What's For Dinner Wednesday: Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad

Do you ever get into food phases? You know, where you eat a certain food and say "hey, I haven't had this in a really long time. I forgot how much I liked it!" and then you just want to eat it all the time? I'm currently having that moment with Caesar salad.

It's random, I know. But I have loved Caesar salad since I was a kid and my Sicilian grandma would make homemade Caesar dressing with her secret recipe. Nobody knows how to recreate the recipe [well] so I have just never tried. The only other way to get my Caesar fix was to buy a bottled dressing (gross) or order one at a restaurant and consume my daily allowance of calories in the dressing alone. Sigh. So, alas Caesar salad joined the list of other foods that I have convinced myself that I don't like in order to keep from eating them. This list includes, but is not limited to ranch dressing, doughnuts, Alfredo sauce, and anything deep fried.

Recently my prayers were answered via one of my favorite cooking blogs Skinny Taste. Gina posted a skinny Caesar dressing recipe that is truly delicious, really easy to prepare, and has less than 6 grams of fat per serving. Amazing! I tweaked the recipe ever so slightly and we've enjoyed chicken Caesar salads for dinner twice over the past 2 weeks (and I have taken a few for lunch too).

Ingredients:

• 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• Extra virgin olive oil spray
• 1 tsp. garlic powder
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• 1/3 cup grated parmesan
• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
• 1  garlic clove
• 1/2 Tbs. Dijon mustard
• 1 tsp. anchovy paste
• 1/4 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 1 Tbs. Extra virgin olive oil
• 1/3 cup fat free plain Greek yogurt
• 1 head or Romaine or 2 hearts of Romaine, rinsed, dried, and chopped
• 1/3 cup grated parmesan, for serving
• 1/2 cup croutons

Rinse chicken breasts with cold water and pat dry. Spray each with olive oil and season with garlic powder, salt, and pepper on both sides. Preheat the grill to medium-high heat and grill 5-6 minutes on each side or until cooked through and the juices run clear.

Make the dressing: Combine parmesan, lemon juice, garlic, Dijon, anchovy paste, and Worcestershire sauce in the bowl of a food processor. Run the machine for 15-20 seconds until the mixture is smooth and combined. Add olive oil and yogurt and run for another 20 seconds until fully combined.

In a large bowl combine Romaine, remaining parmesan, and croutons. Add about 3/4 of the dressing at first and toss well. At this point you can decide if you'd like to toss in the remaining dressing or serve alongside the salad. It just depends on how much dressing you prefer on your salad.

Serve with warm grilled chicken.  
 
Inspired by original recipe courtesy of Skinny Taste.