Tag: simple dinners

Summery Chicken Pasta Salad with Red Grapes

This Summery Chicken Pasta Salad with Grapes is the perfect dish for cookouts, hot summer nights, easy lunches or any day you want something quick and wonderful

This Summery Chicken Pasta Salad with Grapes is the perfect dish for cookouts, hot summer nights, easy lunches or any day you want something quick and wonderful

What I love about this recipe is it is so easy and very different from your usual pasta salad. It is very lemony so the red grapes are needed to balance it out. There is nothing better on a hot summer night then this. It is so cool and satisfying. This summery pasta salad is the perfect one dish meal for any occasion. A pasta salad this easy is something you need in the rotation. Get a rotisserie chicken, break it apart, add it to your favorite pasta with chopped spinach and chopped grapes along with the wonderful dressing in the recipe below and you are good to go. A warm summer night just calls for this cool and satisfying Summery Chicken Pasta Salad with Grapes/

My good friend Pam has always made this summery pasta salad and I finally convinced her to share the recipe with me. So she will get full credit for her culinary prowess.

Check out my other products here on the RECIPES page of my blog Sunday Chefs.

Summertime is always the best of what might be

Charles Bowden

Summery Chicken Pasta Salad with Red Grapes

Print Recipe
Course dinner, Salad

Ingredients
  

  • 1 12 oz box Pasta Bowties or Rotini work well
  • 3 cups Cooked Chicken Breast rotisserie chicken works great here
  • 3 cups red grapes sliced in half
  • 3 cups Baby Spinach coarsely chopped
  • Zest of 2 lemons
  • 1/2 cup Fresh lemon juice
  • 1/2 cup Olive oil
  • 1/2 cup Red wine vinegar
  • 1.5 tsp garlic powder
  • 1.5 tsp onion powder
  • 1 tbsp honey
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions
 

  • Cook the pasta as directed and rinse under cool water.
  • When the pasta is cooled, add the chicken, grapes, and chopped spinach
  • For the dressing. Mix lemon juice, zest, olive oil, red wine vinegar and spices.
  • Mix the dressing well. Add to the dry ingredients and mix well.
  • Refrigerate for about a half hour and enjoy.

Notes

Great for a hot, summer evening!
Allergy Friendly: Contains gluten but can be made with gluten free pasta.
 
Keyword Allergy Friendly recipe, american cuisine, appetizers, barbecue,, chicken, chicken recipe, cookout, cookout food, dinner, easy recipe, grapes, pasta salad, salad, spinach

Chicken Cacciatore

I was feeling nostalgic today and missing my late father. This dish always reminds me of him. Everyone should know how to make a good Cacciatore!

Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food – Hippocrates

  • 4 Chicken Breasts (Bone In – chicken thighs or even boneless breast could be used to)
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • One red bell Pepper, chopped
  • One small onion, chopped
  • One shallot, chopped
  • 8 oz. white mushrooms, sliced
  • 1 15 oz. can diced tomatoes (No salt added)
  • 3 cloves garlic, diced
  • 1/2 cup good white wine
  • 1/2 cup chicken broth
  • Parmesan rind – about a tablespoon equivalent (whole)
  • 1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes
  • 2 tsp. dried basil
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 lb. pasta (pasta of your choice depending on allergies – gluten free works great here)

Heat a deep, heavy pot over medium heat until very hot. Add olive oil and chicken breasts. Brown for about 4 minutes or until the chicken releases from the bottom of the pan. If it is still stuck, give it a few more minutes. Just leave it, do not mess with it. Flip the chicken and repeat on the other side.

Remove the chicken from the pot and put aside. Now add the onions, shallots, and peppers to the pot. Saute’ until onions are translucent. Now add the mushrooms and garlic and cook a few minutes more.

Add the wine, broth, tomatoes, salt, pepper, Parmesan rind and red pepper flakes.

Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to a simmer. Add the chicken back to the pot, cover and simmer for at least an hour. Some will say quicker, but I think the extra time makes all the difference. Add more wine or chicken broth if needed.

Serve over pasta (regular or gluten free) with some crusty bread.

Allergens: Dairy