Family Friendly Mexican Chicken Salad Platter recipe - 8 Winning Weight Watcher Points Max

There is supposed to be more of the salsa, but that was all I had left until I bought some more the next day. 

Love, love, love this salad.  It is also Family Friendly, meaning 4 out of the 5 of us like it.  I got this recipe out of an old Mexican cookbook somewhere that I do not have and can therefore not give proper credit.  I will if you know where it came from though!  You can make it as spicy as you'd like via your choice of salsa spiciness--mild, hot, etc.  You can can also make your serving size a little smaller since the chicken breast is 1 point per ounce and the homemade dressing goes a long way, which is why I've listed this as "8 Points Max."  A couple of shakes is all it takes, and I figured that 1 whole tablespoon of the dressing is worth 3 Winning Points. I so far have never actually used a whole tablespoon of the dressing. 

Here is a pic with the dressing, followed by the recipe and instructions for assembly. At the bottom of this entry will be a recipe to make your own corn and black-bean salsa.

Make the dressing ahead of time to allow flavors to blend. I actually double the dressing recipe so I have some for future salads and store it in the refrigerator.

Dressing:

Blend all of the below ingredients together, cover, shake and refrigerate.  You can use any ol' jar you have handy with a lid.  You must shake it each time before applying dressing.  I prefer the salad dressing bottle above with a small opening because, as I mentioned earlier, a little bit goes a long way. 

1/4 c. olive oil or vegetable oil (I use olive oil)
3 Tablespoon fresh cilantro finely chopped
3 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 canned chipotle pepper in adobo sauce finely chopped (wear gloves!)
1/2 tsp. salt
1 clove of garlic finely minced


Salad:

10 c. coarsely chopped lettuce (1 head iceburg or romaine).  I sometimes use both.
3-1/2 c. shredded cooked chicken
10+ grape tomatoes cut in half (I usually use more than 10)
1/4 c. sliced green onions (I just eyeball this to make tomato/green onion mixture balanced)
1 avocado
1 16-oz. jar corn and black bean relish (I like the Target brand)
l lime

Assembly:

Cover a large serving platter with lettuce.  Toss the shredded chicken with about a tablespoon of the dressing.  In a small bowl combine the tomatoes and green onions.  Arrange with chicken mixture down center over top of lettuce, place the green onion/tomato mixture on one side of the chicken mixture and the corn and black bean salsa on the other side of the chicken mixture.  Cut your lime into wedges and place in another row and place your avocado slices on the last row covering the entire bed of lettuce(s).  Cover and chill for an hour, but if you are fast enough, you can eat immediately too. Do not put dressing on until ready to eat if you will serve up & consume entire batch. Use tongs to grab a portion of each section, including lettuce, to create individual salads.

Remember, the chicken breast is 1 point per ounce, the avocado 1 point per ounce (1 slice of avocado sliced into eights), and the dressing 3 points per tablespoon. You can figure out your points for the salsa according to the brand you choose.  Mine is zero! (Winning points).

This makes 6 main dish servings, which are really quite large and very filling.  We usually get more out of it.

You can cover with saran wrap and store the salad, sans dressing, for days, so you can have lunch or grab for a dinner when the family is eating something you shouldn't be. As always, you can divide up into covered food containers or Mason jars for grab-and-go convenience (sans dressing until ready to eat!).

Shortcuts:  You can use deli-roasted chicken instead of cooking up your own chicken breast.  You can toss the avocado with some of the lime to help prevent browning, but I find the avocado still gets squishy, so I take off the avocado slices and freeze them on a plate until frozen and then move them into a baggie. I pull out the one-eighth (1 oz.) avocado about 45 minutes before I plan to eat or pop a slice into the microwave for a few seconds and then dice it up into my salad.

Corn and Black Bean Salsa: (which I've never made)

Combine 1 15-oz. can black beans (rinsed and drained), 3/4 c. cooked fresh or frozen whole-kernel corn, and 1 small orange sweet pepper or green sweet pepper chopped (optional).  Toss w/2 tablespoons of dressing. 

Serves 6.  365 calories, 19 g fat, 73 mg cholesterol, 466 mg sodium, 22 g carb, 7 g fiber, 31 g protein.