Blackened Chicken Salad

Last night we had another great dinner that we preassembled this weekend. Like yesterday's recipe, this is from Top Secret Recipes Lite. According to the book this is how Applebee's restaurant makes their Low-fat Blackened Chicken Salad, but I made a few changes so I won't call it that anymore.

The hardest thing about cooking this meal was that all three babies were screaming their lungs out -- VERY frustrating, especially when combined with a hot and smoky kitchen (due to the blackening.) Allen was a sweetie and took care of the chicken while I assembled salads. When I premade the meal, I put the chicken and marinade in a 1-gallon ziplock bag. In another little bag, put the dry spice rub. Put both of those bags in another 1-gallon bag and freeze it for when you are ready to have the meal. Rather than putting all the ingredients in the recipe for the salad part, we just grabbed what we had in our fridge, but I'll list below what I used. For the dressing, I made a double batch and store it in the refrigerator.

The babies are not into salads yet, but they still had a healthy meal, too. On their trays were little piles of cabbage, tomato, cheese, meat, and I cooked some edemame for them to eat, too.

Low-Fat Blackened Chicken Salad (2 VERY large servings, was enough for all 6 of us)

Dressing - combine these in order
1/4 C. low-free mayo
1/4 C. dijon mustard
1 TBSP. prepared mustard (we used French's)
1/4 C. honey
1 TBSP. white vinegar
1/8 tsp. paprika

Chicken marinade - combine and marinade chicken overnight.
1 C. chicken broth
3 TBSP. lime juice
2 TBSP. soy sauce
1/2 TBSP. Worcestershire
2 large chicken breast fillets

Spice Blend - combine in bowl or zip bag
1/2 TBSP salt
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp white pepper

Preheat iron skillet over med/high heat and preheat grill. Sprinkle spice blen on chicken covering the entire surface. Melt 1/2 tsp. butter in hot pan and saute chicken 2-3 minutes per side. Sover with more of the spice blend. (Go silence on the smoke alarms.) Grill chicken 2-3 minutes per side until done. Slice chicken to 1/2" strips and serve over salad with dressing.

Salad (divide among plates)
1 bag of salad greens with veggies
1/2 C. shredded cabbage
1/2 C. shredded carrots
1/2 C. shredded low-fat mozzerella cheese
1/2 C. shredded low-fat cheddar cheese
1 large tomato diced

We all really enjoyed this recipe, and I can't wait to have it again. It was a fresh salad and great for a summer day, but the chicken made it meaty enough I wasn't starving later. The spice blends well with the honey-dijon dressing for explosive taste. Enjoy!