Chicken Orzo Salad

Recently I decided to start meal planning. I was tired of coming home from work and staring at my cupboards and fridge, trying to decide what on earth to make for dinner. Some nights I had my act together and had something going in the crock pot, or had ingredients on hand for a recipe, but more often than not I didn't and it frustrated me. Ted works crazy hours at the hospital, so every month I have him make me a calendar of which nights he will be home for dinner. 


One day I was looking at the calendar and it hit me - I needed to make a meal plan. Basically I just plan out two weeks at a time. I write the recipe I'm planning for each day, leaving built in "leftovers" days and date nights where we go out to eat. After that, I make a grocery list of the ingredients needed to complete all the recipes and stock up enough to last two weeks. We still have to make a run for milk and fresh produce occasionally, but for the most part I have everything ready to go. 


This has made life SO MUCH easier. I don't know why I didn't do this sooner. We have a few standby favorites that Ted requests now and then, and I like to throw in new things to try a couple times a week too. One of our very favorite recipes is this one for chicken orzo salad.

Chicken Orzo Salad

Ingredients:
3/4 Cup uncooked orzo pasta
1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into small pieces
1 medium cucumber, chopped
1 pint cherry tomatoes, cut in halves
1 small red onion, chopped (we leave this out because it's quite strong, but it's personal preference)
1/4 cup minced fresh parsley (I use a few dashes of parsley flakes and it tastes fine)
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/4 cup crumbled reduced-fat feta cheese


Cook pasta according to package directions. Meanwhile in a large skillet coated with cooking spray, cook chicken over medium heat for 6-8 minutes or until no longer pink.


In a large bowl, combine the cucumber, tomato, onion, parsley, and chicken. Drain pasta, stir into chicken mixture. In a small bowl, whisk the lemon juice, oil, salt and pepper. Pour over chicken mixture, toss to coat. Serve warm or cold (we like it warm). Just before serving, sprinkle with cheese.
Yield: 4 Servings


We have eaten this as a main dish many times, but it could also be used as a side dish at a picnic or something. It's a great meal for the summer - nice and light and you can grill the chicken instead if you prefer. Yum!

(original recipe from Taste of Home magazine - we added tomatoes, which the original doesn't call for, but I really like the taste)