Kickin Chicken Salad

Buy one get one 3 pack of Golden Plump chicken breasts.....oh how I love chicken. It's such a blank canvas for a cook. My school lunch consisted of a breadstick and chicken alfredo lasagna so I was feeling something on the lighter side for dinner. Let's do a salad with sliced seared chicken on top? Sounds good to me. But what else to have with it?.....Basil garlic bread!

Check out the cupboard and I find Cajun seasoning....ok chicken breasts taken care of. In the fridge I find my must have white onion, roma tomatoes and a small chunk of cheddar cheese left over. Lucky for me these ingredients would pair wonderfully with another must have fridge item, Ranch! (The previous night I made burgers made with the fresh ground beef we get from my husband's parents, sliced roma tomato, lettuce, white onion, ketchup, mayo, and mustard on top. I had nothing but white flour tortilla chips to serve it with so I mixed ranch and hot sauce for them....SO GOOD!)I looked in the freezer and realized I still had frozen corn which I decided needed to be in my salad as well.

I took out a half loaf of my fat french bread to thaw on the counter, then thawed two chicken breasts and and seasoned them with the cajun seasoning on both sides. I didn't necessarily need two chicken breasts but I knew my husband could use the leftovers for tacos, a salad, or sandwich the following day. I heated those on medium high for 6 min on each side in a frying pan. I don't add any oil to the pan. I just use non-stick. I don't like the mess of the oil and I don't like my chicken greasy. You don't really need it all the time. While the chicken was cooking I fanaggled my husband into helping me by slicing up a little white onion, the little chunk of cheddar cheese into small cubes (I really try not to use the grater if I don't have to), and the tomato. I thawed out a 1/4 c. of the corn in the microwave and let it cool. After the chicken was cooked on both sides I let it sit for a few minutes to cool down as well. As my chicken cooled I mixed 2 Tbsp. room temp butter with one crushed garlic clove, 1 Tbsp. dried basil, and spread this on both sides of my french bread split through. Check this recipe which I made with my Cheesy Potato Soup! I threw this on a baking sheet and put it in the oven at 400 for 6 min. Now to assemble my salad!

Using half of a Romaine lettuce head chopped into bite size pieces we tossed it in a bowl with the white onion, cheddar cheese, roma tomato, and corn. Then topped the salad with the slices of Cajun chicken and drizzled it with Ranch topped off with a thick slice of that herb bread!

Must have's in your fridge:
-white onion
-ranch

Recipe:
2 chicken breasts
Cajun seasoning or seasoning of your choice
Romaine lettuce
tomato
corn
white onion
Ranch

Follow above info for salad!

Oh it was so very good. And my husband took a professional picture with his awesome camera!

Cook even when you don't feel like it. Your heart will thank you :) Here's to a better budget!