Pesto Chicken Salad with Pickled Grapes and Arugula

Pesto chicken salad with pickled grapes and arugula is the epitome of a refreshing summer dish! The complexity of flavors, textures, and ingredients creates a literal summer barbecue in your mouth! 

What’s great about this recipe is that it’s super easy to make! If you’ve got boiling water and cooking chicken then you are already ahead of the game! The only components you will need to do for this recipe are pickle grapes for about 10-15 minutes and make pesto sauce using a food processor or mortar and pestle. That’s it. 

Speaking of pickling, this meal is considered a six senses nourishing meal as the pickled grapes fit in the probiotics component. The probiotics in unpasteurized red wine vinegar can help to improve the microbiome and our digestive system. 

Six Senses Nourish Components: 

Non-starchy carbs |  arugula, basil

Starchy carbs |  pasta, grapes

Fat | Nuts, oil in pesto, cheese 

Protein | chicken, nutritional yeast, nuts

Flavor | basil pesto sauce, seasonings on chicken

Probiotics | red wine vinegar, nutritional yeast 

Another fun way of looking at this dish is that if you make batched cooked items on your designated batch cook day, ie: pesto, pasta, grilled chicken, and pickled grapes then it’s just a matter of throwing everything together with arugula and the optional toppings when ready to serve! 

If you would like more information on how to build more six senses nourish meals and why it’s an easy and seamless way of getting nutrient dense, whole foods into your diet, then check out the Nourishment Program for more information! 

If you try this recipe, let us know! Leave a comment, rate it, and don’t forget to tag a photo to #fromtherootsblog on Instagram. We love seeing what you come up with!

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Pesto chicken salad with pickled grapes and arugula is the epitome of a refreshing summer dish! The complexity of flavors, textures, and ingredients creates a literal summer barbecue in your mouth! 

SERVINGS: 4-6 PREP: 10 MIN COOK TIME: 20 MIN

Ingredients

• 1 lb grilled chicken (seasoned Italian/classic)

• 1 box pasta of choice (GF or grain free preferred)

• 10-15 red grapes (halved)

• Couple handfuls of arugula

• ½ cup red wine vinegar (to pickle grapes)

• Pesto or premade pesto of choice

• ¼ cup pine nuts 

Garnish

• Cheese of choice (ie goat, feta, parmigiano reggiano) 

Directions

1. Using a food processor or mortar and pestle, prepare the pesto. 

2. Chop grapes in half and pickle in red wine vinegar for 10-15 minutes. 

3. Season chicken breasts with salt and pepper and your favorite seasonings and cook using your preferred method (oven, pan fry, air fry, instant pot).

4. Boil pasta and cook until al dente. 

5. In a mixing bowl, mix in some of the green pesto to drained pasta. Chop up the chicken breasts into small chunks. Add the chicken and drained pickled grapes to the mixing bowl. 

6. Finally, add baby arugula, top with toasted pine nuts and cheese.

Refrigerator Pickled Beets

A great way to amp up up the nutritional value of beets while being a great addition to salads, side dishes, and appetizers! 

We need to talk about beets.

I was not a fan of them in the beginning. It was so bad that I remember my first time trying them. It was at Jason’s Deli, many moons ago. I was with my health freak friends and they were like, “Oh! You have to add beets to your salad, they’re so good for you!”. I thought to myself, “Sure… If beets can make my entire salad pink then they can’t be that bad!”.

Boy, was I wrong; beets taste just like dirt.

Years have gone by since then and I would now consider myself a beet connoisseur. If I go to a cute mom & pop bakery or a hipster smoothie joint, I will initially scour the menu for anything beet flavored and go for it. One of my favorite things that include beet in the recipe is these amazing beet and ricotta cheese donuts from The Underground Cafe with DoughP Doughnutsin Asheville, NC. They were a total game changer!

I have thought about different ways to incorporate beets into my diet, and eventually, I realized one way to implement beets is to pickle them!

Cool facts about pickled beets:

• Very low in fat, with less than 0.2g in each cup of slices.

• Rich in dietary fiber which helps in promoting a healthy digestive system and stable blood sugar levels.

• High levels of many vitamins and minerals like Vitamin A, B and C, potassium, magnesium, and iron.

• Detox capabilities!

• Contains both essential amino acids betaine (used to help people with depression) and tryptophan (that acts as a natural mood regulator)

There are many ways to incorporate pickled beets into your diet. My favorite way is to add them to salads. You can also add them to a bruschetta style appetizer with goat cheese and basil, breakfast eggs, or a side dish!

Now, let’s talk about how to pickle your beets. Most restaurants or recipes on Pinterest will tell you to pickle your beet or vegetable in sugar or a brine. A little bit of sugar is fine, but I try to avoid adding too much extra sugar to my diet. That is why my recipe uses a very small amount of sugar along with apple cider vinegar just to balance out the flavor. I won’t go too much into detail, as ACV already holds a solid reputation, but ACV is great for regulating blood sugar levels, can improve skin health, and reduce blood pressure. Now, to the recipe, we go!

If you try this recipe, let us know! Leave a comment, rate it, and don’t forget to tag a photo to #fromtherootsblog on Instagram. We love seeing what you come up with!

A great way to amp up up the nutritional value of beets while being a great addition to salads, side dishes, and appetizers! 

INGREDIENTS

• 1 lb fresh beets

• 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar ((with the mother))

• 1/2 cup filtered water

• 1 tsp organic cane sugar

• 1 pint glass mason jar (wide mouth in picture)

DIRECTIONS

1. Wash and clean beets and add to a boiling pot of water.

2. Boil for up to 25 minutes or until fork tender. (Tip* use boiled beet water as a plant fertilizer!)

3. While beets are boiling, add water, sugar and ACV to a small pot over medium heat. Bring to a boil and simmer on low for 5 minutes. Let the mixture cool to room temperature.

4. Let the beets rest and then peel off the skin (taking the skin off after boiling process is much easier than when beets are fresh)

5. Cut into cubes or slices (Tip*place a paper towel over cutting board and wear gloves to prevent staining)

6. Add beets to a jar and pour the liquid mixture over until full to the rim. Allow the pickled beet mixture to cool until room temperature.

7. Screw on lid and transfer to the fridge! You can refrigerate for up to two weeks.

NOTES

Canning option: I will be honest and say that I have not tried canning for long-term storage so I am not sure how these would store later so I don’t recommend it.