Grilled Chicken, Fig, and Goat Cheese Salad

I'm definitely a creature of habit and putting together a creative salad for my husband and I for lunch on Saturday has become a bit of a tradition in recent weeks. I eat vegetable salads all the time as a side, but when putting together a main course salad I typically use a combination of cheese, dried fruit, and nuts, which may or may not be combined with more fresh vegetables or a protein. Here I pair rich and creamy goat cheese, with sweet, slightly tart, and chewy dried figs, toasty, crunchy walnuts, and simply seasoned chicken for a delicious and healthy meal. To make this salad vegetarian, as I brought it for lunch, eliminate the chicken and increase the amount of walnuts and figs; bacon could also be added or substituted for the chicken. I love these kind of meals that deliver tons of flavor with minimal time and effort and make my husband actually happy to eat a salad.


Grilled Chicken, Fig, and Goat Cheese Salad
serves 2

8 ounces boneless, skinless chicken breast
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
8 ounces of mixed romaine and radicchio
1/4 c. chopped dried figs
1/4 c. crumbled goat cheese
2 T. chopped toasted walnuts
Salad dressing, for serving

1. Preheat a grill pan or electric grill (like the Cuisinart Griddler or George Foreman grill). Brush both sides of the chicken breast with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Grill until chicken reaches 170 degrees F, flipping halfway through if using a grill pan. Remove chicken from heat and allow to rest for at least 5 minutes. Slice chicken into slices or bite size pieces.

2. Meanwhile, divide the lettuce mix between two plates and top each with half of the figs, goat cheese, and walnuts. Place sliced chicken on top and drizzle with your favorite dressing. Enjoy!

Pasta and Red Pepper Tuna Sauce with Anchovies, Garlic and Basil

Who doesn't love a hearty bowl of pasta for dinner? There's a pasta dish out there to please nearly every taste because there are infinite combinations of ingredients and types of pasta, ranging from the super-healthy to the sinfully indulgent. This pasta is absolutely delicious but full of heart-healthy ingredients. Olive oil, tuna, and whole grain pasta combine with sweet roasted red peppers and toasty garlic punctuated with a little kick of spice to make a deeply flavored, yet well-rounded dish. With relatively few ingredients in this dish, the olive oil and wine are important to the flavor, so don't cheap out. You should never cook with a wine that you wouldn't drink, but that doesn't mean you have to spend a lot of money. I used a Pinot Grigio from Cedar Creek Winery, one of the many wonderful Wisconsin wineries producing a wide variety of wines at very reasonable prices. And since you won't be using even close to the whole bottle to cook, you might as well pour yourself a glass to enjoy with your pasta.

Pasta and Red Pepper Tuna Sauce with Anchovies, Garlic, and Basil
adapted barely from Cook's Illustrated
serves 4 to 6

6 tablespoons olive oil
6 medium cloves garlic, minced or pressed through a garlic press (about 2 tablespoons)
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 anchovy fillets, minced
1 cup roasted red peppers (7 ounce jar), cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1/2 cup dry white wine
12 ounces canned solid white tuna in water (2 6-ounce cans), drained well and chunks broken up with fingers
Kosher or sea salt
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil or fresh chopped parsley
1 pound whole wheat penne pasta or fusilli, cooked until al dente and drained, 1/4 cup pasta cooking water reserved
Freshly ground black pepper

1. Heat 3 tablespoons oil, 1 tablespoon garlic, and red pepper flakes in 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat, stirring frequently, until fragrant and sizzling but not browned, 1 to 2 minutes. Add anchovies and roasted red peppers and cook, stirring constantly, until slightly dry, about 30 seconds. Add wine and bring to simmer; simmer until aroma bears no trace of alcohol, about 1 minute. Add tuna and 2 teaspoons salt and cook, stirring frequently, until tuna is heated through, about 1 minute.

2. Toss tuna mixture, remaining oil and garlic, lemon juice, basil, cooked pasta, and reserved pasta water to coat in warm serving bowl. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper to taste; serve immediately.

Sunshine Soup

I absolutely love Nigella Lawson. She's wonderfully talented and poised and one of the most charismatic and inviting celebrity chefs out there. When I picked up her latest book, Nigella Kitchen: Recipes from the Heart of the Home, I found myself wanting to bookmark nearly every recipe, with this one being the first of a long list of recipes I plan to make.

And what a fantastic start! This soup is so simple and tastes like a burst of summer, most welcome on a cold, snowy winter night, although it would be even more incredible in the summer with fresh sweet corn and peppers from the farmer's market. This soup also has a delightfully rustic texture and makes for a satisfying dinner for two with a crusty roll or side salad (or both, if you're feeling particularly ravenous). As written, it is beautifully sweet and mild, but if you'd like to give it a bit more kick, substitute chili-flavored oil for the garlic-flavored oil and add a bit of cayenne, habanero, or chipotle pepper when adjusting the final seasoning.

