Best Chicken Salad EVER.

I'm not just saying that... I have tried many, MANY chicken salads over the years and I keep coming back to this one.  I have had this recipe for almost 20 years and can remember making it in every house I have lived in.  I found it in a Bon Appetit Magazine years and years ago, we're talking the 1990's people...  and every time I make it, it just makes me happy.  It also makes other people happy AND wanting the recipe!  So now thanks to my blog, everyone has it.

It was part of an article called "A Weekend in the Snow" and had a whole menu with Enchiladas,(which are AMAZING too and I'll post those some day too) "drunken" beans, pico de gallo and a mexican chocolate cake.  Need to try the cake some day.  But today I bring you:

Fiesta Chicken Salad w/ Lime-Cilantro Vinaigrette:

This is a picture I just took from the Bon Appetit article and posted it on Instagram and FB.  Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of my actual salad since I always forget to take photos of this staple recipe in my house.

Again, I'm the girl who doesn't follow along with the recipe so I will post the actual recipe and then share what I do differently.  You can choose which to go with based on your own taste buds...

Vinaigrette:

1/2 Cup Chopped shallots

1/4 Cup fresh lime juice

1/4 Cup Chopped fresh cilantro

1 Tbs. Minced Garlic

1/2 Cup Vegetable Oil

Salad:

3 Cups chopped red leaf lettuce

3 Cups chopped napa cabbage*

1 Cup diced cooked chicken

2 Plum tomatoes, seeded and chopped*

1/2 Red bell pepper, thinly sliced*

1/2 Yellow bell pepper, thinly sliced*

1/2 Avocado, peeled and diced

1/3 Cup crumlbed tortilla chips

1/4 Cup fresh corn kernels (or frozen and thawed)

1/4 Cup Pumpkin seeds, toasted*

1/4 Cup Sliced Onion*

1/2 Cup Crumbled queso Anejo (or feta cheese)*

Fresh Cilantro*

Fresh Lime*

For Vinaigrette: Combine first 4 ingredients in a medium bowl.  Gradually whisk in the oil.  Season with salt and pepper.  **I like to put all the ingredients in a blender instead and combine to make a more creamy texture.

For Salad:  Combine all ingredients except cheese in a large bowl.  Toss with vinaigrette to coat.  top with cheese. 

Ok, here's my take on the recipe:

I am kind of a picky eater if you haven't noticed already.  I'm not a fan of tomatoes and that stems from a long ago childhood trauma.  Want to hear the story?  Probably not, but I'll share at the bottom for those interested... :)

Anywhoo....  My families not a big fan of bell peppers either.  (me more than them, but no scary story to go with this one unless you consider my mom's stuffed green bell peppers that I HATED to eat b/c they were pretty scary... sorry mom)

So needless to say, I leave out the tomatoes and peppers unless I'm feeling adventurous and throw in some very, VERY thinly sliced yellow bell peppers.  As far as the lettuce goes, I don't just use red leaf lettuce because I feel like it's too wimpy so I also add romaine lettuce in a 50/50 ratio and then use less of the napa cabbage.  Depending on how many people you are serving, I use WAY more avocado than the recipe calls for.  Probably a 1/4 -1/2 of an avocado per person.  For the chicken I like to use a grilled chicken, not just cooked chicken.  I think it adds more flavor to have a grilled chicken with some lime and seasoning on it.  For the seeds I like to use either sunflower seeds or pepita nuts.  I sometimes toast the nuts, but it's not necessary.  For the corn, I just use organic frozen corn that I thaw but I do think fresh would be best.  For the onion, I use organic green onions and I chop those up with some cilantro in my Pampered Chef Food chopper.  I like to add this combo to the salad to have some fresh cilantro IN the salad as well as the salad dressing.  For the cheese, I like to use Atheno's "herb & garlic"  feta cheese.  It has the best flavor in my opinion and is easily available in your grocery store.  I usually plate each persons salad with all the ingredients and then add the cheese and tortilla chips on top.  I LOVE Trader Joe's Blue Corn Torilla Chips, so I crumbled those on top for a little more color and taste. Usually, I let them put their own salad dressing on their salad b/c I know everyone likes a different amount and I don't want to drench the salad in vinaigrette.

I hope you ENJOY!  I LOVE this salad and could eat it several times a week.  In fact when I'm trying to shed a few pounds this IS what I eat several times a week and it's just so full of flavor that you don't feel like you are dieting!!  Now I don't know what the calories are on this b/c way back when I found this recipe they weren't doing the nutritional value of recipes.  I imagine it's got a good amount of calories with the oil, cheese, avacado and nuts, but those are all healthy in my book (if you only use a little feta and tortilla chips) and I'm telling you I've lost weight while eating this on my diet plan.

My overall review is:

Preperation:  EASY, BUT ABOUT 45 MINUTES OF PREP TIME (INCLUDING THE CHICKEN)

Directions:  TRUE TO WORD, BUT I LIKE MY TAKE ON THE RECIPE BEST...

Presentation:  COLORFUL.  All the colors make this a beautiful presentation and great meal with guests.
Would I make it again:  YES, and have for almost 20 years.

I know this another NON-PINTEREST recipe, but I have to share some of my all-time FAVS... and then ADD them to PINTEREST!!  

Ok, for those interested in my "story"

My favorite uncle would come over a lot when I was a kid for dinner and I guess he knew I was NOT a fan of tomatoes.  My parents grew tomatoes in the back yard so they were plentiful and my mom would try to put them in every recipe imaginable.  But I wasn't having it... So my uncle would taunt me with a tomato and tell me to eat it. No way buddy.  But one night I guess he figured he'd "help" me like tomatoes...   (Didn't work)  So he chased me around the house with it and as I'm screaming, running and laughing in a terror stricken way (oh man... I can just hear it now, lol), sure enough he caught up with me and... shoved the WHOLE tomato in my mouth!  I'm telling you the tears were flooding, the mouth was gagging and I'm pretty sure he lost the "FAV" Uncle spot at that exact moment!  And to this day... I WON'T eat a raw tomato.  I'll eat EVERY other form of tomato... tomato sauce, (not chunky though) tomato paste, sundried tomatoes, ketchup, pizza sauce... everything but a raw stinkin tomato! So THANKS Uncle #&^%... you know who you are.  I still love you, but NOT raw tomatoes.  Never gonna happen.  

So moral of the story... Don't force kids to eat things because it doesn't work.  It may work for a funny story they can tell their kids and then have their kids not like raw tomatoes either (yes, true story)... but it doesn't get them to suddenly LIKE what they just don't like.  Ok people?  

What's even funnier is... I married a guy who DOESN'T LIKE RAW TOMATOES!!!  Yay me!  He has no traumatizing story to go with his dislike... but you've gotta love that I found my "tomatoless" SOULMATE~

Hope you enjoy the recipe... tomato or tomato-less.

Laura