Creamy Pesto Chicken Salad

Chubgirl has always loved salad and I never really opened up to them until she started using quinoa and pesto. It's such a refreshing salad for the summer days (you don't even need the chicken breast if you don't want it), that I crave it after our long dog walks in the sweltering heat.

Making this salad for the first time made me realize what was really in pesto sauce, and how easy it was to make (this can open your world into many other things such as pesto sandwiches!).

Don't take all the portions as a rule, we always play around with it depending on what we're feeling (if you like carrots, add more carrots!)

Anyways - the recipe is below, enjoy!

3-4 servings

Creamy Pesto Dressing Recipe

• 1/4 Cup Greek Yogurt
• 2 tbsp pesto (store bought or make your own)
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 tbsp Lemon juice

Pesto Recipe

• 2 cups basil leaves
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1/2 cup pine nuts
• 1 cup Olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1/2 cup Pecorino cheese

Salad:

• 2 cups mixed greens (spinach and arugula)
• 1 Cup of cooked Quinoa
• 1 Cup cooked chicken breast (sliced or cubed)
• 1/2 Cup thinly sliced carrot
• 1/2 Cup english cucumber
• 1/2 avocado, sliced or cube
• Optional: chopped cilantro, chopped walnuts
  
  

Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 400F
• Lightly salt and pepper your chicken breast (about a half chicken breast per salad), so in this case use 2 chicken breasts.
• Put the chicken breasts in the oven for around 20-25 minutes depending on the size. When the chicken breast is done, cut into slices or cubes.

• Bring 2 cups of water to boil (cook according to package instructions), and boil quinoa until all the water is absorbed.
• If you're making your own pesto: throw all the ingredients into a food processor and blend. Eyeball the smoothness of it, and keep adding more oil until it's to your liking. 
• Throw in the pesto with the ingredients from the "creamy pesto sauce recipe" and mix well.
• Throw in all the ingredients of the salad into the bowl, I like to separate each item so the presentation looks nice before you mix it all up! Put as much of the creamy sauce you like - save the rest along with any remaining chicken breast for another salad!