IT IS AMAZING.

Every ingredient is so well thought out, each delivering a unique flavor and/or texture.

This chopped salad begins with a base of orzo pasta and builds from there. Check out the ingredients below.

The ingredients laid out above will make a gigantic crowd-worthy salad. Easily enough to feed 8 people as a meal, more as a side dish. We’ll be eating on it for days and I’m okay with that!

The Ingredients

• Orzo pasta – cooked, drained and cooled
• Boneless skinless chicken breasts – grilled and cubed
• Spinach and radicchio – julienned
• Tomatoes – diced
• Black olives – sliced
• Sundried tomatoes – chopped
• Pine nuts – lightly toasted
• Capers – drained
• Parmesan cheese – shredded or shaved
• Roasted Garlic Lemon Vinaigrette – garlic, lemon, red wine vinegar, honey, olive oil, salt

The Process

• Roast garlic at 400 degrees for 45 minutes (see How to Oven Roast Garlic)
• Meanwhile, cook pasta according to package instructions
• Grill chicken breasts
• Slice and dice remaining ingredients
• When garlic is done, prepare vinaigrette
• Toss and serve

Right before serving, toss the salad with the Roasted Garlic Lemon Vinaigrette. The wonderful thing about this salad (and vinaigrette) is that it holds up nicely in warm weather. This might be my favorite picnic salad yet!

This Insalata Chicken Florentine also keeps well. We literally will eat on this for three days and it’s just as good as the very first bite.

Are there recipes that remind you of a favorite vacation that you’d like to see us recreate? I’d love for you to comment below. Your feedback is so important to me (and keeps the recipe love fresh).

Don’t forget to follow us @LemonyThyme on Instagram and Facebook! And check out our latest TikTok videos and Pinterest boards too!

All my best,
xo Libby

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Insalata Chicken Florentine (Macaroni Grill Copycat)

This crowd-pleaser salad is amazing! Every ingredient is so well thought out, each delivering a unique flavor and/or texture.

Course Entree, Salad Entree

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 45 minutes minutes

Servings 8

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts grilled and cubed
• 1 pound orzo pasta cooked, drained, cooled
• 5 ounces fresh spinach julienned
• 1 head radicchio julienned
• 1 pint cherry tomatoes halved
• 1 cup black olives sliced
• 1 cup sun-dried tomatoes chopped
• 1 cup pine nuts lightly toasted
• 3.5 ounce jar capers drained
• 4 ounces Parmesan cheese shredded or shaved
• 1 cup Roasted Garlic Lemon Vinaigrette see recipe link in post

Instructions

• Grill chicken and cut into bite-sized pieces. Prepare orzo according to package instructions. Drain and cool. Julienne, slice or chop remaining ingredients. Place all ingredients in a large salad bowl. Toss with vinaigrette. Garnish with additional parmesan cheese.

The post Insalata Chicken Florentine (Copycat Macaroni Grill) appeared first on Lemony Thyme.

Braciole {Italian Beef Rolls} slowly simmered in spicy Arrabbiata sauce until the beef is fork tender.  The filling, comprised of parmesan cheese, fresh parsley, Italian bread crumbs, garlic, toasted pine nuts, and hard-boiled egg, is my loose interpretation of this classic Italian dish.

The first time this recipe caught my attention was while flipping through a Taste of Home magazine at my in-laws.  Everything about the recipe sounded wonderful. Then this week when my friend shared her new Weight Watchers cookbook with me and there was a modified version of a Braciole recipe, it was clearly time to make it happen.

I took some liberties, beginning with the beef.  Who wants to pound out steaks when you can step up to the deli counter and order slices of nice lean rare roast beef cut an 1/8-inch thick.  I’m sure if we had any Italian fans they are fleeing quickly at the sound of this.  But wait.  If convenience is what’s keeping us from enjoying a recipe as delicious as Braciole, can’t we make an exception.  Just this once.

No pounding required with my modified version.  Just combine the filling ingredients, spoon them in the middle of each slice of beef, fold in edges and roll tightly.  You could tie them neatly at 1-inch intervals with butchers twine ooooor you could take yet another short cut and just pan brown them, carefully turning so they don’t unfold.  That’s what I did and they held together just fine.

The third and final short cut I should have used was my slow cooker.  In my head I reasoned that this sliced roast beef, albeit an 1/8-inch thick, would be melt in your mouth tender from the get go.  As it turns out it wanted a good hour, if not a bit longer, to braise in the arrabbiata sauce.  This could have been achieved in a LOW slow cooker while I went about my business.

Loose interpretations and liberties aside, they were amazing.  Don’t take my word for it, just ask my work-mates who enjoyed the four remaining beef rolls, cut into bites to be shared even further.

