Chipotle Chicken Chopped Salad

It was a drizzly 50 degrees here in Chicago today. For February this is heaven sent....even more so if you have children positively climbing the walls by this time of year. Before I knew it this afternoon, our garage appeared to have hurled every child oriented object out onto the driveway. Of course reuniting with these items entertains them for approximately 5 minutes. Then it's time to take the show on the road...or around the cul de sac in our case.



Today's stroll was special. My little guy just recently flipped the switch in terms of transportation. In otherwords, crawling is out. A stiff-legged, dead-armed stagger is definitely in. And I'll mark this day down as his first "walk." He's mastered the smooth terrain of the wood floors in our house, so the sidewalk was a new adventure all together. He actually stopped at the first few cracks, put his hands down, and lifted his legs over them one at a time. It was about as cute as cute gets, with him all zipped up in his little Hanna Andersson Teletubbie outerwear. Oh it's the little things!

So now onto salad! When you are SO ready for spring, is it possible to be "over" that cold weather need for comfort food? I made this salad (a family favorite) pretty recently on freezing cold January day. Maybe I was just longing for warmth and dinners by daylight on the patio, but it just sounded so good. I was not disappointed. I hope you'll find it a little something to tide you over too.

~Erin

 

 

Chipotle Chicken Chopped Salad

Author: Erin (adapted from Cooking Light)

Prep time: 15 mins

Total time: 15 mins

Serves: 4

Ingredients

• Dressing


• 1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro


• 2/3 cup light sour cream


• 1 tablespoon minced chipotle chile, canned in adobo sauce


• 1 teaspoon ground cumin


• 1 teaspoon chili powder


• 4 teaspoons fresh lime juice


• 1/4 teaspoon salt


• Salad


• 4 cups shredded romaine lettuce


• 2 cups cooked chicken breasts (about 2 breasts), chopped


• 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved


• 1/2 cup diced avocado


• 1/3 cup sliced red onion


• 1 can black beans, rinsed and drained


• 1 can whole-kernel corn, rinsed and drained


• 1/2 cup shredded cheese (my addition...I prefer cheddar)

Instructions

1. Mix together dressing ingredients well.


2. Toss dressing with salad ingredients in a large bowl.


3. Serve immediately.

Notes

You'll most likely find chipotle chile in adobo sauce in the International aisle at the grocery store. The only brand I have found comes in a (relatively) small can. Thank goodness, because you never need a lot for most recipes I've used them in. For a spicier salad dressing, add a teaspoon of the adobo sauce in addition to the minced chile.

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