Caprese Pasta Salad

I love anything and everything Caprese. It's my go-time meal in the summer. This Caprese Pasta Salad is a cinch to prepare and tastes garden fresh.

If you are making this with gluten-free pasta, it is best served immediately. Leftovers do not taste the same, as the gluten-free pasta hardens in the refrigerator. If you do have leftovers, heat it up in the microwave for 30 seconds or so to soften the gluten-free pasta.


Click here for recipe - I used gluten-free penne pasta to make this recipe gluten free. I omitted vinaigrette because I don't like the taste of balsamic vinegar. I drizzled extra virgin olive oil over the cooked pasta, tomatoes, mozzarella, and cheese. It was delicious.

Peach Caprese Salad

Hi, my name is Lauren and I am a caprese addict. If you've been reading my blog for awhile, this is no surprise. Ever since I was a child, my favorite cheese has been mozzarella. Despite all of the "sophisticated" cheese varieties I've tried as an adult, mozzarella remains my favorite.

This Peach Caprese Salad is a fresh, sweet, and flavorful twist on Caprese. The sweet and juicy peaches add sweetness to this dish. It's a light meal that satisfies even my sweet tooth. The produce was super fresh as the tomato and basil came from my garden and the peaches from a local store.

I even converted my self-proclaimed Caprese hating husband to liking Caprese with this salad. If you're looking for a savory Caprese salad twist, substitute the peaches for olives. I had a Caprese salad with olives at a local nursery/restaurant a month or so ago and it was amazing - fresh and savory.

What are your favorite non-traditional ways to enjoy Caprese?


Click here for recipe from Iowa Girl Eats

Buffalo Chicken Quinoa Salad

This Buffalo Chicken Quinoa Salad is healthy, flavorful, spicy, and crunchy. My picky husband even enjoyed it. Yummy!

Buffalo Chicken Quinoa Salad

Slightly adapted from Half Baked Harvest

Ingredients:

·1 cup quinoa
·2  cups water
·1½ cups cooked, diced chicken
·1 cup broccoli
·1 cup chopped carrots
·½ cup cream cheese with chives
·6 green onions, chopped
·½ cup EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)
·½ cup hot sauce
·1 tsp season salt

Directions:

Rinse quinoa in a fine-mesh strainer and drain. In a medium pot, combine quinoa and water. Bring to a boil, then cover and reduce heat to low. Cook until almost all of the water is absorbed, about 15-20 minutes. Remove from heat and fluff with a fork.

Meanwhile, make the dressing by whisking together olive oil, hot sauce, and season salt in a small bowl.

Heat a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add a few tablespoons of olive oil and sauté the broccoli and carrots for about 5 minutes. Add the cooked quinoa, cooked chicken, buffalo dressing, green onions, and cream cheese to the pan. Stir until all ingredients are heated through and well-combined. Serve warm.

Chicken Bacon Avocado Chopped Salad

One more satisfying, flavorful salad this week to round-out the salad kick I was on back in May. This Chicken Bacon Avocado Chopped Salad is a tasty twist on a traditional chopped salad. It combines grilled chicken, bacon, avocado, tomato, and garlic herb vinaigrette. The only revision I made was to substitute grated parmesan cheese for blue cheese because Mike and I don’t care for blue cheese. Deliciously healthy!

Click here for recipe from Gimme Some Oven

Cashew Chicken Mango Salad

Cashew Chicken Mango Salad combines sweet mangos, perfectly seasoned grilled chicken, creamy avocado, crunchy cashews, and sweet-tangy homemade vinaigrette on top of a bed of lettuce. I absolutely devoured this salad! It was delicious with fresh flavors and a combination of creamy and crunchy textures.

I made this delicious salad back in May when I was on a salad kick. Yes, that’s how behind I am on recipes. You’ll notice a theme in all of the recipes I post in July – they were almost all made in May. At least I had some recipes to post for you in June and isn’t the saying better late than never?!  Anyways, this delicious salad uses the same Honey Lime Vinaigrette from my uber flavorful Mango Avocado Spring Salad. Sweet, tangy, amazing!
 

What’s your favorite summertime salad?

Click here for recipe from Iowa Girl Eats

Mango & Avocado Spring Salad

I’m not a huge salad fan, but lately I’m getting hooked on amazingly delicious salads. This spring salad is uber flavorful, fresh, and light – perfect for a warm, spring day. I didn’t buy any oranges at the store the week I made this salad, so I compensated with extra mango and avocado. It still tasted delicious.

The “icing on the cake” for this salad is the Homemade Vinaigrette. I just started eating salad dressing the past 4-5 years. Would you believe that I ate plain salads with no dressing until only recently? My condiment-loving husband who drenches all foods in any sauce he can find (ketchup, barbeque, salad dressing, hot sauce) has called me a rabbit for eating plain-Jane salads. J I’m still not a huge salad dressing fan, so I typically only use a teaspoon or two for my salads or order dressing on the side to barely dip my lettuce into it. This Homemade Vinaigrette is the exception – I followed my husband’s lead and drenched my salad in it! The Vinaigrette is light, slightly tangy from the apple cider vinegar and lemon, and slightly sweet from the honey. It’s amazing; seriously, it couldn’t be simpler to prepare.  

 

Click here for recipe from Iowa Girl Eats

Strawberry Pretzel Salad

I love this Strawberry Pretzel Salad recipe. The salty pretzel layer combined with the sweet cream cheese layer and sweet fruit layer make for a delicious dish!

One of my relatives frequently brought this delicious Strawberry Pretzel Salad recipe to family gatherings. I love it and hadn't had it since going gluten-free. I adapted the original recipe to be gluten-free and made a few other modifications, and it still tastes as good as I remember it tasting (and, of course, As Good As Gluten). I was on a baking/cooking spree this weekend; I cut the recipe in fourths and made a small dish for Mike and I to share.