I’ve mentioned in previous posts that I’m making daily Healthy Choices as I work towards my goal of Fit by 50.  I have several teammates on this journey who’s support is invaluable.  We motivate each other, walk together and most importantly share recipes (and the finished product) with each other.  These Briacole {Italian Beef Rolls} with a 1/2 cup of sauce weighed in at 8 WW Pts+.  We served them over roasted spaghetti squash which added no additional points values.  Winning.

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Braciola {Italian Beef Rolls}

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Total Time 20 minutes minutes

Servings 8

Author Libby with Lemony Thyme

Ingredients

• 8 slices 1/8-inch thick, about 4-ounces each Boar’s Head Roast Beef
• 2 hard-boiled eggs chopped
• 1/2 cup Italian bread crumbs
• 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese shredded
• 1/2 cup fresh flat leaf Italian parsley chopped
• 3 Tbl. toasted pine nuts
• 2-3 garlic cloves minced
• 2 Tbl. olive oil divided
• pinch salt & pepper
• 3-4 cups arrabbiata sauce
• 1/2 cup dry red wine
• 1 large spaghetti squash optional

Instructions

• Combine chopped hard-boiled eggs, bread crumbs, parmesan cheese, parsley, pine nuts, garlic, 1 Tbl. olive oil, salt & pepper.
• Lay each beef slice on a flat surface; spoon 1/8th filling mixture onto center of beef slice. Fold over one of the short sides, then fold in edges and roll tightly. Reserve and repeat with remaining beef and filling.
• Heat remaining 1 Tbl. olive oil in a large covered skillet over medium-high heat. Brown rolls, 1-2 minutes per side, working in batches. Once browned, top rolls with arrabbiata sauce or transfer to a slow cooker and top with sauce. For stove top method, simmer beef rolls covered over low heat for 60-75 minutes or until tender. For slow cooker method, place on LOW for 3-4 hours or until tender.

For spaghetti squash…

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut squash in half lengthwise. Remove seeds and rub inside with olive oil. Place cut side down on shallow baking sheet. Roast for 50-60 minutes until skin is easily pierced with a fork and flesh is easily removed. Scoop flesh from skins into a bowl and season with salt & pepper to taste.

Notes

These Briacole {Italian Beef Rolls} with a 1/2 cup of sauce weighed in at 8 WW Pts+. We served them over roasted spaghetti squash which added no additional points values.
The 1/2 cup red wine listed under ingredients is used at your discretion. Great in the sauce or on the side.

The post Braciola {Italian Beef Rolls} appeared first on Lemony Thyme.

I have a thing for biscotti.  It began year’s ago when I first discovered a recipe for Dark Chocolate Walnut Biscotti.  They soon became an annual addition to our holiday cookie plates.  They are the perfect gift for our favorite coffee and hot chocolate drinkers.  It took becoming a food blogger however for me to venture out into the world of savory biscotti.  Boy am I glad I did.  These Cheddar-Parmesan Savory Biscotti with sundried tomatoes and toasted pine nuts are just what that bowl of soup needed.

If you are new to biscotti baking there is a two-step process.  First is to make the dough and bake it in two logs.  Once the logs are cooled they are sliced into 1/2-thick slices and baked again.  The idea is to dry them out a good bit, yielding a nice crispy dunk-worthy biscotti.  I shared these with my Healthy Choices buddy and her first response was “tomato soup.”  Hints of cheddar and sundried tomatoes may have planted that seed, but no doubt dunking these Cheddar-Parmesan Savory Biscotti in a bowl of tomato soup sounds like pure comfort.

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Cheddar-Parmesan Savory Biscotti {with Sundried Tomatoes}

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 50 minutes minutes

Total Time 1 hour hour

Servings 24

Calories 91kcal

Author Cooking Light July 2006

Ingredients

• 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup reduced fat extra-sharp cheddar cheese
• 1/3 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
• 1/4 cup sundried tomato pieces
• 3 Tbl. yellow cornmeal
• 3 Tbl. pine nuts toasted
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 3/4 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. dried basil
• 1/3 cup fat-free milk
• 1 Tbl. olive oil
• 2 large eggs
• 1 large egg white
• cooking spray

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Combine flour and next 8 ingredients (through basil) in large bowl.
• Whisk together milk, oil, eggs and egg white. Mix into flour mixture, stirring until well blended. Dough will be crumbly and slightly dry.
• Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface; knead 10 times. Divide dough in half. Shape each half into an 8-inch long log, about 1 inch thick. Place both onto baking sheet coated with cooking spray.
• Bake for 25 minutes. Remove from baking sheet and cool on wire rack for 10 minutes.
• Reduce oven temp. to 325 degrees. Cut each log into 12 (1/2-inch) thick slices. Stand slices upright on baking sheet. Bake 25 minutes. Remove from baking sheet and cool completely on wire rack. Store in an air tight container for up to a week.

