Chicken Caprese Salad

I realized recently I don’t have enough salad recipes on here. Mostly because I don’t eat enough salad, which I’ve been trying to change. I do love a good salad but I often find myself too lazy to get out all the ingredients and chop them up – which is silly because I usually spend 30 minutes preparing most of my meals anyway.

Whenever I see the word “Caprese” on a menu at a restaurant, I get excited. Caprese is the classic Italian combination of fresh mozzerella, fresh basil, and tomatoes. It’s one of my favorite flavor combinations and is always sure to satisfy. A traditional Insalata Caprese doesn’t involve lettuce or greens of any type, but I decided to throw some into this salad for extra heartiness and some crunch, and chicken for protein of course. This salad is so light and fresh tasting  – perfect for summer.

I also threw together a simple homemade creamy balsamic vinaigrette for this salad. You can find balsamic vinegar near the other vinegars or olive oil in your grocery store and it’s relatively inexpensive. I used Greek yogurt (my staple) for the “creamy” aspect of the dressing, but you could alternatively use mayonnaise or heavy cream for a more authentic version.

Chicken Caprese Salad
serves 1

Ingredients:

• For the dressing:
  • 1 Tbsp olive oil
  • 2 tsp balsamic vinegar
  • 2 tsp plain Greek yogurt or mayonnaise
  • 2-3 tsp lemon juice
  • 1 small clove garlic, minced
• one small stalk of romaine lettuce (about 3-4 cups), chopped and rinsed
• 1 small breast of chicken, grilled and sliced
• 1/4 cup of cubed fresh mozzerella
• 3-4 fresh basil leaves, chopped
• 8-10 cherry tomatoes, halved

Directions:

To prepare the dressing, simply whisk all of the ingredients for it together in a small bowl. Set aside. Place lettuce in a salad bowl, and layer remaining ingredients on top. Drizzle dressing over the salad and enjoy.

Sweet Potato & Black Bean Chili – In Honor of Boston

I had a nice paragraph written about celebrating Marathon Monday in Boston and how it’s such a big tradition around here, but those words needed some revising after the tragic events that took place yesterday. I was in complete disbelief as I listened to the news stories about multiple explosions that happened just miles from my house and ruined what should have been a joyous event, injuring almost 200 people and taking the lives of three. I will never understand how people can be filled with so much hate or rage that they can justify such a senseless act. But as President Obama said when he addressed yesterday’s events on the news: Boston is a tough and resilient town, as are the people. Though I grew up about 30 minutes south of Boston, I’ve always considered it my home; even more so since moving just outside the city this past fall. We will pull together and move forward, but for now, my thoughts go out to all of those affected by this tragedy.

To honor my beloved Beantown, I’m posting a recipe for Sweet Potato & Black Bean Chili. True to my Bostonian roots, I find chili incomplete without beans. This recipe evolved in a few ways: After seeing others add sweet potatoes to chili, I thought that was a great way to balance out the spicy flavors. I always eat chili with cornbread, so adding sweet potato made perfect sense to me and saves some calories as well. I love the combination of sweet potato and black beans, so I decided both of those things would need to present in this chili.

This Sweet Potato & Black Bean Chili combines tender sweet potatoes, fire-roasted tomatoes, black beans, and Mexican spices to create a smoky, flavorful chili with a surprising hint of sweetness. I generally followed the same steps as for my 3-Bean Turkey Chili, but cut down the portions (though this recipe can be easily doubled to serve a crowd). I included ground turkey in this chili, but feel free to leave it out for a vegan recipe – or sub ground beef or chicken for something different!

Sweet Potato & Black Bean Chili
serves 3-4

Ingredients:

• 1 small onion, diced
• 1 cup diced sweet potatoes
• 1/2 cup diced red bell pepper
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 lb. ground turkey (optional)
• 14.5 oz. can fire-roasted diced tomatoes
• 8 oz. can tomato sauce
• 2 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
• 1 cup black beans, rinsed and drained
• salt, to taste
• optional toppings: shredded cheese, scallions, diced avocado, Greek yogurt or sour cream, etc.

Directions:

1. In a large frying pan, heat 1 Tbsp olive oil over low heat. Add diced onion and sauté for about 10 minutes, until softened. Add diced sweet potato, red pepper, and garlic and continue cooking, stirring occasionally, for about 10 additional minutes.
2. Once veggies are tender, transfer to a medium cooking pot. In the frying pan used for veggies, cook ground turkey until browned. Stir cooked turkey into to the pot with veggies, along with both cans of tomato and your spices. Simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Stir in black beans and cook just until they’ve warmed up. Season with salt or any additional spices you find appropriate, serve with optional toppings, and enjoy.

