Summer Rotisserie Chicken Salad
Makes 2-4 servings
2 ears of corn, grilled (roughly 1 cup of corn)
12 to 16 ounces spring greens, as much as you like!
1 rotisserie chicken, meat pulled and chopped (again, use as much or as little as you like here!)
1 avocado, thinly sliced
6 medjool dates, pitted and chopped
4 ounces goat cheese, crumbled
¼ cup pickled onions
¼ cup sliced almonds, toasted, if you wish
HOT BACON DRESSING3 slices bacon
3 tablespoons bacon fat
1 garlic clove minced
3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
2 teaspoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon dijon mustard
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/8 teaspoon salt
Instructions
Note: if you want to make the pickled onions, I suggest making them the night before or doing it an hour or so before assembling and eating the salad. I also suggest making the dressing first and letting it stay warm on the stovetop.
Be sure to grill the corn as a first step if you want it grilled too! This is also a great recipe to use leftover grilled corn on the cob. You can use any kind of corn here that you like.
Since this salad calls for a lot of chopped ingredients, I chop the chicken, dates and corn off the cob first. I measure out goat cheese and almonds.
Toss the spring greens in a large bowl with a big pinch of salt and pepper. Assemble your salad by adding on the chicken, corn, dates, goat cheese, onions and almonds. Add on the avocado right before serving. Drizzle everything with the hot bacon dressing and eat!
HOT BACON DRESSING
Fry the bacon in a skillet until it’s browned and crispy, reserving the bacon fat for the dressing. Of course, you can do this ahead of time and store the bacon fat in the fridge! If you use very lean bacon, you may need an extra piece or 2 to get the 3 tablespoons.
Add the bacon fat, minced garlic, vinegar, sugar and mustard to a saucepan over medium-low heat. Whisk constantly until the sugar has dissolved and the dressing slightly emulsifies. Season with the salt and pepper. Before serving, add in the crumbled bacon. You can keep this over low heat while stirring occasionally until ready to serve. You can also store it in the fridge. I suggest reheating it in a saucepan. This is the combo I’ve come to love over the years, but you can experiment with different vinegars, more bacon fat and other spices too!
Recipe from How Sweet Eats
Summer Squash Tots
Makes 24 tots
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3 small yellow squashes or zucchini – about 1-1.5 lb yellow squash
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1 egg
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4 oz grated cheddar cheese – or other meltable cheese (about ½ cup grated)
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¾ cup breadcrumbs
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½ medium onion – finely chopped
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½ teaspoon garlic powder
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½ teaspoon salt
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Ground black pepper – to taste
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Optional: 2 tablespoons – ¼ cup finely minced parsley leaves
For the yogurt dip -
⅓ cup unsweetened Greek yogurt
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2 teaspoon lemon juice – (from about ½ lemon, or to taste)
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1 teaspoon finely minced parsley – (or dill, or ½ teaspoon dried parsley or dill)
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¼ teaspoon garlic powder – (or use 1 small clove garlic, minced)
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¼ teaspoon salt – or to taste
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¼ teaspoon pepper – or to taste
Instructions
Preheat oven to 400F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper, or grease the baking sheet with olive oil.
Grate the squash on a fine grater or use a food processor. Add ½ teaspoon salt, and mix it together. Put the grated squash in a colander (or use a cheesecloth, see notes). Let sit while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.
Use your hands to squeeze all the extra liquid from the grated squash in the colander. You should have about 1 cup of liquid for every pound of squash you use. Discard the liquid.
Combine all the tot ingredients in a large bowl and mix well. The mixture should be sticky and wet, like a thick paste. If it is too wet, add extra breadcrumbs. Form small tots with your hands (about 1.5-2 tablespoons squash mixture per tot). Tip: dip your hands into a bowl of cold water in between every few tots – this will help keep the squash mixture from sticking to your hands!
Arrange the tots on the parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake at 400F for 25 minutes, or until golden on top and lightly browned on the bottom. Allow to rest 5 minutes before removing them from the baking sheet – this will help prevent them from sticking.
Recipe from Babaganosh
BBQ Chicken Bowls
Makes 4 servings
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8 chicken tenders (about 1 lb)
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2 tablespoon olive oil, divided
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2 teaspoon chicken rub
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2 tablespoon BBQ sauce
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sweet potatoes- 3 small (6-7 oz each), peeled and cut into 1” cubes
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1 tablespoon olive oil
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½ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper
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9 oz coleslaw cabbage mix (no dressing)
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½ cup mayo
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1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice or apple cider vinegar
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1-1 ½ tablespoon sweetener (monkfruit, coconut sugar, or sugar)
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optional garnishes- pickles, cilantro, avocado, pumpkin seeds
Instructions
In a medium size bowl combine the sweet potato cubes, 1 tablespoon olive oil, salt, and pepper. Cook the sweet potatoes by air frying them or baking. To air fry, preheat an air fryer to 380 F for 5 minutes. Air fry the sweet potatoes for a total of 15 minutes, until they’re easily pierced with a fork. Flip halfway through cooking. To bake: preheat the oven to 400F. Place on a baking sheet, cook for 25-30 minutes until they’re easy to pierce with a fork; flip halfway through cooking.
Start on the chicken while the sweet potatoes are cooking. They can be air fried or pan fried. To air fry: Preheat an air fryer to 400 F for 5 mins. Brush both sides with the other 1 tablespoon of olive oil and then liberally add chicken rub to both sides. Air fry for 4 mins, brush on BBQ sauce and then continue air frying for 3-4 minutes until cooked through to 165 F. To bake: preheat oven to 400 F. Brush both sides of the chicken with olive oil and sprinkle both sides with chicken rub. Bake on a baking sheet for 10+ minutes, or until the internal temperature reaches 165 F.
While the chicken is cooking start on the coleslaw. In a small size bowl combine all of the dressing ingredients. Add the coleslaw shredded cabbage mix to a medium size bowl and stir in the dressing.
Assemble the bowls by dividing the coleslaw, sweet potatoes, and chicken tenders between 4 bowls. You can either serve 2 whole chicken tenders per bowl or cut them into slices.
Garnish with healthy toppings like avocado cubes, cilantro, pumpkin seeds, and pickle slices. Enjoy!
Recipe from Whole Lotta Yum