Zucchini & Chicken Salad

I have had the worst luck with timing recently.  Well, maybe not the worst luck as I really don't believe in luck -- more like the worst list of scheduled appointments that I could do nothing about.  Between school starting again (and being a teacher that means a HUGE amount of work and life-style changes for a bit) and shooting the wedding of one of my friends (my first wedding gig EVER!), to finishing up other tasks that carried over from the summer, my time has worn thin quickly each day.  Meaning the end of my day has found me defrosting a lot of Trader Joe's boxes for dinner.

Until this week.  When life finally seemed to be back on track.  Wedding pictures were delivered, final projects from the summer were wrapped up, and my days at school didn't take an incredible amount of prepping for each day because, well, they get it.  (Ahh, sigh of relief.  I love when the routines and procedures click into place!)

Which meant I could finally schedule in time to share great recipes with you...

I took the pictures above NOT for the recipe I am sharing today.  No.  I took it for a recipe I had hoped to share last week.  A delicious fresh, summery garden salsa over grilled fish.  Perfect summer dish.  And it was going to help wrap up my summer meals that I have been holding onto so tightly (Don't steal one of my favorite seasons from me!!!).

But then the battery died.

And I couldn't find the charger.

Anywhere.

So I have no summer garden salsa over grilled fish to share with you.  Bummer for you, but it was pretty fabulous.  (Maybe I will have to sneak in a summery-dish out of season, or we will have to wait until next summer. Something to look forward to, I guess...)

Thank you, Amazon, for having great prices and quick shipping so I could get a replacement.  I may not have the rest of that recipe, but I do have a summer zucchini and chicken salad to share with you!

I know the calendar says that Autumn is just around the corner -- only three days away -- and I promise that I will jump on that pumpkin-laden band wagon at that point.  But with the weather at a nice upper 80's and the farmers' market still packed with summery produce, I am all about enjoying the good stuff while I can. Which means there is this nice zucchini and chicken salad in my belly, and I am looking forward to some fish tacos for dinner.

Viva la summer!  And then bring on the fall!

(This recipe calls for store-cooked chicken, I am not going to lie.  You don't have to do that if you don't want to, but I did want to do that, and so I did.  Do whatever you want, no judgement here!)

ZUCCHINI & CHICKEN SALAD

Adapted from Everyday Food, July/August 2003

SERVES 4  •  PREP TIME: 15 MINUTES  •  TOTAL TIME: 15 MINUTES

ingredients

• ¼ cup olive oil
• ¼ cup fresh lime juice
• coarse salt and pepper
• 3 zucchini, ends cut off, thinly sliced (slicing tool on food processor helps)
• 1 lb. cooked fresh chicken breasts from deli section of supermarket**
• 1 cup arugula, loosely packed
• ½ read onion, thinly sliced
• ½ cup sliced almonds
• ¼ cup grated Gruyere cheese

directions

1. In a large bowl, whisk together ¼ cup oil and lime juice; season with salt and pepper.  Add zucchini; toss to coat, and marinade while you cut the chicken.
2. Slice the chicken breast into pieces with medium thickness.  Warm up in the microwave for 30 seconds so it is not cold from the refrigerator anymore.  Toss chicken with zucchini mixture.  Add arugula, onion, almonds, and Gruyere.  Serve.

**You can also cook the chicken breast yourself.  This will only add about 15 minutes to the process.

COST: $11.21        COST PER SERVING (4): $2.81

Gluten Free    //    30 Min or Less    //   Unprocessed