I’m dedicating tonight’s blog to our good friend, Ted.  He’s been requesting to see a salad on Sunshine and Savory’s blog.  Tonight, I made a main dish salad for dinner.  I hope you like this one, Ted!

It seems every cooking magazine I’ve picked up in the last month shows grilled nectarines or peaches.  I have never grilled fruit before and decided I’d try to grill peaches and put them on a salad.  Actually, not just put them on the salad, but make them the star of the dish.  I wanted to add chicken to this salad and decided to roast my chicken in the oven.  The peaches were going to stand out with their fabulous caramelization and grill marks and therefore, the chicken had to be roasted.

After poking a few holes in my chicken, I sprinkled kosher salt, pepper and chili lime seasoning over both sides.  I then drizzled olive oil over the chicken, as well as the zest and juice of one lime.

I put that in the oven and went to work on the star of the show.  I cut each peach into six sections.  I cut it in half and each half in three sections.  I put them in a bowl and set aside.  I mixed together 1/4 cup olive oil and 1/4 cup honey with kosher salt and chili powder.  I whisked this together (it was thick!) and poured it over the peaches. ( I had some left over in the measuring cup that I set aside to add to my dressing).  I let the peaches sit in this marinade for about 10-15 minutes before grilling them.  In that time, I started to build my salad. Once I grilled my peaches, I grilled them on an indoor grill pan for about 2 minutes per side, on medium high. This gave me the perfect caramelization I was hoping for.  I grilled them over a half tablespoon of unsalted butter.

In a large bowl, I emptied a bag of herb salad mix.  On top of the salad, I sprinkled a pinch of kosher salt and some fresh ground pepper.  I then added a third of a red onion sliced thin.  On top of that I added one diced jalapeño that I diced (seeds and membrane removed), and a half a bag of San Marzano tomatoes, cut in half  (I buy these at Trader Joe’s in their produce department and they are soooooo good.  I eat them like candy.)  I topped my salad with cooked chicken that I had sliced.  On top of the chicken, I added one sliced avacado and my grilled peaches.  The finishing touches on my salad were goat cheese that I crumbled over the top and spiced, candied pecans (another item I always have on hand from Trader Joe’s).

I served my salad with biscuits I made with the Heart Healthy Bisquick Mix.  I made the biscuits as per the box instructions and added 2 tablespoons of honey to the mix along with 1 teaspoon dried thyme and 1-1/2 teaspoons of kosher salt.

This main dish salad was quite satisfying.  Not only was this a wonderful, refreshing summer dinner …. it is also going to make an appearance in Dennis’ lunch for tomorrow.  There was enough left over chicken to fill two of the left over biscuits to make a yummy sandwich for Dennis tomorrow. Win-win!

Ingredients

Chicken

• 3 thin sliced chicken breasts

• 2 tablespoons olive oil

• 1 lime, zest and juice

• 1/2 tablespoon kosher salt

• 1/4 tablespoon pepper

• 1 teaspoon chili lime seasoning (I get mine at Trader Joe’s)

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Place chicken in a glass dish.  Poke holes in chicken to let flavoring seep in.  Mix together kosher salt, pepper and chili lime seasoning in a small dish.  Sprinkle it on both sides of the chicken.  Drizzle olive oil over chicken.  Zest the lime over the chicken, cut the lime in half and squeeze the juice over the chicken.  Place chicken on a baking sheet with a small rack on it. Place chicken on the rack in the pan and place in your preheated oven for 30-35 minutes.

Ingredients

• 3 Peaches

• 1/2 tablespoon unsalted butter (for grill pan)

Marinade for Peaches

• 1/4 cup olive oil

• 1/4 cup honey

• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

• 1/4 teaspoon chili powder

Directions

Cut three peaches into sixths.  Add to a bowl.  Mix marinade ingredients into a measuring cup and whisk together.  Pour over peaches.  You will have some left, set aside for salad dressing.

Ingredients

Salad Dressing

• Marinade you have left from peach marinade.  This will amount to about 1/4 cup of thick honey mixture.

• 2 tablespoons olive oil

Directions

Add olive oil to leftover marinade.  Mix together and pour over salad greens.

Directions to Build Salad

Start with the herb salad mix, adding a pinch of kosher salt to the greens. Add sliced red onion, diced jalapeño, San Marzano tomatoes, and avocado.  Next add the sliced cooked chicken, peaches, goat cheese and spiced candied pecans. Enjoy!

Until next time, Kris