Grilled Chicken Salad

Now that spring is officially here, I can really fire up my grill! Grilling at our house is done by me, not the man. My man's family doesn't do grilling. Over the years, I have purchased several different types of grills as presents and they always disappear after a short time. I came to the conclusion that they just don't grill. My family would cook everything on the grill in the summer if possible. I grew up without whole house air-conditioning until I was in my teens. We had a couple of window units, one in the kitchen and one in the living room. My mother would cook a large lunch and then try not to heat up the kitchen anymore.

I still hold to that and try not to use the oven very much in the summer. I have made bread on the grill and do a lot of ice-box pies. Yes, I said ice-box. I call my fridge the ice-box. I thought everybody did until I got married and moved to Indiana. First time I said to get something out of the ice-box to a friend, she just stood and looked at me. Sometimes, my Okie shows a little too much! Anyway, I like to grill!

Since I covered the big batch cooking back in January, is it almost April, good grief how time flies! Anyway, you know that when I grill chicken, I grill a whole lot at a time and freeze some for days when I don't have time to fire up the grill. Today is one of those days. It's soccer tonight, so we're having a grilled chicken salad. I have a lot of different variations on this but tonight, we're going tex-mex.

Tex-mex Grilled chicken Salad

Romaine lettuce, washed, dried and torn into pieces. Fill a plate with enough for each family member
1/2 - 1 grilled chicken breast per family member, if you're using rotissore chicken, use 1/2 - 1 cup per member. You can use the chicken hot or cold.
chopped tomato, red bell pepper, green onions, black olives
1 cup ranch dressing with 1/2 mashed avocado stirred in ( I use my frozen guacamole)
shredded cheddar or co-jack cheese

I make a bean salsa to eat on or beside the chicken salad. It's super easy!
1 can drained and rinsed beans; can be black, pinto, red; use what you have! If you have a large family, use two different kinds of beans
1 cup frozen corn, it will thaw as it gets mixed up into the salsa
1 tablespoon diced fine; onion
1 tablespoon diced red pepper or jalapeno (I keep some frozen for this)
1/4 cup italian dressing
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1-2 tablespoons dried cilantro or fresh if you have it. Do this to taste.
you can add a little tomato if you'd like.

Mix all together and let sit in the ice-box for a while. It's actually better the next day.

I do this in an assembly line. I usually make everyone's and hand them out. That way, my son doesn't take all the black olives!

Sometimes, I put corn chips under the lettuce, then top with chicken, all the veggies, the dressing and cheese.

The entire dinner can be made in under 15 minutes if the chicken is already grilled!

Off to soccer!