Sunday Menu: Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad & Glazed Angel Food Cake
I’m still stuffed from yesterday’s dinner. We decided on an outdoor date night last night to make up for the time spent on the couch all weekend. We got sucked into several shows and with it being brutally hot outside, the couch, and a good t.v. binge sounded fantastic. We finished an entire season of Normal People and now are about halfway through Indian Matchmaker.
We decided on Caesar salads for dinner after brainstorming what we hadn’t had in a while. With cooking at home more, we’ve recycled through a ton of go-to recipes. We had meatloaf at least eight times in the past two months. Although I love my meatloaf recipe, even that can get tiring. I wrote down a long list of recipes I want to make, and I hope to bring more date-night menus to the blog, like this one. I know most people know how to make a Caesar salad, but everyone has their own spin on it.
These date-night Caesar salads are so refreshing for summer, and they were completed with a gluten-free angel food cake topped with lemon icing, peaches, and raspberries. Kyle and I used to love having date-nights at Reid’s. We would always order their grilled chicken Caesar salads, and they never disappointed. Of course, we’d order truffle fries and fried Brussels sprouts to go along with it. I think it’s safe to say it may be one of the best Caesar salads in Charlotte. It’s what inspired our Sunday night menu. And our angel food cake was a little inspiration from our picnic at the Duke Mansion.
We stopped at Whole Foods to pick up all the ingredients.
ingredients:
Romaine lettuce
Baby tomatoes
Parmesan cheese
Olive oil
Chicken breast
Caesar dressing
Gluten-free bread
Thyme
Black Pepper
Garlic Salt
dessert:
Kinnick Gluten-free angel food cake mix
powdered sugar
lemon extract
carton of egg whites
vanilla extract
peaches
Raspberries
We marinated the chicken breast in 1/2 cup of Caesar dressing and black pepper overnight. We wanted the chicken breast to be extra flavorful. One of our neighbors gave us the tip to marinate the chicken in either mayonnaise or a creamy sauce to give it a better flavor. He was definitely right about this one.
Kyle is always on grill control because he chars the chicken perfectly. While he was preparing the chicken, I put together all the ingredients for the salad.
The toasted crostini was by far my favorite part of the salad. If you’re not eating gluten-free bread, use ciabatta or baguette for this part. Luckily, Canyon Bakehouse (my favorite gluten-free bread brand) makes a bread called “Heritage style whole grain,” and it’s unbelievable. Nothing compares! It makes the most perfect crostini. I usually find this bread in the freezer section at my local grocery store.
In a pan heated on medium-high, I added a coup of tablespoons of olive oil. I placed the sliced bread onto the pan and sprinkled them with thyme, garlic salt, and black pepper. If you have any onion salt from Trader Joes, use that, too!
I was excited because three of the tomatoes we used on our salads were from my crate garden. A few other steps I did was cutting up the tomatoes, slicing the parmesan, cleaning and chopping the romaine, and slicing up the chicken.
For our drinks, I filled two glasses up with sliced lemons, blueberries, sparkling water, and ice. Sparkling water and salads go together well.
We enjoyed our dinner outside after a quick rainstorm. It has rained almost every night for the past two weeks here, which is great because it cools things off in the evenings. We had a fan installed on our back porch, which also makes sitting outside a little more bearable.
While we ate dinner, I had the angel food cake baking in the oven.
The Caesar salad was so delicious and the perfect summer dinner.
I topped the angel food cake with a lemon glaze that reminded me of the duke mansion pound cake.
In a small bowl, I mixed 1/4 cup of powdered sugar, 1/2 tsp lemon extract, and one tablespoon of water together. If you want a thicker glaze, add in a 1/2 tbsp of meringue powder with it. I would have done that if we had any in the house.
I drizzled the glaze all over the cake. I dusted an extra pinch of powdered sugar in our bowls for even more sweetness. It’s safe to say that our bellies were full and our appetites content after Sunday night’s dinner. Tomorrow, we’re having good ole fashioned midwestern walking tacos! Stay tuned for that one.
I hope you all have a fantastic week and I’ll catch you in the next blog post!
Let me know if you try out this salad! It won’t disappoint ♥️
Questions for you!
- What do you add to your Caesar salads?
- Any shows you’re currently binging?
- What should I make for dessert tomorrow night?
Melissa says
Hi! Where are your shorts from?
Taralynn McNitt says
Old Navy! $10 😊
Emily says
When you make the glaze, you should mix the powdered sugar with lemon juice and zest! It’s the perfect sweet, yet tart combo.
Also, when I make salads like this, I add caramelized onions. A local restaurant inspired me to add those and boy does it take it up a level!
Everything sounds deeeelish. I love seeing what other people are eating for inspo 🙂
Taralynn McNitt says
I’ll do that next time 😊
Ohhh caramelized onions are so good on salads!
Emily says
YUM!!! Is Kyle gf too?
Taralynn McNitt says
Nope! He eats anything I make though and it’s always gf.
Marie says
Hi Taralynn!
These salads looks so good. I’ve never really made them at home but I will definitely give it a try now. We have been watching reruns of The Mentalist and Burn Notice. They’re both older but so good! I’m not sure if this would pair well but leftover angel food cakes makes for great strawberry shortcakes. I hope you have a good week too!
Taralynn McNitt says
Thanks, Marie!
I’ll have to look into those shows!
ohhh yes, can’t go wrong with that dessert!