Notes

One Biscotti = 2 WW Pts+

The post Cheddar-Parmesan Savory Biscotti {with Sundried Tomatoes} appeared first on Lemony Thyme.

Watercress Pesto.

I had seen a recipe in a cooking magazine where they sprinkled watercress leaves over the top of the dish.  It made such a pretty presentation that I was certain I too would do this.  I bought a bag of watercress with good intention.  Forgot all about it until my weekly Saturday morning fridge cleanout.

Well there YOU are.  Couldn’t for the life of me recall which magazine I had seen the recipe in, nor exactly what it was a recipe for.  I’m sure this is part of the aging process.  I understand now why mom had a pen and paper nearby at all times.

I let go of that and instead let the other ingredients in my fridge/pantry dictate how I used the watercress, beginning with roast chicken breast from a few nights before.  I was really leaning toward chicken salad or maybe pasta salad with chicken and fresh corn, cherry tomatoes, and scallions.  Toss all that in a little dressing or better yet….pesto.  Bingo!  Watercress pesto.

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Watercress Pesto

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Total Time 10 minutes minutes

Servings 4

Author Libby with Lemony Thyme

Ingredients

• 1 bag watercress about 100 mg, thick stems removed
• 1 garlic clove minced
• 1/4 cup pine nuts
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup parmesan cheese grated
• salt & pepper to taste
• Eureka lemon olive oil for final drizzle

Instructions

• Place the watercress in the bowl of a food processor, pulse a few times if necessary to make room for all the leaves. Add the garlic and pine nuts to the bowl, with processor running drizzle in olive oil until desired consistency. Add the parmesan cheese and pulse to combine, add a bit more olive oil if necessary. Season with salt & pepper tot taste.
• Makes about 1 cup of pesto.

The post Watercress Pesto appeared first on Lemony Thyme.

Whether you grow fresh basil yourself or buy it at the market, inevitably you will end up with more than you need.  Having an easy Basil Pesto recipe up your sleeve will come in quite handy.

The basic ingredients are fresh herbs, in this case basil.  Combined with nuts, in this case pine nuts.  Then garlic and olive oil are added.  Next comes grated cheese, in this case Parmesan.  Finished with salt & pepper.  Typically the ingredients are combined in a food processor, but a mortar and pestle can be used as well.  Once you have the basic feel for making pesto it’s easy to change up the specific herbs, nuts, cheeses, and oils.

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Basil Pesto

Having an easy Basil Pesto recipe up your sleeve will come in quite handy.

Course Sauce

Prep Time 5 minutes minutes

Cook Time 5 minutes minutes

Total Time 10 minutes minutes

Author Libby with Lemony Thyme

Ingredients

• 2 cups fresh basil leaves packed
• 1/3 cup pine nuts
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese grated
• salt & freshly cracked pepper

Instructions

• In the bowl of a food processor add the basil leaves, pine nuts, and garlic cloves. Pulse a few times until the ingredients are chopped.
• With the processor running on low, slowly drizzle in the olive oil. Scrap down the sides of the bowl, then add the Parmesan cheese and pulse a few more times. Season with salt & pepper to taste.
• If you are going to freeze the pesto, omit the cheese. Freeze basil mixture in ice cube trays lined with plastic wrap, then transfer cubes to a freezer bag.

Notes

This basic recipe can easily be changed up by substituting other soft herbs, such as cilantro, parsley or sage. Walnuts, pecans, and macadamia nuts are also great alternatives to pine nuts. Other hard cheeses in place of Parmesan can give the pesto a fresh taste as well.

The post Basil Pesto appeared first on Lemony Thyme.

“It’s my pleasure.”

What a lovely statement and I mean that so sincerely when it comes to cooking for my co-workers.  Today was a lunch meeting for our fabulous Customer Service Team.  I shared BBQ Turkey Burgers, Smoked Paprika Sweet Potato Chips and this Moroccan Couscous Salad which is just bursting with flavor.

I prepared the couscous and once cooled tossed it with sweet seedless red grapes, dried apricots, toasted pine nuts, scallions and fresh cilantro, then drizzled the salad with an apricot lemon dressing (Eureka Lemon EVOO, apricot preserves, white balsamic vinegar, sriracha, lemon juice & zest, toasted ground cumin seeds, coriander, and a pinch of cinnamon). This Moroccan Couscous Salad had the right balance of sweet and tart, with the subtle flavors of spice shining through. Spectacular.

