Santa Rosa Chicken Salad

Such a yummy salad and perfect for summertime!

Santa Rosa Chicken Salad

1 box long grain wild rice-cooked (Uncle Ben's-small box)
3 chicken breast halves-cooked and diced
4 green onions-diced
1 red bell pepper-diced
3 oz. Chinese pea pods-(fresh) remove ends and cut into thirds
2 medium avocados-diced
1 cup chopped pecans
Combine all ingredients, except avocados and pecans, and place in fridge overnight.

Dressing
2 cloves garlic-minced
1/2 t salt
1/4 t pepper
1/3 c rice vinegar (Nakano seasoned rice vinegar)
1 T Dijon mustard
1/4 t sugar
1/3 c vegetable oil
Combine all dressing ingredients in blender. Cover and refrigerate. Mix with salad 2-4 hours before serving. Immediately before serving salad add avocados and pecans.

Chicken Salad

I am not a huge fan of Chicken Salad, but this one is super yummy!

2 cans Chicken
2 chopped Apples
3 chopped Celery Stalks
8 oz. can Pineapple Tidbits
2 tsp. Lemon Juice
1/2 c. Chopped Pecans
3/4 c. chopped Green Onions

Dressing: 1 c. Mayonaisse
1/2 c. Sour Cream


Mix together and serve in Croissant Rolls.

Spinach, Chicken, and Pasta Salad

This is by far my most favorite salad of all time. Ever. Period. It's the best!


16 oz. bowtie pasta, cooked and drained

Dressing:
1 c. vegetable oil
2/3 c. bottled Teriyaki sauce
2/3 c. white wine vinegar
6 Tbsp. sugar
½ tsp. salt
½ tsp. pepper

1 10 oz. bag of spinach
6 oz. bag of craisins
3 11 oz. cans mandarin oranges, drained
2 8 oz. cans sliced water chestnuts, drained
½ c. parsley, chopped
1 bunch green onions, chopped
¼ c. sesame seeds, toasted
6 oz. honey roasted peanuts
2 c. cooked chicken, cut in small pieces

Blend dressing ingredients in a blender. Mix dressing and cooked pasta in medium bowl and marinate for 2 hours. Combine rest of ingredients in large salad bowl, add pasta and dressing and toss.


Just a side note....our ward started a "Recipe Club" and asked me to head it up. I thought a blog like this would be great but we have some not-so-computer-literate ladies in our ward who basically only know how to e-mail. So, they passed a sign up around, I send out an e-mail each month with a topic and everyone sends their recipes to me and then I cut and paste and send out a pretty word document to the ladies. They can then print them off themselves and store them in a three ring binder in sheet protectors (works great for recipe books). Anyway, I LOVED the idea so thought I'd share with you so you might start it in your own ward. This month is salads, hence the spinach recipe I submitted to Grandma's Syrup! Enjoy!

Cafe Rio Recipes

Cafe Rio Recipes
(not for sure that these came from Cafe Rio, but we made them last night and they sure taste awesome!)

Pork
3-5 lb Pork Loin or Pork Roast
1 ½ cans Coke (I used Sprite)
1 c. sugar
7oz can chipotle chilies in adobo sauce –provides alot of heat (or plain adobo sauce for sweeter sauce)
1 tsp dry ground mustard (heaping)
1 tsp cumin (heaping)
1 tsp minced garlic

Place the contents of the can of chilies in a bowl and cover with soda to get as much of the adobo sauce off the chilies. Remove the chilies and throw them away, or if you want the meat to be hotter, leave one or two chilies in. I left two small chilies in and the meat was perfect for us, but we like stuff HOT!. Add all ingredients except pork in a blender. Rinse can of adobo sauce with soda to get all the sauce out. Blend in blender until well mixed. Place pork in crock pot and pour sauce over it. Cook for 4-6 on high or 7-9 hours on low. Carefully turn roast over halfway through. Cook in sauce until it pulls apart and then shred. Take pork out and shred. Then add sauce to your liking. I think I only added about half of the sauce because I didn't want it too runny. Serve over rice, on a salad, or in a tortilla!

Rice
1 c. rice
2 c. water
3 cubes chicken bouillon
½ tsp dried onion
1 tbsp oil
1 fresh lime
1/4 bunch cilantro
Cook rice with all ingredients (except lime and cilantro) in pot or rice cooker. Squeeze fresh lime juice over rice and mix in cilantro before serving.

Creamy Cilantro Dressing (for a salad version)
1 envelope buttermilk ranch dressing
1 c. mayo
1 c. milk
½ bunch cilantro
2 tomatillos
½ serrano peppers with seeds removed (adds heat)

Blend in blender, let sit to thicken. Dressing continues to get hotter when it is stored in the fridge.

Make a salad by starting with a tortilla (we like the kind you cook yourself, found at walmart and costco in the fridge section). Put shredded romaine on the tortilla and top with rice, beans, meat, chopped tomatoes, and dressing. Yum!

Cafe Rio's creamy tomatillo dressing

I LOVE THIS DRESSING! Its so good on so many different salads!

1 large jalepeno
1 clove garlic
1 tomatillo
1 handful cilantro leaves
1 lime (juice and rind)
1 cup milk
1 cup mayonnaise
1 package Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing mix

Directions:
Blend all ingredients except mayonnaise in blender until all the green pieces are very tiny.Whisk the mayonnaise and chill.

Strawberry Spinach Salad

2 tablespoons sesame seeds
1 tablespoon poppy seeds
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup distilled white vinegar
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon minced onion
10 ounces fresh spinach - rinsed, dried and torn into bite-size pieces
1 quart strawberries - cleaned, hulled and sliced
1/4 cup almonds, blanched and slivered

DIRECTIONS
In a medium bowl, whisk together the sesame seeds, poppy seeds, sugar, olive oil, vinegar, paprika, Worcestershire sauce and onion. Cover, and chill for one hour.
In a large bowl, combine the spinach, strawberries and almonds. Pour dressing over salad, and toss. Refrigerate 10 to 15 minutes before serving.

This is my aunts specialty! It is so yummy and fantastic for summer!