Chicken, Cherry, & Goat Cheese Salad

THIS is what you make when your girlfriends are coming over for lunch.

THIS is what you make when you need a light meal to impress your mother-in-law.

THIS is what you make when your almost-5-year-old has been picking on his baby brother and ohmyGOD you just need to treat yourself to something fresh and eat in relative peace for five minutes.

Oh.  Was that last one just me then?

Chicken, Cherry, & Goat Cheese Salad
Recipe slightly adapted from a cookbook my mom has that I think she got from Cooks Illustrated
Prep time: 10 minutes   Cook time: 10 minutes

2 (6oz) boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
5 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, divided
1/2 cup water
2 1/2 tbsp orange marmalade, divided
2 1/2 tbsp sherry OR apple cider vinegar
1 small shallot, minced
12 oz fresh cherries, pitted and halved
5 cups of some kind of salad green [Note: Field greens would be best with this, but I used what I had on-hand, which happened to be a little bagged ice berg salad and bagged romaine salad]
1/2 cup toasted chopped pecans, optional
1 cup crumbled goat cheese

1.  Pat the chicken dry with paper towels and season with salt and pepper.  Heat 1 tbsp oil in a non stick skillet over medium-high heat until just smoking.  Cook chicken until brown on one side.  Flip chicken, then stir water and 1 tbsp marmalade into skillet.  Reduce heat and simmer, covered, until chicken is cooked through, about 5-7 minutes.  LET REST on cutting board before slicing.

My pictures will show I adjusted the recipe for 2 servings, instead of 4.

2.  In a large bowl, combine the remaining 1 1/2 tbsp marmalade, vinegar, and shallot.  Slowly whisk in remaining 1/4 cup of oil (4 tbsp = 1/4 cup).  Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Just a little marmalade, but it goes so far.

3.  Add salad greens to the large bowl with the dressing, toss to combine, and divide among 4 individual plates.  Top with cherries, pecans, and goat cheese.  Slice chicken crosswise and arrange on top of salad.

Yummy dressing!

Not going to lie.. I made what should have been servings, but totally ate all of it.  No shame.  No guilt.

Cherry Brown Betty

It's cherry season!!!

Omg they're like Nature's rubies

Did you know that cherries are really only in season for about a month out of the year?  Now is the time to TAKE ADVANTAGE.  But how?  That's usually my problem.  I'm a happy camper just having a bowl full of rinsed cherries sitting on the counter for me to nosh on throughout the day.  I've never cooked or baked with fresh cherries because, well, honestly it's because of the pits.

I'd love to cook more with fresh cherries, but who wants to spend their day cutting pits out of cherries??  Um, not me.  But, before I rush out and get a lovely cherry pitting gadget, I'll go ahead and take the time to do this with an ordinary paring knife.  Plus, I have very badly wanted to try making a Cherry Brown Betty for several months and now was the time I was going to do it!

Y. U. M.

The recipe I found that inspired me, when I went to look at it again I was flabbergasted at the amount of butter and sugar involved.  Cherries are sweet already...do I really need to add That Much brown sugar on top of that natural sweetness??

Actually, no.  I happen to also have a recipe for an apple brown betty that uses FAR less sugar and butter.  So I decided to get creative and combine the two.

Cherry Brown Betty
Recipe inspired by Joy the Baker and So Easy

2 to 2 1/2 cups pitted cherries
4 slices whole wheat bread
3 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
2 tbsp butter, melted
1/4 cup walnuts

1.  In a food processor, combine the wheat bread, brown sugar, and cinnamon.  Pulse until well-combined and the bread slices become bread crumbs.  Add the melted butter and vanilla, pulsing until the mixture looks like wet sand.

Or give the bread a head start before adding the sugar & cinnamon

2.  In a shallow baking dish or pie plate, layer the bread mixture and cherries a few times.  I think I did three layers of each.  Top with walnuts (and, if you like the extra sweet, just a slight scattering of more brown sugar).

Probably could have chowed down on this without baking

3.  Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

Fact: I ate this for breakfast topped with yogurt.  Nope, not ashamed about that one bit!