Chili Marinated Chicken with Lime Guacamole

Ah, the summer. The time where we ~~try to~~ eat healthier, don’t want to heat up the entire kitchen while cooking, and always looking for something quick to make. I’m always on the look-out for new things to try–I mean, what foodie/food blogger/etc wants to have the same thing all the time?

One Saturday afternoon, while ~~annihilating my foes on Warcraft~~ watching TV, I turned to my clever boyfriend and said, “Any suggestions for dinner?” I had to go to the store anyway… He picks up his iPad and starts tooling through his collection of recipes by his favorite chef–Gordon Ramsay. While I admit he’s not my favorite chef, he does have some very clever recipes. Said clever boyfriend shows me the picture from his iPad and I was sold. I admit, after seeing the ingredients initially, I was a little intimidated by the amount of cayenne powder and chili pepper (I’m not a HUGE fan of spicy food)–but this is not as bad as I first anticipated.

I made a few changes to Gordon Ramsay’s recipe, I prefer my own guacamole in this–and even that is slightly modified to go with this. Enjoy!

Chili Marinated Chicken with Lime Guacamole

Adapted and modified from Gordon Ramsay

Ingredients

For the Marinade:

4 large boneless, skinless, chicken breasts
1 lime
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp red wine vinegar
1 Tbsp clear honey
2 tsp cayenne pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbsp paprika
1 large red chili, diced

For the Guacamole:

2 ripe avacados
1-2 plum or roma tomatoes
1 small onion, chopped
juice of 1 lime
2 tsp dried cilantro
1/2 tsp garlic salt

To serve:

Boston butter lettuce, baby gem lettuce, or romaine
Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions

For the Marinade, combine zest and juice of 1 lime, and remaining marinade ingredients minus the chicken in a bowl, stir to combine. Cut the chicken into strips or chunks (personal preference here) and combine with marinade. Let sit while making the guacamole.

For the Guacamole, mash your avocado with a fork until only subtle chunks remain. (If you prefer your guacamole creamy, then mash it all the way.) Cut and dice your tomatoes and onions, add to mashed avocado. Mix with garlic salt, lime juice and cilantro, and set aside.

In large frying pan, drizzle a little olive oil in the pan. Once hot, add the chicken and cook through. Add any excess marinade if the chicken starts to dry out. Once cooked through, turn off fire, and set aside.

To serve, wash individual lettuce leaves, set on a plate, and scoop a small amount of guacamole onto the leaf. Put one or two pieces of chicken on the guacamole and enjoy! You can eat this similar to a taco or lettuce wrap, but be warned if you got REALLY excited with the guacamole like I did, you may need a napkin or 5…and a fork and knife.

Spring Mix Salad with Pomegranate, Apples, Feta and Pecans

Happy Friday Campers! For some of you it’s probably been a short work-week. For others, you may not be returning until Monday! I hope your Christmas and New Years were good to you! I know mine was FANTASTIC! Christmas in my family is always a big family affair with everything Christmas-related all over my parents’ home, with a keepsake-ornament-full Christmas tree, lights everywhere, Santa’s village, Christmas stockings–the whole sha-bang! And Christmas was extra special this year as it was announced that my sister and brother-in-law will be adding to the number of stockings to be hung! We’re all so excited for them!

Now that the new year has started, everybody’s making resolutions to lose weight, eat healthier, live healthier, etc. In that vein, I wanted to share with you all this salad I have literally become addicted to! I made this not only for Thanksgiving, but also for Christmas dinner–and I promise you, it wasn’t enough! You can have this as a light meal, or as a sweet and tangy side salad. The flavors just pop all over the place!

Now you’re thinking….Pomegranates? Do I have to buy the arils? The answer is NO! You can buy the whole thing! Now you’re thinking “how do I seed them without destroying the fruit?!” There’s a few great videos out there that show you how–but the best way I found was to cut off the bottom, score the outside, and soak the fruit in cold water for at least 10 minutes. After that, it just pulls apart. Take the fruit out under the water as seen in this video. It’s great! Everything else floats to the top, and you’re left with the fruit that sinks to the bottom. And the rest of the salad is a breeze!

The salad dressing is a wonderful Raspberry Vinegrette that my friend JoAnn showed me how to make. I’ve adapted it a tad bit, but pretty much, this is all her! Thanks Jo!

Spring Mix Salad with Pomegranate, Apples, Feta and Pecans

Ingredients

Salad

1-2lb bag Spring Mix greens, or you can use 1 radicchio, and a mixture of spinach and romaine lettuce
1 large Granny Smith apple, chopped to bite-size pieces
1/2 cup feta cheese, crumbled
1/4 cup pomegranate arils
1/4 cup chopped red onion
1/2 cup pecan halves

Raspberry Vinaigrette

1 tsp honey
1 tsp dijon mustard
1 cup red wine pomegranate vinegar (regular red wine vinegar will work just fine)
1/2 cup raspberry syrup (you can find this by the maple syrup at the store)
1/2-1 cup vegetable oil
salt
fresh ground pepper

Directions:

For the salad, toss together all ingredients, save the cheese and pecans until you’re ready to serve.

For the dressing, in a bowl, stir together the mustard and honey. Once combined, whisk together the vinegar and syrup until combined. Slowly drizzle the oil in, whisking constantly until combined. Add salt and pepper to taste, I’d recommend about 1/2 tsp salt, and a few good turns of the pepper mill. Let the dressing stand a few minutes, whisk again, and pour desired amount on the salad.

Enjoy!

Aunt Kookie's Cookatorium

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