Sunshine Soup
from Nigella Kitchen
serves 4 as a starter, or 2 as supper in its entirety

1 yellow bell pepper
1 orange bell pepper
2 teaspoons garlic flavored oil
1 quart vegetable or chicken broth (good-quality canned, carton, or cube), preferably organic
1 pound (3.5 cups) frozen corn
Salt and pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F and cover a smallish lipped baking sheet with aluminum foil.

2. Remove the core, seeds, and white membrane from the bell peppers, then cut the peppers into strips and place on the prepared baking sheet shiny-side down. Sprinkle them with the oil and smoosh them about so that all the sides are a little covered by oil, then leave them, shiny-skin-side up this time. Roast them in the oven for 25 minutes.

3. Pour the vegetable broth into a large saucepan and bring to a boil. Add the frozen corn, bring back to boil, reduce the heat, cover, and let bubble for about 20 minutes.

4. Using a perforated spoon, remove about 1 cup of corn, and set to one side while you blend the rest of the corn along with all its cooking liquid and blistered bell peppers, then toss the set-aside corn niblets back into the blended, but not too smooth, soup, and season to taste.

Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Barbecue Spices

I love sweet potatoes prepared pretty much any way you you can prepare them. Baked, mashed, steamed, boiled, fried-they're just plain delicious and in general I prefer them to regular potatoes these days. I've mashed them many different ways, made them into soup, hash, and a few kinds of fries, baked them with apples, made classic candied sweet potatoes, and even stir-fried them, but I'm still on the search for new and delicious recipes for this wonderful vegetable.

As always, America's Test Kitchen came through with a recipes that couldn't be simpler, yet has layers of flavors without being too assertive and covering up the flavor of the sweet potato. This recipe is a bit unusual in that you start with a cold oven, so resist the natural impulse to start up the oven before tackling your recipe prep. I found that my cooking time was less than in the original recipe, but I provided the original cook times because I suspect my oven runs a bit hot (and am yet again reminded that I need to buy an oven thermometer to figure out just how far off my oven truly is). I also divided my sweet potatoes between two half sheet trays, rotating the two trays for the first time after about 20 minutes and again once the sweet potatoes were flipped.

There's simple no excuse not to make this nearly effortless, healthy, and delectable dish. These sweet potatoes will pair happily with fish, chicken, beef, or pork and will grace your kitchen with a suite of savory aromas, enticing everyone to the dinner table for a nice family meal. Need another reason to love these sweet potatoes? The leftovers, warm or cold, are almost better than the original dish because the flavors have had a chance to marry with the sweet potatoes even further.

Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Barbecue Spices
from The America's Test Kitchen Healthy Family Cookbook
serves 4

3 pounds sweet potatoes (about 4 medium), scrubbed, ends trimmed, and sliced 3/4-inch thick
2 tablespoons canola oil
Salt and pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons paprika
1/2 teaspoon light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1. Line a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil and spray lightly with vegetable oil spray. Combine the paprika, brown sugar, oregano, chili powder, cumin, and cayenne pepper in a small bowl. Toss the potatoes with the oil, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, and spices in a large bowl. Arrange the potatoes in a single layer on the prepared baking sheet and cover tightly with foil.

2. Adjust an oven rack to the middle position, place the potatoes on the rack, and heat the oven to 425 degrees. Cook the potatoes for 30 minutes.

3. Remove the foil and continue to roast until the bottoms of the potatoes are golden, 15 to 25 minutes. Flip the slices and continue to roast until golden on the second side, 18 to 22 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste and serve.

Grilled Portabella and Goat Cheese Salad

Grilled chicken and steak salads are great, but if you still want a hearty vegetarian main course salad, portabella mushrooms are an excellent choice. Portabellas have a satisfying, meaty texture and earthy flavor and are often used in place of meat by vegans, vegetarians, and those trying to be a little more health conscious. While they aren't going to satisfy a craving for steak, portabellas are much more than a sub-standard meat substitute, and pair well with many of the same ingredients as steak, like creamy and rich goat cheese. Add a bit of crunch from some toasted walnuts and you've got a healthy, tasty, and well-rounded salad sure to fill you up without leaving you lethargic.

Grilled Portabella and Goat Cheese Salad
adapted from Food and Wine
serves 2

1/4 cup dry white vermouth
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 portabella mushroom caps, cleaned and stemmed
2 ounces mixed greens
2 ounces baby arugula
1/4 cup coarsely chopped toasted walnuts
1/4 cup crumbled fresh goat cheese
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon very finely chopped shallot

1. In a large bowl, whisk the vermouth with the olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Add the mushrooms to the vermouth marinade, then toss and let stand for 20 minutes, stirring them occasionally.

2. Meanwhile, mix the greens and arugula together and distribute between two plates and top with goat cheese and walnuts. Combine shallots and vinegar in a bowl and allow the shallots to soften.

