Spicy Chicken Salad: A Foodie's Dream

Okay folks.....  For a change of pace I'm blogging about something that doesn't altogether have to do with my faith. Well...actually, if you consider that God created all of the ingredients for this salad you can consider this a shout out to Him.  Hey now, I just give credit where credit is due. Soooooo.....here's my first food entry.
 
I'm not known for doing things the easy way, but I am known for doing things the delicious way.   That being said, you're going to LOVE this chicken salad.  It has a combination of dynamic flavors that are perfectly sweet, spicy and tart.  I gave it the super creative and incredibly catchy name, "Jamie's Spicy Chicken Salad."  Okay, maybe that's not "incredibly catchy," but that is what it is! Please leave a comment below and let me know how you liked it! Bon appetit!

Jamie’s Spicy Chicken Salad

(Makes 6 – 8 salads)

What you’ll need:

• Organic Spring Mix Salad Greens (we like Organic Girl brand)
• ½ Cup Cilantro, chopped
• Chicken or Turkey (you can use a high quality cold-cut or, as I prefer, the breast of a rotisserie chicken from your grocery store’s deli)
• Wholly Salsa’s Mango & Red Pepper Salsa (found in Reasors by the salads and mushrooms in the produce department)
• 2 Roasted Poblanos, diced (heres a great link on how to roast them http://inspiredbites.blogspot.com/2008/04/how-to-roast-and-peel-poblano-peppers.html )
• Seasoned Rice with Black Beans and Corn (Recipe below)

Layer about ½ cup of the seasoned rice with the black beans and corn in the bottom of a salad bowl.  On top of the rice layer about 1-2 Tbsp of the diced roasted poblano peppers (depending on how much heat you want). On top of that, add in 1 Tbsp of chopped cilantro. Put as much chicken or turkey over the rice mixture as you like then cover everything with salad greens.  Top the salad with 2-3 Tbsp of the mango and red pepper salsa.  Enjoy!!! (Note: I add about 3 dashes of green pepper Tabasco sauce to the salsa because I love the heat and it tastes great, but this is totally optional).  Of course, you can play with the proportions of rice to salad if you find you like one more than the other!

Seasoned Rice:

• 1 cup rice
• 2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• ½ tsp garlic powder
• ¼ tsp cumin
• ¼ tsp chili powder
• 1 cup black beans (drained and rinsed)
• 2 cups frozen corn (thawed)
• 1 Lime

Cook rice according to package directions substituting the chicken broth for water and using olive oil instead of butter/margarine.  After rice is cooked, stir in the garlic powder, cumin and chili powder and set aside. 

Thaw the frozen corn in the microwave.  I don’t use the “thaw” setting…I use the normal cooking setting.  This usuallytakes 1 – 2 minutes, depending on your microwave. 

Drain and rinse a can of black beans.  

Mix seasoned rice with the thawed corn and black beans, then squeeze the juice of one lime into the rice, being careful not to get any seeds in the rice.Salt the rice to taste and put in fridge until ready to assemble the salad.  Enjoy!