almonds
adapted from: sixsistersstuff.com

8-10 c. salad greens
2 c. sliced strawberries
1 small package blueberries
1 mango, cubed

For the dressing:
1 (5.3 oz) container vanilla greek yogurt
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 mango, pitted, peeled and cubed
1 tsp. honey
pinch of salt

In a food processor or blender, combine all the ingredients until it is smooth.  Then taste it and add more honey or salt to taste.

For the cinnamon almonds:
I put a handful of sliced almonds (about 1/2 c.) in a small frying pan, with about two teaspoons of butter, and a generous sprinkling of cinnamon sugar.  Over medium-low heat, stir it constantly until the butter and sugar melt and coat the almonds.  Remove it from the heat.  Once they have cooled, sprinkle them over the top of your salad.

In a large bowl, combine the greens, strawberries, blueberries, mango cubes and cinnamon almonds.  Pour some of the dressing over the top and toss it to coat.  Serve and enjoy!

Strawberry Spinach Salad

 

I made this salad for a neighborhood progressive dinner that we participated in.  It was super delicious and got rave reviews.  At first, I was going to take the dressing and let people add their own, but then I decided to just mix it all together, like the recipe stated, and I am glad that I did.  The dressing was extremely thick, which would have made it weird when people added it themselves, but when I stirred it all together, it wasn't an issue.

Strawberry Spinach Salad
adapted from: allrecipes.com

1 Tbsp sesame seeds
1 Tbsp poppy seeds (or chia seeds, which is what I used)
1/2 c. white sugar
1/2 c. oil
1/4 c. balsamic vinegar
1/4 tsp. paprika
1/4 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 Tbsp. minced onion
10 oz. spinach
sliced strawberries
1/4 c. sliced almonds
Feta cheese

In a blender, blend together the sesame seeds, poppy seeds, sugar, oil balsamic vinegar, paprika, Worcestershire and onions until smooth.  In a large bowl, combine the spinach, strawberries, almonds and feta cheese.  Gently stir it all together with the dressing.  Add the dressing in a little at a time, until you get as much as you want.  I had dressing leftover at the end.  Serve it immediately.

Quinoa Salad with Avocado, Corn and Saute'd Tomatoes

 

I made this one evening, with the intent to take some to a vegetarian friend for lunch the next day.  It ended up being an amazing, light, summer-y salad, that not only got rave reviews from my friend, but also my own family.  

Quinoa Salad With Avocado, Corn and Grilled Tomatoes

adapted from: two peas & their pod

1 c. quinoa, cooked according to the package directions and cooled to room temperature

1 c. frozen sweet corn, cooked and cooled to room temperature

1/3 c. chopped cilantro

1/3 c. grated Parmesan cheese

2 avocados, chopped (pit and skin removed first)

tomatoes (as many as you like-we're not huge tomato fans around here, so we only had a few), chopped into 1 inch chunks and lightly saute'd 

For the dressing:

1/4 c. olive oil

juice of 2 limes

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1 Tbsp. chopped cilantro

1/4 tsp. cumin

fresh ground salt and pepper, to taste

In a large bowl, combine the quinoa, corn, cilantro, Parmesan cheese, avocado and grilled tomatoes.  In another bowl, whisk together the olive oil, lime juice, garlic, cilantro, cumin and salt and pepper.  Here is a tip for juicing limes, given to me by Monica.  Before you slice them, pop them in the microwave for 30 seconds.  When they are warm, you will be able to get so much more juice out of them!  When your dressing is well mixed, pour it over the top of your salad and stir it gently to combine.  Serve it fresh or chilled.  It is delicious either way!

Apple Cinnamon Salad with Sweet Balsamic Dressing

Last month I helped make dinner for our Relief Society.  This was the salad I made.  I got the idea from The Sister's Cafe.  So many people complimented this salad, especially the dressing.  The recipe for the dressing makes a lot!  I doubled it and it made 8 cups of dressing.  I fed 40 women on about 2 cups of dressing.  So there was plenty left over to pass out and take home (which made many women happy).  The amounts I have here are not doubled, so it will make about 4 cups of dressing.

Apple Cinnamon Salad

adapted from: The Sister's Cafe

Your choice of Mixed Greens (I used Romaine Lettuce and a Spring Mix from Costco)

Braeburn apples

Cinnamon Roasted Almonds

Feta Cheese

Sweet Balsamic Dressing (see below)

Sweet Balsamic Dressing

1 1/3 c. sugar

2 tsp. salt

2 tsp. dry mustard

2/3 c. balsamic vinegar

3 Tbsp. some variety of a sweet onion, chopped

2 c. canola oil

3 Tbsp. poppy seeds

In a blender, blend the sugar, salt, dry mustard, balsamic vinegar and onion until it is smooth.  Add the oil and blend it until it is thick.  Stir in the poppy seeds.  Serve it over the salad.  

Cafe Rio Pork and Creamy Tomatillo Dressing

I'm sure that most of you already have a tried and true Cafe Rio Pork and Salad Dressing recipe that you already use. I had never made it myself and I looked at many online and found that most of them were very similar. I ended up using those that I had the ingredients for and both the pork and the dressing came out great. Actually, I doctored up the dressing recipe until it tasted mostly how I remembered Cafe Rio's tasting, but when it was paired with the pork in a Cafe Rio style salad (tortilla on bottom, tons of lettuce, sour cream, guacamole, etc.) it was awesome! The pork recipe called for 1 can of coke (some called for Dr. Pepper), which I didn't have and didn't want to make a trip to the store for. I happened to have some root beer in the fridge leftover from a work party of Dustin's so I added that instead. It tasted authentic, so it must not make that big of a difference. I don't know why it took me so long to make this myself. I definitely won't be waiting so long to make it again. And sorry that you have to view my half eaten salad. It was so good that I forgot to take a picture until it was almost too late!

Pork Barbacoa

adapted from: www.communitybabycenter.com

3 lb. pork roast

16 oz. salsa

1 c. root beer

2 c. brown sugar

Put the roast in your crock pot and fill it halfway with water. Cook on high for 5 hours. Drain the liquid from the crock pot and cut the roast into 4 sections. Mix the root beer and brown sugar and pour it over the roast. Add the salsa and cook for 3 more hours. Shred with a fork and serve it in your favorite Cafe Rio way.

Creamy Tomatillo Dressing

2 Ranch packets

1 c. mayonnaise

1 c. buttermilk

1 c. chopped cilantro

4 tomatillos, cut into fourths

1 1/2 tsp. minced garlic

2 limes

In a food processor, chop the cilantro until it is finely chopped. Add the tomatillos and garlic. Squeeze the juice from both limes into the mixture. Here is a tip for getting the most out of your limes: beat them first on a counter top. My kids love to help me with this. Then just cut them in half and squeeze.

In a separate bowl combine the mayonnaise, buttermilk and ranch packets. If you don't have buttermilk, you can add 1 Tbsp. lemon juice to 1 c. of milk and let it sit for 5 minutes. Add the ranch mixture to the food processor and process it until well combined. Serve over the pork, and enjoy!