Hawaiian Salad with Grilled Chicken

In honor of our recent move to the Hawaiian Islands I have this tasty and fresh salad recipe to share.

Tropical Salad

Allrecipes

    * 1 head romaine lettuce, torn

    * 3 green onions, chopped

    * 6 slices of bacon, crumbled (I used 8 pre-cooked slices)

    * 1 can pineapple tidbits, drained and reserved for dressing

    * 1/2 cup macadamia pieces

    * 1/4 cup toasted coconut

    * 1/4 cup pineapple juice

    * 3 Tbs. red wine vinegar

    * 1/4 cup olive oil

    * salt and pepper to taste

In a large bowl, combine the lettuce, onions, bacon, macadamias, coconut and pineapple.  In a container with a tight fitting lid, combine the other ingredients.  Shake to mix.  Pour over the salad right before serving.

We grilled up some chicken and served it with the salad.

Hawaiian Grilled Chicken

    * 6 boneless chicken breasts 

    * 2 cups pineapple juice

    * 2 T Worcestershire sauce

    * 2 T soy sauce

    * 2 T brown sugar

Combine all the ingredients, except the chicken.  Pour the marinade over the chicken and refrigerate.  The longer the chicken marinates, the better.  Cook them on the grill.  (*Six chicken breasts makes a lot of chicken.  If you serve the chicken with the salad like we did I cooked fewer chicken breasts. Other times I've served the chicken over rice alongside the salad and that was tasty too.)

Warm Asparagus and New Potato Salad

We ate this warm potato salad for dinner tonight with baby potatoes from my garden. I never knew fresh potatoes could taste so good! I was hesitant when I read that blue cheese is the topping for this yummy salad but if you buy a good quality cheese the taste really compliments the potatoes.

Warm Asparagus and New Potato Salad

(Recipe courtesy of AOL Foods)

• 1 lb asparagus, trimmed, cut into 2-inch lengths and steamed until just tender
• 1 lb small new potatoes (red or brown), unpeeled, boiled in salted water to cover until just tender, about 10 minutes, drained, and halved or quartered depending on size
• 1 bunch (6-8) green onions, white and light green parts only, sliced
• salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 1/4 c chopped fresh parsley
• 1/2 c extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 T balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 crumbled blue cheese

In a large bowl toss together the asparagus, potatoes and green onions. Season well with salt and pepper.

In a small bowl beat together the parsley, oil and vinegar. Toss some of the dressing with the vegetables. Continue to add dressing until the salad is well moistened.  Serve just warm, topped with the blue cheese.

Chicken and Potato Salad With Maple Brown Sugar Bacon

Just a note about the potato salad post I wrote a few days ago. It's now gone. I must have been very hungry at dinner because I thought it tasted pretty good but the next day the leftovers were far from appetizing. To stick with my rule of posting only the best I did remove that recipe. Hope you're not too disappointed!

Spicy Slaw on 'Joes'

We ate sloppy joes for dinner the other night. The fun part about this dinner is that we used pepper-jack cheese and a spicy coleslaw recipe of my dad's. This is definitely the way to eat sloppy joes! I always get tired of the same old bun with a big scoop of meat so this was way enjoyable! (By the way, a week ago we had this same slaw recipe on fresh tilapia fish tacos. Yummy!!)

Spicy Coleslaw
(Courtesy of Poppa Snyder)Slaw:
3 c cabbage
1/2 c cilantro

Slaw Sauce:
1/3 c mayo
1 T apple cider vinegar
1 T sugar
1/4 t cayenne pepper
dash of tobasco
salt and pepper to taste

Mix the sauce and set aside. Cut cabbage and cilantro and toss. Add the sauce to the cabbage mixture before serving but not too early or the cabbage will get soggy. Serve on sloppy joes, fresh fish tacos or on a sandwich wrap.

*It was difficult getting exact measurements for this recipe. These measurements were what we used the other night and it tasted great but if you feel it needs more/less of something then 'have at it'!

Honey-Pecan Crusted Chicken Tenders

I ate this on top of a salad and it was divine!

Honey-Pecan Crusted Chicken Tenders
*recipe courtesy of the Pleasure Cooker

salt
pepper
boneless, skinless chicken tenders
1/4 cup honey
2 tbsp Dijon mustard
3/4 tsp paprika
1/8 tsp garlic powder
1 1/4 cups finely crushed cornflakes
1/2 cup finely chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 400. Sprinkle salt and pepper over chicken. Combine honey, mustard, paprika and garlic in a small bowl. Combine cornflakes and pecans in a shallow dish. Brush both sides of chicken with honey mixture; dredge in cornflake mixture. Place chicken on a foiled baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Cook at 400 for 15 minutes or until done.

Jayne's Notes: I combined the salt/pepper in the honey mixture so I could move a little quicker (and touch less raw chicken). Also, I crushed the cornflakes and pecans together in my mini food processor.