Baja Chicken Salad Bowl

My husband is a man of few words, so when I come up with new recipes and they make their maiden voyage, I sit on the other side of the couch (we are fancy like that) in anticipation for him to tell me it is the best thing he has ever tasted, I am usually greeted with a monosyllabic mumble. I would love to say that after a bite of this salad, he jumped off the couch and burst out into song, but alas that didn’t happen, something even better did.

The next day he came home bearing groceries, and guess what the ingredients were, every single thing needed to replicate the salad! I say that is a huge compliment to how amazing this recipe truly is!

Ingredients

Cilantro Lime Marinade

1 bunch cilantro

4 gloves garlic, minced

4 Tbsp Lime juice

2 Tbsp Avocado Oil

1 Tsp cumin

1 Tsp Chili Powder

1 Tsp Onion Powder

½ Tsp Smoked Paprika

½ Tsp Salt

½ Tsp Pepper

 Creamy Baja Catalina Dressing

2 Tbsp Cilantro Lime Marinade

1/3 Cup Ketchup

½ Cup Mayo- See my Homemade Mayo recipe

¼ Cup Plain Unsweetened Coconut or Almond Yogurt

2 Tbsp Red Wine Vinegar

2 Tbsp Coconut Palm Sugar

Salad

3 Chicken breasts sliced in half, lengthwise

1 head Romaine Lettuce

1 Avocado, diced

½ Cherry tomatoes

1/3 Cup Tortilla strips (Optional)

1/3 Cup Black beans

1/3 Cup sweet corn kernels

Instructions:

Cilantro Lime Chicken:

1.       Place all ingredients into a food processer and blend on low until well incorporated.

2.       Reserve 2 Tbsp of marinate, and place the rest in a bowl or bag with raw chicken breasts.

3.       Place breasts in fridge, for 20 min- 10 hours. The longer the more flavor resides in breasts.

4.       Once chicken is ready, Preheat oven to 425- or if you really want a treat, throw breasts on the grill.

5.       Cook chicken for 30 minutes, flipping breasts halfway through.

6.       Remove from oven, let rest 5 minutes before slicing.

Creamy Baja Catalina Dressing:

1.       In a wide-mouth jar, add reserved marinade, Red wine vinegar, coconut palm sugar, mayo, ketchup, and yogurt.

2.       Using an immersion blender, start with blades at bottom of the jar, allow to fully immerse the marinade in rest of ingredients.

3.       Slowly bring the immersion blender up the jar, and then up and down until fully blended.

4.       If you do not have an immersion blender, and bowl and whisk works just as well ( I am just a kitchen appliance junkie, so I love any excuse to use them).

Salad Assembly:

1.       Add chopped romaine, black beans, sweet corn, tomato, avocado and tortilla strips to a large bowl.

2.       Top with sliced chicken breast

3.       Generously drizzle with Creamy Baja Catalina dressing.

4.       Most importantly, enjoy!