Pepper-Garlic Pita Chips -with- Olive-Pesto Chicken Salad

The chicken salad was going to be the headliner in this 2-for-1 recipe, until I tasted these crispy pita chips. Ohhh, where have these been all my life! 

For a brief history, they began as only a glimmer of a recipe idea since discovering them, freshly baked at Falastin, our sweet little Palestinian restaurant-bakery-deli and market, a mile from my house, in the recently redone building that was previously The New London Cafe.

I've been buying their packs of pita pocket bread for about a month now and it's been a great discovery for toasting, then making my favorite PB&J - organic fresh ground peanut butter and jalapeno pepper jam. I also use them for grilled cheese sandwiches with tomato and onion. Everything has been so good made with this interesting bread! 

PITA CHIPS

2  8" pita pockets

single source EVOO

black + cayenne pepper

Lawry's Garlic Salt

Cut each pitas in half, then cut the layers apart as shown. Cut each half-circle into 2 pieces - this will make 16 chips. Brush inner surfaces with EVOO, arange on a baking sheet then sprinkle with seasonings. This photo shows them brushed, seasoned and ready for the oven.

Bake at 375° for about 15 minutes or until the surfaces start to turn golden brown. Serve with chicken or tuna salad, hummus, red pepper dip. . .you decide! Be creative! (These are savory, if you want, you could make them sweet by brushing with melted butter and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.)

CHICKEN SALAD

See the first photo for ingredient amounts, 6 oz. roasted chicken dark meat, only half of a medium purple onion, some large garlic-jalapeno stuffed olives, a little green pepper and a celery heart. Chop everything into a medium glass bowl then add mayonnaise, sour cream or your favorite dressing. I used about 1T Dijon mustard and just enough of the Garlic-Pesto Ranch Dressing I made recently to hold everything together.

Served with the amazing crispy pita chips and some salt and peppered tomato and cucumber was a great late lunch. . .Lin

Crunchy Spinach and Artichoke Pesto Pasta

As usual, I made waaay too much pasta for the previous pasta salad. 

There was 2c leftover, which I almost pitched, then decided I'd add play around with ingredients and ended up with yet another pasta salad. This could also be a quick Mac & Cheese or added to soup or chili.

2c al denté cooked pasta - cooled

1c shredded Mexican blend cheese

1/2 small jar, 3-4oz., of basil pesto

1/4 red bell pepper

1/4 med sweet onion

1/4c ± Lemon-EVOO Dressing

garlic salt and black pepper

This happened in no time and was a nice surprise! Good for the meatless people in your life. For additional crunch and protein, add some roasted sunflower or pumpkin seeds — AND — it would also be good served warm, or hot. . .Lin

Creamy Pepper-Herb Pesto Dressing

In a glass pour-spout container, whisk the following ingredients together:

3/4c basil pesto

1/2c mayonnaise

1/2c plain Greek yogurt

2T white balsamic vinegar

1T garlic and herb seasoning

1-2t fresh ground pepper

1T dried-minced onion

1t-1T honey

Add fresh cold water, as needed, to get the dressing consistency you want.

The dressing was just perfect on this salad, which was a great combination of mixed greens from the Farmer's Market: Italian dandelion greens, frisee lettuce, red leaf lettuce, Italian parsley and cilantro. I also added a big radish, onion, a hardboiled egg, and some lightly steamed carrot and broccoli. Often, I'll make a big salad like this, then graze on it for hours. Before I finished it, I had added shredded Gruyere cheese, a whole chopped mandarin orange - with the peel, and a splash of raspberry white balsamic vinegar, to wake up the flavors. Ooohh, it was good! . .Lin