Wild Rice w/ Chicken, Asparagus, Pecans & Maple Dijon Dressing

Whew!! It is a lot of work to pack everything you own into boxes and cart it from the basement of one house to the 3rd floor of another house across town! And I haven't even gotten past carrying it all out of the basement yet. I can't believe that in the not so distant past, I actually did this almost every 9 months for 6 years! It has been an incredible blessing to actually have stayed put in my current home for the last 3 years. Despite the fact that I am really excited about my new place (living alone, downtown, pretty street w/ great big trees, only 5 minutes from work, etc) I don't like moving and I feel some sadness over the ending this past season in this house. Tomorrow is the big day and about 20 minutes ago, after an hour of carrying boxes up the stairs, and loading up my car for the first trip tomorrow morning, I got overwhelmed and emotional and decided to be done for tonight. I am now cozy in my bed with a glass of red wine, trying to pull myself together.

And what better way to do that then to tell you about my lunch from this past week?

I know... I'm rather strange. But I really enjoy writing this blog and it will serve to get my mind off of the incredible pile of boxes at the top of my stairs that will be making a trip across town tomorrow with my furniture following close behind.

A few weeks ago, I got to have lunch and visit with my good friend, Kate. Along with being just a beautiful, kind, Godly woman, she is one of the best cooks that I know! For lunch she made us a salad of sorts with wild rice, chicken, asparagus and pecans and this really yummy dressing that you drizzle over the top. Of course, I needed the recipe and I whipped up a batch and ate it for my lunches this past week. In addition to being really delicious, a dish like this is healthy and covers all your food groups (starch, veggie, protein) in one dish.

Hope you enjoy it!

Wild Rice w/ Chicken, Asparagus, Pecans & Maple Dijon Dressing

(Kate, is there an "official" name to this dish? I just called it by all the main ingredients, but it feels really long!)

1 cup uncooked wild rice (prepared according to package directions)
1 bunch asparagus, cut into 1 inch pieces & parboiled (meaning you put them into boiling water for about 3 minutes and then transfer them directly to a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking process)
2 large, boneless, skinless chicken breasts (cooked to your preference: grilled, roasted, baked, etc)
pecans (raw or toasted)

Dressing:
3 T apple cider vinegar
1 tsp pepper
1 T dijon mustard
1/3 c pure maple syrup
1/2 c. olive oil
about 1/3 cup diced onion (you can use more or less to taste)

- I was up at my parents' house last weekend and had my dad cook my chicken breasts on his smoker, which was wonderful. Kate told me that she sometimes marinates them in some lemon juice and olive oil. But plain, cooked chicken would be good as well!
- Toss the cooked rice, asparagus & chicken together. Add nuts right before serving.
- Mix dressing ingredients in a jar and give it a good shake.
- Drizzle dressing over rice right before serving. If you add it all at once, the rice will soak it up and you will lose the flavor. So i just kept it in a jar and added some each time I ate the meal.



* By the way, Kate is also BRILLIANT with sewing and card-making and all things crafty and she recently started her own Etsy store. If you have any interest in looking at the stuff she makes, you can view it at: www.ohwrite.etsy.com