During the summer, my wife, Cara, and I hate heating up the kitchen to cook dinner.  That’s why we live, pretty much, on cold salads – preferably some form of a noodle salad.  While she has tried to get me to go vegetarian, I consistently regress to a good diet of meat.  Now, I can be flexible, so instead of a medium broiled sirloin, I can be convinced to settle for fish, chicken, or shrimp, but it absolutely has to be creative, inconsistent – meaning, not the same dish every day – and good tasting. 

Today, while Cara and I were attending a presentation of Native American culture at a Methodist Church in Port Lavaca, we were treated to lunch hosted by the Ladies Auxiliary.  To my pleasant surprise, one of the ladies had made a delicious chicken, strawberry, and peanut salad.  The blend of fruit, chicken and nuts was so engaging that I had to come up with my own recipe, with a slight variation. 

In my remaking, I added crushed red pepper (I actually prefer New Mexico Green Chili Peppers to the crushed red pepper, but the later is much easier to find), goat cheese and Pepper Jack cheese to give the sweet strawberries a slight spicy bite.  I also found I liked the Vinegar and Oil Dressing, but figured the Ranch would do just as well. 

Ingredients:

Romaine Lettuce, shredded – about 6-8 servings.

2-3 Chicken breasts, broiled and sliced or shredded.

1/4 cup of peanuts, unsalted.

1 cup strawberries, sliced.

1/2 cup Ranch Dressing or Vinegar and Oil Dressing.

1/4 cup Pepper jack or Monterey Jack cheese.

1/4 cup Goat cheese, Blue Cheese, or Gouda Cheese.

1 tbsp crushed red pepper or 2-3 New Mexico Green Chili Peppers.

Grate cheese, and slice the strawberries. Chicken is broiled, then shredded or sliced. Mix ingredients with Romaine lettuce and, peppers. Stir in Ranch Dressing or Vinegar & Oil Dressing. Chill for at least 2 hours. Makes 6-8 servings.

Enjoy…