Cowboy Caviar

A friend of mine made this for a party she had and I had to get the recipe from her because it was so delicious! You serve it as an appetizer (or as we say here in Hawaii a "pu-pu") with chips. My friend even said she puts it on top of lettuce and eats it as a salad too. I think I will try that next!

15 oz. can of shoepeg corn (it was $3 a can here so I used regular corn)

15 oz. can of black eyed peas (they only had them with chile's so I used froze ones)

2/3 cup cilantro

2/3 cup green onions, chopped

1-2 avocados cubed

1/2 cup tomatoes, chopped

Dressing:

1/4 cup olive oil

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 t. salt

1 t. cumin

Mix all veggies together except avocados and tomatoes. Mix dressing ingredients together and then toss with veggie mix. Marinate for 2-3 hours before serving. About 1/2 hour before you serve it add the avocados and tomatoes so they don't get soggy.

Spring greens and Rotissiere Chicken

OK...so I went digging for salad recipes and this is one I made last night. I know some of you don't like nuts and some of you don't like fruit in your salad...but I thought I would share anyways.
ingredients:
1 Rotisserie chicken (I bought it in the deli for convenience)
Spring greens
strawberries
blue cheese
honey roasted cashews (or peanuts)

All I did was pull all the chicken off the bone. Next I laid out the spring greens and put all the ingredients on top (just as much or little as I wanted). The recipe called for lemon juice as the salad dressing but I used a light raspberry vinaigrette and it was really good.
We even have enough chicken leftover to make chicken salad sandwiches or whatever else and the best part - it was easy!

Fresh Corn Salad

My hubby found this in a farm magazine we get. I tried it over the weekend and it was SO good. You can change the proportions however you want (and K, you can leave out the onion...).

5 ears fresh corn

4 cups cherry tomatoes, halved

1/2 cup red onion, chopped

3 Tbs apple cider vinegar

4 Tbs extra virgin olive oil

6 Tbs fresh basil, finely chopped

salt

pepper

In a large pot of boiling, salted water, cook the corn for 3 minutes or until the starchiness is just gone. Drain and immerse the corn in ice water to stop the cooking and set the color. When the corn is cool, cut the kernels off the cob.

Toss the kernels in a large bowl with tomatoes, onions, vinegar and olive oil. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Just before serving, toss in fresh basil. Serve cold or at room temperature.

Pecan-Crusted Chicken Salad

This is a salad at O'Charley's that I just love...so I decided to try and make it at home.

1 bag mixed greens
3-4 pcs. of skinless, boneless chicken
1 small can mandarin oranges
craisins (however many you want)
1 (4 oz.) container feta cheese
candied pecans
chopped pecans
buttermilk
flour
balsamic vinaigrette

First I cut the chicken up and dredged in the buttermilk and then the flour with the chopped pecans. I cooked the chicken in oil on the stove in a large non-stick skillet. Then you pretty much toss everything into a bowl - toss some more and serve. This would make about 3-4 servings.

To make the candied pecans I used a large non-stick skillet
first line a baking sheet with tin foil and butter the foil.
Put the following ingredients into the skillet
1 1/2 cups of pecans
1/2 tsp. of vanilla
2 tbls. butter
1/2 cup sugar
Cook over med-high heat, shake skillet occasionally, until sugar begins to melt. Do not stir.
Reduce heat to low. Continue cooking until sugar is golden brown, stirring occasionally. Remove skillet from heat. Pour nut mixture onto the prepared baking sheet. Cool completely. Break into clusters. Store tightly covered in the refrigerator for up to 3 weeks.

This turned out so yummy! I do wish that I had a fryer - I think that would have made the chicken taste more like O'Charleys...mine turned out pretty good.