Chicken, Mango & Avocado Summer Salad

 You might notice that my blog design is changing. It's a work in progress. I'm getting great feedback and help from my friends and I'm about to peer pressure a certain graphic artist friend (who actually understands things like blog layouts) to help me make things more awesome. My husband also told me today that my blog wasn't "pretty" enough. So eventually maybe we'll end up with awesome and a side of pretty. 

Today instead of talking more and more about me and the weird ways I view food and childhood obesity, we are back to actually cooking food. This is one of my fav summer salads, but in Texas it's so damn hot it's more like a spring/summer/fall salad. This post is taking a few steps ahead in some things I wanted to be more detailed on, but later on we'll come back to more detailed blogs about "Grilling for Girls" and making your own salad dressings. I also have a special "Ode to the Salad Spinner" blog planned. All things to look forward to. Let's get back on task with this amazing salad...

I love this salad because it is a wonderful mix of flavors. The easy factor is that you can grill you chicken ahead of time, or simply use chicken that was left over from a previous meal. And if you want to get REALLY easy, buy a rotisserie chicken at the store. 

After I fed L I took her outside to help me grill the chicken breasts. WAY too many women are afraid of the grill. The grill is the BEST. You don't have to scrub pans... and if you hate doing dishes like I do, that's the only reason you need to learn how to grill. Ask your husband to teach you. He'll pee his pants with excitement. 

Here is where I start. I took my chicken breasts out of the fridge and brought them to room temp. Then I placed them in zip lock bags and pounded them until they were nice and thin. This is how I prefer them. A little olive oil, some kosher salt and some fresh ground pepper and you're ready to go! 

I had my grill on high with all three burners running for about 10 minutes to get it nice and hot. Then I took my baby and my breasts outside to get grilling. Once you put the breasts on, close the top of the grill and give them 3-5 minutes depending on the size.  Then check them out.  There are some tell tale signs of readiness.  You will notice that the sides are cooked and the breasts will come away from the grill grates easily when you go to flip them. If they are sticking, give them more time.

The sides are starting to cook on these, but they aren't ready to be flipped yet.

After some commentary on my technique, my assistant has had enough and quits.

When you have flipped the breasts, cover the grill again and give it a couple of minutes before you check in. A silly but easy guide I use to check my chicken is the "meat/chicken to face readiness test". I think you'll like this one. I always look like a huge idiot when I do it... Your earlobe has the same consistency as raw chicken or raw meat, your cheek is medium rare (not how you want your chicken), the side of your nostril is medium (again, not how you want your chicken), and the front bulb of your nose is well or ready or great for chicken. So after you wash all of the meat/chicken grease off of your face, take your chickens and go back inside. Also, take your hands off of your face, I know you are trying it out right now.

This chicken is bulb of the nose/done!

If you are still pretty scared of the grill, this dinner can be a great combo. Have your boyfriend/husband/grill confident friend take on the chicken while you start chopping for the salad inside. When you are back inside, set the chicken aside to cool to room temp and get started on the salad portion. We get a farm delivery of veggies and fruits every two weeks that I love. Yet another post for the future. We happened to get some fresh arugula and that is my favorite for this salad, but really you could use whatever you have on hand that is green and leafy. 

Arugula fresh from the farm with my salad spinner standing by.

After trimming the ends off I wash the arugula in the salad spinner and then drain the water to start spinning.

Action shot.

And now you have clean, dry arugula with minimal dirty dishes and no constant patting of tiny lettuce leaves with paper towels. Put this aside while we get started on the rest.

We are going to use the mango and the avocado. We had a fresh tomato that we sliced and served separately on the side.

Mangoes have funky almond shaped seeds that cling to the fruit, so I don't have any handy tips about cutting a mango. I will say I find this way easier than peeling the entire thing ahead of time. Start slicing portions off.

Then cut those portions into nice sections.

And I take my knife iron chef style and run it underneath the sections to remove the skin. Be careful. And buy good knives. It's worth it.

L - R: Mango seed/core, mango skin, chopped up mango for salad.

This is how I cut my avocados, slicing in half around the seed and then twisting the sides to pull them apart.

Then I do something really bad.... I stab the seed with my knife (shown above) and twist to remove the seed. Safety experts will advise against this method.

After I remove the seed I slice the avocado while it's still in the skin. This is a really easy way to do it when you are tossing it in a salad and it doesn't have to be super pretty. When you are ready to put it in the bowl you just take a large spoon and scoop the presliced chunks out.

After chopping I get out my salad bowl to make a dressing. Making your own dressing is a big way to save calories at home. It's also a fun thing to experiment with. Start with some olive oil and a bit of vinegar, maybe some crushed garlic. I use honey and sriracha sauce with white wine vinegar, garlic, and extra virgin olive oil. Find the right combo for you. Something light and oil based is perfect for this salad. Of if you are married to store bough, pick up a balsamic vinaigrette.

After mixing my dressing together I dump on the arugula topped with the mango, avocado, and chopped chicken.

Post toss.

Ready to eat! Notice the tomatoes came back.

 This salad is really great and you can mix it up a few different ways. It would be great with some chopped almonds for extra crunch. I have also served it with chopped cilantro sprinkled on the top and lime wedges which really bring out an awesome flavor from the mango. Play around with it and make it your own. It's fresh and healthy and PERFECT for a nice summer dinner.

-RT