From Calculus to Cupcakes
I usually do an eating for your health article that features a particular food on Sundays. This week I am bringing you a chopped chicken salad that is super healthy with lots of healthy ingredients, but no one in particular is the dominant ingredient, so I’m going to skip the ingredient information.
I just love chopped salads because if you cut the ingredients small enough, you can get a little bit of each ingredient all in one bite. And, this combination of ingredients is just yummy. The vegetables are tossed in a vinaigrette, so you get dressing on every bite, but then just a little ranch is added on top for an extra layer of flavor without a lot of extra calories. I make my own ranch using this ranch mix recipe from Robyn’s View, which I highly recommend, but you can use your favorite if you already have one.
Chopped Chicken Salad
Ingredients
- 1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts cutlets
- 3 Tbsp. olive oil, divided
- 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar plus 1 Tbsp. divided
- salt and pepper
- 12 oz. frozen corn
- 1 red pepper, chopped
- 1 avocado, chopped
- juice of 1 Lemon
- 1 tsp. honey
- 1/2 tsp salt
- pepper
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 4 cups lettuce chopped into bite sized pieces (I used green leaf.)
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
- 2 - 4 Tbsps. Ranch dressing
- tortilla chip strips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Stir together 1 Tbsp. olive oil and 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar.
- Place chicken in a baking dish an pour vinegar mixture over it.
- Bake until done. The time will depend greatly on the thickness of your chicken, but mine took about 25 minutes.
- While the chicken is baking, saute the corn in the remaining olive oil in a skillet over medium heat.
- Continue cooking until some of the kernels begin to get a little brown around the edges.
- When the chicken is done, remove it from the pan. Allow to cool slightly, and then chop it into bite sized pieces.
- Place corn and chicken into a large bowl and all to cool until barely warm.
- Stir in red pepper and avocado.
- Whisk together remaining balsamic vinegar, lemon juice, hone, salt, and pepper to taste. Pour over vegetables and toss to coat.
- Just before serving, toss in lettuce and cheese.
- Sprinkle tortilla chip strips and drizzle the top with ranch dressing. You don't need much of the ranch because of the vinaigrette on the vegetables, so use it sparingly.
