Pork Chops and Arugula Grape Salad

Food Network is a favorite website of mine... especially when I want easy and delicious recipe ideas. I found this recipe for grilled pork chops with an arugula and grape salad and decided to give it a shot.

Here's what you'll need for the chops...

I varied it up the recipe by marinating the pork chops in the salad dressing for about 10 minutes prior to grilling.

I doubled the dressing recipe so I could use half of it for the marinade and the other half for the salad. Wisk together a diced shallot, balsamic vinegar, olive oil and S&P. Pour half into a ziploc bag with the chops and stick in the fridge for about 10 minutes.

In the meantime, assemble the salad...

Toss together some arugula mix, red grapes sliced in half, crumbled gorgonzola and the dressing.

Grill the chops on the BBQ or a cast iron grill pan for about 4 minutes on each side, depending on how thick they are. The finished product will look like this...

Uhh... so good!!!

Summer Salad Series- Chicken and Parmesan with Balsamic

I love a good "throw together whatever you have in your fridge" salad... especially on a summer evening  when you come home to a hot stuffy house and the last thing you want to do in this heat is COOK (there, I said it.) Open all the windows then open up your fridge to see what you can toss together.

Here's what I had to work with:

Some salad mix, green onions, shredded parm, already-cooked chicken and my favorite salad dressing ever- Three Cheese Balsamic Vinaigrette from Fresh & Easy (It's bottled up amazingness.)

Empty the salad greens in a big bowl. Chop up the chicken and the green onions. (I also found an apple to dice up and throw in there, too...) Throw in a handful of parmesan and toss with some dressing.

Scoop up some ensalada, pour yourself a glass of chardo and relax.