If your weather has been like our weather (literally high 80′s) then I hope your grill is fired up. We have been grilling veggies, chicken, burgers, and sausages non stop. I forgot how much I love food fresh off the grill and how easy suddenly meal time becomes.

We entertained some great friends Sunday night. Going along with the theme of the weather almost everything was made on the grill (including cheese…stay tuned!) aside from this one side dish. It’s served cool though, so it’s the perfect sidekick to sit along your hot from the grill meat. I like to make it early in the day so it has a looooong time to hang out and chill in the fridge.

This recipe came from one of my mother in laws (yes, I am blessed to have 2 – and if you’re counting yes, that is 3 moms total). I tweaked it a little bit for the mayo hater that lives in my home so when you omit that and check out everything left you are looking at not only one satisfying dish that’ll cool you off – but, it’s also pretty healthy!

‘Rice Salad’
Recipe from Ginger

Ingredients:

-1 package of chicken rice-a-roni
-2 green onions, thinly sliced
-2 jars marinated artichokes, drained and saved the marinade
-1 can sliced black olives
-1/2 green pepper, chopped
-use your discretion here. Recipe calls for 1/3 cup of mayo. I believe the marinade from the artichokes is enough flavor for the dish. If you want a creamier texture (who doesn’t) Fresh Market sells this amazing all natural product called ‘Lemonaise.’ New York Times rated it #1 in taste. It’s creamy. It’s lemony. It’s zingy. It works.

Ok, back to the recipe…

Directions:

Cook rice according to package directions and bring to room temp. Mix everything together using some of the marinade and mayo/lemonaise if you prefer.

Chill and serve!

I ate this with 5 meals in 3 days.
Courtney

data-text=”A sidekick for grilled meat. via @alifefromscratc” data-url=”http://a-life-from-scratch.com/a-sidekick-for-grilled-meat/”
data-via=”" >