Dinner Chez Moi

I had a colleague ask me how I put together dinner every night for my family while working full time.  Now this is not the question of the ages, millions of women all over the world do this daily and probably with much more thought and finesse than I do.

The process goes a little like this...
On the way out the door in the morning I scan the freezer or pantry and pull out something to build a main dish around. This morning it was chicken breasts. Into the fridge they went to defrost. When I got home the questions from my daughters started as to what we would be eating.

Me: Chicken....and....
Them: Pasta?
Me: No, let me think.
Them: Rice?
The picky one: No sauce!
Me: Give me a minute. Hey! Why are there only 3 chicken breasts in the package? Who only puts 3 chicken breasts in a package. Now what?

I do what any Mom does when faced with the uncertainty of what to cook for dinner. I watched an episode of Modern Family. Oh that Gloria!

Back to the kitchen.  There is hummus. Good. But no pita. Bad. There is lettuce, and cucumber, and tomato. Good. Oh and yogurt. Ah Ha! We had a salad at a friends recently that started with a base of hummus and was then topped with lettuce, red onion, tomato, cucumber, olives, feta and then dressed with tzaziki. Drat no olives or feta, but there are capers. I'll saute the chicken and slice it for the top of the salad and we're in business.

And so there you have it the schizophrenic kitchen murmurings of a working mom. I don't have a recipe for this per se, as with many salads things just sort of come together on the plate.

Mediterranean Salad
Serves 4

Hummus
1 head of Romaine lettuce, cleaned and chopped
1 cucumber, chopped
1 large tomato, chopped
1/2 red onion, chopped
2 tablespoons Balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
Tzaziki
Chicken breast, cooked and sliced
2 tablespoons of capers drained

In a small bowl combine the balsamic vinegar and the olive oil.  Add to this the cucumber, tomato and red onion. Let sit for 15 minutes.
On a plate spread about 1/3 cup of hummus. Pile on top a few large handfuls of lettuce. Spoon over the lettuce 1/4 of the cucumber mixture and some of the tzaziki. Add the chicken, sprinkle on a few capers and viola!

Some nice black olives, sun dried tomatoes, feta and pine nuts would be a nice addition.