Grilled Chicken Pita

Ready for a delicious new lunch or dinner idea? This pita is full of flavor.

Ingredients:

2 tbs of spicy mustard

2 tbs ranch (optional if you don't like mustard)

1 tbs of honey

2 chicken breasts

4 strips of cooked bacon

4 pieces of lettuce

2 slices of Swiss cheese

2 pita breads                                                   

                                                                 

Finished Pita

Directions:

1. In a small bowl, mix together the spicy mustard and honey. Use a small portion to glaze your chicken and cook chicken either on a grill or stove top. (My husband likes to grill the chicken).

2. Warm up your pitas for a few minutes in the oven or microwave in a paper towel for a few seconds. 

3. Spread some of the mustard and honey mixture onto your pita (or use ranch as a substitute). 

4. Build your pita with the bacon, lettuce, chicken and top with Swiss cheese. Serves 2.

Insalata Caprese

I'm not big on tomatoes, but I thought this was tasty. 

Ingredients:

1 tomato, sliced into at least 4 pieces (2 for each serving) about 1/4 inch think

2 slices of mozzarella cheese about 1/4 inch thick

1tbs Extra virgin Olive Oil

Ground black pepper to taste 

Fine sea salt to taste

A few pieces of lettuce

Directions:

• Start with a slice of tomato, add a piece of mozzarella cheese and top with another slice of tomato and another piece of mozzarella cheese. 
• Top with olive oil, pepper and salt. Garnish with lettuce. 
• Enjoy!

Italian Salad with a Twist

Italian salad with artichoke hearts and olives

What I've learned about recipes over the last couple years is that they are pretty forgiving. If you don't like the taste of an ingredient, you can often find a substitute or just leave it out. For this salad I tweaked a couple things. I added avocado to the salad because it seemed like it would go well, and heck they are so yummy!  Also I left out the onion and cucumber because I didn't like the flavor combination but feel free to use them if you want. Serves 3-4 people.

Ingredients:

1 package Italian style salad

1 can slices black olives

1 can artichoke hearts

1 cooked chicken breast cut into bite sized pieces

2 sliced avocados

Tangy Italian salad dressing, or if you're on a diet like me, fat free Greek dressing.

Optional garnish

Directions:

•  Slice artichoke hearts up. I save 2 for plate garnishes.
• In a large bowl, combine salad, drained black olives, artichoke hearts and chicken.
• Serve with Italian or Greek dressing.

Finished salad

 Hope you enjoy! I have more salad recipes in older posts if you want to see what other options I have.

Kid Friendly Chicken Nuggets and Fries

I was skeptical at first about trying to season my own chicken nuggets and having them turn out crispy but these were great! You can either bake them in the oven with the fries, or cook them on the stove top. This recipe serves about 4, adjust as needed.

Ingredients:

2 chicken breasts, cut into small pieces

1/3 cup of milk

1 package of powdered ranch mix

1/2 package of Jiffy Corn Muffin mix

1 package of frozen french fries

1/2 cup of cheddar cheese

Directions:

• Preheat oven and bake fries as indicated on the packaging. 
• Pour the milk into a small bowl
• In a separate container, mix the ranch mix and the corn muffin mix together. 
• Dip each piece of chicken in the milk and then sprinkle heavily with the mix. 
• Cook over a medium heat in 2 tbs vegetable oil until chicken is cooked through. The outside will be golden  to dark brown and crispy. 
• After you take the fries out of the oven, sprinkle the cheddar cheese over them. 
• The chicken will be very hot so give them a minute to cool down. Enjoy!

Lemon-Peppered Salmon and Asparagus with Feta

Here is a simple recipe that's both healthy and flavorful. (Lets not forget EASY!)

Ingredients:

1 piece of salmon for each person you are serving

1 bunch of asparagus

1 lemon

1 tsp sage

1/2 cup Feta cheese

1 tbs Lemon pepper

Directions:  

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Line a cookie sheet with tin foil as shown. 
• Place the salmon and asparagus on the cookie sheet.
• Cut a lemon into 5 slices. Squeeze 1 slice over the asparagus. Place the remaining slices on the salmon.
• Top the salmon with the sage and lemon pepper. 
• Top the asparagus with the Feta cheese.
• Bake for about 25-30 minutes. Check fish to make sure it is cooked and should flake easily with a fork.