I hope all of my readers and your loved ones are safe after yesterday’s events. Please keep Boston in your thoughts. ♥

Ricotta Vegetable Turkey Meatballs

Meatballs are one of those things, when done right, I find so satisfying. I’m not a huge meatloaf person and I only eat burgers every once in a while, but something about meatballs makes them super appealing to me. They make a great meal and there are endless varieties to how you can prepare them. Some of my favorites include sweet and sour meatballs, which are made with grape jelly and chili sauce (sounds crazy but it works) and, of course, traditional Italian-style meatballs. My dad makes some of the best beef meatballs I’ve ever had, accompanied by his famous tomato sauce. I have yet to get the recipe from him…

Since becoming interested in eating healthier a couple of years ago, I’ve made the switch from ground beef to ground turkey. Growing up, we always had beef for our burgers and tacos, but I’ve come to prefer ground turkey because it’s not as heavy and still loaded with protein. I certainly enjoy beef every now and then, but I’m really more of a white meat-kinda girl.

After making many different meatball recipes, some successful and some not so much, I’ve discovered a few methods to make them delicious each time. One of the most important tips I can give is to make sure you stick to an appropriate ratio of ingredients. If you use too much or too little of one ingredient, your meatballs may come out dry and crumbly or a pile of mush. The ratio I typically follow for every one pound of ground meat is 1/2 cup of breadcrumbs and 1 egg. It’s also important to measure your spices and/or herbs, since you can’t taste the meat before you cook it. And a method I personally like to use to keep meatballs moist is to add veggies, cheese, or both!

These meatballs were inspired by two recipes. One is a turkey meatball recipe my roommate Emily would make a couple of years ago, which is still one of my favorites to this day. Her version includes veggies like spinach, red pepper, and mushroom and were so flavorful. The other recipe is these Turkey Ricotta Meatballs from CenterCutCook, which use ricotta cheese to help keep the meatballs moist. More or less, I combined these two recipes and came up with the clever name Ricotta Vegetable Turkey Meatballs… ha ha.

Ricotta Vegetable Turkey Meatballs
makes 20 meatballs or 4-5 servings

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. 93% lean ground turkey
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/2 cup breadcrumbs (I used Panko)
• 1/4 cup finely diced onions
• 1/4 cup finely diced red bell pepper
• 1 large handful of fresh spinach, shredded
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/3 cup part-skim ricotta cheese
• 1/4 cup parmesan and/or mozzerella cheese
• 1/2 tsp dried basil
• 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp dried oregano

Directions:

1. In a medium-large mixing bowl, combine all ingredients and mix thoroughly, either using a large spoon or your hands until all is well-incorporated.
2. Optional: For a more flavorful meatball, cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2-3 hours. If you choose to skip this step, preheat your oven to 375ºF.
3. Use your hands to roll the meat into about 18-20 meatballs, or around 1.5 tablespoons each. Mine made exactly 20. Place the meatballs on a lightly greased baking sheet and bake for 15-18 minutes, or until they are cooked throughout. Let cool slightly and serve with your choice of pasta, or on a sub roll with marinara sauce and enjoy!

Make sure your veggies are nice and finely chopped

Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl and stir

Once all your ingredients are well-incorporated, refrigerate for a few hours or bake right away. When you’re ready to bake, preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

Roll your turkey into meatballs, roughly 1.5 tablespoons each or 18-20 meatballs. Bake for 15-18 minutes.

When your meatballs are no longer pink in the middle and cooked throughout, they are done. Serve with pasta or on a sub roll.

Wonderfully juicy and moist in the middle

Creamy Chicken & Wild Rice Soup

When I was in high school and part of college, I worked at Panera Bread. After working there for three years, you’d think I would have become incredibly sick of their food, but instead it was just the opposite. I would take advantage of my discounted meal at my half an hour lunch/dinner break most shifts, and I almost always brought home some type of goodie for myself or my family. Needless to say, I probably gained at least 5 pounds while I was working there.

One of my favorite soups to get on my breaks at Panera was Cream of Chicken & Wild Rice Soup. Chicken noodle soup is comforting to most, but I’ve always preferred rice and I’ve always been a sucker for creamy soups and dishes. Two years ago, when I had been living in my first apartment for just a few months, I made this Creamy Chicken & Rice Soup I found on the blog Budget Bytes. The soup was so delicious and instantly reminded me of the one I enjoyed at Panera Bread on so many of many occasions.

This soup is one of my very favorite recipes and is so satisfying every time I make it. It’s creamy, soothing, and filled with tender chicken, wild rice, and vegetables. It’s a perfect soup to make for your family, or to cheer up a sick friend. The combination of the rosemary, thyme, and bay leaves creates a wonderful aroma that will make your home smell amazing.

To make this soup slightly lighter, I subbed the whole milk for evaporated milk and it was still incredibly creamy and flavorful. If you wish to eliminate the dairy all together, this soup is delicious just with a broth base, too! You can actually use any type of grain you like, as long as you make sure to follow the cooking instructions so as to not overcook it. I used a combination of wild & long grain rice and Bob’s Red Mill “Vegi Soup Mix”, which includes split peas and lentils in addition to grains.