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Moroccan Couscous Salad {Share the Love}

Course Side Dish

Cuisine Moroccan

Cook Time 15 minutes minutes

Total Time 15 minutes minutes

Servings 8

Author Libby with Lemony Thyme

Ingredients

For the couscous

• 2 cups couscous
• 2 Tbl. olive oil
• ½ tsp. salt
• 2½ cups chicken or vegetable broth or water
• ½ cup pine nuts toasted
• 1 cup red seedless grapes halved
• 1 cup dried apricots cut into strips
• ¼ cup scallions thinly sliced
• ¼ cup fresh cilantro leaves chopped

For the dressing…

• ¼ cup Eureka Lemon Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1/8 cup apricot preserves
• 2 Tbl. white balsamic vinegar
• Zest of 1 lemon
• 1 Tbl. fresh lemon juice
• 1 tsp. sriracha hot sauce
• ½ tsp. ground cumin
• ¼ tsp. ground coriander
• 1/8 tsp. cinnamon
• ½ tsp. salt or to taste

Instructions

For the couscous…

• In a large sauce pan, add broth, salt, and olive oil to a boil. Stir in couscous, cover and remove from heat. Allow to rest 10 minutes, then fluff with a fork. Cool completely before assembling salad.
• Toast pine nuts in a dry skillet over medium heat until they begin to turn golden brown, stirring frequently. Remove from pan immediately.
• In a large bowl, combine couscous, pine nuts, and next four ingredients.

For the dressing…

• Whisk together all dressing ingredients. Adjust seasoning to taste.
• Pour over couscous mixture and toss gently to combine. Chill until ready to serve.

The post Moroccan Couscous Salad {Share the Love} appeared first on Lemony Thyme.

I love a fall harvest dinner made with a star ingredient like Brussels sprouts.  Once the only vegetable on my won’t-eat-foods list, the Brussels sprout has soared to the top of my favorite-food list.  In the fall-winter months we seriously have them multiple times per week.  I was flipping through my new Cooking Light magazine and without even reading the recipe I bookmarked the page for Cavatappi with Browned Brussels Sprouts and Buttery Breadcrumbs.  

I could have sworn that the picture in the magazine had crumbled crispy bacon sprinkled over the top of this pasta dish.  I even thought about adding shrimp or chicken but reasoned the bacon was all the protein we would need.  I should probably read an entire recipe BEFORE I begin.  If you’re one of those, let’s pinky promise that we will read complete ingredient lists and instructions before we go to the grocery store or begin cooking.  Deal?  So for tonight, our version of this wonderful pasta dish has been lightly adapted to include bacon…which went so nicely with the crispy panko crumbs and toasted pine nuts.

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Cavatappi with Browned Brussels Sprouts and Buttery Breadcrumbs

Course Entree

Cook Time 25 minutes minutes

Total Time 25 minutes minutes

Servings 4

Calories 377kcal

Author Cooking Light, lightly adapted

Ingredients

• 8 oz. uncooked cavatappi pasta
• 2 tsp. unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup panko breadcrumbs
• 2 strips bacon crisp cooked and crumbled, reserve 1 Tbl. rendering
• 1 tsp. olive oil
• 12 oz. Brussels sprouts trimmed and thinly sliced
• 1 cup thinly sliced onion
• 1 tsp. minced garlic
• 2/3 cup vegetable broth
• 1/2 tsp. lemon zest
• 1 Tbl. fresh lemon juice
• 2 tsp. fresh lemony thyme leaves
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
• 2 oz. Parmesan cheesed shaved (about 1/2 cup)
• 2 Tbl. pine nuts toasted

Instructions

• Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and transfer to a large bowl; keep warm.
• Melt butter in small skillet over medium heat; swirl to coat. Add panko to pan; cook 3 minutes or until well browned, stirring frequently. Remove to dish.
• Wipe pan clean and add pine nuts; cook over medium heat in dry pan, stirring constantly until lightly browned. Remove to dish.
• In a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat, brown bacon. Remove bacon; leave 1 Tbl. bacon rendering in pan and add 1 tsp. olive oil.
• Add Brussels sprouts to pan; cook 3-4 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Add onion and garlic and continue cooking 3-4 minutes until onion is tender and Brussels sprouts are lightly browned.
• Add broth and next 5 ingredients (through pepper).
• Cover and cook 2 minutes or until Brussels sprouts are crisp-tender.
• Add Brussels sprout mixture to pasta and toss well.
• Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese, crumbled bacon, pine nuts, and panko.
• Serve immediately.

The post Cavatappi with Browned Brussels Sprouts and Buttery Breadcrumbs appeared first on Lemony Thyme.