Best Pasta Salad With Grilled Lemon Chicken Roasted Peppers And Goat Cheese Recipes

30-MINUTE LEMONY PASTA WITH GRILLED CHICKEN

Steps:

• Preheat grill or grill pan.
• Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper on all sides. Grill over medium-high heat until no longer pink inside, about 4-5 minutes on each side. Remove from grill and cover with aluminum foil. Set aside.
• Meanwhile, cook pasta according to package directions.
• While pasta is cooking, heat olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add garlic, parsley, and basil to the pan and cook for 30 seconds, stirring constantly. Pour lemon juice into skillet, and reduce heat to low. Simmer for 3 minutes.
• Pour lemon and oil mixture into a large serving bowl. Drain the pasta, then add it to the serving bowl. Toss well, until pasta is coated.
• Slice chicken into strips, add to the bowl, and toss again. Sprinkle with lemon zest. Serve immediately, with parmesan cheese sprinkled on top.

CREAMY LEMON-PEPPER ORZO WITH GRILLED CHICKEN

Steps:

• Bring a pot of water to a boil; prepare a grill or grill pan for medium heat.
• Whisk together the yogurt, garlic, lemon juice, 2 teaspoons of the oil and 1/2 teaspoon each salt and pepper in a medium bowl until well combined.
• Rub the chicken thighs with the remaining 1 teaspoon oil and sprinkle with 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Grill until nicely marked and cooked through, 10 to 12 minutes per side. Transfer to a cutting board and let stand for at least 5 minutes.
• Add the orzo to the boiling water and cook according to the package directions for al dente, stirring in the peas during the last minute of cooking. Drain the orzo and peas, reserving 1 cup of the cooking liquid. Stir the orzo and peas into the yogurt mixture, along with the goat cheese, 3 tablespoons of the herbs and at least 3/4 cup of the cooking liquid, until well combined. Transfer to a platter.
• Thinly slice the chicken and arrange on top of the orzo. Sprinkle with the lemon zest and the remaining 1 tablespoon herbs.

PASTA WITH ROASTED RED PEPPERS AND GOAT CHEESE

Steps:

• Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Meanwhile, heat the olive oil over medium heat in a large, heavy skillet. Add the garlic. Cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the sliced roasted peppers, and stir together for about a minute until well infused with the oil and garlic. Season with salt and pepper, and stir in the basil (if using) and goat cheese. Remove from the heat.
• When the water comes to a boil, salt generously and add the pasta. Cook until al dente - firm to the bite - following the recommendations on the package. Ladle about 1/2 cup of the pasta cooking water into the frying pan, and stir well so that the goat cheese begins to melt. Drain the pasta, and toss immediately with the pepper mixture in the pan. Serve.

HEALTHY GRILLED CHICKEN, RED PEPPER, AND GOAT CHEESE SANDWICH

Steps:

• Spray chicken breast with non-stick cooking spray on each side (I use PAM extra virgin olive oil, but any kind will do).
• Squeeze about 1/4 of a lemon over each side of the chicken breast.
• Wash and chop fresh rosemary and sprinkle about HALF of the amount you have over the entire chicken breast.
• Salt, pepper, and paprika both sides of the chicken (just a pinch of salt, a good amount of pepper, and enough paprika to give your chicken breast some beautiful red color).
• Keep the red onion in its circular shape if you can (it's easiest for grilling in that shape) and slice the red pepper into pieces no bigger than the palm of your hand.
• Spray red onion and red pepper with olive oil spray
• Put chicken breast, red onion, and red pepper on grill and cook until chicken breast is no longer pink on the inside (I like to butterfly my chicken breast, which means that after the chicken has cooked on both sides for about 4-5 minutes, you give it a slice down the side, open it up, and put the inside back on the grill. You don't have to slice the entire chicken, I usually just try to open up the thickest part of the chicken, which is sometimes still pink, and make sure that part gets put directly on the grill).
• When the chicken starts looking like it only needs a few more minutes, add the splash the other 1/4 of the lemon and sprinkle the remaining rosemary on both sides (rosemary needs to be cooked for at least a minute or so, so make sure that wherever you put the rosemary gets grilled up a little bit).
• The chicken should take around 10 minutes, depending on how thick it is.
• Flip the red pepper and red onion when they start to get some darker grill marks (you want to make sure that they are nicely cooked, but not charred black). They shouldn't take longer than your chicken breast to cook.
• Toast your wheat bun (either throw it on the grill for a minute or warm it up in the toaster oven until it starts to brown.
• Spread the goat cheese on the warm bun.
• Spread the dijon on the other side of the bun
• Slice your grilled red pepper and onion into strips.
• Top the bun with red pepper, onion, chicken breast, and shredded lettuce.
• Enjoy!
• *I ate this last night with a side of Harvest Cheddar Sun Chips (which was a great combination), but for guests, I would recommend either a homemade light pasta salad or oven baked sweet potato steak fries to go with this dish!*.

GRILLED LEMON PEPPER CHICKEN PASTA SALAD

Steps:

• Place the chicken on a plate and rub both sides of the chicken fillets with 1-2 Tablespoons lemon pepper. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 1 hour to let the flavors develop.
• While the chicken is in the fridge, get the grill ready. When the coals are ready, spray the grill with a nonstick spray and place the chicken on the grill.
• Cook for about 6 minutes and turn over. Cook for another six minutes. Put the chicken on a plate to rest and to collect the juices.
• While the chicken is marinading, get a large pot of water boiling and put in the pasta noodles. Bring back to a boil, stirring the noodles so they don't stick to the bottom. Reduce the heat to a simmer and continue to cook for about 7-11 minutes (or until the noodles are tender).
• Drain off the hot water and run a stream of cool water over the noodles until they are cold. Drain off most of the water, add 1 Tablespoon vegetable oil to prevent the noodles from sticking, and drain into a colander.
• To cook the broccoli florets, get a large saucepan with about 3 inches of water in it on the stove. Bring the water to a boil and put the broccoli in and toss to cook evenly. It only needs to cook for about 2-3 minutes, drain off all the water and run cold water on the florets to cool them off and stop the cooking process so they won't be mushy.
• All of these steps can be done ahead of time to make the salad easy to assemble. To make the dressing right in the bowl for the salad, place 1 Tablespoon lemon pepper with 1 Tablespoon water in a large serving bowl and let stand for 5 minutes. With a whisk, blend in the vinegar, oil, mustard, and honey.
• Slice the chicken into 1 inch cubes and put in the bowl with the dressing, adding the cooked pasta, broccoli, celery, oranges, and onion. Toss to coat.
• TIP: To get the segments from the orange, with a sharp paring knife, cut off the top and bottom of the orange so it will sit evenly on the cutting surface. Using the paring knife, cut down along the peel, following the shape of the fruit, removing any peel and white rind. Hold the fruit in your hand and carefully cut along both sides of each segment, going towards the center to free each segment. If you do this over a plate, you get all the beautiful juices from the fruit to add to the vinaigrette.