Winter is coming to an end in New England, and what better way to celebrate than with this lovely soup?

Creamy Chicken & Wild Rice Soup
adapted from Creamy Chicken & Rice Soup on Budget Bytes

Ingredients:
serves 5-6

• 1 medium onion, diced
• 2 carrots, diced
• 3 stalks celery, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 lb. chicken (about 2 medium-sized breasts)
• 1 quart (4 cups) low-sodium chicken stock
• 2 cups water
• 2 sprigs rosemary + 2 sprigs thyme
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 cup wild rice or your favorite grain mixture
• 2 Tbsp butter
• 2 Tbsp flour
• 1 12 oz. can evaporated milk
• salt, to taste

Directions:

1. In a 3-4 quart cooking pot, heat 1 Tbsp olive oil over low heat. Add diced onions and carrots and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring, until slightly softened. Add your celery and garlic and continue to cook over medium-low heat.
2. Once veggies are tender, add your chicken breasts, chicken stock, water, herbs, and rice to the pot. Stir to combine and bring soup to a boil, then return to a simmer.
3. Cook for about 30 minutes, or until rice is finished and chicken is cooked throughout. Carefully remove the chicken from the pot and use two forks to shred the chicken into bite-sized pieces, then transfer back into the pot and turn off the heat.
4. In a separate smaller sauce pan, melt 2 Tbsp butter over medium heat. Whisk in flour until a thick paste is formed. Stir in evaporated milk and bring to a simmer, continuing to whisk. Once mixture is thickened, remove from heat.
5. Pour milk mixture into soup and season with salt to taste. Fish out herbs before serving, and enjoy with a piece of nice, crusty bread

Saute up your veggies until nice and tender.

Add your chicken, herbs, chicken stock, water, and wild rice and cook for about 30 minutes or until rice is finished and chicken is cooked throughout.

Remove your chicken from the pot, shred it using two forks, and return it to the pot.

In a small sauce pan, prepare your roux. Melt 2 Tbsp of butter and whisk in 2 Tbsp of flour. Stir in your 12 oz. can of evaporated milk and bring to a simmer, stirring frequently. Once mixture has thickened, remove from heat and stir into soup. Season with salt to taste.

Kale Pesto

Kale: It’s what’s for dinner.

Somewhere over the last year, I developed a deep love for kale. Yep, I’m one of those strange people that actually truly enjoys kale and I even prefer it to spinach. I eat it in salads, stir-fry, pasta dishes, soups, scrambled eggs, and I get kind of anxious when I don’t have any in the house. I love curly kale because there is so much surface area to the leaves and it’s one of the cheapest greens you can buy, averaging around $0.99 per pound. It’s much more substantial than spinach and doesn’t wilt into a slimy pile of nothing when you cook it. Kale can be bitter sometimes, but every now and then I’ll get a really good bunch that is sweet and full of flavor.

Today I somehow found myself with four bags of kale crammed into the back of the fridge… oops. I had seen recipes for kale pesto and today seemed like the perfect time to make it. I’m a huge fan of traditional basil pesto so I of course had to try out a pesto recipe using my favorite green.

I was concerned this pesto would be lacking in flavor since kale isn’t as fragrant as basil, but I was wrong. The kale gives a sweet, mellow flavor and the combination of almonds, parmesan cheese, and garlic doesn’t hurt, either. You can still include some basil in this recipe if you think you’ll miss the flavor. Incorporating kale into your pesto will make it go a long way and will save you money as well. Win-win!

Kale Pesto
makes roughly 1 cup

Ingredients:

• 1 large bunch/6-8 stalks kale, leaves torn into pieces and stems discarded
• 1/4 cup sliced almonds, toasted (to toast raw almonds, see directions below)
• 3-4 Tbsp olive oil
• 1/4 cup parmesan cheese
• 1-2 Tbsp lemon juice
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 green onions or 2 Tbsp chopped shallots
• salt, to taste
• 1/2 tsp dried basil or small handful of fresh basil leaves (optional)

Directions:

1. Fill a 3-4 quart pot halfway full with water and bring to a boil. Add kale and cook for 1-2 minutes, until kale turns bright green and is slightly tender to the touch. Drain in the sink and let cool.
2. To toast your almonds, lightly spray a small frying pan with cooking spray and turn onto low-medium heat. Add your almonds and let them toast for 3-5 minutes, stirring often, until they are light brown.
3. Combine all ingredients in a food processor and pulse until smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. You may need to do this in batches if your food processor is on the smaller side, especially because kale takes up so much space. Season with salt to taste and enjoy on pasta, sandwiches, and more!

Bring water in a large pot to boil and cook kale for 1-2 minutes until bright green and slightly tender. Drain and let cool.

Toast your almonds in a small, greased frying pan if they are not already toasted. Cook for 3-5 minutes, stirring often, until light brown.

Combine all ingredients in your food processor and blend until smooth.

Season with salt to taste and enjoy

Mmm