Oregano's Vino Bambino Copycat

If you've ever sat foot in Arizona, then I hope you've visited an Oregano's. It's to die for. We take all of our guests there. Wow. We used to take our guests there. I don't live in Arizona anymore. In fact, I live REALLY far from Arizona. So there was this one day when David was gone and I realllllyyyy needed a salad from Oregano's. I looked at the menu I did a long-term borrow of, and went for it. Here's the results.


Started out with these ingredients (I was making this for one person. So I didn't need much) but the ingredients below feed 3 adults and 1 kid

2 Salad mixes (include romaine) 
1 pound of chicken breast cooked to preference
1/3 pound (box) of tri-colored rotini 
Parmesan cheese
1 can of pinto beans
1 can of olives
5 green onions
1 red pepper
About 5 sun-dried tomatoes
Cilantro (Coriander here in Germany)
Kens Creamy Caesar Dressing

Their menu says they put sauteed onions on top. I don't remember that and we've never done it. Since this original picture taking time, we've made it several times and used the above ingredients (with no sauteed onions) and it tastes pretty exact. 

The Chicken:


You'd think this would be the most important part. Which it isn't. Ha. I went all out the first time around and cooked it in the crockpot. My uncle and my sisters happened to be at Oregano's when I was cooking this and I asked them to ask their waitress what they cook the chicken in. She said it's Italian dressing. The menu says wine. So I did both. I had the cooking wine and a bottle of Zesty Italian. Cooked it on high for about 4 hours. 

The second time, and every time thereafter, we have marinated the chicken in Kraft's Zesty Italian (it's the ONLY kind to use) and grilled the chicken. It tastes the same. Well secretly, I prefer the grilled way. 


Then you're gonna layer the ingredients. We've also started doing this in a big pan and tossing it before we serve it. 

Don't forget to soak your sun-dried tomatoes in a bowl of hot or boiling water for five minutes covered. Then dice them into small pieces. 
Rinse your pinto beans
Put the chicken in last. 
And then do dressing to taste. We like a little salad with our dressing. Just kidding. 



Honestly, it tastes JUST like it. I promise. 


Also, I have two other kids who don't love salad that much. So I made the whole box of rotini and added the rest of the Parmesan cheese and a little ranch and fed that to them with some chicken. Yum! 

Please let me know what you think! And if you haven't had Oregano's before, make this anyway and you'll go! 

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