My husband and I were talking about how excited we are about BBQ season.  We love BBQ season, although I will not retire my slow cooker just yet, because I love it too.

So in conversation I asked hubby what his first pick would be for our first BBQ meal of the season, and was I ever surprised!  Hubby, who rarely ever cooks, told me that he would love to grill up some bone-in chicken breasts served with my tasty grilled vegetable salad.  You get the part where I’m surprised?  He’s a guy....I was expecting to hear something like ribs, burgers or chicken wings.  Nope, he went with the healthier option.

When I asked him why he went with bone-in chicken breasts he told me that when grilled, the bone adds more flavour to the chicken breast.  So that’s what I’ll be making but I’ll make sure to marinade the chicken first using only the marinade portion of this recipe.

For my salad, it’s so easy to make and it is delicious and super healthy.

• 2 lrg. Portobello mushrooms, thickly sliced into strips
• 1 red pepper, thickly sliced into strips
• 1 yellow pepper, thickly sliced into strips
• 2 zucchini, thickly sliced lengthwise
• 1 bunch (8 – 10) asparagus, tough ends removed
• 1 red onion, peeled and sliced into rings
• ¼ cup olive oil
• 1 small clove of garlic, pressed
• 1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
• 1/2 teaspoondried oregano
• 5 Tbs pextra-virgin olive oil
• 2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
• Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Note: You can add salt if you wish but I find the Feta cheese is salty enough.

Instructions:

1. Preheat grill to medium-high heat.
2. Place the sliced vegetables in a bowl and toss with ¼ olive oil.  Place on a BBQ grill basket
3. Place basket onto grill and cook vegetables, turning basket occasionally, until lightly charred and tender, about 6-8 minutes per side.
4. Remove basket from grill and allow vegetables to cool slightly.
5. In the meantime, combine the extra-virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar, oregano, garlic and black pepper in a jar or container with a tight fitting lid and shake the ingredients together until well blended.
6. Place vegetables into a large bowl and toss with the dressing.
7. Arrange onto serving platter and top with crumbled feta cheese.

You can pretty much use whichever vegetables you like and create your own version of this salad.  You can use crumbled goat’s cheese if you prefer and freshly chopped herbs like mint, thyme, fresh basil, etc.  If you don’t like garlic omit it.  Want more dressing, make more dressing or you can always buy your favourite oil based salad dressing from your local grocery store.  Just have fun with it; it’s all about the BBQ experience and enjoying a good meal either indoors but preferably outdoors while soaking up some vitamin D.