Every good BBQ, needs a good pasta salad right?  This one is absolutely amazing and is also gluten-free.  I have usually stayed away from gluten-free pastas, as I am a lover of all things gluten.  However I did find a unique pasta in the health food section at the store (yes I do occasionally hit that section of the store) that was made of quinoa and corn, so I had to give it a shot (plus needed to use a gluten-free pasta for the 4 ingredient challenge).

Ingredients:

• 8 ounce box Quinoa Rotelle
• 8 ounce package of Sugar Snap Peas, cut in half
• 1 4 ounce can (think it was 4 ounces) of Baby Corn, cut in half
• 1 can water chestnuts
• 4 green onions diced
• 4 cloves garlic, diced
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 tablespoons gluten-free soy sauce
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup rice vinegar
• 1 teaspoon Chinese Five-Spice

Directions:

Prepare the dressing by combining the garlic, salt, soy, olive oil, and Chinese five-spice together in a bowl, whisk together until all ingredients are well mixed.  Set the dressing to the side.

Prepare the Quinoa Rotelle as directed by the package and as soon as you drain place in a bowl and toss with the dressing.  Goal is to do this right away when the pasta is still warm as it will prevent the pasta from sticking and get the flavor of the dressing into the pasta.  Add the sugar snap peas, baby corn, water chestnuts, and green onions.  Toss well and set in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.

I actually really enjoy eating salads, but yet I barely ever do, so I am going to be trying to do at least 1 new salad recipe a week at dinner time plus left overs for lunch.  The hard part is going to be keeping them on the healthier side, as most dressing I prefer aren’t the greatest for you and I love to put cheese on salads along with ham, bacon, and everything else that makes a salad not so healthy.

For this salad I did a quick Mexican rub on chicken breast and grill the chicken breast along with some peppers and onions.  I also added in black beans and corn with the lettuce and tossed it with a simple homemade vinaigrette.  Overall a fairly healthy salad (extremely healthy salad for me).  Flavor was definitely there, but I sure was craving some cheese on the salad, such as crumbled Cotija cheese on top, but cheese is one of my guilty pleasures that I need to cut back on, so I skipped.  If you are trying out the salad, go for the cheese, bet it would be real good.

Ingredients:

• 4 Chicken Breasts, trimmed
• 1 tablespoon Dried cilantro
• 1 tablespoon Ground Cumin
• 1/2 tablespoon Kosher Salt
• 1/2 tablespoon Chipotle Powder
• 1/2 tablespoon onion powder
• 1 1/2 tablespoons Olive oil
• 3 Colored Bell Peppers (NOT GREEN!)
• 2 Red Onions
• 1 Jalapeño
• 15 ounce can Black Beans, drained and rinsed
• 15 ounce can Whole Kernel Corn, drained and rinsed
• Basic Vinaigrette (recipe follows)
• Plenty of good lettuce

Directions:

Prepare the grill for medium-high direct grilling.

Quarter the red onions and place the quarters on a skewer.  Lightly coat with some olive oil and place on the grill over direct heat along with the bell peppers and jalapeño.  Leave the onions on the grill until they are soft.  Leave the bell peppers and jalapenos on the grill until the skins are blistered.  Once the onions are soft remove from the grill and set aside to cool off.  Once the pepper skins are blistered, place in a sealable plastic bag and let sit for about 10 minutes.

In a bowl combine the cilantro, cumin, salt, chipotle powder, onion powder, and olive oil.  Mix to form a paste.  Place the past all over the chicken breast and place on the grill over direct heat.  Grill the chicken till juices run clear.  Remove from the grill and let cool, then slice each breast into thin slices.

As the chicken is grilling/cooling remove the peppers from the bag and remove the skins, seeds, and membranes.  Finely chop the jalapeño and slice the bell peppers into strips.   After the onion has cooled down a bit, slice the quarters into thin slices.

In a bowl, combine the beans, corn, onions, and peppers.

