Chicken and Grape Salad

Before I bookmarked (and eventually started pinning) ideas from around the web to save for later, I cut out magazine and newspaper articles and photos. I glued them into notebooks and stuck them on my cork board.

Thanks to pinterest, much of that is done digitally now, but I still love looking through food and home decor magazines. I have far too many recipes saved (both on paper and online), so I thought I would start trying them out in order to thin out the clutter.

First up, chicken grape salad.

Chicken and Grape Salad
Adapted from Martha Stewart's Food Magazine
Serves 2

2-4 slices turkey bacon (although I have to admit, real bacon is better)
about 1 cup shredded chicken (rotisserie chickens work wonderfully for this!)
1/4 cup low-fat plain yogurt
1/4 cup tomato basil feta cheese
1 Tablespoon finely chopped chives
2 teaspoons garlic, minced
coarse salt and ground pepper
4-6 ounces lettuce
3/4 cup seedless red grapes, halved

Cook bacon and break into bits. Shred about 1 cup of chicken, removing skin and bones. To make dressing, mix yogurt and cheese with a fork, then stir in chives and garlic. Season with salt and pepper. Finally, toss chicken, bacon, grapes and lettuce together before topping with yogurt dressing.


I love fruit in salad and this one is no different. The yogurt dressing is tasty and easy to make! Not to mention fairly healthy, especially if you leave out the bacon.


This post is linked up to some of the parties listed under my Show & Tell tab at the top of the page.

Manhattan Deli Pasta Salad

For some reason I can't quite put my finger on, I wasn't very festive for Independence Day. I think the closest I came was a blue shirt and red flip flops. Oh well. Next year. I did however contribute my quite-often-requested pasta salad to our 4th of July shenanigans last night. See?

After sharing a few pictures from last night's 4th of July celebrations, I'll give ya the recipe. Okie dok?

My niece, Addison and her littlest buddy, Olivia.

The Waters Family in red, white & blue. Michelle's 4th of July blog post has a well lit picture, instead of my impatient, dark one. ;) It's on my list of things to do: practice changing camera settings more so I am comfortable when the moments come.

It's not a BBQ without a lawn game or two, right?

Thankfully, Michelle made up for my lack of festive-ness and made a spectacular patriotic cake!

I love how adorable this tiny little pennant banner looks!

Finally, just what each other needed.

Addison watching little street fireworks with our lovely host, Steph.

And back to their usual antics. Post-dessert mac 'n cheese.

Arguably my favorite part of the night - Ellie saying "look!...woah..." to the big fireworks in the sky.

Michelle's 4th of July coverage and make sure to check out her ridiculously good recipe for passion lemonade. It was such a fun night complete with perfect weather, awesome friends and food that was too good! And now for the recipe...


Manhattan Deli Pasta Salad
16 oz spiral pasta
1 bottle of Italian dressing (I use Kraft Light)
8 oz. feta cheese
1 cucumber
2-3 roma tomatoes
1 package dry salami
olives (optional)

1. Cook pasta noodles according to directions.
2. While the noodles are cooking, cut up cucumber, tomatoes and salami into salad size bits.
3. Drain the noodles and place into serving bowl.
4. Add cheese, cucumber, tomatoes, salami and olives.
5. Mix about half the bottle of dressing (maybe a little more) into the bowl and toss to mix up all ingredients.
6. Refrigerate until serving. Make sure to really scoop down to the bottom of the bowl and mix up again before serving because the dressing tends to sink to the bottom.

TIP: I keep just less than half (or about a third) of the dressing in the refrigerator because it seems to be a little dry after refrigeration overnight.