WITH ALMONDS AND CHICKEN WITH ALMONDS AND CHICKEN. 
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Guys. I had the best problem ever this morning when I sat down to write this.
I had too many good recipes to write about that I could hardly decide.
What a great time to be alive, right? I feel like I'm in a quasi-groove of my new job and my old jobs and the blog and the baby and being gentle with myself for not being able to DO ALL THE THINGS, and it's a good problem to have, having tons of yummy food to share. A bad problem is that WordPress took away the red squiggly line and now I don't know when I spell things wrong? Can someone tell me how to turn that back on? Thanks.
And so this salad. It's a total feel-good, easy-peasy, use-what-you-have, summer salad. The dressing MAKES it, and the rest of it is just leftovers, seriously. Any salad stuff you have, leftover pasta, leftover chicken, some almonds for crunch, and delectable dressing. The yogurt + dill is decidedly summer, which means you have a month or so left to make this and it not feel weird.
For the dressing you'll need olive oil, parm, fresh dill, yogurt, a garlic clove, a lemon, anchovy paste, and Worcestershire sauce. Basic stuff minus the yogurt, which would usually be a raw egg or mayonnaise. But here we have yogurt!
To make the dressing, zest the lemon, chop the dill, and mince the garlic. Then put all the ingredients in a bowl with half the juice of lemon. Stir everything together, then it's up to you! Add more olive oil to thin it out, salt for flavor, or more lemon juice for tang. One thing with the lemon juice + yogurt, you might need a little bit more salt than you think - there's a lot of tart in those two ingredients, so don't be shy with the salt to make the flavors come together. 
Now, for that rest of the salad ingredients! I have decided that MOSTLY you do not need to see pictures of me chopping things anymore. If you disagree I'd love to know it, though! Anyway. Meansurements are below, but really you can use any combo of veggies + starch (quinoa! farro! rice!) + protein you like. It just works with the dressing, I promise. I did cucumber, cherry tomatoes, green onions, almonds, romaine lettuce, pasta, and grilled sliced chicken. I, uh, ate some of the chicken before I took this picture. It's fine. 
All that's left to do is toss everything in a big bowl. 
Taste it of course to be sure you don't want more dressing or some salt and pepper, and I like to do this right before serving because the veggies get a little grody if they sit in dressing overnight, you know? You know. 
So that's it! Glorious dressing, tossed with any leftovers you have, and a few notes in the printable recipe below on exactly how I do stuff. 
Summer eating ftw, amirite?
Recipe
Greek Yogurt Dill Caesar Pasta Salad
Ingredients
- DRESSING
- 7 ounces plain Greek yogurt 1 small individual container
- 1 lemon zested and halved
- 2 teaspoons anchovy paste
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 3 tablespoons fresh chopped dill
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 3 tablespoons parmesan cheese
- 2 tablespoons olive oil plus more if needed
- salt to taste
- SALAD
- 4 cups chopped romaine lettuce
- 3 cups leftover cooked short pasta
- 2 chicken breasts cooked anyway you like and sliced
- ¼ cup chopped toasted almonds
- ¼ cup sliced green onions
- ½ cup halved cherry tomatoes
- ½ cup chopped cucumber
Instructions
- For the dressing, combine the yogurt, lemon zest and half the lemon juice, anchovy paste, Worcestershire sauce, dill, garlic, parmesan, and olive oil. Stir together until smooth and creamy. Taste, and add a little more olive oil if you'd like a thinner dressing, lemon juice for more tang, and salt to taste. If the dressing tastes very tart from the yogurt you might need a little more salt than you think.
- For the salad, toss all the ingredients together with about ½ cup of the dressing. Taste the salad and add salt, pepper, or more dressing. Serve immediately. Devour!
Notes
- 1. Mix up the ingredients in this salad and it'll be different each time!
- 2. To pan-sear chicken, I heat a nonstick skillet with 2 tablespoons butter to medium heat. When the butter foams and browns slightly, add the chicken and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook for about 5 minutes on each side (the chicken should sizzle a lot, turn the heat up if it doesn't), and remove when browned and cooked through. Let rest for 5 minutes, then slice. Keep the chicken in any juices it releases until you're ready to serve.
- 3. This will make almost 2 cups of dressing, so save the rest for salads or dipping veggies.
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