To build the salad, add a decent amount of lettuce to the bowl, vegetable mixture, and toss with your desired amount of vinaigrette.  Top off the bowl with some sliced chicken breast.  And if you are using cheese, this is the time to add it.

Basic Vinaigrette:

• 1 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 6 tablespoons Balsamic Vinegar
• Pinch of Salt
• Pinch of Pepper
• 1 teaspoon Dijon
• 1 Garlic Clove, diced,
• Juice of 1 lime

Thoroughly mix all ingredients in a bowl and refrigerate.

One of my goals has been to come up with lighter side dishes for a while now, and this one definitely hit the spot.  It is light and a perfect side dish for summer.  This three bean salad recipe is also perfect for picnics and potlucks.  One of the things I like about this recipe is the use of honey as the sugar, most three bean salad recipes call for granulated sugar.   I like sticking to the more natural sugars over the processed sugars.

The garlic scapes are completely optional, as most of us do not have access to them through out most of the year.  If you do not have access to them, feel free to use a couple of finely diced garlic cloves as a replacement.

Ingredients:

• 1 15 ounce can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 15 ounce can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 16 ounce steam in bag frozen green beans
• 4 green onions, chopped
• 2 garlic scapes, chopped (optional, can use 2 diced garlic cloves)
• 1 stalk celery, sliced
• 1/2 cup cider vinegar
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper

Instructions:

Cook the frozen green beans as instructed by bag.  Once cooked, rinse under cold water to cool off.

While the green beans are cooking, in a bowl whisk together the vinegar, oil, honey, mustard, garlic powder, pepper, salt and set a side.

In another bowl combine the three beans, green onions, garlic scapes, and celery.  Pour the dressing over the bean mixture and gently toss to coat.

Place in refrigerator for at least 2 hours before serving.

Flank steak is a nice lean cut of beef, but can also be a bit tough if not prepared correctly.  Generally a flank steak should be cooked quickly at a high temperature and served medium rare and no more than medium.  When serving flank steak, it should be cut diagonally across the grain.

Seems like everyone is grilling romaine or other types of lettuce now a days.  So I decided to give it a shot finally.  The grilled romaine ended up tasting fabulous, and was a perfect accompaniment to the flank steak.

Ingredients:

• 1 – 1/2 pound flank steak
• Coarse Salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1 head of romaine lettuce
• Olive oil
• Cherry tomatoes
• Shredded parmesan cheese
• Balsamic vinegar

Instructions:

1. Prepare grill for medium-high direct grilling.
2. Season the flank steak with salt and pepper.
3. Grill the flank steak till it reaches medium rare to medium.
4. Remove steak from grill and let rest as you prepare and grill the romaine.
5. Cut the romaine in half lengthwise
6. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper
7. Place romaine on grill and grill a few minutes per side – long enough to cause it to wilt and get a bit of char on the outside leaves.
8. Place romaine on a large platter.
9. Slice the steak against the grain.
10. Top the romaine with the steak slices, tomatoes, shredded parmesan cheese and balsamic vinegar.

Looking for a light meal or a unique salad with some grilled vegetables?  This is the perfect recipe.  This recipe uses rice noodle dish with grilled vegetables and a classic Vietnamese dressing.  The smoky asparagus and carrots really add a lot of flavor to this classic recipe.

Dressing:

• 1/3 cup fish sauce
• 1/4 cup white vinegar
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1 garlic clove, minced

Mix the ingredients together in a bowl, making sure the sugar is dissolved.  Set a side.

Salad:

• 8 ounces rice noodles
• 1 pound asparagus, trimmed and cut into 2-inch lengths
• 2 large carrots julienned
• 2 tablespoons peanut oil
• 3 tablespoons fresh mint, chopped
• 3 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped
• 3 tablespoons roasted peanuts, chopped

Prepare the grill for medium direct grilling.  Toss the carrots and asparagus with the peanut oil and place on a vegetable grill rack.  Grill over direct heat for about 5 to 8 minutes, while tossing every couple minutes.  Grill until vegetables are tender (5 to 8 minutes).

