Cold Udon Noodle Salad with Chicken, Cucumber and Pea Pods

This is a delicious summer salad with a light, fresh taste.  Start by grilling 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts. Alternatively, you could use shredded left-over chicken.  Put it in the refrigerator to cool and then slice into bite-size pieces.  Blanch 2C of pea pods so they are crisp/tender.  Dice 1/2 of a cucumber into bite sized pieces.  Cook the noodles according to package directions ( your favorite pasta will work if you can't find Udon noodles).  Make a vinaigrette dressing by mixing 1/4C olive oil with 3T fresh lime juice.  Add salt and pepper to taste and 1T each of freshly chopped mint and basil.  Assemble the salad and toss with the dressing.  Perfect for a warm summer evening

Cobb Salad Sandwich

Here is a good left-over chicken sandwich for the summer.  Shred 2C of cooked chicken and simply mix it with 1/2 diced avacado, 4 strips of crumbled bacon, 1/4C mayonnaise (more or less depending on your taste), 1T fresh thyme, 1/4C crumbled blue cheese, salt and pepper to taste. Serve it in a pita along with, perhaps, some Tater Tots and a cold asparagus salad (asparagus, oil and vinegar, topped with grated mozzarella cheese)

Grilled Chicken Salad with Tomatoes, Onions and Olives

The first patio meal of the summer!  Start by marinad-ing 2 boneless, skinless chicken breast, 1 Vadalia ,onion, quartered, and 12 cherry tomatoes in 1/2C olive oil, 3T white balsamic vinegar and 1T chopped fresh oregano for a couple hours.  Cook your favorite shaped pasta according to package directions.  Grill the chicken, onions and tomatoes on the grill starting with the chicken, about 10 min/ side, onions 10/min and tomatoes only for 2 min.  toss the sliced chicken, onions, and tomatoes with the pasta and some Kalamata olives.  Serve on a bed of fresh spinach and toss with an oil and vinegar dressing.

Pasta with Spring Greens and Bacon - Adapted from Martha Stewart

Fiddleheads and dandelions are available so we decided to make a pasta dish from it.  This goes together literally as fast as you can cook the pasta.  So, heat water to boiling and cook the pasta according to directions (we used linguine).  Steam the fiddle heads for 3-4 min.  Crisp some bacon and remove to a plate.  Add the chopped dandelions to the pan where the bacon was cook and saute them until they are wilted.  Drain the linguine and add to the greens pan.  Drizzle on some olive oil, salt and pepper and turn out into a large bowl.  Top with the fiddle heads and bacon and toss.  We found it delicious but a couple of comments: 1) the dandelions are bitter...more bitter than our other favorite in this type of dish, rapini and 2) the fiddleheads have a wonderful nutty, earthy taste but are a bit pricey.