Chicken and Avocado Salad

In keeping with the wonderful weather, I wanted to eat a nice lite salad for dinner that still had enough substance to be an meal. I have also been craving the flavor of lime....a LOT! That led me to tonight's salad.

This is what you'll need:

Salad mix---I bought a 50/50 mixed bag of spinach and field greens
1 avocado
1 chicken breast
8-10 Grape Tomatoes

dressing
Juice of 1/2 lime
1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh cilantro
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon Tequila--sorry kiddies, Momma's gonna have to make this salad dressing for you
2 tablespoons mayo (I used low fat or fat free I think)

1. IN a bowl, mix the cilantro, lime juice, honey and tequila together. Add in the mayo and blend really well. The acid in the lime juice is going to make it clumpy, so you really have to mix it up and make it smooth. Add a dash or two of chili powder if you'd like and mix it in. Let this chill in the fridge while the chicken is cooking.

2. Bake the chicken at 350 for about 20 minutes. I put a little bit of lime, salt and a few rings of red onion on my chicken. It gave it a nice bit of flavor.
3. When the chicken is cooked, cut it into bite sized pieces. I put mine in the fridge to cool so I didn't have to worry about the salad wilting. I also put my salad bowl in the fridge, just for fun :0P
4. OK, once the bowl and chicken are chilled a bit, mix the salad and the chicken pieces in the bowl with tomatoes. Add chunks of avocado to the mixture and drizzle the salad dressing over everything. I used all of the dressing and it seemed like just the right amount.
5. Toss everything so that the dressing coats pretty well. Crunch a few tortilla chips on top and enjoy!

This might be good with a little bit of Monterey Jack cheese or something, just for a little extra texture. I like texture :)

This salad was so good! The tequila and honey work really great with the lime, and cilantro is my second favorite herb ever, so I loved it here!! Just remember, that you probably shouldn't let the dog lick the bowl clean when you're done...something about tequila and dogs seems like a bad idea....


BTW...the texture of spinach is kind of amazing. It's a little velvety...I like it!

Hope you are enjoying the lovely weather! Happy Cooking!

amy