Mexican Chicken Salad

Wow!  What a weekend… Just to let everyone know - I am addicted to Zestycook and usually spend every waking minute either thinking about what to post, cooking in the kitchen, writing down ideas or checking out all the amazing food blogs around.  I love it!

My focus while working all weekend on Zesty was trying to come up with new and exciting, yet simple meal ideas for everyone out there.  It is a well known fact that a lot of people are busy and have little time to prepare meals for themselves or their families.  It is also a known fact that more and more people are adopting healthy eating habits and engaging themselves in a healthy lifestyle.

I am practicing some new techniques with the camera and lighting - what do you think?

With that being said, I thought I would share with you a chicken salad with a taste of Mexico that has a good balance of greens, protein and complex carbohydrates.  This salad is super easy to make but does not lack in flavour.  Roll up your sleeves and prepare this dish the next time you want some Mexican flare.

Ingredients

2 boneless chicken breast
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp freshly-ground black pepper
1 low-carb tortilla
1 1/2 tsp olive oil
1/2 red bell pepper, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup canned red kidney beans, drained, rinsed
1/2 small red onion, finely chopped
8 cup mixed greens - (approx 5 oz)
1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 small tomato, coarsely chopped
2 cobs corn cooked (slice the corn off the cob)
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
1/3 cup olive oil
2 tbsp fresh lime juice
1 tsp grated lime peel
1 garlic clove, pressed
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 (1.25 ounce) package taco seasoning
1 teaspoon hot sauce

Method

For Salad: Prepare a medium grill or preheat broiler. Brush grill with oil. Season chicken breast with salt and pepper.
Grill 15 minutes, or until cooked through, turning once halfway through cooking time. (Chicken

may be made up to 1 day ahead. Cool before wrapping and refrigerating.)
Let chicken cool to room temperature, then thinly slice on the diagonal.
Heat oven to 400 degrees. Brush tortilla with olive oil place on a baking sheet and bake 10 minutes, until golden. Set aside to cool.
In a large bowl toss kidney beans, onion, greens, cilantro and until evenly mixed.
For Dressing: Whisk olive oil, lime juice, grated lime peel, garlic, chili powder, cumin, salt, pepper, taco seasoning and hot sauce.
To assemble salad: Toss greens mixture with dressing until evenly coated.
For each portion,place one-quarter of the greens mixture on each of four plates. Top with

one-quarter of the chicken slices, and drizzle a little more dressing.

If desired, serve with lime wedges.

Yield:4 Servings

Zesty Note: The highly seasoned lime vinaigrette dressing is also terrific over grilled fish.

So there you have it, a little taste of Mexico in less than 30 minutes. You can’t beat that! My question to everyone is - what is your favorite Mexican dish? Let me know in the comments.  If we have an overwhelming response, we might have a Mexican Zesty Week!

Can’t wait to hear from you.  Happy Monday everyone… keep smiling.

Zesty