Prepare the rice noodles as instructed, boil for about 5 minutes.  Rinse noodles under cool water and till the noodles are cool.

Put the rice noodles in a bowl and pour about half the dressing and toss to coat.  You can either place the noodles on a large plate or on individual plates.  Combine with the vegetables and remaining dressing.  Sprinkle with mint, cilantro and peanuts.  Serve immediately.

Caponata is a wonderful grilled vegetable salad.  This was by far the most fabulous salad I have ever tried and it actually fairly simple to make.  The recipes calls for eggplant and red onions (preferably Bermuda) to be grilled and mixed in with an abundance of other vegetables and ingredients.  The key is to prepare the vegetables the day before which will allow the flavors to bind nicely together.

Ingredients:

1. 1 eggplant
2. 1 red onion
3. 3 roma tomatoes
4. 1 cup celery, chopped
5. 4 Greek olives, pitted and sliced
6. 2 1/2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
7. 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
8. 1 tablespoons capers
9. 1 tablespoons raisins
10. 2 teaspoons sugar
11. 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
12. Romaine lettuce, chopped

Instructions:

Prepare the grill for medium direct grilling.  Slice the eggplant into 1/2 inch thick rounds and quarter and skewer the onion quarters.  Brush on a light coat of olive oil to the eggplant slices and the quartered onion.  Grill the eggplant for about 5 minutes, flipping in between and the onions for about 10 minutes, rotating in between.  Remove the vegetables from the grill.

Prepare a large skillet or sauce pan with a small amount of olive oil, add the celery and saute for about 5 minutes.  Now add in the tomatoes, eggplant, onions, red wine vinegar, capers, raisins, olives, sugar, and pepper.  Mix the combination well and cook for about 10 minutes over low heat.  Let cool and place in a covered dish and refrigerate over night.

Server chilled on a bed of chopped Romaine lettuce with a nice oil and vinegar dressing.

Results:

This was an amazing salad.  I actually added in some chopped up fresh mozzarella with the salad that added another nice kick.  I am working on a slightly different version now that will have a few more vegetables in it.

Source: bbq.about.com

Grilled vegetable salad has the great taste of a good salad plus the great taste of grilled food.  It is actually very simple to make and only requires about 10 minutes of grilling time, so it is ideal for the weekday grilling.  One of the best things about a grilled vegetable salad is that you can mix and match any vegetable you like to change it up a bit.

Salad Ingredients:

• 2 green peppers
• 1 yellow pepper
• 1 orange pepper
• 1 red pepper
• 2 zucchinis
• 2 cucumbers
• 1 red onion
• cherry tomatoes
• feta cheese
• dried cranberries
• Favorite salad, mixed greens is my recommendation
• Olive Oil

Instructions:

1. Prepare the grill for direct medium-low grilling
2. Cut the tops and bottoms of the peppers and remove the cores and then cut them so you can lay them flat in one long piece
3. Slice the zucchinis so they are long thin strips
4. Cut the cucumbers into thin rounds
5. Slice the onions into thin rounds
6. Play a little bit of olive oil on the peppers, zucchinis, cucumbers, and onion and place on the grill
7. Grill the peppers till they skins are charred and the remainder of the vegetables till they are warm through out
8. Remove from the grill and remove the charred skin from the peppers
9. Slice the grilled vegetables into smaller pieces, size is up to you and place in a serving dish, and add the cherry tomatoes to the serving dish
10. Place the mix salad, feta cheese, and dried cranberries in separate bowls
11. Serve with the following dressing

Salad Dressing Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 3 cloves minced garlic
• salt and pepper to taste

Mix all the ingredients up together and a bowl and serve with salad.

Results:

Salad turned out great!  Had the great taste of grilled foods, but the refreshing simplicity of a salad.  The dressing went great with the salad, as you just want something simple to help bring out the flavors of the vegetables and not to cover up the taste.