There you are in your kitchen staring longingly into the refrigerator half trying to cool off and half wondering what that “science experiment” is still doing in the vegetable drawer.  It is HOT outside, muggy enough that you can see birds swimming from tree to tree instead of flying and you have changed your shirt for the third time because of the heat. You may not be motivated enough to head to the grocery store so, what in the world can you do for dinner?  I always say, “work with what you got!”

I was in this situation a couple of weeks ago  and had to kind of wing it.  Avoiding the “science experiment”, and actually throwing it away (To this day, I cannot figure out what it was.) I saw that I had a half bag of fresh spinach leaves, romaine lettuce leaves, a broccoli crown, two small red/yellow bell peppers, half a green bell pepper, a quarter bag of shredded carrots, 3 Roma tomatoes, and about 4 ounces of fresh mushrooms. From my freezer, 1.05 pounds of chicken tenders and, from the pantry, the magic elixir that pulled everything together, Brianna’s Special Request Lively Lemon Tarragon salad dressing.  The result of this list of ingredients was a good dinner, using up some things that would not have been enough for a different recipe and avoiding another trip into the hot muggy South Carolina summer.

Super B Salad

Lemon Taragon Chicken Salad

Ingredients:

1 lb – Chicken tenders

1 bottle – Brianna’s Lemon Tarragon salad dressing

1/2 bag – Fresh spinach leaves

1 – Broccoli crown large, separated into florets

1/4 bag – Shredded carrots

2 – Small red or yellow bell peppers cut into thin rings

3 – Roma tomatoes, cut into thin wedges

4 oz – fresh mushroom slices

Dry aged red wine vinegar (to be used as a dressing in splashes to compliment the chicken)

Construction Instruction:

Take chicken and marinate in a full bottle of the Brianna’s salad dressing for an hour. In a non-stick skillet sprayed with Pam or other non caloric non-stick spray, bring your heat up to just under half way or low medium heat.  Trying to keep as much of the marinade on the chicken, place the tenders in the skillet and begin to cook them. Make sure you are turning the chicken tenders often so that the dressing caramelizes on the outside of the chicken.  This process will take about 15 to 20 minutes.

Since the chicken is going to cook fairly slow, arrange the vegetable ingredients on large plates to await the crowning achievement, the chicken.

This was a simple, easy meal that turned out great.

Enjoy!

The Well Fed Cyclist

Gary Bechard