Mango Chicken Chopped Salad

Last week The Hubby and I were blessed to be able to get away on a 4 day cruise to the Bahamas. It was part 10th anniversary celebration, part babymoon as we're expecting our 3rd child in July. It was wonderful to get away for awhile, but after 4 days of eating cruise food we were ready for some home-cooked detox. Today is Sunday, and in our family, tradition holds that instead of eating whatever mom cooks the boys get to enjoy a giant bowl of cereal for dinner (sometime's it's nice to have a little break from my short order cook duties.) So I figured it was the perfect time to try out this new recipe for Mango Chicken Chopped Salad. The original recipe had a few dislikes like cucumber so I made a few changes from the Coastal Living version (July 2011) and it was thoroughly enjoyed. Said my meat and potato loving husband: "You can make this twice a week." as he finished off the rest of the bowl. We both agreed that this salad is best if very lightly dressed and I'm eager to try it again next week but this time dressed with my recipe for Cilantro Lime Dressing.

Mango Chicken Chopped Salad
adapted from Coastal Living

Ingredients

for the chicken

4 chicken breasts

1/4 c tequila

blackened seasoning

1/4 c. lime juice

for the dressing:

1/4 c. mayonnaise

1/4 c. sour cream

2 tsp. lemon zest

2 tbsp. lemon juice

2 tsp. curry powder

1 tsp fresh grated ginger

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp. sugar

1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper

for the salad:

4 c. chopped red leaf lettuce

2 mangos peeled, pitted, and chopped.

1 red bell pepper finely diced

1/2 c fresh cilantro chopped

1/4 c. chopped red onion

Place chicken in a shallow dish and sprinkle with blackened seasoning (like Zataran's brand) and salt on both sides. Drizzle with tequila and lime juice, tossing to coat. Marinate in refrigerator for at least 1/2 hour.

Grill chicken until cooked through. In the mean time you can chop the ingredients for the salad and whisk together all the ingredients for the dressing.

Let chicken cool and then chop into bite size pieces. Toss together with the mango,pepper, cilantro, lettuce, and onion. Toss with dressing, a little at a time until the desired flavor is reached. We opted for less dressing (about 4 tablespoons) because the ingredients alone are so flavorful.

Enjoy!