Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Chicken and Avocado Salad


It's summer! ... and what do we all like to eat in summer? Bright and colourful salads! This one is no exception. It's great for BBQs, balancing out all that meat, potato and macaroni salad we all typically love.
I found this recipe on Pintrest (a site I am totally obsessed with and will eventually apply the icon link for my posts - if I can figure it out). The only change I made was not adding corn and the dressing I used was different. I thought a fruity flavour may let this salad sparkle even more than it already does, and boy was I right! Or you be the judge ;). I used a raspberry vinagrette (not homemade, sorry). The combination of flavours made my summer heart sing!

I didn't get a photo of the salad in it's original form (typical me!), but I had a little leftover and wanted to make a meal out of what was left the next day so I combined it with some penne, left off the raspberry vinagrette, and instead sprinkled with a bit of sea salt, squeeze of lemon juice and splash of olive oil. Yum!!!

So as you can see this salad is quite versatile. You can truly make it yours own :)

This makes about 8 servings as a side salad or 4 as a meal salad.

8 cups baby spinach (1 bag)
1 cup halved cherry or pear tomatoes
1 1/2 cups chopped cooked chicken (I used a ready rotisserie chicken)
1 large avocado, sliced
1/3 cup crumbled feta or goat cheese
1/4 cup toasted pine nuts
5-6 tbsp Raspberry vinaigrette

Instructions:
Toss all ingredients together.
(To make it look pretty when making this salad without pasta, toss half the toppings with the spinach, then roughy layer the remaining on top of the spinach in this order: chicken, feta, avocado, tomatoes, pine nuts)

Suggestion: do not add the dressing until you are about to serve. No one likes soggy salad! Or better yet, have everyone add the dressing to their own liking.

Enjoy!

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