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For dinner tonight we re-lived some of our Provo days of yore and re-created one of our favorite salads that was a get-rid-of-that-baby-weight go-to recipe because it was so healthy and flavorful. Unfortunately, we can't get it through the drive-through anymore (although we rush to El Azteca whenever we're in Happy Valley), so we did our best to imitate it.
Someone forgot to move the grill before the big snow-storm hit (that would be moi), so I had to pull on my boots and climb up and around the grill to do the chicken from above like some sort of Eskimo-she-woman, but it was worth it!
Eve went wild for the jicama, but kept referring to it as "hippopoto-ma," so I think that will be its new name in our house .
El Azteca Grilled Chicken Salad
(This much will make 6-8 salads)
Place 4-5 chicken breasts in a plastic freezer bag and add:
1/4 cup onion (I just used dried minced)
2 t fresh garlic or garlic salt
4 T cilantro (dried or use 1/4 cup fresh)
1/2 packet chili seasoning
2 T cumin
4 T lime juice
1 cup Zesty Italian dressing
Marinate for 6-8 hours (I was rushed this morning [who me? rushed? huh?] and only had them in the marinade for 3 hours and the meat was still full of flavor)
Grill the chicken 8-10 minutes on each side and then let rest for 5-10 minutes before you slice it into luscious chunks of tender-meat-fiesta.
Other ingredients:
1-2 heads of red-leaf lettuce, rinsed and chopped (you could use romaine too, or sometimes we use spinach)
1 can corn
1 jicama (pronounced "hiccma." Ask for it in the produce section if you aren't sure where to find it), peeled and diced into cubes
Grated cheese
Mexican rice (6 cups cooked brown or white rice with 1 cup salsa and 1 cup low-fat cheese mixed in when it's still hot)
Black beans (I just rinsed them and cooked them in a saute pan with garlic, minced onions, a little tomato juice, 2 t cumin, and 2 t cilantro for about 5 minutes)
salsa
To assemble the salad :
Layer lettuce, corn, jicama, cheese, rice, beans, and salsa. Top with chunks of chicken. You can serve it with light or fat free Ranch Dressing or just sprinkle fresh lime juice on the top.
The kids had some tortilla chips with theirs, but I was the epitome of self-control and resisted the crunch!
4 comments:
my mouth is drooling just reading the recipe and i don't even know what jicmma? is!! :D
i think i will be sneaking this into our menus this week!!
Wow. You should have some sort of program on food network, ya? What is the secret to getting kids to eat salad??? Mine won't touch lettuce with a ten foot pole. Or fork. Maybe I will make this and eat all 6-8 of them myself.
As I read through your list of ingredients earlier I realized that I had everything I would need to imitate your imitation and much to our family delight, it was fantastic!
New rule at our house: there is a comment box in the kitchen and if you want to say something negative about the meal, leave it in the box. All positive comments are welcome at the table. I got raving reviews. Of course they were soon giving praise to you, since they asked where I came up with such a great idea for dinner. Yea, I don't come up with that great of stuff on my own - I'm a recipe thief.
Oh, and I did brave the FREEZING evening temperature to grill the chicken (and following your specific instructions it was so juicy, tender, and perfectly seasoned!) and I too had to dig through a snow drift to even find the grill, which creaked and complained as I lifted the lid to check for who knows what was left in there since the last grilling. It was sooo worth it! Thanks!
This recipe sounds Delicious! I can't wait to try it:)
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