Barbeque Chicken Salad

Last time I was out in Utah I went to California Pizza Kitchen for the first time. My sister in law suggested I try the barbeque chicken salad and she raved about how good it is.  And boy was it good! Since then I found a recipe online and have made it nearly every week for the past month.  Steve and I love it! 

This is the recipe I went off of, but I honestly don't measure anything. I just add as much of each thing as I like! 

-1/2 head iceberg lettuce, chopped
-1/2 head romaine lettuce leaves -- chopped
-12 large fresh basil leaves cut into thin strips
-1 pound jicama -- cut into thin strips or small cubes
-2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese
-1 cup canned black beans -- rinsed and drained
-1 cup sweet white corn kernels (I like fresh corn off the cob... just stick the corn cob in the microwave for a minute so it is slightly cooked, then cut the kernels off the cob.  Or I guess you could use canned corn or frozen corn.....)
-3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
-2 pounds ripe fresh tomatoes -- diced
-1/2 cup good quality bottled sweet and spicy barbecue sauce (or whatever kind of barbeque sauce you like)
-1/4 cup thinly sliced scallion greens (green onions)

-Avocados, chopped (these aren't actually in the recipe, but at the restaurant we had the option of adding avocado and we did. I love avocado.) 

For the chicken, I go the super easy/quick route and just chop up some chicken breasts, then cook them in a skillet. Then I toss it all in barbeque sauce.  Or, you can add oil and garlic to the pan that you cook the chicken in.  However you cook it, in the end you just need chicken coated in barbeque sauce!

The dressing is some garden herb ranch dressing. I didn't actually make that, I ended up just mixing fat free sour cream with a packet of Hidden Valley ranch mix.  That way the dressing is fat free and I feel like I can eat TONS of the salad! You could also just use regular bottled ranch if that's what you have on hand.  Or one time I ended up using this spicy ranch that I had made for a previous meal, because I already had that in the fridge  (I will post that recipe as well... stay tuned). 

The recipe also calls for fried tortilla strips. I never felt like going through the effort of making those, so I never did. But, a friend of mine said she made a more healthy alternative by salting and baking wonton wrappers. 

Okay, now here's how you put the salad together: 

In a large mixing bowl, toss together the lettuces, basil, jicama, Monterey Jack cheese, beans, corn, cilantro, and ranch dressing. Transfer the salads to chilled serving plates. Surround each salad with diced tomatoes (and tortilla strips if you are using them). Top each salad with chunks of Grilled Garlic BBQ Chicken and drizzle the chicken with the barbecue sauce. Garnish with the scallion. 

Or, if you don't want to be fancy, just mix everything together except the chicken, then top with the chicken and barbeque sauce. 

Sooooo good... you know you want some......

Ginger Salad Dressing

OOOOOOHHHHH..... this is so good.......


1/4 cup oil (vegetable or canola)

1 to 2 teaspoons chili oil-- you buy this in the oriental section of the grocery store, usually (probably start out using less if you're not sure how spicy you want it... you can always add more if you taste it and decide you want more. Or if you know you don't like heat, you could just make it without)

1/4 cup rice wine vinegar or seasoned rice vinegar (I use the seasoned rice vinegar, because that's what I have)

2 Tablespoons soy sauce

2 Tablespoons sugar

2 Tablespoons freshly grated ginger (FRESH ginger is so good! don't use the dried stuff!)

optional: 1/2 to 1 Tablespoon (???maybe more....?..or less....?) of peanut butter (the dressing is good without the peanut butter, too, but I like it with a little peanut butter in it because it adds a bit more body and helps the dressing emulsify better... oh, and it tastes good. I pretty much just add it until it tastes how I want it...)


Mix all those ingredients together well and use for various different things!


Once I used it on top of some salmon.... that was quite tasty. You can put in on top of just a normal salad. Delicious.

If you want to try a SUPER GOOD salad.... try the following:



Ingredients:

Romaine Lettuce

Spinach

Strawberries, sliced (or cut in chunks or whatever)

Green Onions, chopped

Candied Pecans (recipe below)

Pork Loin

When we make this salad, we usually just put out all the different components and let people put together their own salad according to their liking. Then, top it with the ginger dressing. Soooo good. Last time my mom tried hers with some mandarin oranges on it as well. I didn't try it, but I bet that would be good too.


For the pork, just cut the loin into about 1/4 inch medalions, season with a little salt and pepper, then cook those up in a frying pan. Then, you can slice those medalions into smaller strips to put on the salad. Don't overcrowd the medalions in the pan, or they won't get that good color on them. You might need to do a couple batches.


For the pecans you're gonna need:

1 cup Pecan Halves
and

1/2 cup Maple Syrup (whatever you have around that you put on your pancakes and waffles!)


All you do is put a skillet on the stove over medium-low to medium heat and put the pecans in. Pour in the syrup and stir to coat all the nuts. Heat the mixture for several minutes, stirring often. The syrup will bubble and get thicker and thicker. Make sure you don't let it get so hot that it scorches. Keep stirring. You'll notice the syrup getting more and more sticky. Stir! As soon as the mixture is to the point that it's like.... "hard"sticky..... take the nuts out of the pan and put them on a large plate. You'll want to separate them while they are still hot/warm otherwise they will harden and you'll just have one big chunk of candied nuts! Allow them to cool before using them. It might take a couple times to get to where your pecans are the perfect doneness.... my first time I didn't quite cook them long enough, and they were still kind of chewy and not quite.... "crunchy" candied. But, they were still good.