Chopped Chicken Bacon Avocado Salad

Mondays are so busy for us, and I assume everybody else, too. We run from before sun up to after sun down. Right now after our cooperative school Marshall has a yearbook meeting, cross country and piano. And along with those I had laundry, other household chores, farm chores, working out and errands to run. I’m sure every mom with kids in the house has the same story, times two or three.

So then the question becomes, “What’s for dinner?”. Running through the drive through might be easy - not easier necessarily - but it’s not friendly to your wallet, waist or cardiovascular health (or liver health or relational health or or or). And so what, pray tell, can a person do on a Monday??

Lucky for you I have an easy meal that can be thrown together lickety split. Plus it’s pretty healthy AND people love it! I make this salad a lot - for us and for friends. I have served it when folks come to dinner (which y’all know is a big step for me since I usually don’t serve salad for dinner, especially to guests!) and it’s made an appearance on The Sporting Chef cooking show. So it has been vetted. And here it is:

Aliceson’s chopped Chicken Bacon Avocado Dinner Salad

 1 head of Romaine lettuce, chopped

1/2 cucumber, chopped

2 slices of bacon, cooked and chopped

1 cup fresh grape tomatoes, quartered and possibly blistered if you want

1 cup frozen (or fresh in the summer) corn, sautéed

1/2 avocado, chopped

1 cup roasted Bales Farms chicken, chopped

Toasted tortilla strips

Spicy ranch 

Fresh cilantro

Okay, this is pretty simple and straightforward for most of the recipe. Chop the lettuce and place in a bowl. Then on top of the lettuce put the chopped cucumber, bacon, avocado, sautéed corn and chicken. (When you’re sautéing the corn a little green Chile and tiny amount of sour cream give it a Mexican street corn vibe and is really yummy. I also sprinkle chili powder on the corn to ramp it up.)

Now for the tomatoes - I blister them. I do this by putting the quartered tomatoes in the same cast iron skillet I used for the corn. So it has a little amount of butter and seasoning left over from the corn. And I just let them sit undisturbed until the skin blisters. It brings out a ton of flavor and they’re warm on the salad which is very nice.

The tortilla strips I make by simply folding a tortilla in half and cutting into strips with a pair of scissors. Then I put those in the pan I used for the bacon and toss them around. I toast those in the oven until they’re golden brown and crispy and then season with chili powder as you desire. (I used to fry them in a deep fryer and then switched to flash frying in a skillet on the stove but now just use this toasting method. It’s healthier and they tase just as good. You can also use tortilla chips if you’re too busy to do this but honestly it takes about 3-4 minutes total to cut and toast. Plus if you’ve got littles it’s a good way to get them involved in the kitchen.)

And now for the spicy ranch. Y’all know I always make my own salsa - have you SEEN the prices of jarred salsa in the grocery stores????? Holy macaroni. It’s high. And salsa is a cinch to make! I just put all the following in a blender and mix until chunky - 2 cans of chipotle Rotel, 1/2 to 1 jalapeño (do you know the pointier the tip is the hotter the pepper is? So if you want mild get a rounded pepper and if you like it hot go for the point at the end), a little bit of onion or green onion, lime juice, salt, cumin to taste and fresh cilantro. That’s it! It’s easy and delish. (And in the summer I use fresh tomatoes and ramp up the cumin and salt. In the winter when I use rotel I add a pinch of salt because sometimes canned tomatoes have a bitter end note). Then when I want to make a spicy ranch I put some salsa in a jar (about 1 cup), a tablespoon of JFG mayonnaise (you can use half mayo and half sour cream if you like but Barry and I don’t enjoy the wang of sour cream so much), dill to taste, 1/2 teaspoon of lime juice and 1/8 teaspoon of pepper and cumin. Taste it then and see what you want to put in it. It should be a pretty dark pink color, but if you want it more Ranchy and less salsa-y, just add more mayo, a little milk or sour cream. I mean that’s all ranch is anyway, just milk, mayo/sour cream and spices with an emphasis on dill.

If you don’t want to make your own salsa, just add the other ingredients to jarred salsa and you’ve got a dressing. But honestly homemade salsa is so good and much cheaper.

I throw the rest on top of the salad, mix with salad forks or tongs when we’re not trying to impress people (!) and serve it. 

This dinner salad can come together in less than 15 minutes. And Barry and Marshall literally ask for it if I haven’t fixed it in a week or two. I hope you make it and make it your own - put anything in it you want! Add more veggies. Substitute broccoli for the cukes or add in other tomatoes (yellow). Please hit us up when you make this and tag us on the social sites so I can see your creations!

Happy Monday feeding!

Aliceson