Tropical Chicken Sausage Salad

As the heat is escalating and wearing my family down, I am thankful it doesn't last for forever. The 102-118 temperatures will end in a month or two,  its only mid-July. Need to start getting creative with indoor activites. But of course the things that keep coming to mind are: snow, fall, football, winter coats, pumpkins, anything pumpkin, thick spicy chili, and one last thing. If I am going to be this hot I might as well be someplace tropical with an super cold, iced beverage in my hand swinging in a hammock with lots of sunblock on, a book or just lazily staring off into a deep blue water. Sounds so picturesque... hammock, sand, sun, drink with an umbrella. This salad is an ode to that official day dream of being someplace wonderful and tropical. Let the flavors of mango and pineapple take you away..... 

Makes 1 adult portion lunch sized salad

Done in less than 15 minutes - Yup. Perfect for easy lunch or dinner. 

Ingredients

• 2 cups of fresh crisp romaine lettuce, chopped
• 1 oz  (3 or 4 pieces) of dried mango chopped 
• 1/2 of a fresh mango chopped ( I shared the other half with my kiddo - he loves mango!)
• 1/2 cup of fresh pineapple, chopped (from a can)
• 1 pineapple bacon flavor chicken sausage cooked in water on the stove - approx 8 minutes then remove water and let it crisp up for 2-3 minutes over medium heat
• 1/4 cup of your favorite kind of nuts ( I used cashews)
• 1/4 of a golden delicious apple (something i also shared) sliced super thin in long strips. 

This fresh crunchy wonderful salad doesn't even need any dressing with the fruit in there. The crunch of the lettuce and sweet juicy bites of fruit pair perfectly with the sweet flavored sausage. The only thing that would've made it better would've been some candied bacon in the salad too. Yes I know. Bacon makes everything better. 

Have a wonderful summer sun filled day. 

Enjoy some fruit and daydream about a tropical place. 

From my nontropical kitchen to yours. 

Grilled Apple Chicken Sausage Salad

Confession: Okay this is more a idea than a real "recipe" but it tasted good. I love sharing the stuff that really tastes good. Sometimes I get frustrated that I don't have a better record of blogging every other night. But the problem is not everything I try is worthy of sharing. This simple dish is. Heck, after unpacking boxes and sorting papers all morning, and losing my table in the process... this tasted amazing, light, and refreshing. The fresh apple I chopped mirrored the apple chunks in the sausage perfectly.

Yay! It is summer time, prime time for yummy cold salads with fresh straight out of the garden/store/farmers market veggies and fruits. Pair warm weather fruits and veggies like these with any sort of protein with a yummy salad for lunch or dinner. No cafe or restaurant needed just a grill/bbq and some yummy ingredients and yes there is real meat in this salad... hardy chunks of flavorful smoky grilled chicken sausage.

So to make this summer time bliss,  you need the following ingredients (or sub your own fav veggies) per person per salad

Prep Time: 5-7 minutes

Cooking Time: Depending on your sausage 5 -15 minutes

1- 1&1/2 cup of chopped romaine lettuce
1 apple chicken sausage, grilled*
1 apple washed and coarsely chopped (left peel on for texture and more nutrients)
1/2 Tbs olive oil drizzled over the top
1/2 of an avocado, sliced & diced
1/4-1/2 of a cucumber chopped (to taste)
1/2 chopped roma tomato
Sprinkle of salt and pepper

*Note: my sausage was already cooked - so I grilled it approx 5 minutes ea side on medium low to add the smoky flavor and heat it through for that hot cold contrast I love.

Cook, Toss, & Eat. 

Happy Simple Real Food

Enjoy your family & friends this memorial day weekend! 

From my kitchen to yours

Related Links:

Blackberry Chicken Salad

Grilled Salsa Chicken (for subs sandwiches or salads)

Chicken Sausage Mediterranean Pesto Pizza: Perfect Summer Pizza

The Perfect Summer Pizza

This recipe caught me off guard from the moment I saw it years ago in a magazine until even now after eating it for dinner. First, I not really a fan of Mediterranean foods. I dislike olives. I haven't ever cooked with capers but I do admire the healthiness of those kinds of dishes with good fats like fish, and olive oil, ect. If you are a fan - you will love this dish. If not... be fun and creative and step out on this limb with me. Trying new foods is fun. Second, it was a recipe in advertisement. They were trying to sell their brand of chicken sausage LOL the picture sold me. This was NOT a normal place to find a good recipe. Haha. I have issues with recipes that don't have pictures but that's a whole different conversation - back to the pizza. Cheesy. Meaty. Flavorful. Yes pizza. Of course when I finally get around to making the recipe THAT particular brand of sausage was no longer available so I had to find something else, similar. I think I accomplished that. Italian... Mediterranean... Same part of the world :)  