Bennie says
I’m currently binge watching Grace and Frankie. It’s funny and a good escape p.
Lately I’ve been making sugar free jello for dessert.
Taralynn McNitt says
I’ve heard that is so good!
Jeni says
Oh my goodness, that dinner looks so gorgeous! It’s been so hot this past week (upper 90’s here in Virginia!) that I’ve been gravitating toward the lighter and more colorful meals such as salads. Those are also beautiful tomatoes! Were the largest ones the ones from your garden?
1 – I haven’t had a Caesar salad in a while, but on Wednesday I had a really delicious salad combination– cucumber, avocado, some sort of yellow tomato (I think they were heirloom tomatoes?) and tempeh.
2 – My current binges are Chocolate and the Rookie Historian. They’re both Korean series. A friend recommended Umbrella Academy, so that’s next on my watch list!
3 – Good question! If you haven’t used your ice cream maker in a while, you should totally try making ice cream out of oat milk. It’s about as close to real ice cream as you can get! I recently tried the strawberry version from Trader Joe’s and I’m a huge fan!
Taralynn McNitt says
Hi, Jeni!
Yes, the largest ones are from my garden! 😊 I totally feel ya on that 90’s heat! wooooha..
That sounds like a delicious salad you made.
I’ll have to try out the oat milk for sure! we usually use coconut milk from the can but I bet the oat milk is so much creamier!
Charmaine Ng | Architecture & Lifestyle Blog says
I love your photos! You’re the cutest! ❤️✨
Charmaine Ng | Architecture & Lifestyle Blog
http://charmainenyw.com
Taralynn McNitt says
Thanks, Charmaine!
stephanie says
You’ve inspired me! I’m totally doing Caesar salad for dinner and marinating the chicken before-hand. I think I’ll have to do the glazed angelfood cake too. 🙂
Taralynn McNitt says
Ohhhh enjoy!! 😋
Pamela says
That salad looks amazing!! I love salads in the summer.
I know this is an older series, but I missed it the first time around. I am addicted to Prison Break right now.
Dessert…hmmm…a brownie with vanilla ice cream and strawberries sounds so good right now.
Taralynn McNitt says
Me too 😊
Prison Break was SO GOOD.
OHHH that does sound amazing right now! yum!
Mary Grace says
Love your outfit in these pics! You are too cute!
1. What do you add to your Caesar salads?
I make my own homemade Caesar dressing (loosely inspired by this recipe!). I can’t go back to pre-made now!
https://www.gimmesomeoven.com/kale-caesar-salad-recipe/
I also like my Caesar salads with kale as the base and salmon as the protein!
2. Any shows you’re currently binging?
This is Us! Can’t believe I’m just now watching.
3. What should I make for dessert tomorrow night?
Not sure if you like tahini, but these are the BEST GF brownies!
https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/gluten-free-chocolate-tahini-brownies
Also, can you PLEASE post the recipe for your cookie dough ice cream?!?! Dying to make it!
Taralynn McNitt says
I need to give This is Us another chance! For some reason, I could not get into it!
Yes, I will post soon!
Shelby says
You look so healthy and happy recently!!! Have the best week Taralynn x
Taralynn McNitt says
Thank you so much ♥️
Suzanne says
Love, love your blog posts! I look forward to them each week!
1. I like to add boiled eggs and avocado to my caesar salads!
2. I want to start that Sunset one that’s popular. I’m so bad at binge watching shows though haha I’ve been watching a good bit of HGTV
3. I love simple dessert recipes! I would love to see you share some more of those.
Taralynn McNitt says
Aw thank you so much, Suzanne!!
Yes, boiled eggs and avocadoes are never a let down 😃
💜
Emma says
My bf and I usually split dinner responsibilities the same way! He grills (or takes care of the meat) and I do everything else. It works out perfect because I love to cook, just not meat. He loves to grill and makes delicious meat. He’ll even grill when it’s winter and snowing.
As for dessert, I don’t have any great ideas but I’d love to see you do a “no oven” challenge. We don’t have central air, just window units, so we’re not using the oven for a while.
Taralynn McNitt says
That’s the perfect split! 😊
There are so many no-oven desserts! I’ll think of some up!
Hillary May says
Make your fruit pizza you made when you first started your blog. The one with the crust that was made with bananas and graham crackers, and you used Greek yogurt instead of cream cheese. It was so good. Sad I can’t find it on your recipe page.
Taralynn McNitt says
Hi, Hillary!
Here is the link to that recipe 😊
If you ever need to find something, just type it into the search box and it should pop up for you! xo
Jessie says
I love Cesar salad my favorite sometimes I like to add black olives or the fried onion strips to it . Hard boiled egg halves are good too .
Your recipes give me so much inspiration!
I just finished watch sweet magnolias I really enjoyed it .
Taralynn McNitt says
Awww thanks, Jessie!
That show was so cute, but what a cliff hanger!!
Jessie says
I know right I can not wait till the next season. I started Virgin River last night so far so good
Taralynn McNitt says
Watched that one too!!
Julia says
1. I always add blanched broccoli. Yum!!
2. I’m currently watching ALIAS. It’s super old and I’ve seen it several times but it’s one of my favorites!
3. I’d make a peach cobbler or apple crumble with homemade vanilla ice cream. 🙂
Have a nice week!!
Julia
Taralynn McNitt says
Oh my! I remember watching Alias when I was in elementary school!!