Grilled Chicken and Strawberry Salad

The last 6 months I've made a few new recipes here and there, but mostly I've just stuck with what I knew worked.  Over the last month, Kevin has taken charge of cooking a few meals occasionally (which has been a huge help to me).  He told me one day he had found a new recipe he wanted to try for dinner.  I was excited about the idea of him cooking, but trying a new recipe pretty much worried me.

I knew it was a salad, which I generally like, and I knew there was chicken, strawberries, and pecans in it, and I love all three of those.  I got stumped on the homemade vinaigrette for a couple reasons... first, I don't love many dressesings besides ranch... probably because I haven't ever tried anything besides ranch.  Second, I was worried about some of the ingredients I knew were going into the vinaigrette (red wine vinegar, dried mustard...).

Kevin worked so hard on the meal, and this vinaigrette turned out to be such a pretty pink color!  I was interested, but still afraid to try it.  Kevin was brave and soaked his salad in it.  He was raving about how good he thought it was.... so I put a little on a bite of my salad.  I couldn't believe how much I loved it!  Did you hear me?  I. Loved. It.   I took claims to all the leftovers the next day and we are making it again this weekend.  It's the perfect spring/summer salad.  The colors in the salad scream, "Welcome Spring," to me.  And I can not wait to eat it again!!! 

Recipe source: All Recipes
Serves 6
Ingredients:

• 1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast
• 1/2 C pecans
• 1/3 C red wine vinegar
• 1/2 C white sugar
• 1 C vegetable oil
• 1/2 onion, mined (He used 1 Tbsp dried minced onion, since none of us love onion)
• 1 tsp ground mustard
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp ground white pepper
• 2 heads lettuce (rinsed, dried, then torn) - or a bag of the fancy spring blend lettuce.
• 1 C sliced fresh strawberries (He used more like 3 C of strawberries b/c we LOVE strawberries!)  If strawberries aren't in season, you can substitute for mandarin oranges.

1. Grill chicken, cool, then slice.  (Kevin grilled ours on our electric skillet inside).  
2. While the chicken is cooking, wash and cut strawberries, and place in the fridge until ready to serve.
3. Meanwhile, place pecans in a dry skillet over medium-high heat.  Cook pecans until fragrant, stirring frequently, about 8 mins.  Remove from heat and set aside.
4. In a blender (He used my food processor), combine the red wine vinegar, sugar, vegetable oil, onion, mustard, salt, and pepper.  Process until smooth.
5. Arrange lettuce on serving plates.  Top with grilled chicken, strawberries, and pecans.  Drizzle with the viniagrette to serve. 

I hope you all love this salad as much as we do!  I'm going to be posting another new recipe Kevin made that was amazing.... check back next week for that one! :)