OH baby. I can’t begin to tell you how delectable this salad is. I literally am so excited about this salad that I made it a few hours ago and am writing the blog post now. And yes, that means I’m enjoying a wonderful Friday night in. Judge away, I’m fairly pleased about the situation.
But back to salad, delicious, wonderfully delicious salad.
So, what’s all in this salad, you may ask? You’ve got a mix of juicy fruits, tangy dressing, crunchy almonds, and a delicious feta cheese that cuts through it all. Oh yes, and the chicken! Juicy chicken to absorb all of the flavors.
If you can’t tell, I’m having a slight relationship with my chicken salad. Sigh.
Moving on!
I found this amazing little gem on Pinch of Yum, a great blog with so many recipes that I want to take a whack at. This will not be the last recipe of theirs that I try, I just know it. I’ve made a few tweaks to their original recipe in my list of ingredients below, but didn’t have to make too many changes. Love this recipe!
Prepare yourself….here we go…
Ingredients:
Salad:
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
- 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 2 cups purple grapes, halved
- 1 cup fresh blueberries
- 2-3 big handfuls of lettuce, chopped (I used a spring mix but you can do what you wish!)
- ½ cup feta cheese
- ½ cup slivered almonds
- 3 tablespoons almond butter
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 tablespoons orange juice
- 3 tablespoons water
- 1 tablespoon stoneground mustard
- ½ tablespoon honey
- ¼ teaspoon salt, more to taste
- 1 teaspoon garlic
How to Make:
First up, season the chicken on both sides with salt and pepper and the chili powder. Get both sides nice and covered with seasoning. Heat the olive oil in a large pan over medium high heat, and sizzle up. Get the chicken nice and brown on the sides, flipping as needed to ensure the chicken is fully cooked.
Once it’s done, remove to cool, then cut it up into chewable sized pieces. Yes, also known as bite-size pieces. But you knew what I meant.
Now, to prep the rest of the salad!
Slice the grapes in half…
Measure the cup of blueberries…
Measure the 1/2 cup of slivered almonds…
Measure the 1/2 cup of feta…
Wash, rinse and pat dry a few good hearty handfuls of lettuce…
Then arrange as you desire in a large bowl. I went with the pretty route, taking a leaf out of the Pinch of Yum‘s book. Their picture on the blog looked similar which is what inspired me in the first place. This is also where the ‘rainbow’ in the title of the recipe comes from.
Now as you make the dressing, you can refrigerate this beautiful bowl of salad. For the dressing, you’ll want to use a food processor to get things all creamy. You’ll add all of the dressing ingredients to the food processor and give a few seconds on full blast. I loved the taste as I stuck my finger into the bowl of the food processor (cord unplugged mind you) and basically swooned.
Ok, ok, that’s dramatic. No swooning but i do believe there was a “yummmmmmmmm” noise that escaped. You will understand when you make this dressing.
Now, all that’s left to do is grab the bowl of salad and drizzle on your dressing. Use a spatula to mix everything all up, get the dressing all coated over the chicken, the lettuce, all the other salad pieces.
Then, serve up!
Dig your fork in…and…
Yes, you will see why I love this salad. You will love this salad too, friend. You will too.
Spatulas & Buttons 