Ingredients:
lettuce - spring mix and romaine
grilled chicken
8 oz. medium sized pasta shells
1 - 10 oz. carton grape tomatoes
2.25 oz bag pine nuts (found in the baking aisle in most grocery stores)
3/4 cup pitted kalamata olives, cut in quarters
4 oz. pesto
vinaigrette dressing
Directions:
Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and toss with pesto. Combine lettuce, chicken, pasta, tomatoes, pine nuts, and olives in large bowl. Toss with vinaigrette dressing. This serves about 10 people.
Thoughts - This is a knock off of my favorite salad from Cafe Express. They serve the salad with grilled chicken. When I made the salad I was in a rush and just purchased a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store, cut it up, and tossed it in the salad. It tasted great! I've also made my own pesto in the past but, since I was in a hurry for recipe group I just purchased the Buitoni pesto at the store, which worked just fine as well. The only thing to me that didn't quite taste the same as the Cafe Express version was the dressing. This time around I used Briana's French Vinaigrette. The Cafe Express vinaigrette is a creamy looking dressing so I was looking for something similar at the grocery store. The Briana's dressing tasted good and I would recommend it if you're making the salad but, I'll update the recipe if I ever come up with a dressing that is a more perfect match.
- Cristina
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