Recipe Review - Blackened Chicken Salad with Creamy Avocado Dressing

Hey Y'all!!

I hope your week is going well!  Mine has been great so far! I work almost every day and I LOVE it, I love my job and the people I work with!

On Monday, Adam and I went to work, on our day off for our date night :) It was so nice!

But, anywho! On this day off, I happened to be on Pinterest (my usual hot-spot!) and found a recipe for a Salad with Avocado dressing and mango, and my stomach was just in heaven!

So we decided that on Tuesday, we (Adam and I) were going to make this!  If any of you are like me, I am one bossy cook in the kitchen.  It is my area, not in a feminist way, but in a I truly love to cook everything way!  It's what makes me calm, it's my happy place, and I know a lot of you can agree.

So, Adam doesn't always love cooking with me, because I like things my way, but he loves me anyway and he definitely loves the outcome!  He says he loves my cooking! :) Go me!!

This salad, the link above and I will list it below, was fantastic except I do not like mango so I didn't use that AT ALL!

So this blog is basically a review for this salad, the good, bad and ugly!

From the beginning, I made the dressing first.  In the recipe it doesn't specifically state that you need to make this first, but I highly recommend that you do.  It gives us the ability to chill the dressing before using it! 

Next, I was getting everything ready for the dressing, when I noticed that it was not going to be enough.  I was cooking for Adam, myself, Adam's parents and his Grandma.  It does say yield: 2 Large Salads.  but I was thinking because I eat small portions and not a lot of dressing, Adams Mom and Grandma are the same that it would be fine, but no worries, I just doubled up the amounts and that was truly more than enough. (I still have a good 1/3 left over)

Also, it calls for one small jalapeno, again, I just wasn't truly worried about the size, I went down to the corner to the local Walmart and picked up a regular jalapeno, and used the whole thing (not two) for the recipe.

Fun fact, I don't know about you, but when I get hungry, I get mean. (I get it from my Daddy) We call it the "hangrys" so when in the kitchen, I didn't care if something was "fat free" or not.  Also, fat is what gives things taste and flavor!

Anywho! Back to the salad, I would tame the lime juice down a little too, because even though it tastes fantastic with it, it also tended to be very over powering.  Also, when I put it in the fridge after we finished the pureeing, it got thicker, so add a little more water than you think is good for you, just so it has perfect consistency when you are ready!

And lastly, about the dressing, I LOVE it!!!

Now, for the salad/chicken!

 I used 2 large chicken breast, I didn't measure out the olive oil, I just put it in the skillet and I completely covered the chicken in blackened seasoning and it was great!  And I know you all will love it too!

The only thing I have to say is, if you don't like spicy then do not use a lot of the seasoning, just keep it light.

 The last step asks for you to cube or cut the chicken into strips, this is where the ugly comes in!  Again, I was really hungry so I didn't care what my chicken looked like and so I shredded the chicken, which in turn had me burn my fingers :(  But that's okay!  I think it looks better shredded, to be honest!

And to finish out this lovely review, all in all it was a fabulous, amazing, tasty, very summery salad! Please try it out!  I also enjoyed my salad with Apothic Red wine, it is phenomenal! (my favorite)  

Here is the ingredients and recipe to what I did below:

Blackened Chicken Salad with Creamy Avocado Dressing

For the Avocado Dressing

• 1 ripe avocado
• 1 lime, zested and juiced
• 1 green onion, chopped
• 1 garlic clove, peeled
• 1/4 (ish) cup cilantro
• 1/4 cup plain Greek yogurt
• 1 jalapeno, seeded
• Water 

I doubled this (except for the jalapeno) for more dressing.

For the Salad

• olive oil
• 2 chicken breast
• Blackened seasoning, to your taste
• 1/2 cup chopped tomatoes, no boogers (I did one tomato)
• 1/4 cup sliced red onion
• 4 cups Spring Salad Mix (Green leaf lettuce for us)

Directions

1. For the dressing, add all the ingredients except the water to a blender. 
2. Puree very well.
3. With the blender going, slowly drizzle in the water until a thick, creamy, consistency is reached. Set Aside. 
4. CASSIE SAYS PUT IN FRIDGE!
5. Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat.
6. Season both sides of the chicken breast with the blackened seasoning, making sure it is fully coated.
7. Cook for about 4-5 minutes on each side, until fully cooked through. Remove and let it rest for 3-4 minutes. Then slice it or cube it up. (I flipped and cooked twice on each side)
8. Put the lettuce, tomato and onion together in a bowl and mix up!
9. Place some chicken on top of each and drizzle on your desired amount of dressing!

ENJOY!!

XOXO,

Cassie