So kudos to the al fresco sausage company for their marketing was the inspiration of this meal :) I changed up a bunch of things and didn't use their sausage, but figure credit needs to be given where ever credit is due. Perhaps I just wanted a recipe to use pesto again. Have you ever made pizza with feta cheese? I am curious now.... hahaha :) I would love to hear what others have come up with. 

This would be a great summer light dinner - not too heavy like our old household standby, Pepperoni. This would be fun to entertain with, have for lunch if you have 30 minutes to make it, or just a great dinner with the family. Try. Eat. Have fun. Summer is coming. You could even change it up and grill it so you don't have to heat up your kitchen. Try. Yes I am repeating myself. Its been that kind of a morning or maybe it was that third cup of coffee. I will get back to you about that. 

Ingredients:

• Store Bought Pizza dough OR homemade. To make your own gather the following ingredients: 

 2 cups all purpose flour, 1/2 cup white whole wheat flour, 1/2 tsp of Italian seasoning, 1 Tbs white sugar, 2 Tbs olive oil, 1 cup warm water, 1 Tbs yeast - all mixed together with your hands. Add a bit more flour if needed but it should come together easily. Kneed it until its uniform 2-3 minutes and let it sit in a bowl under a towel for 10-15 minutes. 

• Store bought pesto OR homemade. To make your own gather these additional ingredients: 

2 handfuls of fresh parsley (1/2-3/4 cup), 1 handful of basil (1/4-1/2 cup), 1/4 cup of walnuts, 1/4 tsp salt, 1/8 tsp pepper, 1/4 cup of shredded cheese (I used parm/asiago/romano trio-  use any good quality grated or shredded cheese), and olive oil to drizzle into the sauce

• 1 Roma tomato, seeds removed, finely diced
• 1/2 cup reduced fat feta cheese crumbles
• 1 tsp of dried oregano 
• 1 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded
• 3 Chicken Sausages -  9oz total (mine was already cooked 3 cheese Italian style with red bell peppers and garlic - my goal here was just to try out a new chicken sausage - having the sausage precooked did save me some time)
• 3 or 4 good appetites

Directions:

1. Make your pizza dough or pull it already made from the fridge to let it come to room temp. 

2. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Use a stick of butter or non stick cooking spray on your pizza pan. 

3. Flour your work area and start to pull and stretch your dough. Set the dough in the pan - push and stretch it to make it fit but not be too thin in any area. 

4. While oven is preheating.... reheat or cook your sausages, if they aren't already cooked

5. Dice your tomato and set it aside with the feta cheese crumbles and dried oregano.

6. Use a food processor to make the walnut herb pesto sauce -  In a food processor or a maybe a blender would probably work in this - I just haven't tried pesto in a blender before.... add the fresh basil, parsley, walnuts, salt, pepper and slowly drizzle in the olive oil. I never know how much olive oil I need. Just drizzle some in slowly and keep an eye on the texture. You want it pretty smooth  since its going to be the pizzas sauce. 

7. Put the plain pizza dough in the oven for 5 minutes to start the baking process.  Once the 5 minutes is up. Pull it out and crank the oven hotter to 450. 

8. While its heating up, spread all of the pesto on top. Then a small layer of feta cheese/tomato mixture. Then half of the sausages sliced thin*, and half of the mozzarella cheese. Repeat. Feta cheese/tomato mix, sausages, mozzarella cheese. My son loved helping with his part. Just be careful the pizza pan will be hot. Done. 

9. Throw it back into the oven for 10 minutes or until it looks golden and the cheeses are completely melted and gorgeous. 

 *Note: I have a small kiddo so I sliced and then halved mine a bit smaller so he wouldn't be able to choke if he crammed a bunch in his mouth. If serving to adults a thin circle shape would be much more pleasing to the eye. 

There. Easy summer healthy food and pizza. Never thought I would be calling pizza healthy but I think this one really is. If you make the pesto and the dough like I did you can have the satisfaction of loosing some preservatives too :)  

Enjoy - Summer is coming. 

From my kitchen to yours.