Monday, October 19, 2009

BBQ Ranch Chicken Salad

This is a quick meal.  Really quick.  Most of the ingredients we usually have on hand.  Plus, it's versatile so even if you don't have the required ingredients on hand, you can improvise.

We stole this recipe from the Cheesecake Factory.  I mean, we don't actually know their recipe, but we made ours based on theirs.  And I'm guessing our final recipe is about a 1/4 of their recipe since most of their dishes designed for a single person could easily feed 2-3 people.

Anyway, onto the recipe.  Here is what the Cheesecake Factory's looks like:

And then here's what you can more realistically expect your salad to look like:


I realize that second salad does not look appetizing at all, but, trust me, it is.  I also have no dreams of being a great food photographer, so I will never learn how to make my food look scrumptous.

Anyway - onto the recipe.

Chicken
Lettuce (spinach, romaine, iceburg, whatever you have on hand)
Can of black beans (rinsed)
Can of corn (or bag of frozen cooked first)
Cucumbers
Tomatoes
Ranch Dressing
BBQ Sauce

You can make your chicken however you prefer, or you could even just use those pre-cooked seasoned strips you can find by the deli meat.  We like our chicken just a little bit crispy on the outside though, so I heat up some olive oil, toss in a tiny bit of butter.  While that is getting nice and hot, I season (salt, pepper, garlic salt) the chicken, then I sprinkle a bit of flour on each side.  I'm not going for the "fried" chicken effect, so it's not much flour....just enough for a tiny bit of crispiness.  Cook both sides of the chicken until they are a nice golden brown.

And from here, it's really up to you and your pantry.  Tonight, we didn't have a cucumber on hand, and I wasn't feeling like tomatoes. Our spinach, which we normally use (added health benefits), was looking a little sad so I went with traditional iceburg, but would have preferred romaine.

Black beans aren't normally on my list of foods I seek out, but they really add something in this salad.

Mix the ranch dressing and BBQ sauce together in a 2:1 ratio (respectively) and enjoy!

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