3. Light a grill or preheat a broiler. Drain the mushrooms; reserve 1 tablespoon of the marinade, add to the shallot and vinegar mixture, and season to taste with salt and pepper. Grill the mushrooms or broil them over high heat until browned and tender, about 15 minutes. Thickly slice the grilled mushrooms.

4. Toss the warm sliced mushrooms with the marinade mixture. Place the grilled mushrooms on top of the salad and drizzle the marinade on top. Toss everything together and serve.

Easy Mexican Pita Pizzas

This is another one of those dishes I threw together quickly in an effort to use up ingredients that I bought without any specific purpose (most of my grocery shopping is driven by a specific meal plan for the week, as well as sale prices). I got a great deal on some organic bell peppers because they were just a little past their prime, and I instantly thought of roasting them because having a bit of a softer texture than normal doesn't matter in the slightest. Roasting brings out the best in vegetables, creating a smoky flavor and intensifying the natural sugars, transforming veggies into little bombs of complex flavor.

As written, this could either make a nice light dinner for two with a vegetable side or an appetizer for 4. Although fresh corn off the cob is ideal, particularly if you have time to roast it, frozen will have to do during winter in Wisconsin. To make this more a bit more substantial, add some black beans or chorizo; if serving as an appetizer, try dipping the wedges into sour cream. This quick and easy meal will please everyone from kids to adults, while still being relatively healthy.

Easy Mexican Pita Pizzas
serves 2 (as a main course) to 4 (as an appetizer)

1 small onion, cut in half and peeled
1 red or green bell pepper
2 whole wheat pitas
6 tablespoons salsa
2 tablespoons corn
1/2 cup shredded Mexican melting cheese like Chihuahua or Oaxaca, mozzarella, or Monterey Jack cheese
Cilantro, for garnish (optional)
Sour cream (optional)

1. Preheat broiler. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil, if desired, and spray with cooking spray. Place onion and pepper on baking sheet and broil until blackened on all sides, 5 to 10 minutes, rotating every few minutes during cooking. Remove pepper and onion from the oven and set aside and allow to cool to room temperature. Reduce the oven temperature to 450 degrees F. Once cool, core and seed the pepper and slice both the onion and the pepper.

2. Spread 3 tablespoons salsa on each pita. Top each pita with 1 tablespoon corn and the desired amount of roasted peppers and onions (you will likely have extra). Sprinkle each pita with 1/4 cup cheese, place on a baking sheet, and return to the oven. Bake for 7 to 10 minutes, until cheese is melted, bubbly, and just starting to brown. Cut into wedges and serve hot.

Stir-Fried Sweet Potatoes and Beef with Vietnamese Flavors

Sweet potatoes are definitely not one of the first ingredients that come to my mind for a stir-fry, but after this dish, it might have to change. This recipe was immediately intriguing to me when I came across it in The Food Matters Cookbook, and it most certainly did not let me (or my husband) down. The sweet potatoes are caramelized and sweet, the beef rich and earthy, and the cilantro and lime fresh and light, punctuated by a bit of heat from the chiles. The key to the success of this dish is not overcooking the sweet potatoes, but also allowing them to cook undisturbed for a bit at the beginning so you get a little bit of delicious, crunchy caramelization. When the sweet potatoes and other veggies get added to the pan, err on the lighter side with salt because the fish sauce (or soy sauce if you don't have and/or like fish sauce), will add a lot of salt and you can always add more right before serving. Serve this delicious mixture over brown rice and enjoy!


Stir-Fried Sweet Potatoes and Beef with Vietnamese Flavors
from The Food Matters Cookbook by Mark Bittman
serves 4

3 tablespoons vegetable oil
8 ounces beef chuck, flank, or sirloin steak, cut into bite-size pieces
2 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and grated, about 4 cups
1 cup sliced scalloins
1 or 2 fresh hot chiles (like jalapeno or Thai), seeded and chopped (optional)
1 tablespoon minced garlic
Salt and black pepper
1/4 cup nam pla (fish sauce)
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro, basil, or mint

1. Put a large skillet over high heat for 3 to 4 minutes. Add 1 tablespoon of the oil and the beef. Stir immediately, then stir every 20 seconds or so until the meat is no longer pink, just a minute or 2. Transfer the beef to a plate.

2. Reduce the heat to medium-high and add the remaining 2 tablespoons oil. When it's hot, add the sweet potatoes, scallions, chiles if you're using them, and garlic and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring only occasionally, until the potatoes change color and begin to brown, then stir more frequently until they are tender but not at all mushy, 10 to 15 minutes.

3. Return the beef to the pan along with the fish sauce and lime juice. Cook, stirring and scraping the bottom of the pan, until the liquid is reduced slightly and you've scraped up all the bit of meat and vegetable. Toss in the herb and serve.