Grilled Peach, Chicken & Goat Cheese Salad with Roasted Pecans

Here's a little break from my travel tales to share a new favorite salad. I honestly haven't been doing much cooking at all since being back. I've been out a lot more than usual. I was seriously spoiled not having to do any cooking or clean up any dishes in Zambia...so I'm having a little trouble getting back into the groove. 

Anyways, a couple nights ago, we enjoyed a salad that was just as tasty as it was pretty. The mother had gotten a ton of fresh, juicy peaches. Which, naturally, were ripening way faster than we could eat them. Someone had suggested using them on a salad. Brilliant. I had totally intended to marinate and grill some chicken up, but I ended up using a rotisserie chicken... We had gotten tied up running some errands. It was already 1900, and I hadn't eaten since lunch. There was no way I was waiting for chicken to marinate and cook. The rotisserie chicken worked out really well! I'm sure grilled chicken would be quite delish as well. 

Here's what you need:

• Mixed greens
• Chicken (rotisserie or grilled)
• Fresh peaches (I cut them in half and put them on the George Foreman for a few minutes, then sliced them)
• Chopped, roasted pecans
• Goat cheese, crumbled
• Balsamic dressing (recipe below)

Just pile it all together and enjoy!

If you want to make your own balsamic dressing, just mix together:

• 2 TBSP EVOO
• 1 TBSP Balsamic vinegar
• 1 tsp honey
• A pinch of sea salt 

Laura Bush's Cowboy Cookies

I finished up my leadership clinical rotation yesterday. To celebrate, I made some delicious cookies and took them up to the unit for everyone. I had found this recipe on Pinterest a while back, and was eager to try it out. I'm so glad I did! These cookies are fantastic. Big. Chewy. Goodness. I got about 78 out of the recipe. You could probably get a few more, but I have this problem with just eating the cookie dough... I left some for the family, but the ones I took to the hospital were gone by 1400. Apparently everyone thought they were pretty tasty. This is a really easy recipe, that could easily be made in to thirds. I actually ended up having to divide the batter in half before adding the coconut, pecans, and chocolate chips because there was too much for the KitchenAid stand mixer to handle. This recipe was featured on Good Morning America, although I snagged the recipe from Christmas-Cookies.com. Enjoy!


Laura Bush's Cowboy Cookies

Ingredients:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 TBSP baking powder
1 TBSP baking soda
1 TBSP ground cinnamon
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups butter (at room temperature) 
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar
3 large eggs
1 TBSP vanilla
3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
3 cups semisweet chocolate chips
2 cups sweetened flake coconut
2 cups chopped pecans

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt together; set aside. Beat butter on medium speed until smooth and creamy. Gradually beat in sugars. Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each. Beat in vanilla. Stir in flour mixture until combined. Add oats, coconut, chocolate chips, and pecans. For larger cookies, drop 1/4 cup dough on ungreased baking sheets, spacing 3" apart. Bake for 17-19 minutes, until edges are lightly browned; rotate sheets halfway through. For smaller cookies (what I did), use 2 TBSP dough for each; bake for 15ish minutes. Move to a cooling rack. 

These are also good warm with a little bit of peanut butter!