Baked Chicken- Veggie salad with Creamy, Tangy Avocado Dressing

These days we are so much into salad that I would be searching for different salad recipes or dressings. One such salad which we all like is this chicken- veggies salad with a creamy and tangy avocado dressing. Tough this baked marinated chicken- veggie I usually make, this time I wanted a dressing that goes well with this salad and here is an easy and simple dressing that will be liked by all.  The left over dressing got finished like a dip with the nachos by my kids. Trust me this will be a perfect dish among guests and they end up asking for a second serve.

In the chicken- veggie salad, you can add any vegetables of your choice and nuts or boiled eggs and enjoy just like that but I found the dressing gets well blended with the salad and kids will enjoy the most. For kids, cut the chicken into bit sized pieces and mix everything and place it in tacos and serve them. Trust me, they wont leave till everything gets finished.

This avocado dressing is delicious, creamy and perfect to drizzle on all your salads. I love avocados in most of my dishes or in smoothies. They taste darn delicious and are very healthy and nutritious. This dressing is similar to guacamole, but this is little more runny and pour able.

This dressing is so easy to make just add all the ingredients in a blender or processor and processes till it becomes a creamy consistency. Hope you all like this and try it out.
Ingredients:
For Chicken- Veggie Salad:

1. Boneless Chicken pieces- 1 Cup
2. Salt- as required
3. Pepper- 1 tsp
4. Chili Powder- 1 tsp
5. Turmeric Powder- 1 tsp
6. Carrots(Cut into strips)- 1 no
7. Mushrooms (cut into 4)- 2 Cups
8. Corn- 1/4 Cup

Method:

• Rub the chicken with the spices and keep this aside for 30 min.
• In a cast iron pan, add the marinated chicken, corn, mushrooms, carrots, salt and pepper. Bake for about 20- 25 min in a pre-heated oven of 350 degrees F.

For the Creamy, tangy Avocado dressing:

1. Avocado (cubed)- 1 no
2. Garlic Clove- 1 no
3. Juice of lemon- 1/2
4. Parsley Leaves- few
5. Olive Oil- 1 tbsp
6. Salt- to taste
7. Greek Yogurt- 2 tbsp

Method:

• Blend all the ingredients in a blender and take in a serving bowl or mix it with above made chicken- veggie salad and enjoy.

Oriental Stir Fry

Oriental stir fry is one of the easiest dishes to make for dinner or is a perfect one to be enjoyed by guests. The sauce is made in advance and can be stored in refrigerator for few weeks.This Oriental sauce is the best stir fry sauce you've ever tasted, which is very enticing with chicken, veggies or any other meat. A secret weapon for a fast midweek meals. Just make it in a mason jar and store it. A super delicious  sauce that is well combined with veggies, noodles, meat or rice. I have paired this dish with quinoa, which was perfect. I served the kids rice and this stir fry veggies.

Heat the wok with little oil, add proteins or veggies and some noodles and at last add this stir fry sauce, which will do it''s magic on the dish. I read about this stir fry from one of my friend's Instagram post and so here it is today in my blog. We all liked it a lot and the kids were asking for a second serving.

Here in my sauce I have used freshly squeezed orange juice, you can replace it with store bought and also use as required. We like the orange flavor and so I added almost 1/4 cup. This recipe is so healthy and nutritious as a whole lot of veggies are added to this dish. Please try this recipe and let me know how it turned.

Ingredients:
For sauce:

1. Orange Juice- 1/4 Cup
2. Soy Sauce- 3 tbsp
3. Garlic (chopped)- 1 tbsp
4. Ginger(grated)- 1 tbsp
5. Sesame Oil- 2 tsp
6. Honey- 2 tsp

Method:

• Combine all the ingredients together in a bowl using a whisk. Keep this aside, till the veggies are done.

For veggies:

1. Capsicum( cubed)- 1 no
2. Onions(cubed)- 1 no
3. Baby Corn- 5 nos
4. Bok Choy(chopped)- 1 no
5. Boneless Chicken(cubed)- 1 cup
6. Broccoli- 1/2 cup
7. Mushrooms(sliced)- 1/2 cup
8. Garlic( sliced)- 3 cloves
9. Oil- 1 tbsp
10. Salt- as required

Method:

1. Heat oil in a pan, add garlic, saute the chicken with little salt for a minute on medium heat. Stir and add all the veggies one by one and stir, adjust the salt.
2. Let this cook on low flame for about 3- 4 minutes, stirring in between. Once the raw smell of veggies disappear and when they turn crisp add the above made sauce and stir for 2 minutes on a medium flame.
3. When the veggies get coated well with the sauce, remove from heat and serve along with steaming hot brown rice/ quinoa/ noodles.

Chimichurri Sauce

There are so many variations in the world of Chimichurri, it's difficult to say which preparation is authentic. Chimichurri is a loose- oil based sauce used to accompany barbecued meats or veggies. Chimichurri is a condiment or marinade similar to a pesto. This is an uncooked sauce originated from Argentina.

From my garden...

It is a combination of finely chopped parsley, minced garlic, olive oil, lemon juice and so on. Here in this recipe, I have used a handful of cilantro to enrich the flavors. Adding the cilantro is optional, as I had this at home, I added and it tasted perfect. Chimichurri sauce may be basted or brushed or marinated on meat or it can be served as a dip on the side.

I came to know about this sauce when I saw my friend's Instagram post about making this delicious sauce. She frequently makes this sauce and posts pictures of the homemade sauce, which made me try this out, as I had lots of parsley in my small garden. I made this and my green- leaf hater husband found this tasty and started adding this to marinate meat. My version looks very creamy because I ground it in a blender instead of food processor and not oily, as I added little amount of oil. However this might look, it tastes yummm. This super yummy, tasty, tangy sauce is worth a try.

Ingredients:

1. Parsley- 3/4 Cup
2. Cilantro- 3/4 Cup
3. Garlic Cloves- 7- 8 nos
4. Onion- 1/2 no
5. Pepper Powder- 1 tsp
6. Vinegar- 1 tbsp
7. Lemon Juice- 1 no
8. Lemon Zest- 1
9. Olive Oil- 3 tbsp
10. Salt- as required

Method:

1. In a blender, add the cilantro leaves, parsley leaves, garlic cloves, onions and pepper powder. Give it a nice blend.
2. Mix with a spatula, add the required amount of salt, vinegar, lemon juice, lemon zest and at last olive oil. Blend and transfer to a glass jar and store it in  refrigerator and use it as required.