Strawberry Pretzel Salad

Ingredients:

·2½ cups crushed gluten-free pretzels (I used Glutino's GF Pretzels)

·1 cup plus 3 TBS sugar, divided

·¾ cup butter, melted

·1 - 8oz. package Neufchâtel cream cheese, softened

·1 - 8oz. tub light whipped topping, thawed

·1 large-size package Strawberry Jello

·2½ cups boiling water

·1½ cups fresh strawberries, sliced (The original recipe calls for 1 - 16oz. bag of sliced frozen strawberries with juice. I used fresh strawberries that I sliced and let sit overnight. If you sprinkle the sliced fresh strawberries with a little bit of sugar and let sit overnight, there will be some natural juices the next day you can use in this recipe.)

·1 cup crushed canned pineapple, drained (Optional) (I tried substituting fresh pineapple and learned the hard way that fresh pineapple (unlike canned pineapple) will prevent the Jello from setting up completely.)

Directions:                               

Preheat oven to 350˚. In a small bowl, mix crushed pretzels, 3 TBS sugar, and melted butter. Spread mixture in the bottom of a 9x13 pan. Bake for 10 minutes and let cool.

Cream remaining 1 cup sugar and cream cheese; add whipped topping and mix well. Spread mixture over cooled pretzel layer. Make sure cream cheese mixture is touching all sides of the pan. Refrigerate.

Dissolve jello in boiling water and stir well. When jello has partially set, add the strawberries with juice, and if desired, the pineapple. Stir well. Pour this mixture over the cream cheese layer. Chill until set.

I've also shared this recipe on: Seasonal Sunday's

Mexican Chicken Salad

I LOVE Mexican food and this Mexican Chicken Salad recipe is packed full of delicious Southwest flavor. Even my chicken-salad-hating husband said, "MMM, this is a keeper!"

Since I created my Apple-Chicken Salad recipe, I've been looking for another good Chicken Salad recipe. I came across a recipe in my "Bride & Groom First and Forever Cookbook" for a lettuce salad with taco-ranch dressing topped with cooked chicken breasts and veggies. I thought the concept behind the salad recipe would be perfect to turn into a Mexican Chicken Salad recipe (as opposed to a Mexican salad topped with grilled chicken).

Ingredients:
·⅓ cup light mayonaise
·⅓ cup milk
·1 tsp lemon juice
·1 tsp lime juice
·2 tsp taco seasoning
·1 tsp onion powder
·2 TBS fresh cilantro, chopped plus an extra handful
·1 cooked skinless, boneless chicken breast, chopped
·½ can (15 oz.) black beans, drained and rinsed
·3 green onions, chopped
·2 cups lettuce
·1 small avocado, peeled, pitted, and diced
·1 small tomato, chopped

Directions:
In a small bowl, combine mayonnaise, milk, lemon juice, lime juice, taco seasoning, onion powder, and 2 TBS of the cilantro. When dressing is well-mixed, stir in chicken, black beans, and green onions. Serve chicken salad mixture on top of a bed of lettuce topped with avocado, tomato, and fresh cilantro.

I've also shared this recipe on: Seasonal Sundays

Apple-Chicken Salad

Can you believe that I had chicken salad for the first time in my adult life only a few months ago? I can be a picky eater, and I've always been hesitant to try any type of non-lettuce salad (egg, chicken, tuna, ham, etc.). Ever since I tried chicken salad a few months ago, I've been waiting for the weather to warm up so I could create my own go-to chicken salad recipe.

I'm SO happy with the outcome of this recipe. It's a fresh recipe packed full of flavor. I know I'll be quickly making this recipe a lot this spring!

Ingredients:

·¼ cup light real mayonnaise (I use Kraft, it's GF)

·1/8 cup light sour cream

·½ tsp each – dried parsley, black pepper, garlic powder, celery seed

·1 cup cooked chicken breast, chopped

·¼ cup walnuts or pecans, chopped

·1/8 cup red onion, chopped

·1 small apple, chopped (use a good quality apple such as Fuji, Pink Lady, Braeburn, or Honey Crisp)

Directions:

In a medium-sized bowl, stir together mayo, sour cream, and spices. Then stir in chicken, nuts, onion, and apple until well combined. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary.

Serve with your favorite gluten-free bread or with a big leaf of romaine lettuce.

Prep: 10 minutes; Yield: 2-4 servings.

I've also shared this recipe on: Seasonal Sundays, Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays, Go Ahead Honey, It's Gluten-Free, Gluten Free Wednesdays

Mom's Potato Salad

This is my Mom's potato salad recipe. Our family loves it and gobbles it up quickly! My husband and I have been known to fight over the last few bites in the bowl. We think it is best served warm, but if you like cold potato salad I'm sure it tastes good that way as well. We use about 7-8 medium sized potatoes to make the recipe and from there we season it, taste it, make adjustments, and keep tasting and seasoning until we get it just right. We use Kraft Real Mayo - it's gluten free.

Peel, cube, and boil tots. Meanwhile, finely chop an onion and set aside. In a bowl, squirt a generous blob of real mayo, a pinch of sugar, dash of salt, and nice bit of cracked black pepper, some hearty sprinkles of onion powder, about 1-2 teaspoons of celery seed, and a heaping tablespoon of sweet pickle relish. The tots should be done by now – firm but not hard. Strain them and quickly toss the onion in the hot pan and dump the potatoes back in.  Let sit  for a few minutes, then softly mix, the onions should be transparent. Toss tots with sauce and fight over the bowl!

I've also shared this recipe on: Seasonal Sundays