This One is For My Homies

I could wax on poetic about how I love the renewal that Spring brings to Northern Michigan... warmer days, evenings spent on the porch, digging in the garden, but when it comes down to it what I really love is the new crop of goodies appearing at the markets and right in our backyard. This meal would not have been possible without the generosity of my good friend Sarah who graced us with two fat morel mushrooms to top our tasty pizzas. Pair that with some local asparagus fried in butter and you have heaven on homemade dough!

Grilled Pizza
1 recipe pizza dough
morels
asparagus
goat cheese
fresh mozzarella
olive oil
butter
salt and pepper

To be honest, this isn't really a recipe, but I will say that if you want to find success when grilling pizza, you must follow my friend Clay's words of wisdom. He grills one side of the dough (brushed with olive oil) for a couple minutes, removes the pizza from the grill to place toppings on the grilled side and then returns it to the grill to finish the cooking. You really can't go wrong when Clay is in your corner!

Light Chicken Parm

Although I have been dying to tear into some local asparagus and bathe in the juice of freshly picked strawberries, Michigan weather has a different plan for me. We were teased in April, and now it is back to reality in May. Since those local goodies just aren't ready yet, we have gone back to some colder day dishes, but with a lighter twist. The following recipe for chicken parm is only 5.5 weight watcher points and it is very moist and tender for a boneless chicken breast. The full recipe (along with lots of other goodies) can be found here.

Light Chicken Salad

One of my favorite places around to get a sub is the East Shore Market. They have a variety of delicious snacks, craft beer, and a deli case full of salads. A few years ago my sister keep hounding me to try the "dilly grape chicken salad", but she just couldn't woo me from my Judy sub and it went unnoticed. It wasn't until she had some for her lunch that I finally got a sample. It was so fresh and yummy and simple all at the same time, and I knew this was something that could be easily thrown together. You will have to forgive me for the lack of measurements, but I have never measured for this salad, so throw caution to the wind and give it a try!

Dilly Grape Chicken Salad
any variety pasta
red grapes
green onions
rotisserie chicken
fresh dill
dried dill
olive oil
salt and pepper