Roasted Chicken Salad with Radish & Blueberries

One of the many perks of work is that we get scratch-made lunch everyday. It is family style and there’s salad. Every day! I know, so lucky! It is always a hot lunch but the other day, before the long weekend, we got some really amazing chicken salad. It was full of apples and dried cranberries. I put mine on top of my salad and was loving it. I was eating thinking,

“this is just so good.”
“I love the add-ins. I could make this.”
“I should make this.”

My sis brought over dinner of a roasted chicken with a Caesar salad kit for the perfect instant dinner. I used some leftovers for this chicken salad and it wasn’t just any chicken salad. You’re bananas if you think I would ever put celery into my chicken salad. Blech. This one gets crunch from radishes and some sweetness from dried blueberries.

The Three Bite Rule - Chicken Salad with Radish & Blueberries

Ingredients:

(for 1 serving)
1-2 slices of a roasted chicken, chopped
1 radish
2 tbs dried blueberries
1-2 tbs mayo
splash of milk

Directions:

Chop the radish into a fine dice
The Three Bite Rule - Chicken Salad with Radish & Blueberries
In a bowl, add the chicken, radish, blueberries (and walnuts would be good!)
The Three Bite Rule - Chicken Salad with Radish & Blueberries
Mix in a small amount of mayo and stir to combine. Add the splash of milk to ensure it is wet enough. Then add more mayo, if needed.
The Three Bite Rule - Chicken Salad with Radish & Blueberries
Sprinkle in some salt and pepper. Enjoy!

I put some on a sandwich loaded with arugula. Use good mayo for his. I like The Ojai Cook’s Lemonaise. The blueberries provide a sweet chewiness. My radish was from the farmers market. Those are zesty! Radishes from the grocery store have nowhere near the same flavor. It added the perfect zip and crunch. I didn’t have any apples and was using what I had on hand. The radish was my stroke of genius for the day.

The Three Bite Rule - Chicken Salad with Radish & Blueberries

Bok Choy with Sesame Dressing and Teriyaki Chicken

I grabbed some baby bok choy at the farmer’s market without a plan for it. I went to trusty Pinterest and found a fun raw use for it on Culinary Hill. I tweaked the dressing by adding some stronger flavors of sesame oil and rice wine vinegar. We added some grilled teriyaki chicken for a really great speedy dinner.

The Three Bite Rule - Bok Choy with Sesame Dressing and Teriyaki Chicken
Get some chicken on the grill, shake up some dressing in a jar, and then chop up a few veggies. Poof. Instant dinner with some great flavors.

Ingredients:

adapted from Culinary Hill
2-3 chicken thighs, marinated in teriyaki
2 baby bok choy bunches
2 large radishes
2 tbs sesame seeds
3 tbs brown sugar
1-2 tbs soy sauce
1 tbs sesame oil
1 tbs rice wine vinegar
1/4 cup almond slivers

Directions:

Grill the marinated chicken until cooked through, brushing with some teriyaki at the end.
Chop the bok choy, discarding the bottom pieces.
The Three Bite Rule - Bok Choy with Sesame Dressing and Teriyaki Chicken
Chop the radishes into a small dice.
Toast some sesame seeds in a dry frying pan over medium heat. Watch carefully to toast them without burning.
In a small jar, add brown sugar, soy sauce, sesame oil, and rice wine vinegar.
The Three Bite Rule - Bok Choy with Sesame Dressing and Teriyaki Chicken
Shake vigorously. Taste and adjust as necessary.
The Three Bite Rule - Bok Choy with Sesame Dressing and Teriyaki Chicken
In a large bowl, add the bok choy, radish, and toasted sesame seeds.
The Three Bite Rule - Bok Choy with Sesame Dressing and Teriyaki Chicken
Add in some dressing and toss. Sprinkle with almonds.
Top with chicken to serve. Enjoy!
The Three Bite Rule - Bok Choy with Sesame Dressing and Teriyaki Chicken
I liked the mild flavor of the bok choy. The almonds were pre-sesaoned with salt and pepper near the croutons. I might have toasted them if they were regular almond slivers. It was such a quick dinner that felt fresh, crunchy with juicy chicken.

The dressing was great. Make it, and then you’ll have sesame oil on hand for these (most Pinterest-pinned) sesame noodles and for Asian Broccoli Slaw with Peanut Butter Chicken and your next pork & veggie spring rolls, etc. You’ll use it, it isn’t such a crazy specialty ingredient.

Crockpot Chicken Mole

I sometimes forget that the crockpot is actually really ideal for summer meals since it doesn’t heat up the whole house, annnnd it means dinner can be less fuss when it is just too hot to think. I hate being hot. I love the snow and can’t imagine regular triple-digit-temperature days. Some crockpot food is really heavy and winter-ish but I want to keep looking for those that aren’t. I hadn’t ever made mole before but it was good, and something different. We had them as tacos but the poor pups had to smell chicken cooking all. day.

The Three Bite Rule - Chicken Mole Taco
I saw the slow cooker chicken mole recipe in a Cooking Light magazine and loved the idea of chicken thighs cooking all day and making a different type of taco. I decreased the chipotle chile in adobo to just 1 (instead of 2) in case it was too spicy. I didn’t have smoked almonds, but used some mixed nuts and thought it was pretty good. I’d add a bit more water to the slow cooker…mine was on low for 8 hours (as instructed) but part of it got kind of burned along the edge when it got too low.

Chicken Mole Tacos:

from Cooking Light
chicken mole
shredded lettuce
roasted corn
squeeze of lime
side of guacamole

The Three Bite Rule - Chicken Mole Taco
It was good, maybe not my favorite taco ever, but the flavors were nice. The chicken had a light smokey flavor and the cocoa made it have a light earthy taste.

I froze the leftover chicken and corn. I’ll assemble some burritos to wrap individually and freeze for the next time we need an instant dinner. Or it’d be good as some nachos too.

I froze some blobs of tomato paste the last time I opened a can. Then for recipes like this I just pull one blob out and nuke it in the microwave since I rarely need a whole can at once…even though the cans are itty bitty.

June 2015 Recap

I always like June. It is like the intro to summer in terms of weather, produce, and weekends. Work is always busy (which I’m thankful for) but June has a nice buzz to it while still being a chance to breathe. We had a multi-occasion celebration in June for Father’s Day/Mr. J’s birthday/Momma R’s birthday and a few other fun plans.

Mr. J got a new grill so there was A LOT of grilled dinners. He’d grill B, L & D if he could. 🙂 One of the first grilled meals was this Tuscan Herbed Chicken served over white beans with cucumber salad. I was ob-sessed. This needs to be a go-to meal.
The Three Bite Rule - Tuscan Herbed Chicken & White Beans
I don’t make nearly as many pizzas in the summer, to avoid heating up the house even more, though…I did make a Pistachio and Sausage pizza. I liked it and will mix things up by toasting up some nuts and adding them to my future pizzas too.

This year’s birthday burger was a fun one! I dubbed them Picnic Burgers and topped them with colby jack cheese, coleslaw, and potato sticks.
Picnic Burger - The Three Bite Rule

I made a great salad with Watermelon, feta, and arugula. I looooved this combo. I’m going to a bbq in a few weeks and I think I’ll bring this…I’m guessing nobody else will bring it.
The Three Bite Rule - Watermelon & Feta Salad

The Little One: 

He’s already 5.5 months old! Crazy! He’s rolling non-stop, sleeping on his belly and side very often, and he is now able to scootch backwards while on his belly. He’s now onto cereal…though saying that is a loose interpretation. Not a whole lot of it makes it or stays in his mouth. We’ll keep at it.

He’s really funny, full of smiles and giggles. I’m convinced he’s teething. Every toy is most fun when it is in his mouth. We’ll see if teeth poke their way though anytime soon. We’ve taken him to a party and to some restaurants. He’s doing so great and we’re having a blast. It is nice to look back and see how far we’ve come. I’m proud of the 3 of us.
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Progress on this year’s goals: 
The Year of the Earring: I got a May-pair just in time! Phew, I know you were worried! June’s are coming! I liked another pair, but the shipping was more than twice the cost of the earrings. 

make more salad dressings: You’d better believe it. I made Parmesan Peppercorn dressing annnnd I made a Watermelon, feta & arugula with a citrus vinaigrette.  2 dressings. yes!

factor more time into how long every-day tasks/trips will take: 
not that I need to beat other people who are also learning to do this, but yeah, #winning

recreate restaurant menu items: 
I recreated a Davio’s lobster risotto with grilled asparagus dish that came out great!

be more adventurous with my reading selections: 
I nixed the Paradox of Plenty. I read The Boston Girl by Anita Diamant and couldn’t put it down. I tried to get into How to Build a Girl and it wasn’t for me. Now I’m reading Garlic and Sapphires by Ruth Reichl and I’m obsessed. I’m sure I’ll be done soon.  

use the crockpot more: 
Yes! It’ll hit in June, but it was fun for tacos! 

seafood once a month: 
I used some lobster in the risotto and then we grilled salmon with dijon butter sauce for the father’s day/birthdays celebration. It was great.

Watermelon and Feta Salad with Arugula

Guys. I’m so jazzed about this salad. It was so good. I was just so excited and actually “cut the line” in the ole blog que. This 2 posts a week has been a good schedule for me and lately I’ve had enough posts ahead of time that I don’t have to be all that timely in getting the pics from my camera onto the blog with some words. This one skipped ahead of a few other goodies because I just loved it so.

The Three Bite Rule - Watermelon & Feta Salad
It just might make another appearance in my meal roation soon since a) I have an entire watermelon and b) I made more dressing than I needed. This dressing has lots of possibilities for other salads too. Bam. 2 dressings this month. #winning

Watermelon & Feta Salad with Arugula (serves 2)

adapted from Ina Garten’s recipe

Ingredients:

1/8 watermelon
~4 oz feta cheese (a block cut into cubes, or crumbles)
arugula
3 tbs fruit juice (I used V8 Golden Goodness juice)
1 tsp lime juice
3 tbs olive oil
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp honey
~4 fresh mint leaves
kosher salt & cracked pepper

Directions:

Chop the watermelon & feta into smaller-than-bite-sized cubes.
Lay the arugula into a bowl and top with the feta & watermelon.
In a jar, shake together the juices, oil, vinegar, honey, mint, salt & pepper.
The Three Bite Rule - Watermelon & Feta Salad
Drizzle a little dressing onto the salad. Toss and then add more if needed. The watermelon adds some moisture so a little dressing might be enough.
The Three Bite Rule - Watermelon & Feta Salad
Enjoy!

I seriously loved the pepper-y arugula with the sweet & cool watermelon with the crumbly salty feta. This salad is the perfect combination of sweet and salty and peppery. It also takes 10 minutes to shake up the dressing and cut the ingredients. Just 10 minutes to something interesting, different, and fresh.

This was part of a crazy salad dinner we had. I wasn’t sure it was going to 100% be Mr. J’s kind of thing. I like the stronger flavored arugula than he does and watermelon isn’t is favorite. I made this one annnnd panzanella salad the same night with sausages on the grill. The two salads weren’t 100% complimentary but I’ll share that one soon. Maybe just don’t make ’em both the same night.

The Three Bite Rule - Watermelon & Feta Salad